The GOP 2016 presidential "hopefuls"
 

This is what the Republican party has to offer... I dunno if I should laugh or cry at the sad state of affairs.

Chris Christie

Rand Paul

Ted Cruz

Rick Perry

Mike Huckabee

Rick Santorum

Bobby Jindal

Those are the 7 hopefuls that plan to show up in Iowa...

No shows will be...


Jeb Bush

Scott Walker

Paul Ryan

Marco Rubio


The GOP spent the last 6 years telling us how horrible Obama was, and this is all they have to show for themselves? A couple nut jobs and governors with more skeletons in their closest than Nixon..

The sad part is the best of the bunch is probably Jeb Bush.. I can't wait to see which one of these turds you righties decide to try and polish. :1orglaugh

No, the sad part is clinging to the belief that you can fix the clusterfuck we are in by voting in an entirely rigged system, with players paid off by the largest corporations in the world.

I'm pretty sure not a single one of the guys in that list are fixing anything. Every single one of the Governors has fucked shit up in their own states and the nut jobs don't stand a chance because they just pander to their extremely narrow bases.

I for one will be looking forward to falling off my chair laughing at one idiot after another make fools of themselves on national TV.

Hillary 2016: Easy.

QFT. Everything else is just a political "horse race" to amuse and distract people without enough intelligence to see that they are being led like sheep.

QFT :thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

The only one I can side with on some issues is Rand Paul, but he's as kooky as the rest of them and will definitely have many, many gaffes during the election cycle. He can't help but put his foot in his mouth.

I don't think it matters who wins the next presidential election. The blueprint has been drawn over the last 5-6 years on exactly how to bring the government to a grinding halt so I think we will see more of the same that we have seen in recent years.

For a govt. that has been at a "grinding halt"...it still managed to change the entire "health care" system and turn it into a giant gift to insurance companies. And it also managed to find time to kill thousands of more people around the world with bombing and drone strikes.

I'd love to see the federal govt. actually come to a "grinding halt" sometimes. But it just keeps getting bigger and more powerful every day.

But they've got the majority of people believing that "nothing is getting done".

Newsflash: The govt. isn't supposed to be "doing" stuff constantly the way it does these days and spending money that it doesn't have and running the debt to 17 trillion dollars.

That's the way I see it anyway.
For an entity that has been brought to a "grinding halt", it still managed to spend more money than at any time in history. :(

EDIT: I left out the massive spying that our govt. is doing on it's own citizens. "Grinding halt"? I wish.

I agree. The vast majority of the things the Federal gov't does, shouldn't be remotely dealt with at that level. Almost all of it should be done at the local and State levels. Federal should be minimal, and do very little. IMO anyways.

I can honestly say I do not know most of them. I might know who they are and what state they are from, but that's it. Chris Christie is the only one I know of but I'm not sure if he cold pull it off.

I believe that the Republicans would have been beat no matter who ran against them; All the Democrat needed was a "warm body without drama" which is exactly what they got. The entire country was pissed about the economy, and while we can't really put blame on the Republican party there was a Republican in the White House when it all went down. McCain wasn't it - he is an "old white dude with lots of money", and Romney wasn't the solution but just "more of the problem" - a white guy who uses other people's money to buy stuff and profit off of while he ran it into the ground which is exactly what the banks were doing...

Other than Hilary I have no idea who the Democratic party will be putting up. It sure will be fun to watch.

I used to think that Chris Christie would be the best bet to be the next republican president. He seemed like a tough no nonsense guy and smart one too, but the whole bridge-gate scandal will put those brakes on if he ends up being convicted.

That punk Ted Cruz can't run as he's not a natural-born American... unless he somehow changes the law. I kind of hope he does. PLEASE America, don't vote for that idiot Canadian! :)

So what do you suggest?

Rand Paul has more common sense then anyone on either side of the aisle, because he's not a true republican but a libertarian and so sadly we will be stuck with the status quo.

Rand Paul agrees with you. :winkwink:

OTR: repubs win the wh in 2016.

It's a lock, peeps.

The sad thing is if Jeb Bush ran he would probably do the best out of them all.

I keep forgetting about him... but yes he might be able to win the nomination and probably give Hillary a run for her money. I think though that no one, not even republicans, are ready for another Bush in the white house.

I was thinking - it must be damn impossible to be a republican now. You have to lean so far to the right to get the tea-party vote, but that far to the right is "crazy" even for republicans. I don't think republicans can win without the tea party vote.

Oh well.

*snicker*

Repbulicans are Democrats are Republicans are Democrats.

Once you realize that you'll be a better person.

