The 2016 Presidential Candidates Thread

[grokit]

Spoiler alert...

Cornel West and Jill Stein’s Campaign Against Clinton and Trump

Some of the smarter Democrats who can read polls are getting worried. With Hillary Clinton as their presumptive nominee, they will “have to be prepared for a close election,” as their dilemma was understated by Senator Bob Casey. In his keystone blue state of Pennsylvania, which cast its hefty electoral vote for Democrats in the last six elections, Donald Trump is polling ahead of Clinton.

Superdelegates and other Democrats might have taken similar polls into consideration during the primary/caucus season when Sanders, but not Clinton, from the beginning consistently finished well ahead of Trump. If they want to stop being “freaked out,” as another Democrat described their problem, they only need to change their candidate. The margin of victory for Republicans is composed of people who will not vote Democrat because they specifically dislike and distrust Clinton. The original purpose of superdelegates was to correct for the folly of nominating a loser like Clinton, when a popular winner like Sanders is available. With Servergate swinging open, and the Republican base calling to “lock ‘er up” as their loudest single demand, Clinton’s prospects are unlikely to improve.

The clock is ticking for the Democrats. Sanders could still be nominated, even though he is planning to support Clinton, for unpersuasive reasons. What Democrats need to do to win used to be called a “draft.” Though Sanders already capitulated, he could still be drafted to accept the nomination.

If they would like to avoid the risk of electing Trump, instead of continuing their death march over the Clinton cliff, these party leaders can still organize their fellow Superdelegates to help nominate their newest party-loyalist. The Superdelegates only need to abstain from the first ballot. This would release enough of Clinton’s pledged delegates for a majority of them to nominate Sanders on the second ballot. The superdelegates only need to stay out of the nomination process, until the pledged delegates themselves discuss and decide the most prudent course for Democrats.

To make it easier for the professional Democrats to get off the fence and opt for victory rather than risk defeat with Clinton, Cornel West and Jill Stein should announce that they are running a joint campaign for President and Vice President. They stand for the same progressive themes that Sanders promoted in the most exciting primary contest for generations. But Sanders decided, in the end, to pursue those issues through a professional activist issue organization rather than through 2016 electoral politics...

much more...
http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/07/22/cornel-west-jill-steins-campaign-clinton-trump/

 

[cybrguy]

It was very obvious to the regular person that watches democratic politics that the DNC favored Hillary. Their job is to be neutral.

This is the part that you guys seem to be missing. The DNC's job is NOT to be neutral, The DNC's job is to support and promote THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!!!

It stuns me that so many of you seem to think that it should be the Chair of the DNC's job to treat an insurgent who clearly states his goal is to trash the Democratic party as it exists the same way that they treat a standard bearer who not only believes in the party, but has spent her whole career WORKING FOR THE PARTY. The Chair's job is to support and promote (wait for it....) THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Duh!

This is something I have never been able to fathom. I think, given the process and the players, that Bernie was treated better than he would have been if I were the chair.

I know this doesn't get me much support in here, but if I were in charge of the party platform I would be doing whatever I could to close all of the primaries and eliminate caucuses completely. The Democratic candidate should be chosen BY DEMOCRATS in as fair (and democratic) a method as possible, not behind closed doors, and that is with a closed primary. And that, to me, is also DUH.

Bernie even said today in his interview on Meet the Press, that he is the LONGEST STANDING INDEPENDENT IN AMERICAN POLITICS. That is INDEPENDENT, not DEMOCRAT.

This is all moot now, of course, the DNC is caving to the Bernie supporters and taking DWS out of the mix. I don't really care if she is involved going forward, but I think her treatment has been terrible and childish.

And anyone who has supported Bernie in the past who isn't doing everything they can to defeat Trump, including voting for Hillary, is driving a stake into America that may be impossible to remove. I wish there was a way to punish you with a Trump Presidency without punishing the rest of us, including the rest of the free world.

 

[grokit]

:
The democratic party is obviously split between corporatism and populism, and since those two concepts are mutually exclusive, this split could easily develop into an irreversible chasm that could go either way in the future. The democrats are barely more unified than the republicans are atm, and drumpf will exploit this. As the gop falls into line behind him, the democrats are bleeding support to greens and libertarians.


edit:

I think there were many who felt Hilary was robbed in 2008 of her "rightful" spot: remember how folks were certain that she would be "The One"? I think some of her supporters became officials in the DNC.

