US Election 2016

[HAL]

When was this exactly?

[Wokko]

Trump's support is growing among minorities, particularly Black and Hispanic voters.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/16/cnns-dr-drew-pinsky-much-to-my-surprise-trump-supporters-are-people-of-color-of-various-races-ethnicities/

[Wokko]

Debate live now.

http://www.playlivenew.com/2010/08/watch-cnn-news-live/

[Wokko]

[stui magpie]

Saw some highlights of the debate on the 7 news. A few of them tried to have a go at Trump and got seriously owned. He's playing them on a break.

I'm starting to think Scott Adams Master Wizard hypothesis has legs.

[Wokko]

Trump can seriously lay the smack down when he wants to and is a pretty funny guy. When they were all asked a fluff question at the end about what their secret service callsign would be Trump said "Humble"

[stui magpie]

How was the crack to Jeb Bush "You're showing more energy tonight. Good"

[Wokko]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/top-10-zingers-of-the-second-gop-debate-20150916

Trump was on fire. Fiorina got a few hits in too. To be honest I though Christie performed really, really well and so did Carson and Cruz, but Trump is really starting to find his feet, I can see his lead growing.

[David]

Now they've been campaigning for a little while, here's my impression of the top 11 Republican candidates.

Rand Paul: By far the most principled and interesting of the right-wing candidates. Sure, I vehemently disagree with many of his positions, but you actually get coherent, half-sensible positions from him. On foreign policy, the NSA and civil liberties, he's as good if not better than most of the Democratic candidates; on guns, healthcare, social welfare and taxation, the worst you can say about him is that he's about on par with the other Republicans. If I had to pick one person for the Republican nomination, it'd be him.

Jeb Bush: It's little surprise that he's long been considered the front-runner; he speaks calmly and eloquently, takes a slightly more moderate (but still very much establishment Republican) stance on most issues. When I say 'moderate', though, that's in the American context - he'd hardly be to the left of Cory Bernardi. Otherwise, he still backs the Iraq War as a good decision, embarrassingly enough.

Donald Trump: He's a total dumb-arse, to be frank, and in a sane world that would make him unelectable. He has no significant policies of any substance, devotes interviews to commenting on opponents' physical appearance (seriously) and ranting about his incredible wealth as if it makes him qualified to be anything other than a Geoffrey Edelsten-esque douchebag. Having said all that, he does hold some relatively 'liberal' positions on healthcare and women's rights, but for God's sake don't let him anywhere near the White House.

Ben Carson: He's a neuroscientist, which sounds promising enough, but his views are way out in fruitbat territory. Creationism, anti-gay sentiments, the whole lot. Otherwise, certainly not as immediately unlikeable as some of the others, and might not be the worst diplomat either.

Scott Walker: Not the musician, unfortunately. He's probably my least favourite candidate purely for being the archetypal smarmy god-fearing Republican with the sincerity of a used car salesman. Was probably a '50s sitcom Dad in an earlier life. I expect he'll make it to the last 3 or 4 candidates at least. Oh, and did I mention he wants to build a wall along the Canadian border!?

John Kasich: Bit of a nothing. I got the impression he was one of the more moderate ones, but honestly just sounds like all the rest. Will probably drop out soon-ish.

Mike Huckabee: Again, not really sure why he's there. Captures the hardcore evangelical vote, but that's never going to be enough for him to get the candidacy. This is like his third attempt at least, and he's not really bringing anything new to the table.

Carly Fiorina: The only woman running on the Republican side and one of the better speakers. Actually has some proper business experience (and fewer bankruptcies than Trump, to boot!), and comes from outside the Republican party establishment. I reckon she'll do well, possibly even a dark horse for the nomination.

Chris Christie: Seems like a nice guy, relatively speaking, but is way too gung ho on national security fearmongering for my liking. Could do a good Joe Hockey impersonation if he was so inclined.

Ted Cruz: officially the second worst candidate behind Scott from the golf club. A tea party favourite who made his name helping grind the country to a halt a couple of years back when Obama was trying to raise the debt ceiling. More or less portrays Obama as the antichrist (though they all do that to an extent) and backs Trump on immigration. His attempt to connect with the Republican youth demographic (i.e. under-65s) was doing Simpsons impersonations for Buzzfeed. If you value not cringing, don't watch it.

Marco Rubio: He's there for the 'Hispanic' vote, mainly. Supposedly one of the frontrunners, but I haven't gained much of an impression of where he stands on anything yet.

[Tannin]

Carly Fiorina was a notably unsuccessful President of Hewlett-Packard, as I recall. Her reputation in the IT industry was not a good one. Indeed, she was laughed at a lot. Mind you, running an industrial basket case like HP would test anyone out. I'd just as soon be put in charge of Kodak.

[stui magpie]

[HAL]

I think [quote] One thing he is more than that.

[David]

[pietillidie]

[pietillidie]

Lol - Trump Q&A on Twitter...

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/donald-trump-announces-asktrump-qanda-on-twitter-backfires-spectacularly/story-fnjwnhzf-1227538837451