# The 2016 Republican candidates **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 9, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444 "2015-01-09T22:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/261 "2015-01-24T02:06:55Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > (…) it’s up to you to back up your claims, **adaher**. You HAVE met **adaher** before, right? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/262 "2015-01-24T02:11:17Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Tell us how the greatest neurosurgeon ever is entitled to be heard on tax rates, immigration reform, the Keystone XL pipeline, the situation in Ukraine, or, in fact, anything other than neurosurgery. Tell us how the greatest community organizer ever is entitled to be heard on any of those issues. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/263 "2015-01-24T02:25:44Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Tell us how the greatest community organizer ever is entitled to be heard on any of those issues. Content: null. Please try again. Because that could be said about anyone who had a career before politics. Tell us how [del]the greatest[/del] a so-so B-movie actor is entitled to be heard…tell us how [del]the greatest[/del] a failed former oilman is entitled to be heard…you get the idea. And if they didn’t have a career before politics, just take it back to their college days: the greatest Yale grad ever, etc. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/264 "2015-01-24T02:27:40Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Ben Carson didn’t just do stuff in the operating room, he was probably the greatest neurosurgeon ever. Yeah? Greatest ever? Did he ever make a man with blonde hair and a tan? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/265 "2015-01-24T02:34:58Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Because that could be said about anyone who had a career before politics. Right. So what is Robot Arm talking about? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/266 "2015-01-24T02:42:07Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Right. So what is Robot Arm talking about? The doctor without a political career. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/267 "2015-01-24T02:55:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The doctor without a political career. Like the community organizer without a political career? Or the son of the shakedown artist and beer distributor? Or the judge who was impeached and removed from office, before he began his “political” career? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/268 "2015-01-24T03:13:03Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Like the community organizer without a political career? > > Or the son of the shakedown artist and beer distributor? > > Or the judge who was impeached and removed from office, before he began his “political” career? The community organizer didn’t run for president. The former state senator and U.S. senator ran for president. But you knew that. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/269 "2015-01-24T03:22:55Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > The community organizer didn’t run for president. The former state senator and U.S. senator ran for president. But you knew that. He was a non-entity (often voting present) in the Illinois Senate, and wasn’t much better in the U.S. Senate. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/270 "2015-01-24T03:35:11Z")
Well, shit, in that case, I’m not voting for that Obama guy in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/271 "2015-01-24T03:38:36Z")
The desperate right-wing obsessive need to see Obama as a giant ball of nothing is becoming very uncomfortable to watch. It’s like seeing your weird uncle have a meltdown at Christmas dinner and start denying the Holocaust… ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/272 "2015-01-24T03:38:49Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Well, shit, in that case, I’m not voting for that Obama guy in 2016. But you voted for him twice before, didn’t you. If so, your judgment is rather poor. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/273 "2015-01-24T03:42:09Z")
The argument seems to be that Carson should start out in a state legislature or something. Although neurosurgeon\> community organizer so let’s start him out in the House at least. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/274 "2015-01-24T03:44:05Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Right. So what is Robot Arm talking about? I"m talking about a Republican candidate in a thread entitled “the 2016 Republican candidates”. It’s a subtle connection. I can see how you might have missed it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/275 "2015-01-24T03:50:36Z")
So, Robot Arm believes that people without money or political experience shouldn’t run for President? Thank goodness the Constitution says otherwise. Our first President might have been some hack from the Virginia House of Delegates instead of George Washington. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/276 "2015-01-24T03:54:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I"m talking about a Republican candidate in a thread entitled “the 2016 Republican candidates”. That’s a silly answer. Why don’t you apply the same criteria, i.e. just a neurosurgeon, to the Democrat candidates? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/277 "2015-01-24T03:55:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The argument seems to be that Carson should start out in a state legislature or something. Although neurosurgeon\> community organizer so let’s start him out in the House at least. Neurosurgeon pays better, and it’s harder to break into the profession, certainly. But one just might pick up some skillz relating to politics as a community organizer, and also a close-up understanding of the problems that some people face and the needs that they have, that one wouldn’t get from being a neurosurgeon or a mathematician. So start Carson out in a race for county council. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/278 "2015-01-24T03:58:33Z")
You guys are missing the point. It’s not the opinions of democrats that matter. The republican power brokers aren’t going to put their resources behind a retired neurosurgeon with zero political experience. In fact, he’s the kind of guy that scares them the most because he is so unpredictable So unless Carson can organize and cultivate a world-class grass roots operation, he’s not going anywhere. And quite frankly, he lacks the personal charisma to inspire a grass roots movement in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/279 "2015-01-24T04:03:40Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > That’s a silly answer. Why don’t you apply the same criteria, i.e. just a neurosurgeon, to the Democrat candidates? We do – there are no neurosurgeons with no elected positions that we support for the Democratic nomination. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/280 "2015-01-24T04:05:08Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Like the community organizer without a political career? Absolutely. If some community organizer ran for President without having had any other relevant experience, no matter how good a community organizer he was, I’d be saying the same things I’m saying about Carson. Now, your point again? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=15)