I agree, it's to bad the media and people on Obama's nuts blame everything on Bush and trashed his name.

The only thing I know about Rand Paul is a statement he made "Porn?, Not In My State!"

I still believe Romney would have been the best thing for our Country, It's to bad Media killed his chances, That and the birth control stuff etc.

Face it we are living in an oligarchy. Democracy is an illusion.

That's what happens when everyone wants freedom at any price

So tea party would vote for democrat candidate?

When did the "Tea Party" become the religious nut side of the Republican Party? Did I miss something?

It thought T.E.A. stood for "Taxed Enough Already" and is all about smaller govt. and less taxes.

Maybe some religious nuts have infiltrated it...but the TEA Party has nothing to do with being "far right". I suppose that is how they are labeled by the media?

If you want a smaller govt., less taxes, and more personal freedom...you are "extreme right" these days? Hell, that used to be hippy-level LEFT back in the 1960's and 1970's before the new fake liberals took over and convinced everyone to bow down to the Federal govt. instead of protesting AGAINST it (like REAL libs did back in the day).

Rand Paul is just like his dad.. He talks for a few mins and sounds ok, but any longer and the fruit loops just spill everywhere..

Actually what is scary is the Jeb Bush is the most sane out of the bunch. I never really had any problems with him as the FL governor, but I'd be damned if I wanted another Bush in the WH.. LoL

To be fair the health care system was put in place during the first two years. That's when Obama was able to get things done. After Republicans won the house everything then came to a grinding halt.

I always wished Senator Bill Nelson would run. He's from my home town and my parents went to school with him, he's one of the few politicians that actually does a good job. You never see him mixed up in shady shit.

This is the same things that polls show across the U.S.

Congress has super LOW ratings. But when you ask people about THEIR Rep. or Senator...they give them high rankings. :(
Funny how that works with human nature.


They all need to go.

no sane candidate will make it through the primaries...

Na it's really not. Yes there is a personal connection of being a local senator, but he really has done a good job. He's not one of these guys trying to make headlines. He just does his job.

Crockett Science. :)

Can't argue with the truth. Bill Nelson has been a congressman since 1979 and before that he was in the state house of reps. Meanwhile John McCain has been in office since only 1983.. However you don't see Nelson running his mouth of TV self promoting himself like McCain does in fact most probably don't know who he is..

That's because he is one of the few that actually does his job rather than focuses on trying to make a big spectacle of himself.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KWE1JAt8L.jpg

:2 cents:

In other words...a lifetime/career bureaucrat.

You are proving my point. This guy has been involved in govt. for 40 years. He is one of the people who put us in the situation we are in . And yet...since he's YOUR guy, he's cool. It's the politicians from other people's districts that suck.

This is what I'm talking about.
What you're saying isn't uncommon Crockett. Matter of fact it's human nature. And every politician knows this shit inside and out.

It's how they spend their whole lives living off of the taxpayer teat instead of getting real jobs and living in the real world.

Let's see.

I would describe Ronald Reagan as a Republican.
Chris Christie as Republic too.
Rick Perry as Right-leaning republican.
Ted Cruz, Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin as Farrrrr right wing.

Would you agree?

I would describe Bachman and Palin as religious nutcases who came out and "supported" the tea party hoping to get votes from them.

Cruz is probably closer to what the Tea Party is about I would think.

Out of Reagan, Christie, and Perry....Perry is not a Republican in the traditional sense. He's another one of the guys who "prays" for answers :(

The Republican party that was in existence for over a century (the real one) is the party of Lincoln. The party that was for fiscal responsibility. The party that was for less govt.

In other words...it doesn't exist anymore.

So to try and say this bureaucrat or that bureaucrat is a "real" Republican or a "far right" or "extreme" is pretty much pointless.
They are ALL nothing but lifetime/career bureaucrat's who will be ANYTHING to get your vote.

If the people in a certain area decided to start giving blood sacrifices to "God" again...they'd jump on board if they thought it would get them elected. :(

I suppose we should just randomly elect aircraft pilots to fly airliners from now on. I mean hey who needs experienced people when any John Doe can do the job just fine..

A pilot has to be trained to fly an aircraft. It's a SKILL.

Representing the voters of the area where you live and giving them a voice in the govt. is something that we ALL can and should do. Not just a small group of lawyers who have never done anything else in their lives. You don't need training to be able to cast a vote on behalf of your constituents.

Why on Earth do you think that Bill Nelson or John McCain have some special magical abilities when it comes to representing their state in Congress?

