The 2016 Presidential Candidates Thread

[lwien]

All this talk about change brings up one VERY important consideration and that is that this drastic change that both Trump and Bernie are talking about "could" actually cause MORE gridlock or possibly a meltdown that would make our current state of affairs seem like heaven.

Just a thought...........which brings up the old adage........"Be careful what you wish for."

 

[lwien]

It is gonna melt down, over, and over, and over again anyway no matter who is POTUS. We have already crossed over the rainbow and we are sliding on the downside and the brakes may go at any moment.

If I had a nickel for everyone that has made that claim since the founding of our country, I'd be a very rich man.

 

[Chill Dude]

I really don't understand how anyone could be indifferent as to if Hillary or Trump gets elected..personally, I'd much rather have the status quo vs the far right and very racist and perhaps fascist candidate. Call me naive if you want, but voting for change and not caring if that change will be a progressive agenda or a right wing reactionary agenda just makes no sense to me..

 

[Joel W.]

@steama With respect, Hillary aside, do you not think Bill was a good president? Was he not good for the budget, good for the economy with low inflation, low unemployment, low crime, all with a republican-controlled congress?

Bj / impeachment bs aside...

 

[CarolKing]

I like Bill Clinton better than his wife. He will be the first to admit he wasn't a perfect president in hindsight. He put quite a few males in prison many with long prison terms for drugs and most
were black.

In 1994 he signed the 3 strikes your out law. That was devasting for young black men. This became a major strain on our prison systems in the U.S

The economy did well under President Clinton.

 

[Joel W.]

Thanks, yes I remember but I did not care then or now about what he does in his personal life.

 

[CarolKing]

None of us needed to hear all that sexual business that went on between the president (Bill Clinton) and his girl friend/intern. This wasn't what we wanted to hear every night on the nightly news. Tabloids from the White House. Then came the dress with the big stain that was held in evidence. It was a bad time for America.

What Bill Clinton did was stupid and he really lacked good judgement. I am able to separate his marital infidelity and his job of president. I still felt he did a good job as president regardless of his lapse in judgement. What he did was between he and his wife. It's nobody else's business IMO. I know it all happened in the Oval Office.

How many other presidents over the years did the same exact thing but we didn't hear about it.

 

[Joel W.]

We care about different things --

Yes, and or we don't care about different thing also. It's cool.

 

[lwien]

No man that has an intern crawl under his desk to service him in the oval office is a good president --- at all. Bill Clinton was an excellent administrator but had horrible personal character as a president.

He was in pretty good company: http://bigfrog104.com/presidential-extramarital-affairs/

And those are just the ones we know about......

If you had to guess, if you put ALL of the senators and ALL of the congressmen in one pot, say over the past 20 years, what percentage of them would you say were involved in extramarital affairs keeping in mind what comes with one who has power.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's close to 80%.

 

[Adobewan]

Bill was charming but not sure just how good a president he was.

Compromising yourself with anyone who can then hold that over your head is a security risk and not appropriate in the Oval Office.

Regarding Bill and the economy, had the dot.com boom not happened under his watch, which he played no real part in, his economic legacy would read differently.

"I didn't inhale"

 

[lwien]

Bill was charming but not sure just how good a president he was.

Bill was a schmoozer.........a la.......a charmer and, in my opinion, is one of the key attributes that a president has to have in order to get things done. Obama is not a schmoozer and that was one of his key faults in his inability to get things done. Ya have to work both sides of the isle and have the ability to SELL your ideas, especially to those whom you don't like or who you view as an obstacle.

It's what being a good politician is all about.

 

[lwien]

also because he couldn't (that's my bet anyway).

If you're implying that because of his age, I'm here to tell ya that for many of us in that age bracket, that age has nothing to do with it and yeah, I know you said it jest but I just gotta set the record straight.

 

[lwien]

of course, you gotta do something

Might as well do something as long as I'm here, eh?

