Let us change the tone of the posts…..how about the battling Floridians?
The 2016 election has its characters……some are amusing while others are just tedious…..and others that just plain batcrap crazy….and the GOP has at least one in each category…..
But in all reality there are two candidates that can save GOP on a national stage….the problem is that they both are boring and ill informed……Rubio and Bush……
The Bush campaign has fired the first salvo of an inter-party battle…..
The Jeb Bush campaign threw some major shade at opponent Marco Rubio in a PowerPoint presentation for donors obtained by US News & World Report. The campaign met with donors Monday in Houston hoping to reassure them that Bush isn’t as doomed as he may appear. (That perception got worse with Wednesday’s debate.) Afterward, the campaign released a 45-page copy of the PowerPoint presentation it gave to donors to a handful of reporters. But US News managed to obtain the full 112-page version. “The document provides a rare behind-the-curtain look at the gritty details of a campaign at a crucial inflection point,” US News states.
The presentation released to reporters already called Rubio “the GOP’s Barack Obama,” but US News reports the full version includes some even more pointed and specific jabs at the senator’s character and ethics. In fact, there’s an entire slide devoted to Rubio with the title “Marco is a Risky Bet.” Bullet points on the slide refer to Rubio’s “misuse of state party credit cards, taxpayer funds,” and links to “scandal-scarred former Congressman David Rivera” and a billionaire auto dealer Norman Braman, who is a major benefactor. The latter relationship “raises major ethical questions.” The juiciest bullet point reads: “Those who have looked into Marco’s background in the past have been concerned with what they have found.” A Bush aide tells US News that refers to worries cited by Mitt Romney’s team while vetting Rubio for vice president in 2012. Read the full leaked document here.
All the info may be privy but what does Jeb offer in his place?
In my opinion not very much!
But if we are going to be honest about the GOP and its future as a viable party then look no further than Rubio and Ryan (I would not vote for either but the party does need an injection of new blood…. reasonable blood)
The last few years haven’t been kind to the Republican party, writes David Brooks in the New York Times, but he thinks the rise of two 40-something leaders is poised to change that. In a column headlined the “Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio Moment,” Brooks labels Rubio the most likely nominee. Coupled with Ryan’s election as House speaker, that would put the pair of them in prominent spots heading into the election—”a pretty excellent outcome for a party that has shown an amazing tendency to inflict self-harm.” Most of the column is spent praising the 44-year-old Rubio, whom Brooks calls a true “child of this century” when contrasted with other candidates spouting stale formulas.
“He understands that it’s no longer enough to cut taxes and say bad things about government to produce widespread prosperity,” writes Brooks, adding that Rubio is focused on problems such as technology putting people out of work and globalization bringing down wages. His anti-poverty programs are his “biggest departure” from traditional GOP beliefs, writes Brooks, including wage subsidies to encourage people to take entry-level jobs. “In a year in which many candidates are all marketing, Rubio is a balance of marketing and product,” writes Brooks. He and Ryan would make “the wonkiest leadership team in our lifetime,” and “that’s a good thing.” Click to read the full column.
I am not endorsing either of these two people only that they seem to possess the chops to help make the GOP a national party once again…..if the party keeps playing these moronic games it will never return to the glory it once had……
Thoughts? Can the GOP regain some of the reliability they use to possess?
Cool. Can you find out what the Romney people were talking about?
Romney is keeping quiet….he lost so not many think his ideas are too good at this point…..he will come out after there is a real front runner probably in January….
….right when this bullshit finally starts to matter.
Until then….(don’t think I’d ever say this but)….Romney is right and everybody should be doing what he’s doing.
I don’t know what you’re talking about. The Republicans ARE a “national party”. They control both Houses and probably will again. But they’ll almost certainly deny a Filibuster-proof majority.
They don’t have to change. They don’t want to change. They’re running this dog & pony show!
They’ve figured out what the rest of us haven’t because we’re so obsessed with this damn Presidential horse race. That is to say, CONGRESS is what counts and the Presidency is just the cherry on top. Since Republicans already have most of what they ever wanted, as long as its not too humiliating a defeat, they don’t care that much about who wins the Presidency. In fact, many Republicans might actually prefer a Democratic Presidency because it gives them a “villain” to run against and blame everything on.
Minority Presidents, (pun intended) really only control Foreign Affairs (aka the Empire). And, as Obama has clearly demonstrated, Democratic Presidents don’t rock the Foreign Affairs boat. The Military Industrial Spy Complex gets what it wants no matter what party is in the White House. So, Republicans know its safe to call for all the bloodletting they want. If it doesn’t happen, they look tougher & more “manly” than the Pussycrats. But if the bloodletting does happen, especially if it goes bad, it will be on Democratic hands and Republicans get to criticize. Either way, they can’t lose.
