US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2794

On January 27 2016 09:22 Introvert wrote:
I'm not sure wtf that came from. But there was a fox poll where like 88% said that the Cruz birther issue didn't factor in at all.

Edit: This is why I hate polls!

With time running out until the first primary votes are cast, establishment Republicans have begun a ferocious round of finger-pointing over who is to blame for the party’s failure to stop Donald Trump.

The chiding, once limited to private conversations, is now erupting in public view – with campaigns, operatives, donors, party officials, and conservative intellectuals arguing over why something hasn’t been done to stop the man who has been leading nearly every state and national poll since August. Trump, many in the GOP’s upper ranks are convinced, would lead the Republican Party to an epic defeat in November, with consequences all the way down the ballot.

“This whole thing is a disaster,” said Curt Anderson, a former Republican National Committee political director and veteran operative. “I think I’ll write a book about it.”

Receiving much of the blame is Right to Rise, the cash-flush super PAC that broke records when it announced last year that it had raised more than $100 million in support of Jeb Bush. The group has directed relatively little of that sum toward attacking Trump – instead focusing its efforts on taking down Bush’s establishment rivals, above all Marco Rubio. To date, the group has spent around $5 million on TV commercials going after Trump, while dropping four times as much in negative ads against Rubio. The latest spot, which came Tuesday, hammered Rubio over his messy financial history.

Right to Rise, with its nearly limitless resources, had the best chance to wage a concerted campaign to take down the real estate mogul, many are convinced – and they blame Mike Murphy, the group’s chief strategist, for missing the opportunity. While Bush often personally went after Trump on the campaign trail and in debates – even calling him a “jerk” and then cutting an ad about it – his super PAC usually hasn’t.

In recent days, those once-quiet complaints have become a roar. Stephen Hayes, an influential Weekly Standard columnist, blasted Right to Rise for a strategy that effectively “cleared the way for Trump.” Katie Packer, who served as Mitt Romney’s deputy campaign manager during the 2012 election and has been trying to orchestrate an anti-Trump effort, lamented that just 10 percent of the super PAC’s $100 million “could have had a significant impact.”

On January 27 2016 10:12 xDaunt wrote:
I've said for a while now that Trump has more political acumen than people give him credit for. At a minimum, he clearly has a crack political strategy staff working under him. I guarantee that he has focus grouped the hell out of his messaging, his attacks on opponents (Cruz in particular), and tactical decisions such as pulling out of the debate.

“If Donald is afraid of Megyn Kelly, I would like to invite him on your show to participate in a one-on-one debate between me and Donald, mano y mano,”

“And if he thinks Megyn Kelly is so scary, what exactly does he think he’d do with Vladimir Putin? I promise you Putin is a lot scarier than Megyn Kelly."

Cruz added that Trump needs to explain to voters “how he is prepared to be commander-in-chief if he’s terrified of a television host.”

On January 27 2016 10:53 Leporello wrote:
I'm really having a hard time understanding how refusing to show up to a free 2-hour publicity show, because you're afraid a person is going to ask you "hard" or "unfair" questions, is in anyway flattering or a good publicity move.

There is no doubt a segment of Republican voters who love this kind of textbook petulance. But does he understand that there is a general election after the circus is over?

On January 27 2016 11:20 Mercy13 wrote:
I think it would be entertaining if the moderators spend a lot of the debate inviting the candidates to attack Trump while he isn't there to defend himself. They really have nothing to lose, and If nothing else it will piss him off.

Oregon protest leader Ammon Bundy is arrested, says source

(CNN)Federal authorities arrested Ammon Bundy, the leader of a group of protesters occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, during a traffic stop Tuesday, a law enforcement official told CNN.

Up to eight of Bundy's followers were detained, the source said.

Shots were fired after authorities made the stop, according to the source. It's not clear who fired first.

The group of protesters has occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since January 2 to protest federal land policies.

Bundy, son of controversial Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, and others started out protesting the sentencing of Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, ranchers convicted of arson on federal lands in Oregon.

But a march supporting the Hammonds led to the armed occupation of the refuge, with occupiers decrying what they call government overreach when it comes to federal lands.

On January 27 2016 12:05 ticklishmusic wrote:


and so it ends with a whimper rather than a bang. thank goodness.

On January 27 2016 12:05 ticklishmusic wrote:


and so it ends with a whimper rather than a bang. thank goodness.

One person was killed when federal authorities arrested the leader of an armed occupation at a wildlife refuge in Oregon and several of his companions during a traffic stop on Tuesday, law enforcement sources said.

Another person was injured, police said.

The deceased was the subject of a federal probable cause arrest, officials said.

Washington (CNN)Maine Gov. Paul LePage says his state is too easy on drug crimes, suggesting it should bring back the guillotine for serious offenders.

The Republican governor, known for his controversial statements, was speaking on local radio Tuesday about combating the drug epidemic in his state.

"What I think we ought to do is bring the guillotine back," he told WMOV. "We could have public executions and have, you know, we could even have (guessing) which hole it falls in."

He said that he was "all in" on fighting drug criminals and said a recent proposal to establish a minimum sentence of four years for drug traffickers was too lenient.

"I think the death penalty should be appropriate for people that kill Mainers," LePage said.

On January 27 2016 12:24 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote:
America where crazy people actually get elected


http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/politics/paul-lepage-maine-guillotine/index.html

On January 27 2016 12:27 Plansix wrote:

Whoa there, that man is a moron, but we do not have the monopoly on electing idiots. Poland has proven to everyone in the EU that with enough ignorance, racism and loathing of government, anything is possible.