2024

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

Here is a bad joke I just made up...

Nimarata Nikki Randhawa
Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy
72 year old Cornel West
81 year old Joe Biden
78 year old Donald Trump
70 year old RFKJr
74 year old Jill Stein
72 year old Marianne Williamson
74 year old Asa Hutchinson

walk in to a bar. Or the White House. On Inauguration Day....

[DCHawk1]

Since Haley would crush Biden in the general, I've always taken some solace in knowing that should she somehow take the nomination away from him, Trump will go scorched earth and make sure if he isn't the republican nominee, then no one should be the nominee, turn his cultists against her, and Biden wins.








Except, she has said she'll pardon him, so there is, that...

The pardon promise thing is fascinating, and will prove (in my opinion) to have been short-sighted. In that there’s probably only a path for her if he’s off the board entirely.

So, is being saddled with the baggage (in an effort to keep his diehards) worth the cost in terms of scaring away actual swing state swing voters?

I don’t know the answer…and I’m not sure it’s knowable in advance.

Along those lines: clearly, Ford's pardon of Nixon was an electoral disaster, but was it the right thing to do for the country?

Personally, I think the world could use less Trump, not more -- whether he's the president or the defendant in case after case (after case...). Would a blanket pardon aid that effort, or is he too much of a narcissist to let anything (short of death) keep him quiet?

[Sparko]

Trump is such a crazy disaster. He makes Nixon seem reasonably paranoid.

[jfish26]

Since Haley would crush Biden in the general, I've always taken some solace in knowing that should she somehow take the nomination away from him, Trump will go scorched earth and make sure if he isn't the republican nominee, then no one should be the nominee, turn his cultists against her, and Biden wins.








Except, she has said she'll pardon him, so there is, that...

The pardon promise thing is fascinating, and will prove (in my opinion) to have been short-sighted. In that there’s probably only a path for her if he’s off the board entirely.

So, is being saddled with the baggage (in an effort to keep his diehards) worth the cost in terms of scaring away actual swing state swing voters?

I don’t know the answer…and I’m not sure it’s knowable in advance.

Along those lines: clearly, Ford's pardon of Nixon was an electoral disaster, but was it the right thing to do for the country?

Personally, I think the world could use less Trump, not more -- whether he's the president or the defendant in case after case (after case...). Would a blanket pardon aid that effort, or is he too much of a narcissist to let anything (short of death) keep him quiet?

To me, it’s a moot point because a pardon cannot and will not stop state charges. So it would be, in my opinion, the worst of all worlds.

It would set a terrible precedent by letting him skate on the federal charges, without even the possibility of making him go away.

All downside.

[Shirley]

Since Haley would crush Biden in the general,

I don't believe that.

Yes, she'd get some centrist/independent votes that other GOP candidates would not, but she could also lose the 30+% of GOP voters who wholeheartedly MAGA. (as you say...)

DeSantis or Ramaswamy would probably keep those votes, but I don't think Haley can.

Her political instincts are terrible.

Good points, and I hope you're right.

A poll I keep hearing about says she'd beat Joe by 17, but I don't trust polls I don't agree with, this early...

[DCHawk1]

A poll I keep hearing about says she'd beat Joe by 17, but I don't trust polls I don't agree with, this early...

Yeah, I'm old enough to remember the pre-convention polls that had Dukakis up by 20 points against GHWBush.

[Shirley]

A poll I keep hearing about says she'd beat Joe by 17, but I don't trust polls I don't agree with, this early...

Yeah, I'm old enough to remember the pre-convention polls that had Dukakis up by 20 points against GHWBush.

Don't remind me!

And how Presidents Huckabee, Santorum, and Cruz started their winning campaigns with victories in the Iowa caucuses.

[DCHawk1]

Well...that was anticlimactic.

[jfish26]

Well...that was anticlimactic.

Yes and no. He was going to win this one. It’s what happens downballot (as it were) that’s interesting.

[Shirley]

So let it be written...

The Iowa Caucuses were today, but the primary ended long ago. Trump has won the Republican Party.