"The clock s ticking for Democrats. Sanders could still be nominated, even though he is planning to support Clinton, for unpersuasive reasons. What Democrats need to do to win used to be called a “draft.” Though Sanders already capitulated, he could still be drafted to accept the nomination.

If they would like to avoid the risk of electing Trump, instead of continuing their death march over the Clinton cliff, these party leaders can still organize their fellow Superdelegates to help nominate their newest party-loyalist. The Superdelegates only need to abstain from the first ballot."

 

[Silat]

FOX NOISE LIES
http://www.mintpressnews.com/pants-...-60-of-fox-news-facts-are-really-lies/205563/

This is the part that you guys seem to be missing. The DNC's job is NOT to be neutral, The DNC's job is to support and promote THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!!!

It stuns me that so many of you seem to think that it should be the Chair of the DNC's job to treat an insurgent who clearly states his goal is to trash the Democratic party as it exists the same way that they treat a standard bearer who not only believes in the party, but has spent her whole career WORKING FOR THE PARTY. The Chair's job is to support and promote (wait for it....) THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Duh!

This is something I have never been able to fathom. I think, given the process and the players, that Bernie was treated better than he would have been if I were the chair.

I know this doesn't get me much support in here, but if I were in charge of the party platform I would be doing whatever I could to close all of the primaries and eliminate caucuses completely. The Democratic candidate should be chosen BY DEMOCRATS in as fair (and democratic) a method as possible, not behind closed doors, and that is with a closed primary. And that, to me, is also DUH.

Bernie even said today in his interview on Meet the Press, that he is the LONGEST STANDING INDEPENDENT IN AMERICAN POLITICS. That is INDEPENDENT, not DEMOCRAT.

This is all moot now, of course, the DNC is caving to the Bernie supporters and taking DWS out of the mix. I don't really care if she is involved going forward, but I think her treatment has been terrible and childish.

And anyone who has supported Bernie in the past who isn't doing everything they can to defeat Trump, including voting for Hillary, is driving a stake into America that may be impossible to remove. I wish there was a way to punish you with a Trump Presidency without punishing the rest of us, including the rest of the free world.

Word... The party is a PRIVATE PARTY.

 

[Silat]

Today Fareed Zackaria gave a great little editorial.
Here is the editorial:
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/07/fareed-zakaria-golden-age-gop-promises

And here is some of that non-existent overt nazi style dog whistle racism that does not exist (SARCASM) in the K0CHsucker Party membership and leadership:
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/07/ann-coulter-attacks-cnns-fareed-zakaria

 

[CarolKing]

Wasserman Shultz will probably be stepping down by the end of the day. They can't have her to continue on. She needs to be gone before tomorrow.

Curious I would have liked to have heard some of the Trump Campaign's emails. I'm sure they were hacked too but we aren't hearing anything about them.

It's up to Bernie in his speech Monday night to see what happens.

 

[lwien]

FOX NOISE (news) LIES

That's kind of akin to stating........"Water is wet !!"

Today Fareed Zackaria gave a great little editorial.
Here is the editorial:
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/07/fareed-zakaria-golden-age-gop-promises

Soooo glad you posted this. I watched his show this morning and was thinking of posting this up here as well.

 

[Silat]

That's kind of akin to stating........"Water is wet !!"



Soooo glad you posted this. I watched his show this morning and was thinking of posting this up here as well.

Coulter is realizing that the monster she helped create does not care for her.

 

[grokit]

Hillary vs. drumpf = (ethos+logos) vs. pathos.

"Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response. Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason."

Bernie had pathos, that's why he was the one to defeat drumpf.

Because passionate voters are the ones that vote

 

[lwien]

Because passionate voters vote

Agreed but I think that Trump is so polarizing that he has created as much passion for him as against him. Now it's up to Hillary and Kaine to put the cherry on top.

 

[cybrguy]

But don't forget this...

