The Republican Primary Race Is Filling Up

[chipbennett]

Lindsey Graham just endorsed Cruz, and here's an actual quote from Graham: “It’s like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?"

He's not supporting Cruz as much as he's resisting Trump.

I imagine Cruz would consider a Lindsey Grahamnesty endorsement to be somewhere between being poisoned and being shot.

 

[T.Lex]

Who will he endorse next week?

Whoever is left.

I mean. Whoever remains.

 

[Dead Duck]

Whoever is left.

I mean. Whoever remains.

WHAT??.........oh.

 

[Alpo]

Senatorial steambath buddies?

 

[T.Lex]

I want this from the nominee. Or even the guy who isn't. (My own humble edits in brackets.)

“If I write of the problems, they’ll be the domestic problems of which [we] spoke here tonight; the challenges confronting us, the erosion of freedom taken place under Democratic rule in this country, the invasion of private rights, the controls and restrictions on the vitality of the great free economy that we enjoy.” These are the challenges that we must meet and then again there is that challenge of which he spoke that we live in a world in which the great powers have aimed and poised at each other horrible missiles of destruction, nuclear weapons [and terrorism] that can in a matter of minutes arrive at each other’s country and destroy virtually the civilized world we live in. And suddenly it dawned on me; those who would read this letter a hundred years from now will know whether those missiles were fired. They will know whether we met our challenge.

Whether they will have the freedom that we have known up until now will depend on what we do here. Will they look back with appreciation and say, “Thank God for those people [...] who headed off that loss of freedom? Who kept us now a hundred years later free? Who kept our world from [] destruction?”
[...]

This is our challenge and this is why we’re here in this hall tonight. Better than we’ve ever done before, we’ve got to quit talking to each other and about each other and go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than we’ve ever been but we carry the message they’re waiting for. We must go forth from here united, determined and what a great general said a few years ago is true: “There is no substitute for victory.”

 

[BugI02]

Curly Haugland keeps showing up. That man, and his ilk, are the cancer that is destroying the GOP.

RNC Rules Comm. Member: Every Delegate At GOP Convention Not Bound On First Ballot | The Daily Caller

Haugland again, arguing that binding of delegates on the first round of voting was instituted in 1976 and rescinded in 1980, thus all delegates are unbound even on the first vote

 

[BugI02]

I saw where Monday's debate has been cancelled after Trump said he was going to skip it. When they finally get the field winnowed down where there might be time to actually delve into issues other than finger size, Trump decides to avoid he's got better things to do.

GFGT that was not a previously scheduled debate, it was an attempted last minute addition. Trump never agreed to it in the first place (he's addressing AIPAC that night)

 

[Jludo]

The RNC only announced the debate on Monday. Trump already had an engagement scheduled for that evening, and chose not to cancel it because of a debate of which he had no knowledge at the time he scheduled his event.

Kasich also decided not to attend - only because of Trump's decision. Yet somehow, his decision has not been criticized.

AIPAC is a multi day event, I'm sure they would've arranged for Trump to change his schedule, that said Cruz has offered to debate Trump there or anywhere at any time. Trump doesn't do as well with fewer candidates and more scrutiny to any actual policy he may have.
Trump on foreign policy advisors.“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things."

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

GFGT that was not a previously scheduled debate, it was an attempted last minute addition. Trump never agreed to it in the first place (he's addressing AIPAC that night)

Cruz and Kasich were able to make time. I bet that whomever Trump was scheduled to give that speech to would have gladly moved it a day, to accommodate Mr. Trump.

But hey, I don't blame Ducking Donald. If I had the lead, further debates would only be opportunities to screw up.

 

[chipbennett]

AIPAC is a multi day event, I'm sure they would've arranged for Trump to change his schedule...

...because rearranging keynote speakers for a major convention, on two days' notice, is a simple matter.

...that said Cruz has offered to debate Trump there or anywhere at any time.

...something that is explicitly against RNC rules, and would cost both candidates delegates if they held a debate outside of the RNC-sanctioned debates. Easy to make a challenge that you know can't be accepted.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

...because rearranging keynote speakers for a major convention, on two days' notice, is a simple matter.



...something that is explicitly against RNC rules, and would cost both candidates delegates if they held a debate outside of the RNC-sanctioned debates. Easy to make a challenge that you know can't be accepted.

Yeah it can. All it takes is permission from Reince and a cut of the take from the advertisers and presto-change-o we have a debate--if the parties all wanted it.

Ducking Donald is playing from a lead and he avoiding another chance to show just how shallow he really is on the issues.

 

[chipbennett]

Cruz and Kasich were able to make time. I bet that whomever Trump was scheduled to give that speech to would have gladly moved it a day, to accommodate Mr. Trump.