Your analogy is pure "crockett science". Do you REALLY think Ted Cruz or Nancy Pelosi are somehow smarter than you are and that you couldn't do their jobs?

They are nothing but career/lifetime bureaucrats with very little "real world" experience. They live and work in Washington D.C. and get paid by the tax payer.

I'm not impressed. Nor should you be.

Walker is definitely out.

His re-election ads are backfiring to the point that they are making the local news.

The cost of personal security for him and his family is also raising eyebrows.

And now he's playing politics by calling for a repeal of Common Core without offering any plan to replace it.

The difference between republicans and democrats I see these days is republicans blame the politicians/government for the problems we have while democrats blame the private individuals and companies that are fueling (via money from ridiculous laws) the problems in government.

You want freedom from the laws the government makes? Well part of unlimited freedom allows you to take vast sums of money to warp government for economic advantages (or even worse, religious reasons).

Without reasonable government regulations, this situation gets worse, not better. Just look at every fucking crisis that has been caused from deregulation and how great it was supposed to be.

Voting out career politicians will just vote in new politicians that are required to have wealthy backers for their PACs to have a chance of being elected. So their beliefs have already been bought. You need to change this fucked up a system of money buying everything in politics before anything remotely different can happen

Sadly it's just going to get worse. Much worse. And all you people talking about how "freedom" is what we need are just buying into this whole illusion that has been bought and paid for

Problem is...the current Republicans and Democrats in office are the ones who make the campaign laws. And they make it so hard for any "third party" candidate to even get on the ballot that it's almost impossible.

The only sure way to get elected is to be a Democrat or Republican and have the party machine fund you and finance you all the way in.

And then? Well then you OBEY the party leaders in the House and Senate and you cast yote according to what Sen. Reid tells a Dem in the Senate or Sen. McConnell tells a Repub in the Senate.

That's what I was saying to crockett...He (and a majority of Americans) have been led to think that our representatives are geniuses and have all kinds of "experience".
The only thing they have "experience" at is fucking the country up. And it doesn't take a genius to go and vote the way the Senate or House leader told you to on every issue.

But yeah...they make sure the campaign laws are set up to keep the 2-party system in power.

And if you try to vote in a new Republican or Democrat candidate...you just get a new guy who will do EXACTLY what the old guy did when it comes to voting in Congress...obey the party leaders.

The only thing that can change this is for the people of the United States to stop voting for the 2 parties and start voting for candidates that actually espouse your beliefs.

If you are crazy religious and pro-life and want a govt run by the Baptist church...then WHY are you voting for a Republican? They will NEVER do that.

If you are a guy like me....pro-choice, anti-war, anti-drug war, pro-freedom...then WHY would you vote for a Democrat? They will NEVER actually do the things they pretend to believe in.

It's time we started finding candidates who are not beholden to the current 2 party power structure that has fucked our country up.

Just look at us. In debt up to our eyeballs, being searched at airports, cops searching us at traffic stops and frisking people on the streets, most of the world hating our guts, the economy barely hanging on...Where we are at is directly the cause of the Republican and Democrat 2 Party System.

Hell, some of those guys have been in office since the 1970's! THEY are the ones who did this to us, and we just keep re-electing them over and over while they laugh all the way to the bank. :(

I'm sorry but that is just a ridiculous notion. Sure a randomly intelligent person could run a small town or learn how to represent at the state level, but even that is going to take time. Thinking some random joe is going to just walk into office and be able to help run the govt and create laws with zero experience is just retarded,.

It's just like someone isn't going to walk into the porn industry and instantly make money or even know how to run a website. You seriously can't be so sense as to think there is no skill or profession involved when it comes to politics.

Added to this we've already had this topic covered before and I brought up the giant gapping hole in your argument. If we only had a bunch of one term elected officials, they wouldn't have to give a fuck what you thought of them. They would just lie their way into office take care of their special,interest and not give a flying fuck about getting elected again. Hell most probably wouldn't give a shit if they did the job right or wrong because they are out the next time around anyway.

Your idea is the same as most of the libertarian ideas, which is not biased on reality and wishful thinking at best.

The issue is money in politics, not how long someone has served.

crockett, seriously, it's not an either or proposition and the problems resulting from career politicians are historical and this was a big issue to address when this nation was formed:

Term limits date back to the American Revolution, and prior to that to the democracies and republics of antiquity. The council of 500 in ancient Athens rotated its entire membership annually, as did the ephorate in ancient Sparta. The ancient Roman Republic featured a system of elected magistrates?tribunes of the plebs, aediles, quaestors, praetors, and consuls?who served a single term of one year, with reelection to the same magistracy forbidden for ten years.