 

[grokit]

Agreed but I think that Trump is so polarizing that he has created as much passion for him as against him. Now it's up to Hillary and Kaine to put the cherry on top.

We shall see if negative passion is enough to drive people to the polls in droves.

History says it won't be.

 

[lwien]

We shall see if negative passion is enough to drive people to the polls in droves.

History says it won't be.

History doesn't include someone like Donald Trump...........well maybe Goldwater.

 

[cybrguy]

History doesn't include someone like Donald Trump

Actually it does. He was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933.

 

[lwien]

Shultz just said that she's going to step down AFTER the convention and that she will both open and close it. WTF ?!?!?!

Before she gets two words out she's gonna be booed louder than Cruz was booed. Why would she or anyone else allow this to happen? What a stupid-assed decision. The negatives so far out weigh any potential positives that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Open the convention with boos. Yeah, that's a great way to start it off in being able to portray party unity in contrast the the GOP convention.

Get her the fuck outta there..................NOW !!!

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/22/politics/dnc-wikileaks-emails/index.html

Actually it does. He was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933.

Was referring to American politics..........not German politics.

 

[grokit]

The only one that can get rid of dws is hillary, and she won't because they have a pact

edit:
@lwien don't forget that germany actually locked hitler up for a while before he took that country to task. I'm certain that the opposition never thought he could actually gain such power after that, but he did.

 

[CarolKing]

I think in this day and age until technology can make it so people's emails can't get hacked, anyone with great importance should go with the assumption that they are probably being hacked. So don't say stuff that you don't want everyone to know about.

The important thing is to find out who did this.

@cybrguy yes, it is the DNC's job is to stay neutral before the right democrat is chosen. She is so wrooonnng and she and whoever else has jeopodised the democrats chances and her own reelection chances in her state, Bernie is supporting Wasserman Shultz's opponent.

Edit
I think Donna Brazille needs to take over the job this week, she is the assistant chairperson with the DNC. Wasserman Shultz shouldN't address the democratic delegates at all. She will embarrass herself if she does IMO.

The democrats can't allow this to split the party. That just plays into Donald Trump's evil hands.

All of this causes folks to throw their hands up in disgust and choose not to vote at all for either party.

 

[grokit]

This just in...

Democratic Party leader, Wasserman Schultz, resigns on eve of convention

PHILADELPHIA — Debbie Wasserman Schultz is resigning under pressure as Democratic Party chairwoman, a stunning leadership shake-up as party officials gather in Philadelphia to nominate Hillary Clinton.

Wasserman Schultz’s announcement Sunday follows a firestorm over hacked emails suggesting the Democratic National Committee favored Clinton during the primary, despite pledging neutrality. The leaked emails prompted primary runner-up Bernie Sanders to call for Wasserman Schultz’s immediate resignation.

In a statement, Wasserman Schultz said she will step down at the end of the four-day convention. She said she plans to formally open and close the convention, as well as address delegates.

Her statement does not address the email controversy.

Wasserman Schultz’s swift ouster underscores party leaders’ desire to avoid convention confrontations with Sanders’ loyal supporters. The chairwoman has been a lightning rod for criticism throughout the presidential campaign, with Sanders repeatedly accusing the DNC of backing Clinton.

Sanders said the 19,000 emails published by the website WikiLeaks appeared to confirm his suspicions.

In one leaked email, a DNC official wondered whether Sanders’ religious beliefs could be used against him, questioning whether the candidate may be an atheist.

Sanders pressed for Wasserman Schultz to quit as chairwoman immediately. He also suggested that Clinton’s choice of running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, was a disappointment and that he would have preferred Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of liberals.

“His political views are not my political views. He is more conservative than I am. Would I have preferred to see somebody like an Elizabeth Warren selected by Secretary Clinton? Yes, I would have,” Sanders told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The Clinton team worked to portray their party’s convention in a different light from the just concluded Republican gathering in Cleveland, where Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination but party divisions flared when his chief rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, refused to endorse the billionaire businessman.

Trump cast himself as the law-and-order candidate in a nation suffering under crime and hobbled by immigration, as the GOP convention stuck to a gloom-and-doom theme. Democrats said they wanted to convey a message of optimism and improving the lives of all Americans.

