it’s @3:15 in the morning and I’m reading this article and watching a CBS news report on Donnie Dimwit v sCruz as they squabble over wives and I can’t make any sense of where the Republican party actually is…
a third party candidacy? really? we often talk about Republican grip on reality in the face of actual facts but do they actually believe they have any chance of keeping a Democrat from the Presidency at this point?
pragmatic reality, to me anyway, would seem to indicate that the real election races would be down ballot… trying to hold the Senate and trying to hold House losses to a minimum…
it’s unbelievable at this point to think that Karl Rove actually thought that Republicans would be the majority party for decades…
I think I need more coffee… too early for bourbon 
Trump just says what many of the GOP think when it comes to racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. His apparent sin is saying it out loud instead of in “quiet rooms”. Having a third party candidate go back to dog-whistles when the base has heard sirens isn’t going to work well.
Maybe–just maybe–whatever possesses for intellect in the GOP will finally admit to themselves what any sentient human already knows, the GOP espouses a philosophy of selfish greed that uses the most vile aspects of human behavior to garner votes. Then, and only then, can they start a 12-step program to find their way back to a party that represents American values.
At this point the GOP probably aims to keep the House and Senate so they can block anything Clinton/Bernie would propose. They will then crow that they “won” because they will achieve gridlock for another four years.
We all know that the Republican establishment will do anything to win. All they have to do is run Ryan or Romney (or Jeb or someone else) against Trump and Clinton (or Sanders), and pick up a few states – just enough to keep anyone from getting to 270 and throw the election to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Then they get to pick the next president. Why wouldn’t they do that?
Well done!
Fact is, they’re spending nearly all their energy freaking out over Trump. Meanwhile, back on the ranch, the Senate (McConnell-SCOTUS debacle - “do your job!”) and in the House - the cray cray of the “Freedom Caucus” etc., etc,. is plainly showing folks not fit for office. It’s a perfect storm. And it’s not going to get any better for them this summer. The crazy train left the station and it’s full steam ahead until it hits the wall of the election. I just don’t believe it’s fixable for them, not in this cycle or next.
But….that said, anything can happen and never underestimate the stupidity of the American voter.
It’s an idea that has been touted by #NeverTrump-ers like neocon Bill Kristol
When it comes to strategic thinking, Kristol is the GOP equivalent of a Dead Letter Office. The man has a track record that even outshines Tweety’s when it comes to being so consistently wrong about, well, anything and everything.
i think it is too late to save the GOP brand. Without the “poorly educated” racists and the religious wing nuts, what’s left? The fiscal conservatives? The problem with that is that George Bush’s wars and tax cuts didn’t produce any jobs, and people still remember. Maybe if the GOP Congress had actually tried to do something that improved people’s lives instead of trying to undermine Obama, and shut down the government, maybe their brand wouldn’t be so tarnished. I can’t even imagine what ideas this third party might offer.
I don’t think Republicans will be able to block a Democratic candidate from getting 270 electorial votes, given the results from previous elections. But you never know…
Well… I have seen at least one commentator postulate that the point of a third party candidate is not to win outright. Rather, they may be trying to focus on getting on the ballot in a couple of the bigger states trying to flip them to the 3rd party guy… Then with a little luck that might be enough to deny Hillary the 270 votes she needs in the electoral college thereby throwing the election into the House where the each state would get one vote. At that point they could completely ignore the popular vote and give it to the third party guy.
I would give this hair-brained fantasy just as much chance of succeeding as any plan that has them run a 3rd party candidate to win in the electoral college
The likelihood is that the third party candidate would win 0 EVs. The party wouldn’t have a regional base, like Wallace in 1968, so you’d have to go back to a scenario like TR in 1912, and he was a former President. No third party candidate of that caliber exists today. And even then, that resulted in Wilson winning an EV landslide. Which Obama state would such a strategy take away from Clinton? Probably none, so throwing the election into the House is a very long shot.
There’s a huge flaw in your logic; that someone else will " Pick up states". It’s not that easy, and as long as republicans engage in this sort of denial, they will have a disaster of epic proportions on their hands. Trump will be lucky to pick up 10 states.
Yes, possibly a long shot – but it’s the only shot the moneyed Republican establishment has. If they played it smart, they’d have a lot of dollars from big donors to strategically bombard voters in vulnerable states with advertising painting both Clinton and Trump as “extremists” and their candidate as a moderate “compromise candidate”. It wouldn’t surprise me to see voters in at least some more moderate northern states swallowing that argument. Clinton comes with a lot of baggage, and Trump won’t appeal to independents and more moderate Republican voters. And it would only take a majority vote in a few big states to do the trick. Then Romney or Ryan is the next president.
I will be blunt.
Trump in a General election will be a disaster. I am not talking just about him losing. I am talking about the things we says and does. The loose cannon. The person (in the guise of an adult man) with the impulse control of a four-year-old. He said, a few days ago (ON THE AIR!), that he would not rule out using nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Can’t people see the danger in these kinds of statements?
Is our need for snark and popcorn so great that we cannot see the danger in this man being touted as being the candidate of one of the two major political parties?
I don’t give a damn about any of this “gaming” bullshit. The man should not be on the national stage for any country, especially the biggest and most powerful.
Today
In the coming months
In the General Election
allowing fools to bother you is silly. vote against . that’s all you can do.
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that Bill Kristol, the mastermind behind Sarah Palin, is now a leading #NeverTrump figure?
Someone should ask him if he would support a Palin candidacy out of a brokered convention.
I just don’t see it happening. First of all, who is this mythical candidate? Second, even if they were to pick off a few Obama states, they would likely cause several Romney states to go to Clinton-I could see states like Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas and maybe even Texas going D under that scenario where the R vote is split. In fact, even if you peeled off 20% of Obama voters, but split the R vote even 70:30 you would have a Democratic landslide in the Electoral College.
If I had
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A compliant MSM
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My own oppo research capable of sleaze like one could not believe
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An army of lawyers
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ZERO scruples
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Billions of dollars
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ZERO compassion and empathy for others
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ZERO space in my heart for anyone but myself **
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An army of sheeple committed to vote for me
I would destroy whatever I want when I wanted and how I wanted. Because I can.
** SERIOUSLY
Awhhh – My bowl of schadenfreude runneth over —