2016 Elections

[JTA]

Saw this comment on reddit, gave me a chuckle

If Bernie sanders runs and takes on the billionaire class:

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/commen ... ss/cr0aleu

[Boatrocker]

I like Bernie ever so much more than Hillary. If only he wasn't so old.

[Bungalow Bill]

All right, the doctor is in. Ben Carson is officially in the race.
The wingnuts' wingnut. The high priest of nutjobism. He has
said he is not going to go off topic and say kooky things like
he has in the past. Please break that promise, Dr. Ben. I
won't hold it against you.

[O Really]

He can't resist. I'll give him no more than a couple of weeks. Less if he actually gives a speech for the fringes.

[O Really]

It's a sad state of affairs when Hucklebee looks like one of the more rational Republican candidates. Seems just a few years ago he was the edge of loondom.

[Boatrocker]

Huckleberry will no more be able to resist the urge to say stupid shit than Carson. Wingnuts play to the looniest of the loony. And Carson is even more delusional than he appears if he really thinks any black man has a prayer in hell of getting the TeaOP nomination. He is merely a house-n****r and useful idiot to them (Allen West, anyone?). Teabaggers do love a tame negro.

[rstrong]

It's a sad state of affairs when Hucklebee looks like one of the more rational Republican candidates. Seems just a few years ago he was the edge of loondom.

Two months ago, actually.

Salon: We can’t believe we have to explain this: Diabetes can’t be cured with cinnamon rolls

Presidential hopeful and “former diabetic” Mike Huckabee was recently spotted in a low-budget Internet informercial which claims that cinnamon rolls “contain a real ingredient that reverses diabetes.”
[...]

In his appearance as a spokesman for Barton Publishing’s “Diabetes Solution Kit,” Huckabee (who shall from here on out be known as the Huckster) explains that the prescription drugs endorsed by the medical community for treating type I and type II diabetes aren’t designed to help patients, but rather to turn them into “loyal, pill-popping, finger-pricking, insulin-shooting customer, so Big Pharma and the mainstream medical community can rake in over $100 billion annually.”
[...]
But the informercial, with its promises to tell viewers the “truth” about diabetes for just $19.97, has all the markings of a money-making scam:

"This reporter" ordered Huckabee's diabetes "cure'' kit. I ended up with extra $67 charge on my Visa. http://t.co/ASYM1AIcfi

Of course, that last bit is no surprise:

In his appearance as a spokesman for Barton Publishing’s “Diabetes Solution Kit,” Huckabee....

Barton Publishing is best described as a credit card scam. People sign up for one thing and get subscribed - without their permission - to "WellnessWatchersMD." This is a "free trial subscription" that after 14 days automatically bills you with a $29.95 reoccurring monthly fee without your approval. People report being charged another $250 in add-ons when they've only authorized a $17 one-time fee.

The company offer "cures" to anything that ails you: cancer, diabetes, urinary tract infections, you name it. To keep it somewhat legal they don't sell you the cure; they charge you money to tell you about their "cure." Many people have tried their cures and found that they simply don't work. And no, they were not able to get their money back.

The company is known for running "sock puppets" - fake blogs by fake people that claim to have been cured by their products. And now to raise campaign funds, Huckabee is letting scammers stick their arm up his ass to use him as a sock puppet.

[Bungalow Bill]

He can't resist. I'll give him no more than a couple of weeks. Less if he actually gives a speech for the fringes.

I don't think Dr. Ben will be able to resist temptation either. I don't know how he is
in speeches to large audiences, but on TV one to one he's articulate and soft spoken.
But then the content comes out and ruins everything. I'm putting him on top of the
kooky list for now, but the competition is going to get pretty stiff when the GOP
contest starts to ramp up.

[O Really]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/28/opinions/ ... index.html

"Republican Hunger Games" Soooo appropriate - on so many levels!

[Vrede too]

Looks like Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Maryland, is running on a progressive platform, though perhaps not quite as far left as Bernie Sanders. He's younger than Sanders, but with less name recognition, and has state executive experience compared to Sanders' federal legislative experience. Anyone have opinions on him yet?

[JTA]

Looks like Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Maryland, is running on a progressive platform, though perhaps not quite as far left as Bernie Sanders. He's younger than Sanders, but with less name recognition, and has state executive experience compared to Sanders' federal legislative experience. Anyone have opinions on him yet?