But hey, I don't blame Ducking Donald. If I had the lead, further debates would only be opportunities to screw up.

For one thing: how do you know they were? Kasich declined as soon as Trump did, and then the debate was cancelled.

For another: why is it incumbent upon the candidates to rearrange their schedules to accommodate a thirteenth, previously unscheduled debate, at a week's notice?

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

For one thing: how do you know they were? Kasich declined as soon as Trump did, and then the debate was cancelled.

For another: why is it incumbent upon the candidates to rearrange their schedules to accommodate a thirteenth, previously unscheduled debate, at a week's notice?

Nothing's "incumbent" on them. I'm saying if he wanted to badly enough, arrangements can be made. He simply didn't want to. He cancels and sets up events frequently from what I've read/heard. This is not rocket science. This is what campaign staffers are hired for. He knows this can only hurt him so he latched onto a convenient excuse and he's playing it out.

 

[chipbennett]

But I learned on INGO that all of those "big tent" voters are just "Operation Chaos" types trying to set up an easier opponent for Hilary:

Donald Trump?s Working-Class Appeal Is Starting To Freak Out Labor Unions

Over the course of five weeks, Working America, the non-union affiliate of the AFL-CIO labor federation, did extensive canvassing in union-dense, blue-collar areas of Pittsburgh and Cleveland. They called it a “front porch focus group.” The idea was simply to listen — to let likely 2016 voters sound off about their thoughts and concerns headed into the presidential election.


What they discovered, among other things, was a lot of support for Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner. For months, this enthusiastic backing of the obnoxious billionaire had generally baffled the chattering class — not to mention the GOP and Democratic establishment. But to Working America canvassers, it made plenty of sense.

...

What worries Stern, and many officials in the labor movement, is that Trump’s appeal to working-class voters is more than just a byproduct of his master showmanship. Trump’s denunciations of trade deals, his condemnation of politicians who ushered in outsourcing, and his tough, often-xenophobic rants about immigrants taking domestic jobs all lay out a policy portfolio that, at the most basic level, can be attractive to the economically marginalized.

 

[chipbennett]

Nothing's "incumbent" on them. I'm saying if he wanted to badly enough, arrangements can be made. He simply didn't want to. He cancels and sets up events frequently from what I've read/heard. This is not rocket science. This is what campaign staffers are hired for. He knows this can only hurt him so he latched onto a convenient excuse and he's playing it out.

Why should he? There have already been twelve debates.

 

[T.Lex]

RNC Rules Comm. Member: Every Delegate At GOP Convention Not Bound On First Ballot | The Daily Caller

Haugland again, arguing that binding of delegates on the first round of voting was instituted in 1976 and rescinded in 1980, thus all delegates are unbound even on the first vote

I think it more accurate to say that it is a matter for the state delegations. When chip forced me to look up the Indiana delegation rules, as I recall, it obligated the delegates to a first-ballot vote consistent with the primary. Only after that are they allowed to depart from any obligation.

I do not know to what extent other states may allow first-ballot discretion.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

BREAKING: Marco Rubio Announces His Political Future... - Chicks On The Right

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Why should he? There have already been twelve debates.

I know. He only stands to demonstrate his shallowness on the issues when there is more time to more deeply delve into them. I don't blame him, actually.

 

[BugI02]

I think it more accurate to say that it is a matter for the state delegations. When chip forced me to look up the Indiana delegation rules, as I recall, it obligated the delegates to a first-ballot vote consistent with the primary. Only after that are they allowed to depart from any obligation.

I do not know to what extent other states may allow first-ballot discretion.

From the article previously referenced:

"A past Convention Rules Committtee member, Haugland explained to his fellow RNC members that delegates have been bound only one time in the history of the Republican Party — in 1976, during the Gerald Ford campaign."

and

Additionally, he noted that the 1976 convention was the final time time delegates were bound by convention rules to cast their votes to match the results of binding primaries. However, the “1980 convention rescinded the ‘Justice Resolution’ entirely restoring the prohibition of binding,” Haugland wrote, concluding “every delegate at the 2016 GOP convention is a Super delegate.”

He certainly seems to me to be arguing that convention delegates haven't been bound, even on the first ballot, since 1980

 

[BugI02]

BREAKING: Marco Rubio Announces His Political Future... - Chicks On The Right

“I’m not interested in being vice president,” Rubio told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. I’m not gonna be vice president. I’m not running for Governor of Florida. I’m going to finish out my term in the Senate and over the next ten months we are going to work really hard here — we have some things we want to achieve — and then I’ll be a private citizen in January.”
To make it perfectly clear, Rubio clarified, “No, I’m not running for reelection to the Senate [I'm running for President in 2020, and I'm starting tomorrow].”

*my edit