The Lincoln Project Trump Wins Iowa

[dolomite]

Short of an assassination I don’t know how Trump can disappear. The media can’t seem to shut up about him. His “criminal” trials and appeals could go on forever. Maybe another impeachment is in the cards if the Democrats take Congress. I’m praying that Nikki can get a big boost by taking New Hampshire.

[jfish26]

I am aware of the weather, but this is some really flaccid support for such a dominant candidate.

https://x.com/jenmercieca/status/174724 ... q_-8Yt1KMA

Last night was the lowest-turnout caucus in a quarter-century. Only about 110k people participated (out of 2.5 million in the VAP). 4% of Iowan voters voted, of those Trump lost 49% of the votes.

There is a huge enthusiasm gap…on the right.

Especially if DeSantis drops, but Vivek hangs on, I really like Haley’s chances to win NH.

Edit: Vivek didn’t hang on.

[jfish26]

No wonder MICH hates millennials. They’re killing the Party of Reagan! Of course, so too is Gen X.

https://x.com/danpfeiffer/status/174707 ... q_-8Yt1KMA

According to the entrance polls, only 27 percent of GOPers participating in the Iowa caucus are under the age of 50.

Not exactly the party of the future

[Shirley]

I am aware of the weather, but this is some really flaccid support for such a dominant candidate.

https://x.com/jenmercieca/status/174724 ... q_-8Yt1KMA

Last night was the lowest-turnout caucus in a quarter-century. Only about 110k people participated (out of 2.5 million in the VAP). 4% of Iowan voters voted, of those Trump lost 49% of the votes.

There is a huge enthusiasm gap…on the right.

Especially if DeSantis drops, but Vivek hangs on, I really like Haley’s chances to win NH.

Edit: Vivek didn’t hang on.

I don't know man, I hope you're right, but it was really, really ____ing cold, last night.

But, to your point, and although it's been mentioned before, it bears repeating:

(And, keep in mind, unlike New Hampshire, which has an open primary where much of Haley's support is thought to be from both Independents and Democrats who are not likely to vote for her in the general election, Iowa has a closed primary, which means voters must be registered with the Democratic or Republican Party to participate.)

Most likely Republican Iowa caucusgoers say they’ll vote for former President Donald Trump in the general election if he’s the GOP nominee, regardless of the candidate they’re supporting on caucus night.

That is, except supporters of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, with nearly half of them — 43% — saying they’d vote for Democratic President Joe Biden over Trump.

[DeletedUser]

I am aware of the weather, but this is some really flaccid support for such a dominant candidate.

https://x.com/jenmercieca/status/174724 ... q_-8Yt1KMA

Last night was the lowest-turnout caucus in a quarter-century. Only about 110k people participated (out of 2.5 million in the VAP). 4% of Iowan voters voted, of those Trump lost 49% of the votes.

There is a huge enthusiasm gap…on the right.

Especially if DeSantis drops, but Vivek hangs on, I really like Haley’s chances to win NH.

Edit: Vivek didn’t hang on.

I think the caucus style has a lot to do with the age of person that participates. No chance in hell I'd have been there for that last night.

[Shirley]

Cold weather or not, when an "incumbent" candidate, which is pretty much what Trump is running as and is thought to be by republicans, only manages to get 50% support in any primary, that's not a harbinger of success for him in the general election.

[Shirley]

God said “I need a man who failed in everything but theft and broken promises to live in a golden palace and convince the poor he serves their needs.” So God made Trump.

The Lincoln Project: God Made a Dictator

[jhawks99]

God said “I need a man who failed in everything but theft and broken promises to live in a golden palace and convince the poor he serves their needs.” So God made Trump.

The Lincoln Project: God Made a Dictator

Was that Mitt narrating?

[Shirley]

God said “I need a man who failed in everything but theft and broken promises to live in a golden palace and convince the poor he serves their needs.” So God made Trump.

The Lincoln Project: God Made a Dictator

Was that Mitt narrating?

I wondered the same thing, but can't imagine it is.

[Cassandra]

This thread reminds me a bit of when KU misses 20 free throws, yet some on here wine about the refs. Trump's success has everything to do with the fact that the best they could do was have an 81 year old, barely conscious criminal as the frontrunner.