 

[CarolKing]

@steama I love Bernie Sanders and plan on voting for him in my state caucus. But you never really know someone and we never really know what is in someone's closet. Hopefully no surprises - everyone is human.

In my opinion they were out to get Bill Clinton from day one. The hearings that went on about Tyson Foods and all the women that he previously had relations with. One of the women was able to get a nose job due to her notoriety and the money she made. It all turned into a circus. People don't want to live through that again.

If you choose Hillary we get Bill too. That could be a good thing or maybe a bad thing.

 

[lwien]

Far from it but I will not tolerate liars as my president.

Do you really know someone who hasn't lied? Have you ever lied? EVERYONE, including presidents have lied.

Would you not tolerate JFK as President if here were still alive and young?

 

[MinnBobber]

Bill was charming but not sure just how good a president he was.

Compromising yourself with anyone who can then hold that over your head is a security risk and not appropriate in the Oval Office.

Regarding Bill and the economy, had the dot.com boom not happened under his watch, which he played no real part in, his economic legacy would read differently.

........................................................................................
ON BILL, I have no dog in the democrat vs republican fight. I'm an independent and vote on issues:

- he was a super charmer and still is

- Monica issue was big issue with me as that was a time when any govt official who used their POWER over an employee (even if consensual) for sexual favors = immediate termination. Any govt official except the prez I guess. I worked for a local govt and if our Administrator had a consensual affair with an intern they would have been immediately fired.
And of course, the big lie later highlights the other Clinton strong suit (not)-- TRUST

- Prezs get way too much credit or blame for economy. At lot is pure, dumb luck. Bill caught a big ole financial wave (instead of a trough) and lucked out.

Bill and Hillary both max out my "abuse of power scale" and "no trust" scale.
.............................
Hillary VS The Donald:
If I really dig deep into how I feel, a big issue for me is that I KNOW what The Donald is, a pompous rude, junior-high-like, spoiled, jerk that is not a nice man. You see what he is.

Hillary (and Bill) on the other hand, are both the most "hidden" pair I've ever seen. What you see is the act they put out there in a super calculated mode. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO IDEA what they are behind their act.
At a recent interview on TV I saw Hillary being interviewed and it was an "aha moment"---I was like, holy shit, her team has told her to smile as she was smiling like a super friendly lady.
If she became prez, I'm am afraid her hidden H would come out.

I truly don't know which way I'd vote today as both Hillary and Trump are low grade choices

 

[Gunky]

........................................................................................


Hillary (and Bill) on the other hand, are both the most "hidden" pair I've ever seen. What you see is the act they put out there in a super calculated mode. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO IDEA what they are behind their act.
At a recent interview on TV I saw Hillary being interviewed and it was an "aha moment"---I was like, holy shit, her team has told her to smile as she was smiling like a super friendly lady.
If she became prez, I'm am afraid her hidden H would come out.

I truly don't know which way I'd vote today as both Hillary and Trump are low grade choices

This makes zero sense to me. Um, did you forget the eight years when Bill Clinton was president and Hillary Clinton was first lady? She was a senator and secretary of state. These people are exceedingly well known to us! It's not like the day after inauguration Hillary is going to suddenly show her true face.

As for seeing Hillary smile in an interview and imagining she was told to do so - grow up. That is so bogus! Have you looked at pictures of Marco Rubio smiling? It's like a death rictus. The teeth are exposed but the eyes are far away somewhere. Hillary up and laughs a good solid braying laugh, and every wrinkle on her face crinkles up. Please, these people are running for president. They all have handlers and scripts and talking points etc. But Hillary happens to be one of the more spontaneous, most thoughtful, least scripted and best able to think on her feet of the current crop of candidates, Sanders included. People have been pounding her for so long that the story is no longer she lied about something specific, but just the insinuation that there is something vaguely untrustworthy about her.

 

[MinnBobber]

These people are exceedingly well known to us!

