# 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:** 66
**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:** [April 22, 2015, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1302 "2015-04-22T11:26:19Z")
Scott Walker says, [“I’ll see your anti illegal immigrant xenophobia and I’ll RAISE you anti LEGAL immigrant xenophobia.”](http://www.politicususa.com/2015/04/21/gop-xenophobia-full-swing-scott-walker-curb-legal-immigration.html) > [@](#): > > In terms of legal immigration, how we need to approach that going forward is saying, we will make adjustments. The next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages. Who’s going to call this latest bid? Maybe someone will call for expelling new citizens. Looks like the war for the rightest of the tightie righties is underway. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1303 "2015-04-22T12:35:20Z")
[Kansas joins the list](http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/blog/morning_call/2015/02/brownback-addresses-kansas-budget-shortfall.html) of states with a budget shortfall. I do not know if Gov. Brownback is planning a run for president but this might hurt. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2015, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1304 "2015-04-22T12:37:18Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > [Kansas joins the list](http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/blog/morning_call/2015/02/brownback-addresses-kansas-budget-shortfall.html) of states with a budget shortfall. I do not know if Gov. Brownback is planning a run for president but this might hurt. And here we thought that keeping welfare recipients from spending money on cruise ships would balance the budget. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1305 "2015-04-22T20:19:05Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [David Koch is pumping Scott Walker.](http://observer.com/2015/04/david-koch-scott-walker-would-defeat-hillary-clinton-by-a-major-margin/) [Or maybe not.](http://www.salon.com/2015/04/22/scott_walker_is_now_toast_the_crazy_move_right_that_cost_him_the_koch_brothers_and_probably_the_nomination/) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1306 "2015-04-23T02:37:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Scott Walker says, [“I’ll see your anti illegal immigrant xenophobia and I’ll RAISE you anti LEGAL immigrant xenophobia.”](http://www.politicususa.com/2015/04/21/gop-xenophobia-full-swing-scott-walker-curb-legal-immigration.html) > > Who’s going to call this latest bid? Maybe someone will call for expelling new citizens. Looks like the war for the rightest of the tightie righties is underway. That’s not what his statement is about at all. It’s about how we naturalize people. Do we consider the needs of American workers when deciding how many people to bring into this country? If you say no, and enough Democrats say no, then you can say goodbye to AFL-CIO money and ground game. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1307 "2015-04-23T12:59:28Z")
Even by the standards of debate team pricks (a familiar species even here on this board), [Rafael Cruz was reportedly a standout.](http://gawker.com/ted-cruz-was-the-college-debate-pricks-college-debate-p-1699453352?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow) > [@](#): > > Deeper into the profile, we learn: > > 1. That Cruz once blew a national tournament by confidently letting his Harvard opponents choose whether he should argue pro or con. The other team ran down Cruz’s speaking time pretending to fumble for a coin to flip, and he lost as the audience “chuckled” at his comeuppance. > > 2. That Cruz didn’t gel with his first debate team roomie, “a liberal who put Super Glue on Mr. Cruz’s alarm clock snooze button.” > > 3. That Cruz, when unprepared to debate the finer points of an opponent’s arguments, ignored them. “Ted was not about responding to anything,” a teammate said. “He would reframe the whole debate.” > > 4. That Cruz used his heritage to argue against women’s equality: > > For emotional resonance, Mr. Cruz often invoked his father’s coming to America from Cuba with $100 sewn into his underwear. When an Amherst team argued at a tournament in 1989 that Ricky Ricardo should have let Lucy work, Mr. Cruz said, in an incensed voice: “Well, guess what, I’m Cuban! And no self-respecting Cuban man of the era would let his wife work.” > > 1. That whiny Cruz regularly got his ass handed to him by debaters like Austan Goolsbee, Barack Obama’s future economic wonk: > > Goolsbee and other top debaters on the circuit who frequently beat Mr. Cruz discovered it was easy to get under his skin, especially with humor. “It would unravel him,” Mr. Goolsbee said. > > In one round, Mr. Goolsbee pointed out that the story of Mr. Cruz’s father coming to America, as compelling as it sounded, was not entirely relevant to, say, the federal deficit. > > “How dare you insult my father!” Mr. Cruz replied. _Y mucho mucho mas._ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1308 "2015-04-23T13:43:52Z")
