What I don't understand is how Scott Walker managers to lie repeatedly and no answer questions and still maintain what some hail as a lead candidate. Doesn't anyone check out what has been done in Wisconsin to weaken the environment, the schools, senior care and poverty striken seniors and families? Honestly, I wonder about investigative journalism. At the "debate" when asked directly about the life of the mother in his stand on abortion, he didn't answer the question. He continually gets a pass. Of course wone of the post commentators which was hailed as a respected commentator ....Fox never revealed that he also help write
Fox never revealed that one of the post commentators saying complimentary quips about Walker was also a Walker employee who helped write his book which is also under scrutiny in regards to the profits. Walker is a crook, plain and simple. How can you have a router hidden in a cabinet right outside your office with employees running a campaign on public employee time...and profess you knew nothing of it even though the John Doe investigation reveals that he did send a few emails. This man has no integrity. He has made Wisconsin a subsiderary of Koch Brothers industry.
Polar Bear, you are so right! We all hope some real journalists will investigate Walker's background, all the way from his misdeeds in Milwaukee County to his campaign lies, and especially his dictatorship while Governor of Wisconsin. All his supporters in the Legislature here have followed him blindly, suppressing the vote, trying to get rid of open records, stealing taxpayer money from public schools and our once-great university and giving it to charter schools (where there is no accountability to the public) and to Milwaukee to build a new stadium for the baseball team, refusing to accommodate the ACA, giving massive tax breaks to the rich and meager amounts to the rest of us, and on and on. Republicans have done NOTHING to improve Wisconsin or help its citizens and everything to destroy the State and all the great ideas and programs we once stood for. Beware of supporting Walker unless you want the same for the country!
The debate on Fox Thursday night will be among 10 Republican "distorters".
They distort the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to rationalize blatant bigotry against the LGBT community.They distort the algorithm of the Export-Import bank which has produced hundreds of thousands of American jobs and billions in revenue for American companies.They distort non existent voter fraud to justify black voter suppression.They distort the seminal value of Planned Parenthood to three million American women, utilizing a selectively edited, quotes out of context video,by a radical, misogynistic, anti-abortion group.They distort the reality of global warming to protect the carbon polluters that bankroll the Republican party. They distort the details of the Iran Nuclear deal to deny Obama an historic triumph and continue a failed "military solution"world view.The "distorters" avoid facts because empirical data obliterates the calumny that is the core of the Republican Party.
9
Iowa and New Hampshire are tiny states, not representative at all and provide only a marginal number of votes to their caucus's/primary's winner. Everybody knows this, it is often written, and yet they still retain their outsize influence on the race.
Obviously this is a case of 'power resides where people believe it resides'. But how can this be so? It's like a soccer team quitting the season after losing the first two games despite the fact that there are 32 more games after that.
It should be a totally viable strategy to just ignore ultra-conservative Iowa and focus on the populated states where the actual people are. It is hard to understand why it is not.
Obviously this is a case of 'power resides where people believe it resides'. But how can this be so? It's like a soccer team quitting the season after losing the first two games despite the fact that there are 32 more games after that.
It should be a totally viable strategy to just ignore ultra-conservative Iowa and focus on the populated states where the actual people are. It is hard to understand why it is not.
1
Scott Walker - dull, dull, dull. Nothing presidential at all.
5
A debate is needed with only third party candidates. I'm totally disgusted with all the clowns from the one major DemoRepub Party. They all are the same. Time for new blood and to ban all DemoRepubs. Now that's change we can believe in!
Kasich is the only reasonable qualified candidate. He could be a difficult opponent. The rest? easy pickings and they will continue to self destruct. However, the reubs will never choose a qualified and capable man who shows compassion and understanding and is obviously willing to compromise. No way will the Repubs accept these qualities.
9
In this nation the period of time in the "run-up" is absurd and obscene. Two or more years and all the "wanna-be leaders" jockey for position, capture every nuance of their "opponents", go begging for money when most have plenty, exhaust we the people, avoid the substantive issues and so on. If we lived in a reality based nation two important changes would be codified in the Constitution -- (1) All person qualified and seeking election to nation office will have their campaigns funded by the taxpayer, and (2) the period of campaigning to national office will be limited to three months.
Re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic has no affect on the reality in plain sight.
Re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic has no affect on the reality in plain sight.
11
Well, I just saw Carly Fiorina call Hillary Clinton a liar on MSNBC. The only problem is that apparently MsFiorina thinks our embassy was in Bengazhi as she was proposing that we bomb somebody back into the Stone Age. Apparently, Chris Matthews and the gang must think so too as nobody mentioned Tripoli as the location for the embassy. Now I need to disconnect to protect my mental health.
13
You have to excuse Ms Fiorina. Being a former CEO, she probably doesn't know where Uz-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan is either.
