The Republican Primary Race Is Filling Up

[HoughMade]

AKA every politician to their sponsors

I thought Trump wasn't a politician...or at least not like everyone else.

I would not say that. I would say that they detest the current crop of take-no-prisoners neo-cons.

I would say that most couldn't accurately define "neo-con" if you offered them free data for life.

 

[T.Lex]

Well, that explains why my mom is voting for Cruz. She went to Purdue.

I'll have to ask my now-voting age child whether an endorsement from "Bobby Knight" means anything. I wonder if the response will be something like, "Wasn't he married to Whitney Huston?"

Oy vey.

But, apparently the support from Knight is not new. From last September:
Bobby Knight: ?No one has accomplished more than Mr. Trump has? | For The Win

 

[HoughMade]

I'll have to ask my now-voting age child whether an endorsement from "Bobby Knight" means anything. I wonder if the response will be something like, "Wasn't he married to Whitney Huston?"

Oy vey.

But, apparently the support from Knight is not new. From last September:
Bobby Knight: ?No one has accomplished more than Mr. Trump has? | For The Win

I can see there being a mutual love-fest here.

Were they able to find a venue large enough to accommodate their combined over-inflated self-images?

 

[T.Lex]

Would a Bobby Knight, Dick Cheney, Donald Trump hunting trip be too much to ask from karma?

 

[jamil]

Would a Bobby Knight, Dick Cheney, Donald Trump hunting trip be too much to ask from karma?

 

[BugI02]

Coalition building. If a Cruz/Kasich ticket has more delegates than Trump on the first ballot, but not 1237, would they be entitled to a win?

What about Trump/Rubio?

 

[BugI02]

I just don't see this plan working very well. The people who really support Kasich probably have used the hashtags "#nevertrump" or "#nevercruz" many times. For them to actually do it I think they'd have to have some kind of belief that Cruz will pick Kasich as a running mate.

Indeed. Smells like desperation (or teen spirit)

 

[BugI02]

The obvious context was that Trump was playing a part to woo evangelicals. Isn't that one of the steps in the art of the deal? Make people think you're on their side, that you're one of them. Now no casual observer objectively believes Trump ever opens the bible much less believes it's his favorite book.

Is that analagous to playing the part of a Tea Party conservative so you can get elected and then cutting a deal on amnesty and a path to citizenship? Or are there different strains of hypocrisy?

 

[BugI02]

Trump to voters: "This is the real me, soon I'll be playing a part."
Trump to insiders: "I've been playing a part, soon the real me."

"Can you see the real me, can you?"

 

[BugI02]

Well, this is interesting. WTHR notification suggests Bobby Knight might be making a return to Indiana to endorse Trump.

That'll make for interesting inter-generational conversations.

Can we bolt the chairs to the floor?

 

[BugI02]

I thought Trump wasn't a politician...or at least not like everyone else.



I would say that most couldn't accurately define "neo-con" if you offered them free data for life.

Oh I don't know. Isn't neo-con a proper subset of chicken-hawk?

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Cruz Campaign Vetting Carly for VP | The Weekly Standard

 

[Super Bee]

Cruz Campaign Vetting Carly for VP | The Weekly Standard

Not a bad choice. Not sure if Rubio would be interested, but he could use the Florida vote. . . . if Rubio could even deliver it.

 

[jamil]

Is that analagous to playing the part of a Tea Party conservative so you can get elected and then cutting a deal on amnesty and a path to citizenship? Or are there different strains of hypocrisy?

You're confusing me with someone who is actually "fiercely loyal" to Ted Cruz. I'm not. In fact, I consider being "fiercely loyal" to a politician a severe handicap. If I'm going to be fiercely anything I'd rather be fiercely skeptical. Being fiercely loyal causes people to support their candidates doing things that they would condemn their opponents for doing. Lots of that going on in these threads.

I have said repeatedly that I'm not a big fan of Cruz for many reasons. I've mentioned I don't think Cruz is particularly honest, but Trump is certainly no less dishonest. Trump supporters calling Cruz "Lying Ted" isn't just hypocritical, it is hilariously hypocritical. Trumpers accusing Ted Cruz of pandering is hilariously hypocritical.

