# 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:** 39
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/762 "2015-02-21T00:02:37Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Ah, yes, it is. > > But he doesn’t seem to care one little bit about making things easier for Rand. Hey, I’m good with that. 🙂 If Rand’s candidacy actually starts going somewhere, then it’s fair game to ask him whether he agrees or disagrees with his father’s numerous bizarre stands on assorted issues. Same deal for Ted Cruz. Jeb Bush just has to explain away his brother. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/763 "2015-02-21T02:43:10Z")
I can’t take that list from Sabato seriously, RT. Anyone who ranks Carson anywhere above ‘fuck no’ is just trolling for clicks. It discredits his entire operation to have him on the list at all. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/764 "2015-02-21T04:06:58Z")
Carson is in third or fourth place. Sabato goes by the facts. Carson is polling well despite no money and little name recognition. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/765 "2015-02-21T05:04:25Z")
How the heck does someone poll well without any name recognition? Because the other names invoke such nausea and revulsion, the respondent picks the name he does not recognize, in forlorn hope? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/766 "2015-02-21T05:55:11Z")
No, it means that of those that have heard of him, he’s got more support. Jeb Bush is known by 90% of Republicans,and about 15% want him. Carson is probably known by like 20%, and 10% want him. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/767 "2015-02-21T08:10:14Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, it means that of those that have heard of him, he’s got more support. Jeb Bush is known by 90% of Republicans,and about 15% want him. Carson is probably known by like 20%, and 10% want him. Also, many of the people who even have heard of Carson are RW ideologues that consume deep RW media, since that’s pretty much where he’s been given a spotlight. Of course those guys love his fire and brimstone Obama-loathing. Once he has to get votes from the moderate Republicans, his shine will wear off. ---
**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 21, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/768 "2015-02-21T12:00:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Carson is in third or fourth place. Sabato goes by the facts. Carson is polling well despite no money and little name recognition. The guy is a rodeo clown. How can you take him seriously when he says Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery? Or that it’s worse than 9/11? Or that Obama is guilty of treason? He’s Sarah Palin with hairy legs, capable of ginning up anti-Obama fervor in crowds that have never voted for a D in their lives. That’s it, he’s just a one-trick pony. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/769 "2015-02-21T12:06:53Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Carson is in third or fourth place. Sabato goes by the facts. Carson is polling well despite no money and little name recognition. **JC** is saying something fundamentally true: no matter how well Carson might be polling at this early stage, he doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the nomination, and everybody knows it, including Larry Sabato. The big donors won’t help him, and would throw their weight behind pretty much anyone else to defeat him, if push came to shove, which it won’t. And even the bulk of the GOP primary voters will go for someone else when it comes time to vote, because even they don’t want to see him in the White House. Right now, by telling the pollsters they support Carson, they may be sending the message that they’d like to see someone as their nominee with the requisite political experience, but otherwise like Carson. But that’s the extent of it. Candidates like Carson flower early, and fade early, because not many people are actually going to vote for them when things get real. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/770 "2015-02-21T12:18:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, it means that of those that have heard of him, he’s got more support. Jeb Bush is known by 90% of Republicans,and about 15% want him. Carson is probably known by like 20%, and 10% want him. Can you back up that claim that so few Republicans know who Carson is? (And the meaningful set here is likely GOP primary voters, since candidates’ name recognition among those who aren’t likely to choose the nominee really doesn’t matter.) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/771 "2015-02-21T13:10:48Z")
That was a guess, since there is no favorability polling on Carson yet. Can he win? Sure he can, if he finds some discipline and hires people to handle him. He’s in the same class as Herman Cain and Cain was in front briefly before allegations of sexual harassment brought him down. At this point,it’s better for analysts like Sabato to take candidates too seriously than to not take them seriously enough and get egg on their faces. Besides, if the GOP base is as nutso as some of you think, Carson can certainly be the nominee. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/772 "2015-02-21T13:54:38Z")
Putting him in the same class as Cain is proof that he could become the front-runner for a time. It isn’t proof that he could win. It wasn’t Cain’s zipper problems that took him down; that was just the pretext. What took him down was the fact that he was a loon. ---
**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 21, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/773 "2015-02-21T21:47:39Z")
Agreed. Carson will never go the distance. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/774 "2015-02-21T22:01:16Z")
adaher, that’s silly. And one more sign that the GOP is still in chaos at the Presidential level. Anyone who considers Carson any form of viable candidate is fooling themselves. He’s a flash in the pan more concerned with upping his appearance fee money and his time on Fox News than actually running for office. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/775 "2015-02-21T23:16:37Z")
Now, let’s be fair, here. We are dealing with someone we have good reason to believe is at least somewhat deranged and/or delusional. Ascribing rational motives may not be valid, it may not be about money, or fame, or influence. It may be about artichokes. ---
**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 21, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/776 "2015-02-21T23:21:39Z")
_Jerusalem_ artichokes. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/777 "2015-02-22T01:53:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Now, let’s be fair, here. We are dealing with someone we have good reason to believe is at least somewhat deranged and/or delusional. Ascribing rational motives may not be valid, it may not be about money, or fame, or influence. It may be about artichokes. Don’t cast aspersions on his artichokes. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/778 "2015-02-22T04:56:22Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Now, let’s be fair, here. We are dealing with someone we have good reason to believe is at least somewhat deranged and/or delusional. Ascribing rational motives may not be valid, it may not be about money, or fame, or influence. It may be about artichokes. Someone should let Johns Hopkins know that they’ve been letting a deranged lunatic work on people’s brains. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/779 "2015-02-22T07:24:45Z")
Maybe he is just peculiarly susceptible to the presence of microphones? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/780 "2015-02-22T08:39:12Z")
Or perhaps he’s a normal guy who doesn’t know much about politics and has weird opinions, much like any average guy you’d meet. The difference between professional politicians and your average joe is a staff telling them what to say and what not to say. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/781 "2015-02-22T09:42:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Or perhaps he’s a normal guy who doesn’t know much about politics and has weird opinions, much like any average guy you’d meet. > > The difference between professional politicians and your average joe is a staff telling them what to say and what not to say. Or he’s a dude has has the narrow band of intellect that lets you get through medical school, but is simultaneously too stupid to understand that there wasn’t a biblical flood. Thinking evolution is a lie isn’t an opinion. Thinking strawberries are yummy is an opinion. Thinking evolution is a lie, is an incorrect fact. And holding onto that lie in the face of overwhelming evidence that you’ve been exposed to (say, during medical school), means you’re so set in your ways that you are unable to learn, if that learning conflicts with what you’d rather believe. I prefer thinking persons to be presidents. Not wind-up automations clickety-clacking as their program demands, unable to adapt or alter their ways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=38) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=40)