[Just to have a little fun with the GOP lineup:](https://www.facebook.com/thePolitburoMocksTeabillies/photos/a.357397131053309.1073741829.355162344610121/686079698185049/?type=1&theater) > [@](#): > > Start calling them by their real names: John Ellis Bush, Randal Howard Paul, James Perry, Piyush Jindal, Nimrata Randhawa Haley, Rafael Edward Cruz Why be embarrassed about who they are? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1309 "2015-04-23T13:55:30Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Just to have a little fun with the GOP lineup:](https://www.facebook.com/thePolitburoMocksTeabillies/photos/a.357397131053309.1073741829.355162344610121/686079698185049/?type=1&theater)Why be embarrassed about who they are? Reminds me of the GOP’s insistence that Jimmy Carter be listed on the ballot as “James Earl Carter”, allegedly with the purpose of planting a connection in the minds of the largely Democratic black electorate with James Earl Ray who shot MLK. And of course all the people over the years who have typed “Barack HUSSEIN Obama”. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1310 "2015-04-23T14:03:46Z")
And no one could forget the impeachment of _William … Jefferson … Clinton_! (don’t forget to use a deep, solemn, resonant tone of voice). ---
**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:** [April 23, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1311 "2015-04-23T14:06:35Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > You’ve got to go back to 1988 to find a Presidential election where the Dem lost by more than 2.5% of the vote. And even that 2.5% loss was by a pretty mediocre Dem candidate against an incumbent Republican President… Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush, the incumbent VP, not the President (Reagan). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1312 "2015-04-23T14:20:25Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > 1. That Cruz used his heritage to argue against women’s equality: > > For emotional resonance, Mr. Cruz often invoked his father’s coming to America from Cuba with $100 sewn into his underwear. When an Amherst team argued at a tournament in 1989 that Ricky Ricardo should have let Lucy work, Mr. Cruz said, in an incensed voice: “Well, guess what, I’m Cuban! And no self-respecting Cuban man of the era would let his wife work.” IRL, of course, Lucille Ball worked, as an actress, despite being married to Desi Arnez, who was a Cuban man of the period. I guess Desi had no self-respect. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1313 "2015-04-23T18:43:31Z")
[Jeb apparently intends to evade such little campaign-finance law as remains by “outsourcing” his campaign to a superPAC.](http://www.salon.com/2015/04/23/americas_gross_political_process_gets_even_more_obscene_how_jeb_bush_is_killing_campaign_finance_law/) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1314 "2015-04-24T02:46:49Z")
That’s not really evasion, since all candidates in the post-Citizens United era let third parties campaign for them or against their opponents. What makes Jeb’s plan unique is that he intends to surrender a lot of control over his campaign to such third parties, which is really dangerous and really surprising for a Bush, given the Bushes history of always having the best campaign staffs. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1315 "2015-04-24T09:40:03Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > What makes Jeb’s plan unique is that he intends to surrender a lot of control over his campaign to such third parties, which is really dangerous and really surprising for a Bush, given the Bushes history of always having the best campaign staffs. On the other hand if he ends up getting stomped by Clinton he can blame the campaign staff (since they’re technically not HIS campaign staff) and start again with a new team for 2020. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1316 "2015-04-24T10:14:28Z")
You think he’s going to primary President Rubio? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1317 "2015-04-24T14:08:54Z")
If Bush is stomped by Clinton? You were going for a quip there, I know, but … fail. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1318 "2015-04-24T15:25:29Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > If Bush is stomped by Clinton? > > You were going for a quip there, I know, but … fail. What quip? I just meant that if the general election is between Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton and if Bush loses, by “outsourcing” his campaign staff he can use the arms-length relationship as a means of avoiding the stain of losing, blaming them for the loss and thus giving himself another opportunity later (with a different campaign staff) to run again. It wasn’t meant to be pithy. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1319 "2015-04-24T15:32:44Z")
If you (A) lose, and (B) lose because you totally mismanaged everything that mattered, then © you’re a loser with (D) no chance left of convincing the people you can run the government. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1320 "2015-04-24T15:42:39Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > If you (A) lose, and (B) lose because you totally mismanaged everything that mattered, then (C) you’re a loser with (D) no chance left of convincing the people you can run the government. Eh… Romney got a second chance. In fact lots of losers take a second run at it and win - consider Nixon and Reagan, for two. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1321 "2015-04-24T16:04:07Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Eh… Romney got a second chance. In fact lots of losers take a second run at it and win - consider Nixon and Reagan, for two. Or, we’re guessing, Hillary Clinton, who mismanaged her 2008 campaign in ways that mattered a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=65) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=67)