The 2016 Presidential Candidates Thread

grokit

well-worn member
Follow the money and you find that political operatives/candidates of both parties share many aspects, one of the most important is access to power. Like any groups the powerful look out for their interests first.
I've said for decades now: if you want change follow the money, then vote the other way :tup:
 

CuckFumbustion

Lo and Behold! The transformative power of Vapor.
I always drive people to the polls that I know are not voting my way, but I think it is that important. It is practically the only way to to move government in the direction I want it to go.
Good on you! :tup: That is what needs to happen in rural communities and more spread out communities. It would be nice if write-in ballots had more weight than poll analysis.

If you care about getting the crazy money out of politics I have a guy for you. The incredibly well regarded lawyer Lawrence Lessig is trying to get in the Dem debates, and I think he needs to be there. If there is ANY hope of getting the crazy money out of politics, citizens united has to be repealed. He is running for president JUST TO PUBLISIZE THIS ISSUE. Well, this and gerrymandering and how it makes incumbents impossible (or nearly) to defeat.
Read the article.
Found this part interesting too.:cool:
'Lessig’s solution is the “Citizen Equality Act,” a statute designed to reduce the influence of money in politics. Once it’s passed, he promises to resign, which makes his choice of running mate pretty important, I guess.'
 
CuckFumbustion,
  • Like
Reactions: cybrguy

CuckFumbustion

Lo and Behold! The transformative power of Vapor.
He has zero (or nearly zero) chance to win. But his appearance in the debates would be incredibly helpful.
Not about winning the election from what I read anyway. IMO he is about bringing his single issue to the debate, then bowing out, after one of the other candidates agrees (and maybe even enacts) on his “Citizen Equality Act. Then said candidate waits for his endorsement. Interesting way to use the power of the podium. :nod:
 

macbill

Oh No! Mr macbill!!
Staff member
William F. Buckley Jr. is rolling in his grave. Sorry, this is in response to the discussion of the Republican Party.
 
macbill,

CuckFumbustion

Lo and Behold! The transformative power of Vapor.
William F. Buckley Jr. is rolling in his grave. Sorry, this is in response to the discussion of the Republican Party.
To me he is seemed to be certain sort/type of academic conservative. But not so much of a Republican. But Go on, what would cause the most spinning...:lol:
From Wiki
Buckley was an advocate for the legalization of marijuana and some drug legalization as early as his 1965 candidacy for mayor of New York City.[121][122] He wrote a pointed pro-marijuana legalization piece for National Review in 2004 where he calls for conservatives to change their views on legalization, stating, "We're not going to find someone running for president who advocates reform of those laws. What is required is a genuine republican groundswell. It is happening, but ever so gradually. Two of every five Americans [...] believe 'the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and make it illegal only for children.'"[123] In his December 3, 2007 column, shortly after his wife's death, which he attributed, at least in part, to her smoking, Buckley seemed to advocate banning tobacco use in America.[124]
 

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Will Democrats Talk About Marijuana Policy During Tonight’s Debate?
Posted by Johnny Green at 8:15 AM on October 13, 2015Ending Marijuana Prohibition, Medical Marijuana Policy


The First Democratic Presidential Debate Is Tonight, Will Candidates Talk About Marijuana Policy? The long awaited, highly anticipated first Democratic Presidential debate is tonight on CNN (5:30 PST). Marijuana took center stage for a portion of the last Republican debate, with Jeb Bush admitting (and apologizing) that he had consumed marijuana over four decades ago. That led to other candidates expressing their support for marijuana reform, while others used it as an opportunity to spread as much reefer madness as they could muster up. The Democratic Presidential debate will hopefully see the topic of marijuana covered. Marijuana reform is extremely

Read More
 

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
Gee, do you think Johnny Green has a horse in this race? :)

"I think we will see Hillary Clinton say whatever her ‘handlers’ thought was the best position to take for the evening on the topic, claiming that she has ‘evolved’ on this issue, but of course hasn’t done anything to put actions behind her words."
 

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
And, btw, I personally have "evolved" on many issues over time, and while I know my evolution was not driven by political expediency, I'm not confident Hillary's (or the Presidents for that matter) are either.
This idea that peoples positions on things should never change is kinda ridiculous. Shouldn't new and better information often lead to changes in position/belief for all of us?
 