I am aware of Cruz's shortcomings. I've also said repeatedly how disappointed I am with this election's Hobson's choice. I still can't ****ing believe we're stuck chosing between Trump/Cruz/Hillary/Sanders. We're ****ed.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Arizona poll: Clinton beats Trump | TheHill

 

[mrjarrell]

Well, that was a short lived truce.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...d573b0-0afd-11e6-8ab8-9ad050f76d7d_story.html

 

[churchmouse]

Well, that was a short lived truce.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...d573b0-0afd-11e6-8ab8-9ad050f76d7d_story.html

These guys are in it to win it....."ALL".....not share it.

 

[chipbennett]

Arizona poll: Clinton beats Trump | TheHill

Such polls, at this point, are less than worthless. They are inherently inaccurate (because they measure a still-hypothetical head-to-head matchup), but also, they do not measure voter enthusiasm/turnout.

I made a similar point a few weeks ago, but here it is from Breitbart, with updated numbers:

Republican primary turnout is up, massively:

Exclusive Data Analysis: GOP Primary Turnout Up 8.7 Million Votes, More Than 60 Percent in 2016 Versus 2012 - Breitbart

Democrat primary turnout is down, massively:

Exclusive Data Analysis: Democrat Turnout Collapses Down More Than 4.5 Million, Nearly 20 Percent In 2016 Versus 2008 - Breitbart

In 2008, Hilary Clinton earned almost 18 million primary votes. So far in 2016, she has earned just over 10 million primary votes.

In 2008, John McCain earned 10 million primary votes. In 2012, Mitt Romney earned 10 million primary votes. So far in 2016, Donald Trump has earned almost 9 million primary votes (with 20% of states yet to participate).

Donald Trump, in a 3-way (at times, 15-way) race, has almost as many primary votes as Hilary Clinton, in a 2-person race.

 

[T.Lex]

Such polls, at this point, are less than worthless. They are inherently inaccurate (because they measure a still-hypothetical head-to-head matchup), but also, they do not measure voter enthusiasm/turnout.

I think there is some value to them, but kinda like a barometer. Hard to tell if you're going to get wet, but you know the pressure is building.

I totally agree about enthusiasm/turnout. But, I think this cycle might be difficult to tie enthusiasm to turnout. In fact, we might have an odd situation where we have highly enthusiastic primaries, and low turnout general, because of the candidate-specific enthusiasm. There's no party enthusiasm. The divides between the candidates couldn't be deeper (or at least, I hope they can't be deeper).

My fear is that the enthusiastic supporters of the losing candidate will enthusiastically stay home, either for real or just not vote in the presidential race.

This cycle sucks.

 

[jamil]

Such polls, at this point, are less than worthless. They are inherently inaccurate (because they measure a still-hypothetical head-to-head matchup), but also, they do not measure voter enthusiasm/turnout.

I made a similar point a few weeks ago, but here it is from Breitbart, with updated numbers:

Republican primary turnout is up, massively:

Exclusive Data Analysis: GOP Primary Turnout Up 8.7 Million Votes, More Than 60 Percent in 2016 Versus 2012 - Breitbart

Democrat primary turnout is down, massively:

Exclusive Data Analysis: Democrat Turnout Collapses Down More Than 4.5 Million, Nearly 20 Percent In 2016 Versus 2008 - Breitbart

In 2008, Hilary Clinton earned almost 18 million primary votes. So far in 2016, she has earned just over 10 million primary votes.

In 2008, John McCain earned 10 million primary votes. In 2012, Mitt Romney earned 10 million primary votes. So far in 2016, Donald Trump has earned almost 9 million primary votes (with 20% of states yet to participate).

Donald Trump, in a 3-way (at times, 15-way) race, has almost as many primary votes as Hilary Clinton, in a 2-person race.

To be fair, Trump is getting a lot of Democrat crossover. His biggest wins tend to be in states with open primaries. Some traditional democrats genuinely want Trump to win, but also a lot of Democrats are voting strategically. I wouldn't expect them to be voting for Trump if he won the nomination.

But I do agree that at this point it is ridiculous to take polls of potential head-to-head match-ups seriously. Those head-to-head candidates haven't had the chance to do all their pivots, and maneuvering, and tearing each other down. It's especially ridiculous to think Bernie would beat everyone. No one has seriously challenged his nonsense. Hillary can't do it because she needs the millennials' votes, and if she harshed their utopian mellow they'd all retreat into their safe spaces and not vote at all.