1
Outrageous that Fox is only showing this on paid TV.
The Republican Party, partly controlled by Fox, its media arm, doesn't want THOSE people to vote, and it doesn't even want THOSE people to see what's going on!
The Republican Party, partly controlled by Fox, its media arm, doesn't want THOSE people to vote, and it doesn't even want THOSE people to see what's going on!
12
"The Republican Party, partly controlled by Fox, its media arm, doesn't want THOSE people to vote"
I think they way it works is that even people who don't watch the debate get to vote. Also, please remind me: which channel was the Democratic debate on?
I think they way it works is that even people who don't watch the debate get to vote. Also, please remind me: which channel was the Democratic debate on?
I live about 10 miles away from where the first Republican debate takes place tonight. Like the vast majority of voters in and around Cleveland, I am a Democrat. Yet I and all my Democrat friends agree that it will be far more fun to watch the debate than a Browns-Steelers game!
8
No mention at all of my favorite candidate, Rand Paul. I had high hopes for his libertarian stace winning out. But he's lost in the crowd.
Oh well, whoever wins the nomination I'll be voting for them. I'm part of the ABC group -- Anybody But Clinton. Except for Donald Trump. If he's nominated, Hillary gets my vote. Even she trumps Trump.
Oh well, whoever wins the nomination I'll be voting for them. I'm part of the ABC group -- Anybody But Clinton. Except for Donald Trump. If he's nominated, Hillary gets my vote. Even she trumps Trump.
Sad to say though Paul is pretty consistent in his views, he doesn't seem especially connected to the real world. Often a problem for libertarians. Admirable ideals, but impracticable, especially in a world that doesn't really work that way.
7
"This year’s field is full of candidates who could take such an approach. Mr. Cruz, Mr. Trump or Ben Carson could play for the party’s most conservative voters in Iowa. " Only a person asleep at the wheel would vote for Trump believing that he is conservative.
1
Captain Obvious: 'winning any group can be as simple as telling it what it wants to hear.'
This applies to both parties, and all candidates.
This applies to both parties, and all candidates.
4
Thank God for Seinfeld reruns.
4
No, it's the continuous Daily Show highlights tonight that are a saving grace . . .
2
I wonder if Democrats will have debates......
Or just cut to the coronation?
Or just cut to the coronation?
4
They are having six.
1
Question: What does it say about the GOP when the first national debate is aired on a cable channel that refuses to stream the event?
Answer: If you are too poor for a cable subscription or belong to the cord-cutting millennial generation, we don't care about your vote.
Answer: If you are too poor for a cable subscription or belong to the cord-cutting millennial generation, we don't care about your vote.
37
The GOP also doesn't want people who are too smart to waste their money on Cable TV to vote or to see the "debate". (You don't necessarily have to be "too poor" or a "millenial". I am neither.)
7
"If you are too poor for a cable subscription or belong to the cord-cutting millennial generation, we don't care about your vote."
Based on the responses during the debate, there are a lot of Americans whose votes the candidates don't care about.
Based on the responses during the debate, there are a lot of Americans whose votes the candidates don't care about.
There's something undemocratic about the airing of the debate on Fox News, a channel that is offered only to prime cable subscribers in my area. I don't watch much television and for that reason only subscribe to basic cable from Comcast. Basically, I get PBS and the three networks. I wonder how many other people across the country have similar cable arrangements and will not be able to watch the debate this evening. Presidential debates should be easily available to all voters.
24
It doesn't matter who the eventual GOP nominee is, Ms. Clinton will defeat him. The Republicans can only win elections where they have gerrymandered the votes. They get hammered in national elections, even in a weak economy.
13
You forgot the other huge party running for the White House.
It's called the 'Anyone but her' party.
It's made up of people from all walks of life, who would prefer any one but Mrs. Clinton.
They also have a counter part called 'Any one but him', which will vote for any one who runs vs Bush.
From this standpoint, maybe Bernie Sanders does have a chance to win it all. People would vote for him, just to make sure it's not Bush or Clinton.
It's called the 'Anyone but her' party.
It's made up of people from all walks of life, who would prefer any one but Mrs. Clinton.
They also have a counter part called 'Any one but him', which will vote for any one who runs vs Bush.
From this standpoint, maybe Bernie Sanders does have a chance to win it all. People would vote for him, just to make sure it's not Bush or Clinton.
4
I don't agree with you at all. I am a strong Bernie supporter, but I will be happy to vote for Hillary if Bernie doesn't get the necessary support, and I believe many others would as well. Our misgivings about Hillary are because of her possible indebtedness to so many, i.e. Monsanto. But any Democrat gets my vote because of the potential Supreme Court nomination. We don't need another Scalia.
