Politics The 2016 US Presidential Election

I went back and examined the article in detail. There are no liberals quoted in the article at all. Every one of the experts has deep conservative cred -- George Mason University, Cato Institute, lawsuits against Obama, etc.

Bernie Sanders' recent statements (e.g., failing to criticize the antics in Las Vegas) have lost him respect and perhaps some supporters. But possibly this is just a stage in winding down his candidacy, and Hillary made some arguably similar moves in 2008.

One longer-term issue that puzzles me about the Sanders campaign:

Bernie Sanders has been, no question, beyond any possible dispute, the best, the most committed advocate for military veterans in the entire Congress. While other senators and representatives disdain assignments to committees on veterans affairs, and get out as quick as possible, Bernie has stuck around and become an expert. Maybe his advocacy hasn't always been effective (the VA health system and hospitals were in serious decline for years), but there's no question that he cares more than literally anybody else in the Senate. And when Congress was under pressure to repair the VA system, Sanders was the go-to guy. He knew exactly what needed to be fixed.

So why does nobody (outside very limited Washington/political/media circles) know about this?

 

Here's an excerpt of a BBC article from yesterday. The article provides a nice summary of why Clinton isn't looked up to even in the liberal, progressive masses.

Source: Why aren't we more excited about Clinton? - BBC News

 

At the same time, how many moderate Republicans and independents will hear Hillary Clinton and not think twice about voting against her? If it was some obscure senator or congresswoman who had the same positions, yet wasn't attacked by right-wing media for the past 25 years, I would think that there might be some of them who would switch sides and vote for her.

However, I hope that Clinton will fight back against the Tea Party and the right-wing the way Obama couldn't. That is what I want to see. I thought scandal-free Obama was going to quiet down the right-wing and prevent them from being obstructionists out of spite back in 2008, but I was wrong.

I'm not sure what the turn out will be in November. I think there will be a lot of anti votes cast. The map and swing states look better for Clinton, but just one state out of Arizona, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, or Florida has to go to Clinton for her to win, while all of them need to vote for Trump for him to win. The issue is that I could see Trump winning those states.


270toWin.com

 

I think she needs to focus on winning over Sanders supporters first, then moderate republicans/swing voters in those swing states next.

The big issue that the far left has to think about is that if Hillary wins, things won't be quite as bad, but she will be the candidate of the left until 2024. How much opposition will there be in 2020 and 2024 to the progressive movement? What would happen if the Republicans would nominate a reasonable candidate who supports their agenda behind the scenes, but isn't prone to making mistakes and alienating people?

 

Question I often hear: "Isn't it time we finally have a woman president?"

Question I never hear: "Is this the RIGHT woman?"

If/when she wins, the number of establishment politicians who will want her to fail will, I believe, be even higher than those who cheered for Obama's failure. Every little thing she does or says wrong will be not only a point against her, but a point against the concept of a woman as president. And there are career politicians who have been waiting to exact revenge on the Clintons for 26 years, and will do everything they can to make sure she DOES fail

 

But that is the reason I didn't vote for her in 2008. I was helping the GOP by not electing a divisive candidate. However, they opposed Obama on every issue, so I don't mind fighting back with someone who is willing and able to play dirty.

 

The Republicans started their campaign against Obama even before he officially won the general election in '08. I can see them doing the same against Hillary, but I'm not so sure that her sex will play that big of role. I think it will be more of the same sickening partisan politics that has plagued the US since the Reagan Revolution. Yes, PP has always existed, but it definitely intensified when the Republicans started scrambling to be clear the "conservative" bar set by Reagan.

 

What I find frustrating is how some of the young Bernie supporters have decided they won't vote at all or will vote third party, which in guaranteed red or blue states like mine isn't the end of the world I guess but the big issue is they won't be voting the rest of the ticket.
The biggest problem we are having is not really the president but the fucking congress and in many cases the local governments that drew up the lines that put them there.

 

This whole hardline Bernie-or-bust thing pisses me off, and I say that as a serious Bernie supporter. But no matter how much I believe he would be a great president, and would've made an infinitely better nominee than HRC, Trump is worse than HRC. By a lot.

Refusing to bite the bullet and ensure the country doesn't go the way of the fucking KKKandidate from Hell is basically like saying, "Well, I really wanted to get laid, but I guess since that didn't work out, I'll take this hammer and hit myself in the balls as hard as I can."

 

The other option is that the GOP knows their only hope is to win all the swing states, and if they can suppress the too busy, too lazy, too indifferent left wing/independent/centrist voters who think the whole voting process is a waste of time because Hillary is way out ahead in polls... then they have a shot. Except the big states skew the national polls and there are plenty of angry white guys and women in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, and a few others that Trump could win. Because they know the base will come out to support the senators and congressmen, no matter how bad they are if they have an R behind their name, and will stand up for conservative values like releasing terrorist propaganda in 911 calls and giving wife beaters access to whatever guns they want.

 

Why are we not hearing more about the Senate refusing to allow Obama to make a Supreme Court nomination?

Why is Obama tolerating this ^?

To tie this to the election--If Clinton is elected, she'll have the chance to make two choices. The current vacancy, and to replace Clarence Thomas if he follows through with his plans to retire. All the more reason to keep Trump from becoming POTUS.