Snappo

Caveat Emptor - "A Billion People Can Be Wrong!"
Accessory Maker
And, btw, I personally have "evolved" on many issues over time, and while I know my evolution was not driven by political expediency, I'm not confident Hillary's (or the Presidents for that matter) are either.
This idea that peoples positions on things should never change is kinda ridiculous. Shouldn't new and better information often lead to changes in position/belief for all of us?
This is one reason why folks should realize that the right, center, or the left, are, and have always been, a constantly shifting picture, with huge swings over time from one side of the spectrum to the other. Hard to keep up with and track...
 

grokit

well-worn member
I thought this was pretty cool :tup:

The media’s lying to you about Bernie Sanders: This is why a socialist can win the Fox-loving red states

bernie-sanders-edel-600x420.jpg


This article was first published by The Washington Spectator

Nate Silver has the Bernie Sanders campaign figured out. Ignore what happens in Iowa and New Hampshire, the “data-driven” prognostication wizard wrote back in July, when Sanders was polling a healthy 30 percent to Clinton’s 46 percent in both contests. That’s only, Silver says, because “Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa and Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire are liberal and white, and that’s the core of Sanders’ support.”

Silver has a chart. It shows that when you multiply the number of liberals and whites among state electorates, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Iowa rank first, second, and third. Texas is near the bottom—a place where Bernie Sanders should feel about as welcome as a La Raza convention at the Alamo, right?

I have a new friend who begs to differ.

It’s July 20, and my airplane seat mate asks what brought me to Texas. He is a construction company sales executive from Houston. He’s watching Fox News on his cell phone. He tells me he considers himself a conservative. I tell him I’m a political reporter covering the Bernie Sanders campaign. He perks up: “I like what I’ve heard from him. Kind of middle of the road.”

Eleven days later, I’m at a Bernie Sanders house party in the depressed steel town of Griffith, Indiana, in a state that places in the bottom quartile on Silver’s chart...
 

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
I'm not sure I buy the idea that there would be a lot of votes specifically for Bernie coming from the Republicans, but I am quite certain that a significant number of Republican are gonna vote for the Democrat, whoever it is. The republican party has been fooling themselves, and making fools of themselves for a long while now. The republican electorate looks nothing like the republican primary voters, and many are just as disgusted with all the money in politics and the stupid talk coming from Trump and Carson. And they don't want to shut the gov down, especially over something as stupid as defunding Planned Parenthood. What they seem to be missing is that their whole party is NOT comprised of old white men.

The tea party is NOT the republican party, and that realization is gonna hurt.
 

Snappo

Caveat Emptor - "A Billion People Can Be Wrong!"
Accessory Maker
Just look at this example of utter stupidity that gets posted all over the social-media cesspool, like Facebook - and the lemming masses buy into it; hook, line, and sinker:
URGENT: What Obama Just Announced Has Everyone on High Alert About a Possible Third Term
http://conservativetribune.com/what-obama-just-announced/

This kind of crap makes The National Enquirer look like The Wall Street Journal. The line between entertainment and reality has been so severely blurred that I fear no corrective lens will ever sharpen all those affected dulled lemming minds out there. We have been reduced to the laughing stock of the world because of comic strips like this one.
 
Last edited:

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Part of the Republican Party has pulled away from the normal ones and grouped themselves separately. They are the ones that say Obama is Muslum and is from Kenya. They say Obama wants to take your guns away too.

I thought about putting this in the fav quotes section but decided to put it here. This was quoted many many years ago. It sure fits now more than ever.
sinclair-lewiss-quotes-1.jpg
 
Last edited:

vapebuddy13

Your resident Super Hero
drug talk coming up on the democratic debate soon... been wondering when they'd bring it up
 
vapebuddy13,

Gunky

Well-Known Member
I don't have cable and I found it impossible to stream CNN's video, so I listened to an audio only feed from tunein.com . Just listening to the audio, I came away with the impression that Bernie won the debate. Reading some commentary in the papers it would appear that the impression conveyed by video threw the debate more in Clinton's direction. The other 3 were terrible and might as well drop out, IMO. On the whole, this democratic debate seemed on a different plane, more dignified, rational, and more adult than the republican debates.
 

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
When Bernie said that the American people are tired of hearing about Hillary's damn emails, that was the best part for me. It seems to be between Hillary and Bernie, the others weren't very presidential. It's no wonder we haven't been hearing anything about them. Bernie is looking kinda old, I see he's 74. He maybe would only be a one term pres. He would be 79 after 1 term.
 