............................................................
If you think "What you see is what you get" with the Clintons, then you my friend need "new glasses"

Peace,
out

 

[Gunky]

............................................................
If you think "What you see is what you get" with the Clintons, then you my friend need "new glasses"

Peace,
out

Clinton hating is a thing. Long history to it. The whole country was paralyzed for a while so repubs could hunt through closets and under beds looking for signs of Bill Clinton having a dalliance. If you have something you object to about Hillary Clinton then say it. Just slamming her vaguely as bad, Fox News style is an unworthy argument. Given the absurd level of pandering going on over on the republican side, it's astonishing that you would single Clinton out as calculating or insincere. The current repubs have a patent on that. Rubio's position on immigration has him contorting like a pretzel. Bush, who just lately found courage to speak up against Trump, vacillated and suggested only letting in Christians from Syria a few weeks ago. Do ya think he might have made a calculation there? Or Cruz? Next to Cruz Hillary Clinton is a paragon of virtue and transparency. Pfooey!

 

[grokit]

The problem I had with Bill Clinton was the way he decided to lie to the American people. If he had nailed Monica in some hut on a golf course I could care less. What Bill decided to do was lie to the American People and destroy a young woman under his employment to save his own cowardly ass. That is what Bill did. I think there is film footage of it somewhere?

Something I doubt a man with integrity like Bernie Sanders would ever do mostly because he wouldn't but also because he couldn't (that's my bet anyway).

I can't argue with you, mainly because you didn't use the word "is"
Love him or hate him, that was a masterstroke

Clinton hating is a thing.

There ya go

 

[Adobewan]

Comparing Hillary to the line up of Republican chuckleheads doesn't strengthen her in the eyes of people who have already disregarded said chuckleheads.
Yes, Hillary has positives over the Republicans. That doesn't remove her transgressions.

 

[Gunky]

Comparing Hillary to the line up of Republican chuckleheads doesn't strengthen her in the eyes of people who have already disregarded said chuckleheads.
Yes, Hillary has positives over the Republicans. That doesn't remove her transgressions.

See, you did it too! Her transgressions. Dark mutterings of dastardly deeds but what? This is what is technically called a 'smear job'.

Ask yourself what do you really know about Hillary Clinton's negatives aside from years and years of mendacious bashing by those same chuckleheads?

 

[CuckFumbustion]

You don't have to examine her smile or fake laugh to figure what she is up too. She will be determined to leave her own mark and her own agenda. So forget the whole "What you see is what you get." You will not be getting a third term of Bill Clinton. I figured that out the last time she ran. She has been persuing and circling the office since at least her college years. If you don't think she is ambitious, I would like you to show me somebody else who has used more cunning and conning to get closer to the office ever. I couldn't think of anybody either. Now think about all the people who she is connected to within her campaign and who will end up in her cabinet. Starting to sound a lot less like WYSIWYG. Now doesn't it?

If I completely hit the reset, forgot all of her history and baggage and just examined her behavior in the last 6 months, I would still think roughly about the same of her. Voters are trying to separate her from Monsanto by handing a petition around. So there are people who are just as irrational lovers of Hillary as well as haters.

Admittingly, She is the status quo candidate, But that is as far as I will go with the whole 'devil you know' concept. Bill Clinton wasn't too shabby a republican either. We had a budget surplus. Got people off public assistance and into the work force.

 

[grokit]

There were basically two things that pissed me off about the clinton administration.
The repealing of glass-stegall (more in retrospect), and ken starr.
He wasted so much of america's money, and time.
Just a partisan congressional hit man.
What a prick !

And oh yeah thanks^ monsanto probably got some sweet deals back then too

 

[Gunky]

As far as I can make out, the Monsanto thing is something she said participating on a panel 1n 1996. Twenty years ago? This is like saying I'd never vote for Bernie because he opposed the Brady Bill. OK if you are a one-issue (and kind of lesser issue at that) voter.