10
NO, Bernie can't win it all, because the Dems. need almost all of the Middle West + VA + the 3 Western states with the most Browns-NM,NV,CO. Bernie can win the Northeast & Pacific Coasts, but so can Hillary. A Jew from Vermont & Brooklyn will not win enough of the other states above. Hillary can get Independent and some Rep. women in those critical states, likely enough to win the critical states above & the election.
Also look at his rallies outside the coasts; Virtually ALL White People, not good. The Democratic electorate is 40% Non-White. Not a good omen, when we need all the Black & Brown votes to win.
Also look at his rallies outside the coasts; Virtually ALL White People, not good. The Democratic electorate is 40% Non-White. Not a good omen, when we need all the Black & Brown votes to win.
One more scenario:
The GOP gets through primary season with no clear frontrunner, or Jeb Bush as the frontrunner the electorate is set to reject. This results in deadlock which is broken only when Mitt Romney is drafted to fill the spot. Romney/Rubio '16.
The GOP gets through primary season with no clear frontrunner, or Jeb Bush as the frontrunner the electorate is set to reject. This results in deadlock which is broken only when Mitt Romney is drafted to fill the spot. Romney/Rubio '16.
1
Why not Harold Stassen? He's as dead as the rest of them.
5
Anything is possible. Even the Donald.
1
I don't agree that Scott Walker is a mainstream candidate like Bush. The hordes of Republican candidates make for lots of speculation and spectacle, such as this column. Ultimately the simple rule is "follow the money," the mainstream money, and the factional candidates all disappear into the ether and we are left with the George Bush's and Mitt Romney's of the Republican world.
5
You might as well have called them fictional candidates, not factional. They all seem pretty bogus to me.
20
Or factitious . . .
3
Marco Rubio used to tell a touching story of his parent's brave flight from eternal communist enslavement.
The way he told it, they swam the whole way. Handcuffed and shackled. Uphill. In the snow.
Fact is, they flew out on Eastern Airlines. Three years before Castro. For a job in Las Vegas. Arranged by "casino interests" in Habana.
The way he told it, they swam the whole way. Handcuffed and shackled. Uphill. In the snow.
Fact is, they flew out on Eastern Airlines. Three years before Castro. For a job in Las Vegas. Arranged by "casino interests" in Habana.
43
And he has a certified Sugar Daddy, too.
6
What really gets me beyond that is that he is so anti-immigration and lacks knowledge about it. When he talked about his parents coming here, he didn't acknowledge that cubans come here illegally, but the US government grants special privilege to cubans they don't extend to other hispanics and latinos. Cubans are welcomed because it makes cuba look bad.
6
Candidates should be prohibited from talking about their parents. The words god and hero should be prohibited in any discussion of the election. So should mention of same sex marriage and abortion. What should be discussed is climate change, funding of infrastructure, Iran, realistic education reform.
1
As a native of Iowa, I'm dismayed that a small minority of non-representative voters (Republicans who take part in the caucus) have far more influence than they deserve, both in the state and the nation. On the other hand, I'm relieved not to be there to endure what must be a never-ending tsunami of political commercials.
15
With the exception perhaps of Susan Collins,who increasingly sells her soul for a mess of political porridge and right wing stew in her caucus, there are no, absolutely no moderate Republicans in national elective office or running for national elective office and that especially includes the candidates for president.
Repeat that and get it right from now on: There are no moderate Republicans so stop saying there are.
There are arch-conservative Republicans, e.g. Bush and Pataki; reactionary Republicans e.g. Graham and Rubio; reactionary Republicans; e.g. Walker, Santorum and Jindal; know-nothing Republicans, e.g. Trump and Cruz and just plain confused Republicans, e.g. Paul.
But there are no moderate Republicans except in the political museum we call history.So stop saying there are.
The Republican Party has fallen off the right edge of the world and back into the 19th Century.
Put it this way: If this were 1492 and the argument was over whether the world was flat or round the Republican Party would be the flat earth party.
Stop saying there are moderates when there are none in a party where there are none.
Repeat that and get it right from now on: There are no moderate Republicans so stop saying there are.
There are arch-conservative Republicans, e.g. Bush and Pataki; reactionary Republicans e.g. Graham and Rubio; reactionary Republicans; e.g. Walker, Santorum and Jindal; know-nothing Republicans, e.g. Trump and Cruz and just plain confused Republicans, e.g. Paul.
But there are no moderate Republicans except in the political museum we call history.So stop saying there are.
The Republican Party has fallen off the right edge of the world and back into the 19th Century.
Put it this way: If this were 1492 and the argument was over whether the world was flat or round the Republican Party would be the flat earth party.
Stop saying there are moderates when there are none in a party where there are none.
58
Could you talk a little louder? I cannot here you from over there on the far left.
3