2016 Elections

[O Really]

4 (maybe 3). GOP incumbent.

#Neveragain.

[Vrede too]

4 (maybe 3). GOP incumbent.

[O Really]

In theory, it shouldn't matter (much) what part a Supreme Court justice is. But the NC Court, along with everything else, has become so politicized that Republicans on the Court do turn into rubber stamps for the Republican legislature. Not a good thing. And no, it hasn't always been that way.

[Vrede too]

Bernie Sanders Agrees to Debate Donald Trump

Just when you thought the primary season couldn't get any stranger.

... This response was also a jab at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who this week declined to face off with Sanders in a previously agreed upon California debate....

I hope it happens, even if only to tweak Hillary for reneging . . . but it would be a lot more fun than just that.

[billy.pilgrim]

Reckon why all the obama talk about getting big money out of politics

when an EO would be so easy

[Vrede too]

EOs can't be used to abrogate SCOTUS rulings. We need a constitutional amendment and enabling legislation.

[billy.pilgrim]

EOs can't be used to abrogate SCOTUS rulings. We need a constitutional amendment and enabling legislation.

Could he use an EO to stop anonymous funding

[Vrede too]

I get a little lost in all the details, but anonymous funding is part of Citizens United.

I think people have been calling on him to use an EO to require companies that get federal funding to disclose their political spending and on the SEC to require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending to shareholders, but neither would affect individual fat cat donors or impose mandates on the recipients, including super pacs, of political spending.

So, there are potential steps to nibble at the problem, but what we really need is a CA declaring that corporations aren't people.

[rstrong]

Just to add to the entropy:

GOP officials have successfully prevented the FEC from stopping bosses forcing employees to give to PACs.

Coal billionaire Robert Murray sent emails to his employees coercing them to donate to a PAC started by his company, Murray Energy. (Employees' year-end bonuses depended on their levels of political giving to his PAC.) Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complain with the FEC.

The Federal Election Commission deadlocked: The three Democratic commissioners voted to take action, the three GOP commissioners voted against, and that means that nothing will happen.

Of course that doesn't necessarily mean a big win for Republicans. As Stephen Colbert demonstrated last election cycle, those running the PAC can simply keep the money tax-free. It's good to see the coal industry exploring other sources of revenue.

[rstrong]

[JTA]

Has my vote, although it could be argued you'd get the same result by just voting Trump.

[Vrede too]

. . . or the Sun, another fat orange ball full of hot gases.

[Vrede too]

Vast Majority of Democrats Want Sanders to Stay in Race: Poll

Despite pressure from party establishment on Sanders to drop out of the race, most Democratic voters want the senator to keep running

[O Really]

I've got no problem with Bernie staying in the race saying "look at me, I'm a great candidate, I've got good ideas/plans, we ought to do whatever." I hope he has an impact on the platform. I hope Hillary will adopt some of his ideas. But I do have a problem with him casting unnecessary negativity on the likely-but-not-guaranteed Democratic candidate. I don't see how giving Trump more fuel for his trash fire is ever going to be beneficial.

[Vrede too]

The numbers surprise me. Same poll, more detail:

... Fifty-seven percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents also said they thought Sanders should remain in the race (33 percent want him to drop out), compared with 55 percent of Republicans (more Dems than Republicans!) and 60 percent of independents.

And while most Democrats prefer for Sanders to continue his campaign, they also back the party’s front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, over him in the primary. In a Morning Consult survey of 4,002 registered voters taken last week (see toplines and crosstabs), 46 percent of Democratic voters prefer Clinton to Sanders, who was the first choice of 42 percent of respondents....

If the shoe was on the other foot I would want Hillary to drop out. It'd be interesting to hear why so many Hillary voters want Bernie to stay in.

I don't care about the platform. Having helped write several state platforms only to see elected Dems immediately ignore them, I've come to believe that they chiefly serve to distract party activists while providing the opposition fodder to cherry pick. I'd rather see Bernie's camp working to get Hillary to make public commitments re appointments, policy and party rules.

[O Really]

Platform details are worthless, fershure. But as part of that public commitments sort of thing, it's helpful (or maybe harmful, depending...)

[Vrede too]

My experience is that in practice it's only harmful. Pols only honor it when they were already committed to the particulars. Parties help pols get elected, but after that they don't hold the sway that they used to.

That said, conventions are excruciatingly dull given that the nomination is almost always sewed up ahead of time. Maybe it's about ratings.

[O Really]

The '72 Dem convention in Miami wasn't dull. But thinking of that does remind me of the current Republicans with Trump. The generally further lefty voices prevailed - at least until November 7 when it turned into a bloodbath of nearly historical proportions.

[Vrede too]

Neither was 1968 , but they were 44 and 48 years ago, and we now have super delegates so that things don't get as out of establishment control.

Here's what I mean about platforms. Say the Berners do pretty well, which is quite possible given the type of activist Dem that becomes a delegate compared to Dems as a whole. Which do you think is the more likely scenario - That POTUS Hillary does things she otherwise wouldn't have because they're in the platform, or that the GOP beats her up during the campaign (ultimately successfully or not) with planks that are further left than she is?

[O Really]

I'll take (b) for $200, Alex.
And after she quit being a real Republican she was suitably lefty, but hey, she's spent 16 years living with (residentially and/or occupationally) middle-of-the-road guys who got elected. If you're the candidate, it's hard to argue with success.