Generally speaking, Republican ideals win, even when they lose. They’ve gamed the system. It’s why they can afford to act so damn crazy. They can “dare to dream big” because they can’t lose. Until they get wiped out of Congress on a scale larger than 2008, which ain’t happening anytime soon, they won’t change one iota.
Sure, they may put up a Romney/McCain more often than not. But they’re essentially human sacrifices to the gods…aka the 1%-ers who have egos the size of their wallets. They get off on the idea of purchasing “the most powerful man” in the world and turning him into a puppet. Results wise, it’s a waste of billions. But it’s only their play-money they’re gambling with. So, no sweat.
By national I mean the presidency…the House is basically a regional thing that the GOP has taken over…..I think they are losing the regions……it will take awhile but unless they change their views it will die….
I know that’s what you meant by “national”, which is exactly what I meant. We’ve been distracted by the headline grabbing branch which actually matters the least. This political version of “celebrity obsession” diverts attention from what really matters, Congress. While that’s always been true, it’s probably truer than ever, especially for today’s Democrats. While they have a lot to lose from not winning it (which would require a catastrophic failure only Democrats can achieve), they have nothing to gain from winning it.
A minority party Presidency is relevant only with regards to
Foreign AffairsEmpire issues (now essentially homogenized), Supreme Court appointments and the ability to Veto shit. The problem is that the Democrats are the minority party in Congress…even when they are the Majority Party. (see: 2008-10) Democrats winning the Presidency only grants the ability to produce stalemate. But since stalemate is the Republican’s threshold of victory, the BEST a Democratic Presidency can do is limit Republicans to their threshold of victory.All Republicans need to achieve “victory” is control over ONE of the Houses. Right now, they have control over both. The House is so gerrymandered, it produces more Republicans even when the Democrats get more votes nationwide. And Republicans only need 40 Senators to cock-block anything there. While it’s easy to write the Republicans off on the Presidential stage, “politics is local”. It’s all about regions, demographics and house-to-house battles.
Republicans have known for decades their ideology is a minority position. At best, it represents 50% of the 50% who bother to vote. But they also know half of that 25% are actually voting against their own interests (aka The Stupids). They KNOW this. They KNOW they hit their ideological “Stalingrad” sometime in the late 90’s. But Republicans, especially the party faithful that attend all the rallies, just aren’t willing to compromise their ideals. It’s all about ideological purity and determination to fight on, no matter what the odds. It’s how they can still win, even while in a losing position. They know how to play defence and they’ll play this strategy out….right until Communist forces storm the Fuhrer Bunker.
Yes, someday the Republican strategy will probably fail. Someday, enough Republican voters will die off so that the Democrats will again dominate Congress. But you’ll be dead by then. Because what everyone forgets is that:
1) Voter participation continues its downward trend. This favours Republicans. First, voter participation is directly proportional to income, which also dictates party preference. Second, the most likely voting age groups skew Republican and vice-versa. So as long as their voters have a pulse, they’ll reach their threshold of victory. The Democratic “landslide” in 2008 was purely do to a upward blip in voter turnout by traditional non-voters.
2) The rise of The Stupids. Thanks to a failing educational system, a toxic culture and technology that’s turned the entire population into the intellectual equivalent of zombies, stupidity is omnipresent. Every North American is stupider than they were 20 years ago. America has become an idiot factory that churns out iDiots faster than it churns out iPhones…in Chinese factories. Idiots can be easily conned into voting Republican because Democrats are “buzz-killing smarty-pants”. Once the old Republicans finally die off and allow Democratic victories, The Stupids, the Neo-Republicans, will begin their march to power. I recommend more sprinklers be put in Congress.
3) Elections actually determine less & less every election. The Riches have seen to that. By the time Democrats actually have the ballot box power to take over, there might not even BE elections anymore.
I wish I could dispute everything you have said….but alas I cannot….all true…that is why I keep telling people to not celebrate too much on same sex….and I use abortion rights and voting rights as example…..they thought those rights were in cement….
Then there is the money…..no need to go there we all know how that is f*cking up the machine, huh?
and the impotent, ridiculous, crazy-infested GOP should die ….. totally, completely and forever … and soon. Maybe an EMP from outer space will affect all their brains and do the work the lack-of-informational electorate doesn’t seem willing to do.
I worry that it would be replaced with a Tea Party-like group and that would be the end of everything….we need not worry about space stuff….