# 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:** 78
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1542 "2015-06-09T22:23:44Z")
Also, speaking out against illegitimacy counts as education, and it’s free. We don’t spend billions just to teach people that racism and homophobia are bad, yet somehow most people have internalized that. Oh yeah, that’s because we shame such people! Wow, amazing how that works. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1543 "2015-06-09T22:51:04Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There was a time when we had none of those things you describe, yet illegitimacy was rare. So your contention is that things were better when women were forced by socio-economic realities and religious dogma to stay with men who abused them. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1544 "2015-06-09T22:53:06Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Also, speaking out against illegitimacy counts as education, and it’s free. We don’t spend billions just to teach people that racism and homophobia are bad, yet somehow most people have internalized that. > > Oh yeah, that’s because we shame such people! Wow, amazing how that works. Yes, shaming people is bad. It’s also counterproductive as it does nothing about single parents now nor do any studies show that it deters others. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1545 "2015-06-09T22:54:04Z")
No. However, with greater freedom comes greater responsibility, and we don’t just give people a pass for being irresponsible. In fact, expecting people to be responsible is an integral part of being free. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1546 "2015-06-09T23:19:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **adaher** : > > There was a time when we had none of those things you describe, yet illegitimacy was rare. The only time when illegitimacy was rare was before humanity evolved. Unless you’re saying that your plan is to pretend that it doesn’t happen? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1547 "2015-06-10T00:48:59Z")
In my state, there are no illegitimate children. At least, not for over a half a century. It is a non-meaningful term. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1548 "2015-06-10T01:31:55Z")
Then pick one you like better. Children born to single parents are tremendously disadvantaged compared to children born in two parent families. That’s just facts. Should there be a social stigma to disadvantaging your children? Hell yes. Liberals seem comfortable enough slamming parents for making their kids fat. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1549 "2015-06-10T03:11:02Z")
Welcome to episode 9453 of the Adaher show: Liberals love bastards but hate the fatties. The 2016 republican candidates have all declined to comment. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1550 "2015-06-10T03:16:35Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Then pick one you like better. Children born to single parents are tremendously disadvantaged compared to children born in two parent families. That’s just facts. Should there be a social stigma to disadvantaging your children? Hell yes. Liberals seem comfortable enough slamming parents for making their kids fat. Firstly, “out of wedlock” doesn’t always mean “single parent,” but you knew that. Secondly, you’d like people to turn up their noses at children due to something out of their control and stamp them with the “bastard” label, yet prevent their parents from having any education or resources that might aid them in avoiding the creation of one of these pariahs and thusly dooming them both. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1551 "2015-06-10T04:38:22Z")
If two parents are better than one, why not six? Twenty? Perhaps our children would be better served growing up in some sort of kibbutz-like setting. After all, it really does take a village anyway. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1552 "2015-06-10T12:58:45Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Jeb Bush has no proposals for making having children out of wedlock stigmatized. Except for the whole publicizing the mothers’ sexual history thing, that is. [QUOTE=ElvisL1ves’ article] As governor of Florida in 2001, Bush had the opportunity to test his theory on public shaming. He declined to veto a very controversial bill that required single mothers who did not know the identity of the father to publish their sexual histories in a newspaper before they could legally put their babies up for adoption [/QUOTE] ---
**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:** [June 10, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1553 "2015-06-10T15:43:27Z")
CNN Politics on why Jeb is struggling a bit so far: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/politics/jeb-bush-2016-competition/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/politics/jeb-bush-2016-competition/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1554 "2015-06-10T15:52:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It’s also a hard truth. Government can’t make society act a certain way. But, that is exactly what the Republican authors of that bill were trying to do. > [@adaher](#): > > But children born out of wedlock is bad, m’kay? Well, no, it isn’t. It can be sometimes, if it means a mother is stuck raising the child with no help from the father, but it is not a bad thing in and of itself, and some mothers **choose** to have a kid but not have a man around – some even go to sperm banks for the purpose – and that’s a perfectly sound choice if they can handle it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1555 "2015-06-10T17:15:00Z")
I can entirely sympathize with her position, I have found parenting to be the single most fulfilling and rewarding experience of my life. I would not do it again for all the Wowee in Maui. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1556 "2015-06-10T18:09:08Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I can entirely sympathize with her position, I have found parenting to be the single most fulfilling and rewarding experience of my life. I would not do it again for all the Wowee in Maui. [mrs. **'luci** taps hubby’s shoulder, clears throat] “Dear? I have some news . . .” [**'luci’s** trouser-cuffs leak noisomely] ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1557 "2015-06-10T19:13:01Z")
The Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object with the Impossible Result. Bethlehem or Lourdes, flip a coin. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1558 "2015-06-10T21:47:04Z")
It looks like Angela Merkel’s CDU Party is doing all it can to welcome Jeb to Germany and make him seem Presidential. I guess all that NSA spying on Merkel pissed them off some. [Santorum held a rally and only one person showed up.](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/06/09/santorum-iowa-event/) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1559 "2015-06-10T23:31:35Z")
Well, she made Obama look like a million bucks too. I have to think this is more about not appearing partisan. It’s not like Jeb is going to be good on NSA spying. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1560 "2015-06-11T13:44:35Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There was a time when we had none of those things you describe, yet illegitimacy was rare. I know that presenting scientific fact to a right-wing ideologue is as rude as shoving a crucifix in Dracula’s face, but [here goes](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01541861): > [@](#): > > A review of historical trends in illegitimacy rates in European populations after 1750 finds a period of rising rates to around 1870 followed by one of declining rates to about 1940. The early rise in illegitimacy appears to have been related to increasing sexual activity, while the decline is ascribed to increasing use of birth control…We reject the view that differences in social stigma explain the chances for legitimation. Changes in illegitimacy rates in the United States since 1940 were examined. The bulk of the increase in nonwhite rates is related to improved health conditions that have reduced involuntary fetal loss and have increased fecundity. The increase in sexual activity among unmarried women after 1940 appears to be quite small, particularly among teenage girls not about to marry. Many unwed mothers eventually marry, and their chances (some 20 years after the illegitimate birth) of heading a family without a husband seem little different from those of other ever-married women… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1561 "2015-06-11T14:01:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > CNN Politics on why Jeb is struggling a bit so far: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/politics/jeb-bush-2016-competition/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/politics/jeb-bush-2016-competition/index.html) Big article quoting many Republican campaign types and not once does it mention that while being a Bush might bring name recognition, that might not be a positive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=77) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=79)