According to historian Garrett Fagan, office holding in the Roman Republic was based on "limited tenure of office" which ensured that "authority circulated frequently", helping to prevent corruption.

Many of the founders of the United States were educated in the classics, and quite familiar with rotation in office during antiquity. The debates of that day reveal a desire to study and profit from the object lessons offered by ancient democracy.

In 1783, rotation experiments were taking place at the state level. The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 set maximum service in the Pennsylvania General Assembly at "four years in seven". Benjamin Franklin's influence is seen not only in that he chaired the constitutional convention which drafted the Pennsylvania constitution, but also because it included, virtually unchanged, Franklin's earlier proposals on executive rotation. Pennsylvania's plural executive was composed of twelve citizens elected for the term of three years, followed by a mandatory vacation of four years.

On October 2, 1789, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of thirteen to examine forms of government for the impending union of the states.

Among the proposals was that from the State of Virginia, written by Thomas Jefferson, urging a limitation of tenure, "to prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom by continuing too long in office the members of the Continental Congress".

The committee made recommendations, which as regards congressional term limits were incorporated unchanged into the Articles of Confederation (1781?89). The fifth Article stated that "no person shall be capable of being a delegate [to the continental congress] for more than three years in any term of six years".

1. You have NEVER been able to show ME any "gaping holes" because...well, because of the difference between us.

2. My "idea" is the one that the country was founded on. A Congressman or a Senator is supposed to be nothing more than an average citizen representing other average citizens. NOT your idea of a bunch of lawyers who never had a real job spending their entire lives as bureaucrats spending other people's money.

3. No, the issue is NOT just "money in politics". It's the 2 party stranglehold and the rules and laws that the members of those two parties (one of them being the party you slavishly "believe" in) have made to INSURE that plenty of money flows into the system

4. There is no "4". Just a general observation that you are truly a believer and have no desire for freedom, free will, or running your own life.
You seem to prefer to have a guy like Bill Nelson (in govt. for over 40 years) take his orders from Sen. Reid and run your life for you.

Congrats...you are everythng that the founding fathers did NOT want for our country. :)
Crockett Science.

dynamo you are hitting it right on the head.

Guys like crockett who seem to worship the federal govt. don't even base their statements on reality and history and instead accuse anyone who doesn't fall in line with them as being in some kind of fantasyland.

Thanks for posting that. I'm sure it will have zero effect on getting through to Crockett. He's convinced that somehow Nancy Pelosi, Ted Cruz, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell and others have some magical "experience" that makes them better suited to vote ON THE FUCKING PARTY LINE EVERYTIME than other citizens.

Crockett Science

Yes I get it Robbie, you believe in Robbism, a political system that is built on rainbows and unicorns. You want us to have no standing army, no interest in the rest of the world and not have to pay any taxes. You want a bunch of non experienced farm boys to run the country and everyone will just live happily ever after.. Because nothing bad would ever happen.

No you don't get it Crockett. And you never will.

I've asked you over and over to explain how Ted Cruz is smarter than you are and better equipped to magically vote in the Senate or House.

Tell me how the politicians who vote the PARTY LINE every vote are somehow smarter than you or I and have all this magical experience?

Experience in WHAT exactly? Life? Nope. Making a living in the real world? Nope.
How about spending other people's money? YES! Funneling money to their cronies? YES! Voting EXACTLY as they are told by the party leaders? YES!

As for "nothing bad would ever happen"...WHAT THE FUCK COUNTRY DO YOU LIVE IN?
Have you not seen the shape of things now? 17 TRILLION in debt, searched at airports, hated around the world, and the list goes on and on.

Yeah buddy! Your beloved and benevolent lifetime bureaucrats have done a GREAT job!

Well...they've done a great job at fucking everything up.

That you can't see that is just amazing to me.

Never happen. People wont vote for a morbidly obese president, just like they dont pay to see movies starring morbidly obese people.

Robbie Ted Cruz is not the example of a life long politician. He was elected into office in 06 I believe and is now on his second term. He is a perfect example of Robbism in action. A guy with no experience being elected and not knowing his head from his ass when it come to how to work with the other side. He is of the extreme right and was voted into office by the quick rise of the well funded tea party.

He is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with your ideas..

I wanted to add, prior to the rise of the tea party and their love of voting out incumbents and installing non lifers into office, both sides may have often disagreed with each other, but they still knew how to work with each other. Now that all these short term extremist have been voted into office by the right, the govt has grinded to a stand still, because all these inexperienced Tea Partiers have no understanding of give and take or how to work with the other side.