You can jerk that defensive knee all you like, but Donald Trump.
Donald.
Trump.
The US system always seems a bit dramatic compared to ours but this time around…
Yes, she really is. As soon as we get past the obscenity of two of the whitest states having the first votes, Sanders will be doomed.
The debate schedule is hilariously transparent, though. The only positive thing to say about it is that it’s nice to see that the Democrats can do something, anything, that is an actual dirty trick.
Yeah. Too bad we only do them against ourselves anymore…
It’s not two years though. Candidates typically declare in the summer the year before the election is held and the November it’s all over but the transition. Call it less than 18 months from first declarations to the general election. Most Americans really don’t start paying attention till well after that point. It’s really freaking long but we don’t need to overstate the case. 
The weird thing about it is that Marine is thought of as a serious politician in comparison to the craziness of her father Jean-Marie; this is not to bring up the neo-nazis in Greece or the rest of these kooks.
However, I’m pretty sure Trump has more support then any of these guys could ever muster (except Berlusconi whose comparison feels very apt -both in wealth and buffoonery).
Actually France can:
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11560824
Mind you, this happened after the violent attacks in France, their extremist message of hate did not lead to victory for the FN as many feared.
The debate on the Democrat side is actually very invigorating. Or at least I think so. For the first time we have a social democrat running vs. an establishment democrat, and the main quibble between the two seems to be effectiveness and electability. Bernie’s got the ideals, but can he get things done and win a street fight with the Republicans?
OTOH the Republicans thought process seems to be residing roughly where I was when I was 19 and read Atlas Shrugged… inexperienced, credulous, immature, delusional, incapable of reconciling ideological purity with reality.
I do believe when the dust settles, history will record that this is a conversation we needed to have, but I grant it sure does look like a mess right now. That’s democracy.
QFT. Good news is: Ted Cruz is dropping rapidly. Bad news is: The other frontrunner, Marco Rubio, might be even a worse President than Cruz; he’s drunk the extremism Kool-Aid but lacks Cruz’ intelligence.
What’s really sad/amusing is that of the four top-polling Republicans – Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson – the one most moderate and least frightening to imagine in the Oval Office is … Trump :eek:
An actual criminal is worse than a blowhard.
I am a non-American, like you addressed in your title - so what the fuck is this “don’t think we don’t notice” shite? I notice stuff on the Dem side, but I am don’t have such a hard on against Clinton that I am screwed up and think they are both just as bad. You’d have to be full on retard to think the Clinton-Sanders battle is anywhere near as foolish as the Trump-Cruz+7 losers battle is.
help me here: what’s the issue with the timing of the Dem debates?
Nah, we’ve all have had weirder stuff than Trump anywhere else.
What’s been weirder in your neck of the woods?
There aren’t as many as some people want, and a couple of them were scheduled for times that would supposedly minimize the number of viewers. (Two were on Saturday nights, one right before Christmas.)
I’m not sure why this would be such a noticeable shenanigan for a foreigner, though. It’s more major televised debates than pretty much any other democracy tends to have in its party leadership selection process, and it’s arcane inside baseball that most Americans won’t even care about.
Back in August I was telling people to back Bernie Sanders to be the next president. I figured no Republican could win, Trump was simply a joke and Clinton is a truly reprehensible person so only Sanders could win. Looking for other opinions I stumbled on Scott Adams blog where he posted this How Trump Becomes President
Later in the month he predicted that not only will Trump be the nominee he will win the election by a wide margin.
Since then he has regularly posted about what he sees happening in the election often comparing the media’s take on things with his Master Persuader filter. Despite my urge to believe that my initial thoughts about Trump are correct it is Adams that seems to be by turns funny, scary and correct. Reading his blog has been more entertaining than any serial I have ever followed. So I am loving the election shenanigans.
[Jon Stewart voice]Go onnn … [/JSv]
Try reading up on the Natural Law party with their ‘Yogic Flying’. 
Sure, but they were never leading in the polls.
Trump doesn’t scare me. In every democracy in the world, throughout history, there have always been crazies running for high office. What scares me is Trump’s supporters. The crazies are supposed to be lost in the noise, but this time, they’re leading.
Rent is too damn high guy was not a serious candidate.
Of course he is probably still better than Trump or Cruz.