I always used to see his name on the Welcome to Maryland signs. The billboard also said "Governor: Martin O'Malley", or maybe "Martin O'Malley Governor". His signature looked alright to me, so I do know he's probably able to write. I figured he must be someone high up in the leadership to be able to have his signature on a billboard like that, like a governor or something.

[Vrede too]

Thanks, you are clearly more informed on him than most of us Americans.

Is his being in a Celtic rock band, O'Malley's March, a plus or a minus?

[JTA]

Thanks, you are clearly more informed on him than most of us Americans.

Is his being in a Celtic rock band, O'Malley's March, a plus or a minus?

Thanks. I tend to take note of things like that.

That's a definite plus, but it would have been even better if he was an MC in a gangsta rap supergroup.

[rstrong]

Looks like Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Maryland, is running on a progressive platform, though perhaps not quite as far left as Bernie Sanders. He's younger than Sanders, but with less name recognition, and has state executive experience compared to Sanders' federal legislative experience. Anyone have opinions on him yet?

The BBC has an analysis.

[Vrede too]

Saw O'Malley on TV this morning and he was asked about the current Baltimore crisis. He doesn't shirk his share of responsibility, but he did leave 8 years ago and he points out that in the 63.7% Black city he got 90% of the vote in 1999 and was reelected in 2003 with 67% of the vote in the Democratic primary and won 87% of the vote in the general. Like it or not, I can't recall any pol being hurt by being tough on crime.

It's interesting that the BBC article awards him backup status to Hillary without even mentioning Sanders who is polling 14 points stronger.

He's Catholic and I can't find his position on abortion on his website or in a brief search elsewhere. If he's anti-choice he doesn't have any chance in the primaries.

Meanwhile:
Read 21-Year-Old Bernie Sanders' Manifesto on Sexual Freedom

1963, the year O'Malley was born.

[Vrede too]

I like Bernie ever so much more than Hillary. If only he wasn't so old.

Even being dead ain't a problem if your name is Bernie.

[Bungalow Bill]

Shit, until a few days ago, I didn't know if Pataki was still alive or not.
He's alive, though he doesn't look too healthy. This has to be the
biggest surprise so far. Bernie does have big city administrative
experience, at least big city for Vermont.

[homerfobe]

What the real pisser is in any election is the dumb asshole of either political party that gets elected and ends up being the Commander in Chief of the military. An enlisted man or woman in the military has to undergo weeks of training often in grueling conditions, and the time they spend in the military whether it's just a few years or a career, is a constant training and learning experience. An officer undergoes the same rigorous horseshit plus having to pull four years in college and then committing him or herself to a number of years commission after graduation. Along comes some half-witted, untrained dumbass who probably had momma change his underwear for him all his life like Obama for instance, who can't even perform a half-assed salute without looking like a twinkle toed fairy who becomes boss over the whole goddammed military. An elected presidential candidate ought to have to undergo an 8 or 9 week military style training rather than just be someone with a lot of frigging money.
Come on December.

[Vrede too]

... Bernie does have big city administrative
experience, at least big city for Vermont.

I forgot, thanks.

In 1981, at the suggestion of his friend Richard Sugarman, a professor of religion at the University of Vermont, Sanders ran for mayor of Burlington and defeated six-term Democratic incumbent Gordon Paquette by 10 votes in a four-way contest. Sanders won three more terms, defeating both Democratic and Republican candidates. In his final run for mayor in 1987, Sanders defeated a candidate endorsed by both major parties.

4 terms as an administrator, same as O'Malley.

[O Really]

What the real pisser is in any election is the dumb asshole of either political party that gets elected and ends up being the Commander in Chief of the military. An enlisted man or woman in the military has to undergo weeks of training often in grueling conditions, and the time they spend in the military whether it's just a few years or a career, is a constant training and learning experience. An officer undergoes the same rigorous horseshit plus having to pull four years in college and then committing him or herself to a number of years commission after graduation. Along comes some half-witted, untrained dumbass who probably had momma change his underwear for him all his life like Obama for instance, who can't even perform a half-assed salute without looking like a twinkle toed fairy who becomes boss over the whole goddammed military. An elected presidential candidate ought to have to undergo an 8 or 9 week military style training rather than just be someone with a lot of frigging money.
Come on December.

Of all the things you could criticize is a non-military person's ability to salute? Seriously? What effin' difference does it make? Nowhere does the Constitution require that a military person be commander in chief. Maybe should, but doesn't. Can you spell "civilian?"