# 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:** 38
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/742 "2015-02-19T02:24:04Z")
Sorry, I’ve disagreed with pkbites on this issue before. The recall itself was an issue. But it still counts as a significant win, since recalls have worked before. I still count Scott Walker as having won three competitive races. His likely opponent is still stuck at zero, cherry picking an easy state to run in and winning to the shock and surprise of absolutely no one. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/743 "2015-02-19T03:21:50Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > My only advice to anyone else with these views is buy name-brand tin foil for their hat and get some psychiatric help! My advice to you is to refrain from personal attacks outside The BBQ Pit. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/744 "2015-02-19T05:22:05Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > My advice to you is to refrain from personal attacks outside The BBQ Pit. > > [/Moderating] 😕 It wasn’t a personal attack. I told Bob he could believe what he wants but advised \*\*\*anyone else \*\*\*to get help, naming nobody specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/745 "2015-02-19T15:08:23Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Not surprisingly, this answers a very different question than the one I raised. No, it answers the specific question you raised. You were hoping that there was something dishonest about his admission to medical school, but there wasn’t, and now you are trying to pretend. > [@](#): > > Please go back and read the part of my post that you \*didn’t \*quote. I did read it. You have been adequately answered, and you are attempting to misrepresent what you said. He got into medical school without an undergraduate degree because the medical school did not require an undergraduate degree at that time, and he did not get an undergraduate degree because he didn’t need it to get into medical school. This is obvious. I know you are pretending, but for those without a vested interest in misrepresentation of Dr. Paul’s background, those are the facts, and his background reflects no dishonor and much credit to him. Now wave your hands, move the goalposts, try some special pleading, misrepresent what you said, or misrepresent what I said (all of which is documented fact). Maybe it will work this time. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/746 "2015-02-20T02:34:54Z")
This is fun - a Venn diagram of Jeb’s foreign policy and national security advisors, and their links to past GOP administrations: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/18/jeb-bushs-foreign-policy-team-is-eerily-familiar-in-1-venn-diagram/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/18/jeb-bushs-foreign-policy-team-is-eerily-familiar-in-1-venn-diagram/) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/747 "2015-02-20T02:40:21Z")
Wow. That is a whole lot of blasts from the past. The bad kind. Like an explosion that takes out your whole city. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/748 "2015-02-20T13:36:40Z")
**adaher** is right to point out that any Republican administration in the near future would draw its top staff mostly from former Bush people. Considering their disastrous record, he \*might \*take the next step and acknowledge that’s why we shouldn’t \*elect \* any Republican for President in the near future. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/749 "2015-02-20T16:40:27Z")
[More on Walker, from Paul Krugman.](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/opinion/paul-krugman-cranking-up-for-2016.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1) > [@](#): > > Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, is said to be a rising contender for the Republican presidential nomination. So, on Wednesday, he did what, these days, any ambitious Republican must, and pledged allegiance to charlatans and cranks. > > For those unfamiliar with the phrase, “charlatans and cranks” is associated with N. Gregory Mankiw, a professor at Harvard who served for a time as George W. Bush’s chief economic adviser. In the first edition of his best-selling economics textbook, Mr. Mankiw used those words to ridicule “supply-siders” who promised that tax cuts would have such magic effects on the economy that deficits would go down, not up. > > But, on Wednesday, Mr. Walker, in what was clearly a rite of passage into serious candidacy, spoke at a dinner at Manhattan’s “21” Club hosted by the three most prominent supply-siders: Art Laffer (he of the curve); Larry Kudlow of CNBC; and Stephen Moore, chief economist of the Heritage Foundation. Politico pointed out that Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, attended a similar event last month. Clearly, to be a Republican contender you have to court the powerful charlatan caucus. > > So a doctrine that even Republican economists consider dangerous nonsense has become party orthodoxy. And what makes this political triumph especially remarkable is that it comes just as the doctrine’s high priests have been setting new standards for utter, epic predictive failure. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/750 "2015-02-20T16:45:50Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > No, it answers the specific question you raised. You were hoping that there was something dishonest about his admission to medical school, but there wasn’t, and now you are trying to pretend. > I did read it. You have been adequately answered, and you are attempting to misrepresent what you said. OK, here’s what I said: > [@RTFirefly](#): > > (b) how the hell did he get into Duke Medical School without an undergrad degree? > > Given the intense competition to get into med school, (b) is the part that blows my mind. No matter how much weight they put on the MCATs, you’d think they wouldn’t waste a space on someone who didn’t have the self-discipline to complete his undergrad degree. Wouldn’t any med school admissions person regard such an applicant as a bad risk? > [@](#): > > He got into medical school without an undergraduate degree because the medical school did not require an undergraduate degree at that time, and he did not get an undergraduate degree because he didn’t need it to get into medical school. > > This is obvious. I know you are pretending, but for those without a vested interest in misrepresentation of Dr. Paul’s background, those are the facts, and his background reflects no dishonor and much credit to him. > > Now wave your hands, move the goalposts, try some special pleading, misrepresent what you said, or misrepresent what I said (all of which is documented fact). Maybe it will work this time. > > Regards, > Shodan You know, we can roll tape around here. We can pull up _what was actually said_ to refute those who say in the very next page that no, you said something completely different. Well, there’s what I said. Was the issue that I raised one of whether Duke Medical School _required a bachelor’s degree?_ No, it motherfucking _wasn’t._ You can’t find it anywhere in my post, because\* it’s not there.\* The issue that I raised was, _you’d think they wouldn’t waste a space on someone who **didn’t have the self-discipline** to complete his undergrad degree. Wouldn’t any med school admissions person regard such an applicant as a bad risk?_ There. That’s what I said in the first place. _Exact fucking quote._ So explain to me again how I moved the goalposts or misrepresented what I said. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/751 "2015-02-20T17:03:13Z")
[More on Walker, from Paul Krugman.](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/opinion/paul-krugman-cranking-up-for-2016.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1) > [@](#): > > Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, is said to be a rising contender for the Republican presidential nomination. So, on Wednesday, he did what, these days, any ambitious Republican must, and pledged allegiance to charlatans and cranks. > > For those unfamiliar with the phrase, “charlatans and cranks” is associated with N. Gregory Mankiw, a professor at Harvard who served for a time as George W. Bush’s chief economic adviser. In the first edition of his best-selling economics textbook, Mr. Mankiw used those words to ridicule “supply-siders” who promised that tax cuts would have such magic effects on the economy that deficits would go down, not up. > > But, on Wednesday, Mr. Walker, in what was clearly a rite of passage into serious candidacy, spoke at a dinner at Manhattan’s “21” Club hosted by the three most prominent supply-siders: Art Laffer (he of the curve); Larry Kudlow of CNBC; and Stephen Moore, chief economist of the Heritage Foundation. Politico pointed out that Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, attended a similar event last month. Clearly, to be a Republican contender you have to court the powerful charlatan caucus. > > So a doctrine that even Republican economists consider dangerous nonsense has become party orthodoxy. And what makes this political triumph especially remarkable is that it comes just as the doctrine’s high priests have been setting new standards for utter, epic predictive failure. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/752 "2015-02-20T17:31:30Z")
Sabato’s got a [new set of rankings](http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/2016-president/), FWIW. OK, not that new, they’re over 2 weeks old. But newer than the ones I linked to 14 pages back. I’d agree with him that Jeb and Walker are the top tier. But after that, I gotta wonder about him. His second tier - “The Credible Contenders,” he calls them - consists of Christie and Rubio. Christie’s been toast for months now, though I welcome his continued participation. And while Rubio has time to reinvent himself, the question is, how is he going to get anyone to notice? Jeb’s bigfooted him in his home state, and he doesn’t seem to have figured out a way to get as much attention as Rand or Cruz or Jindal or Santorum or Huckabee or Christie or even Lindsey Graham. I just don’t see how he’s going to get anyone to care that he’s still running. His third tier - Rand, Cruz, Huckabee, Santorum, and Carson - would be my second tier, though I’d drop Carson a couple of tiers down, and probably replace him with Rick Perry. His fourth tier, the governor alternatives, consists of Perry, Jindal, Kasich, Pence, and Rick Snyder (MI). Jindal’s already toast. Kasich, Pence, and Snyder share Rubio’s problem of getting anyone to care that they’re running. (We’ve got three Ricks in the race: Perry, Santorum, and Snyder. Ricks of the world, unite!) His fifth tier is the “why are they bothering?” group, or maybe the “who in the damn galaxy ain’t running?” group: Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, Peter King, John Bolton, Bob Ehrlich, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore. I’d rank Carson ahead of these guys only because people are paying attention to him. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/753 "2015-02-20T17:54:17Z")
Here’s my alternate set of rankings: 1. The frontrunners: Scott Walker, Jeb Bush. 2. The contenders: Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee. 3. Could become a contender if he could just get noticed again: Marco Rubio. 4. Would have a problem getting people to care, even if they could get noticed (aka the T-Paw Brigade): John Kasich, Mike Pence, Rick Snyder. 5. Are getting noticed, but are still toast: Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal. 6. Running? Who in the damn galaxy ain’t? Carly Fiorina, Peter King, John Bolton, Bob Ehrlich, George Pataki, Jim Gilmore. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/754 "2015-02-20T18:10:55Z")
I have it thus: 1. In the bag: Jeb Bush 2. Needs a stumble from Bush: Rubio, Walker 3. The Clown Car: Paul, Cruz, Santorum, Huckabee, Christie, Jindal 4. Not good enough for the clown car: Carson, Fiorina, Bolton, Graham, Kasich I’m not sure any of the others have expressed an interest in running ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/755 "2015-02-20T18:49:41Z")
[Christie’s supporters and donors are deserting to Jeb.](http://www.salon.com/2015/02/20/the_great_chris_christie_pile_on_why_his_rich_allies_are_jumping_ship/) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/756 "2015-02-20T19:06:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Christie’s supporters and donors are deserting to Jeb.](http://www.salon.com/2015/02/20/the_great_chris_christie_pile_on_why_his_rich_allies_are_jumping_ship/) I think was craving a cannoli anyway, now he has an excuse to ditch the diet. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/757 "2015-02-20T19:13:14Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I think was craving a cannoli anyway, now he has an excuse to ditch the diet. Didn’t he get the bariatric surgery? He might not be able to eat as much as he would want to. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/758 "2015-02-20T20:05:32Z")
It’s early days yet; is anyone conspicuously keeping their powder dry? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/759 "2015-02-20T20:18:31Z")
[Rand Paul:](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/02/19/supreme-tiny-government-moron-ron-paul-says-secession-is-imminent-and-good-news/) > [@](#): > > I would like to start off by talking about the subject and the subject of course, is secession and nullification, the breaking up of government, and the good news is it’s gonna happen! It’s happening! > > And it’s not gonna be because there will be enough people in the U.S. Congress to legislate it. It won’t happen. It will be de facto. Ya know, you’ll have a gold standard when the paper standard fails and we’re getting awfully close to that. And people will have to resort to taking care of themselves. So when conditions break down, ya know, there’s gonna be an alternative. And I think that’s what we’re witnessing. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/760 "2015-02-20T20:56:47Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Rand Paul:](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/02/19/supreme-tiny-government-moron-ron-paul-says-secession-is-imminent-and-good-news/) That’s his dad, Ron. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/761 "2015-02-20T20:58:40Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > That’s his dad, Ron. Ah, yes, it is. But he doesn’t seem to care one little bit about making things easier for Rand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=37) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=39)