But party disunity also seems to be a factor in Philadelphia, given Sanders’ demands for a new leader and general unhappiness among his many supporters about how the nomination process unfolded.

Norman Solomon, a delegate who supports Bernie Sanders, says there is talk among Sanders’ delegates of walking out during Kaine’s acceptance speech or turning their backs as a show of protest.

Dan O’Neal, 68, is a retired schoolteacher and delegate from Arizona, said Wasserman Schultz has to be censured.

Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, tried to shift blame away from DNC officials to “Russian state actors” who, he said, may have hacked into DNC computers “for the purpose of helping Donald Trump,” the Republican presidential nominee.

How the emails were stolen hasn’t been confirmed.

“It was concerning last week that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian,” Mook said.

Clinton is within just days of her long-held ambition to become the party’s official presidential nominee.

After the DNC released a slightly trimmed list of superdelegates — those are the party officials who can back any candidate — it now takes 2,382 delegates to formally clinch the nomination. Clinton has 2,814 when including superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count. Sanders has 1,893.

Sanders has endorsed Clinton, but his delegates are pushing for a state-by-state tally. The state-by-state roll call is scheduled for Tuesday.

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-...=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all

 

[lwien]

@grokit, read my post above.

 

[Krazy]

Damage done at this point, even if The Donald isn't our next commander in chief.

I am most definitely NOT a Clinton fan and $#%& both parties for putting us in a position where she is the only rational choice. But the hate and bigotry that Trump has been pimping won't just go away if he fails.

 

[CarolKing]

Dismayed by Donald Trump, Michael Bloomberg Will Endorse Hillary Clinton

By ALEXANDER BURNSJULY 24, 2016

Continue reading the main storyShare This Page

• Michael R. Bloomberg, who bypassed his own run for the presidency this election cycle, will endorse Hillary Clinton in a prime-time address at the Democratic convention and make the case for Mrs. Clinton as the best choice for moderate voters in 2016, an adviser to Mr. Bloomberg said.
  
  The news is an unexpected move from Mr. Bloomberg, who has not been a member of the Democratic Party since 2000; was elected the mayor of New York City as a Republican; and later became an independent.
  
  But it reflects Mr. Bloomberg’s increasing dismay about the rise of Donald J. Trump and a determination to see that the Republican nominee is defeated.
  
  Mrs. Clinton is seeking to reach out to middle-of-the-road swing voters and even moderate Republicans uneasy about Mr. Trump. Polls show that significant numbers of Republicans remain wary of Mr. Trump, and question his fitness for the presidency.
  
  Mr. Bloomberg will vouch for Mrs. Clinton “from the perspective of a business leader and an independent,” said Howard Wolfson, a senior adviser to Mr. Bloomberg.
  
  “As the nation’s leading independent and a pragmatic business leader, Mike has supported candidates from both sides of the aisle,” Mr. Wolfson said. “This week in Philadelphia he will make a strong case that the clear choice in this election is Hillary Clinton.”
  
  Mr. Bloomberg, who has been sharply critical of Mr. Trump’s views on immigration and the economy, may fortify Mrs. Clinton’s appeal to the political center.
  
  And with the Republican nominee basing his campaign on his background as a businessman, Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire media executive and philanthropist, may help counter the Trump sales pitch.

 

[yogoshio]

What a shocker, the Dem in Repub clothing endorses a Dem. I am pretty sure everyone saw that coming.

 

[Silat]

What a shocker, the Dem in Repub clothing endorses a Dem. I am pretty sure everyone saw that coming.

Right. Not.
He is whatever he needs to be.
Bloomberg Corp. is left? LOL
He got elected mayor as a republican and because Himmler err I mean Giuliani endorsed him.

 

[neverforget711]

Actually it does. He was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933.

Trump is more like America's Bibi than that one. You can be a jingoist prick and still not be fascist not to say no intersection but you can get a lot of mileage out of it.

 

[grokit]

Right. Not.
He is whatever he needs to be.
Bloomberg Corp. is left? LOL
He got elected mayor as a republican and because Himmler err I mean Giuliani endorsed him.

Like many "conservative democrats", he votes for his stock portfolio.

Progressive democrats have different priorities