# 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:** 47
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/922 "2015-03-01T01:10:30Z")
[FactChecking CPAC.](http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/factchecking-cpac/) Lot of the candidates are playing fast and loose with the truth. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2015, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/923 "2015-03-01T09:25:59Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If we’re attacked, we invade anyway. Might as well do it before they can get dug in. Ah. preemptive retaliation; you have learned well from the Bush years. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/924 "2015-03-01T12:38:10Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [FactChecking CPAC.](http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/factchecking-cpac/) Lot of the candidates are playing fast and loose with the truth. What - Republicans insisting on their own facts? Who knew? Seriously, the Dems need to abandon any pretense of respect for the GOP as a worthy political adversary, and call them out for what they are: a party that is worse in every respect than the Dems, whose arguments only work in the imaginary universe they’ve constructed in their own heads, that is only ‘better’ if you think discrimination against women, gays, and racial and ethnic minorities is a Good Thing, ditto making it harder for the Wrong People to vote, ditto for empowering those who are already rich, and making life more difficult for everyone else. They haven’t been the party of fiscal responsibility in 35 years, nor would any sane person trust them to keep us safe. And they’re provably worse for the fortunes of the vast majority of Americans. I want a Democratic Party whose goal is to not just win an election or two, but to completely discredit the GOP as it is now, so that it starts sinking in with voters (and maybe even eventually with our Broderist pundit class) just how insane you’d have to be to want the GOP to run as much as a two-car funeral. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Elizabeth Warren:](https://twitter.com/elizabethforma/status/571716263963201538) “If Scott Walker sees 100,000 teachers & firefighters as his enemies, maybe it’s time we take a closer look at his friends.” Damn, she’s good. We need to clone an army of Elizabeth Warrens. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/925 "2015-03-01T14:18:00Z")
Not really. That kind of rhetoric, friends and enemies, is inappropriate when talking about fellow Americans. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/926 "2015-03-01T15:19:52Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Not really. That kind of rhetoric, friends and enemies, is inappropriate when talking about fellow Americans. I would assume you just mean the ‘enemies’ part of that; it’s perfectly reasonable to talk about one’s friends, after all. Anyhow, your issue is with Scott Walker, who drew the parallelism between ISIS and the teachers and firefighters in the first place. And with every conservative pol who uses rhetoric far more inflammatory than that in describing their domestic political opponents, which they do rather routinely, sad to say. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/927 "2015-03-01T19:15:32Z")
Warren implies that he considers firemen and teachers “the enemy”, which is utterly false, and that his friends are people that we shouldn’t consider friends. It’s divisive and I doubt it sells except among the 10% of the population that is far left. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/928 "2015-03-01T19:22:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Warren implies that he considers firemen and teachers “the enemy”, which is utterly false, and that his friends are people that we shouldn’t consider friends. It’s divisive and I doubt it sells except among the 10% of the population that is far left. I’m sorry…who was it, exactly, that compared those firemen and teachers and other state workers to a terrorist organization known for decapitating and exploding people? Not Liz Warren. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/929 "2015-03-01T19:34:32Z")
That’s stupid too, but we need to distinguish between the union and those they represent. With the benefit of hindsight we can see that a whole bunch of those teachers and firemen didn’t want any part of the union once they had a choice. Obviously, Warren considers them to be enemies. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/930 "2015-03-01T19:44:55Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That’s stupid too, but we need to distinguish between the union and those they represent. With the benefit of hindsight we can see that a whole bunch of those teachers and firemen didn’t want any part of the union once they had a choice. > > Obviously, Warren considers them to be enemies. Are you just trying to misunderstand this? Walker said that standing up to unions was comparable to standing up to ISIS. Warren didn’t compare any big groups of Americans to bloodthirsty terrorist enemies. So no, Warren “obviously” does not consider them to be enemies. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/931 "2015-03-01T19:50:59Z")
So she won’t force them to undergo reeducation? I’m relieved. But yeah, Walker comparing unions to ISIS, definitely belongs in the Stupid Republican Idea thread. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/932 "2015-03-01T20:03:45Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The difference is that the Viet Cong weren’t coming to our shores. ISIS will. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > There’s no chance ISIS could ever kill more people and cost us more money attacking us here than if we had forces there. ISIS is not WWII Japan or Germany. They’re not even North Korea or Iran. They’re a few tens of thousands of uneducated, belligerent assholes. Yeah–when I was a kid, an existential threat to the nation meant hundreds of ICBMs armed with nuclear warheads aimed at all the country’s major cities. All this shrill talk about the “threat” of ISIS going on at CPAC is laughably transparent (and craven) pandering. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/933 "2015-03-01T22:32:50Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Yeah–when I was a kid, an existential threat to the nation meant hundreds of ICBMs armed with nuclear warheads aimed at all the country’s major cities… Ah, for the good ol’ days…! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/934 "2015-03-02T01:47:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > … Hillary Clinton is also very hawkish and supported the war in Iraq. Which of course she gets a pass for now. BTW, that should be a pretty good debate line for any Republican accused of being a warmonger: “Only one person on this stage voted for the war in Iraq.” Lust for venegeance had pushed American sentiment into irrationality. The few who opposed Bush’s misbegotten War against Gog and Magog are to be applauded; these include Obama and Biden. Do any promenent Republicans belong on the select list to be applauded? I am annoyed by those who, finally understanding in hindsight that Bush’s Iraq War derived from lies, greed, incompetence and flawed ideology, try to shift the blame from Bush and his fellow liars onto those who merely believed the liars. I sympathise with Hillary and other gullible Democrats who never thought a President could resort to such heinous and cynical lies. George Bush’s insane War cost trillions of dollars and millions(\*) of lives, just to make the world a _worse_ place. The idea that his younger brother (even if innocent of George’s crimes) could become President makes me want to puke. (\* - Perhaps the direct death toll attributable to the Iraq misadventure was as low as 1.9 million, but at SDMB I’ve been instructed that anything more than 1 allows use of the plural: “1.1 millions”.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/935 "2015-03-02T10:59:14Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > The idea that his younger brother (even if innocent of George’s crimes) could become President makes me want to puke. And by employing a crew of Iraq war planners, headed by Paul freakin’ Wolfowitz, as foreign policy advisors, Jebbie has given up any right to claim any distance from the disaster that was the Iraq war. He may be innocent of those crimes as crimes, but there’s no reason to believe he’d go down a different road in the future. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/936 "2015-03-02T11:30:37Z")
And [thanks for nothing](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/us/politics/gop-race-starts-in-lavish-haunts-of-rich-donors.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) to the Republican majority on the Supreme Court: > [@](#): > > Long before the season of baby-kissing and caucus-going begins in early primary states, a no less decisive series of contests is playing out among the potential 2016 contenders along a trail that traces the cold-weather destinations of the wealthy and private-jet-equipped. In one resort town after another — Rancho Mirage, Calif.; Sea Island, Ga.; Las Vegas — the candidates are making their cases to exclusive gatherings of donors whose wealth, fully unleashed by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, has granted them the kind of influence and convening power once held by urban political bosses and party chairmen. > > Even a single deep-pocketed donor can now summon virtually the entire field of candidates. No fewer than 11 Republican White House hopefuls will fly to Iowa this week to attend the Iowa Agriculture Summit organized by Bruce Rastetter, a businessman and prominent “super PAC” donor. Each will submit to questions from Mr. Rastetter, who said he wanted the candidates to educate themselves on agriculture policy. Via [Atrios](http://www.eschatonblog.com/2015/03/one-big-grift.html). This is your nomination process, Republicans. Cherish it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/937 "2015-03-04T17:01:40Z")
[5 Signs Scott Walker Is Using GOP’s Racist ‘Southern Strategy’ to Win in 2016.](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/04/5_signs_scott_walker_is_employing_gops_racist_southern_strategy_partner/) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/938 "2015-03-05T04:46:28Z")
Two reasons why that article is stupid: 1. You can’t have a southern strategy when you already have won the south. 2. Using right to work laws as an example of white grievance is just dumb. Is there any evidence whatsoever that right to work laws are supported more by whites than minorities? Because at least in the private sector, my perception of unions is that they are white dominated. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/939 "2015-03-05T05:58:47Z")
The “southern strategy” in modern politics has nothing to do with winning the actual south. It’s simply a means of using racial resentment to attract white voters. Surely you know that. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/940 "2015-03-05T06:24:34Z")
I know what liberals think it is. But when they cite right to work as an example of such an issue they look like they are crying wolf. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/941 "2015-03-05T12:45:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > McCain did not actually every say anything about seriously attacking Iran. His official view is no different from the President’s. Nothing is off the table, but force is not imminent. You don’t joke about waging war if you’re the commander in chief or want to be. It’s just not done. He thought he was being oh so clever and oh so funny when he delivered the “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” line, but it isn’t something you say when you want to be taken seriously. Really, you casually joke about waging war on one of the largest and most powerful nations in the Middle East and you think you should be president? McCain was unfit to be president in 2008 and he’s getting to be unfit to be senator now. He’s just an angry old fart with an overgrown sense of entitlement who still can’t accept that he was by far the lesser choice in 2008. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=46) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=48)