Last edited:

mikeben

Well-Known Member
As somebody who really doesn't like politicians generally, or the major trends or players in either party I only respect Rand Paul. A HUGE part of that is that he is the only one with the right attitude on Cannabis. Yet I also think he is the only one not spouting the same crap I'm hearing over and over from the usual people on both sides. People who are usually too extreme and plastic for me no matter what you call them. Rand has no chance to win, but at least I don't cringe at everything he says. I actually hear common sense once in a while That's been rare with the clowns I see running. It's like a joke this time otherwise. Paul is the only one to sign CARERS that is a BIG deal to me.

By the way, addressing some discussion early in this thread, I wrote Obama about taking Cannabis off the schedule one list, I got an anti marijuana reply you would have thought was written some twenty years ago. Maybe he'll do it as a last minute gesture, but I doubt it highly.
 
Last edited:

vapebuddy13

Your resident Super Hero
I was hoping for the big comparisons to come out (cannabis v alcohol/tobacco) I mean most people hear the argument but you don't hear politicians make it too often. Hillary was too straight up dismissive, I mean she said she agreed with medical but the way she went about the whole thing wasn't very encouraging. She seemed to go more the "safe" route in just going with saying we don't know enough to legalize but we have states to help us with that...

I loved how Bernie was straight up like "yeah, theres no reason not to legalize, keeping it illegal is hurting us"

and yeah the other 3 were pretty rough, Chafee totally beat himself last night O'Malley kinda seemed like a car salesman
 

Gunky

Well-Known Member
I agree Hillary in her own way threaded the needle just as Bill Clinton did many years ago when he claimed he didn't inhale. My take on it is: her response was more encouraging than anything she has said before. She is for reducing incarceration, she is ok with medical and she gives a green light to state level experimentation with lifting prohibition. This is a position consultants and pollsters tell her is good for the general election, no doubt.
 

His_Highness

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
IMO....Hillary didn't shill for either side and Bernie's remarks weren't made with any kind of verbal strength.

Bernie tends toward a dramatic, impassioned delivery in terms of speech pattern.... once he takes off on a topic. His response to the MJ question was similar sounding to the way my kids answered when I would ask them to take out the trash....'Sure Dad, gimme second and I'll get right on it'. Not saying his words were non-committal....just saying the delivery was. Maybe he was already mentally crafting his next response to something else.

I was disappointed by Hillary in that she didn't commit more BUT I can't fault her logic. She has a point....the current state of legalization is all shiny and new at the state level...and could be considered an experiment of sorts because of it's newness. Why not take advantage of the experiment and let the experiments play out more and make your decisions based on the results. If I were looking for a roofer and several neighbors were getting their roof's done..... I'd probably wait to see how they make out before making my decision. It also makes for a nice middle of the road political approach....this way she won't be lining up with either camp and doesn't risk losing votes except for either side of the MJ extremist opinion who want a simple yes or no.
 

Gunky

Well-Known Member
Apparently you have to make calculations like that based on demography and spreadsheets the campaign guys use to map the path to election... Odious, but apparently required in our model democracy.

The crack in her logic is that the federal government is still raiding dispensaries, locking people up, often times state licensed and legit dispensaries. She doesn't mention that and presumably it will continue, unless she 'evolves' after getting elected. Oy vey.
 
Last edited:

Farid

Well-Known Member
Hillary said she was against legalization and said that she was most proud of Iran being her biggest enemy. My parents, my family, and I will not be voting for her under any circumstances. My father said if Bernie does not go on he will be voting for a third party candidate.

So this idea that Hilary has a better chance of beating the republicans is false when applied to people like myself and my family, as we will not vote for her under any circumstances. Bernie going all the way is the only thing that will get us voting for a democrat in the general election.

I am against her because she voted for Iraq. With the way she's talking about Iran it seems like shes preparing to throw out all the hard work Obama put into the nuclear deal, and I will do everything in my power to stop that. She's against diplomacy in favor of heavy handed international strong arming.

The Iranians have made it clear they are willing to work within the boundaries of diplomacy, especially with the situation in Iraq so volatile. They have also made it clear that they do not respond to strong arming, and would go back to sanctions before they pander to every US interest.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom