# 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:** 84
**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:** [June 23, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1662 "2015-06-23T19:05:29Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’ll be very interested to see how this string of Republicans like Nikki Haley turning on the Confederate flag will play out in the Republican primary. I think it’s likely that there will be a big pushback among the Republican base in the South, and whichever candidate (likely Perry, if I had to guess) declares their love for the Confederate flag will have a big advantage. > > The timing couldn’t be better. 🙂 I don’t think it would be Perry, given his actions in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1663 "2015-06-23T19:07:08Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’ll be very interested to see how this string of Republicans like Nikki Haley turning on the Confederate flag will play out in the Republican primary. I think it’s likely that there will be a big pushback among the Republican base in the South, and whichever candidate (likely Perry, if I had to guess) declares their love for the Confederate flag will have a big advantage. > > The timing couldn’t be better. 🙂 Very unlikely and if someone’s old-fashioned enough to love the Confederate flag they are also probably still voting Democrat out of habit or just because they don’t know any better. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1664 "2015-06-23T19:08:22Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Very unlikely and if someone’s old-fashioned enough to love the Confederate flag they are also probably still voting Democrat out of habit or just because they don’t know any better. Don’t you know all the old racist Democrats switched parties in the 1960s? Do try to keep up. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1665 "2015-06-23T19:09:02Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Very unlikely and if someone’s old-fashioned enough to love the Confederate flag they are also probably still voting Democrat out of habit or just because they don’t know any better. We’ll see. I’m laughing at your “still voting Democrat” point, though. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1666 "2015-06-23T20:36:03Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Don’t you know all the old racist Democrats switched parties in the 1960s? Do try to keep up. Yeah, JW Fulbright, John Stennis, Robert Byrd, George Wallace, Bull Connor, all just switched their allegiance. Oh wait, no they didn’t. And they were knowledgeable. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a lot of hillbillies didn’t switch until very recently, or still haven’t switched. Heck, Democrats maintained a lot of power in the South until very recently. Mainly due to the habits and low information of many southern voters. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1667 "2015-06-23T20:45:14Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yeah, JW Fulbright, John Stennis, Robert Byrd, George Wallace, Bull Connor, all just switched their allegiance. > > Oh wait, no they didn’t. And they were knowledgeable. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a lot of hillbillies didn’t switch until very recently, or still haven’t switched. Heck, Democrats maintained a lot of power in the South until very recently. Mainly due to the habits and low information of many southern voters. Let’s see- Bull Connor died in 1973 after being defeated in 1972. Wallace never held office after being shot in 1968. Byrd disavowed his racist past and remained a Democrat until his death. Stennis wasn’t quite as repentant as Byrd but did campaign for a black man in 1986. Fulbright supported an extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1970. So the guys on your list either died before the exodus of racists from the Democratic Party was completed or have partially or totally repented for their sins. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1668 "2015-06-23T20:46:29Z")
Walker and Rubio are [trailing Trump in New Hampshire](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/23/new-hampshire-poll-has-jeb-bush-first-and-donald-trump-second/). Trump!! ---
**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:** [June 23, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1669 "2015-06-23T20:53:55Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Let’s see- Bull Connor died in 1973 after being defeated in 1972. Wallace never held office after being shot in 1968. Byrd disavowed his racist past and remained a Democrat until his death. Stennis wasn’t quite as repentant as Byrd but did campaign for a black man in 1986. Fulbright supported an extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1970. So the guys on your list either died before the exodus of racists from the Democratic Party was completed or have partially or totally repented for their sins. Don’t you know that history ended in 1968? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1670 "2015-06-23T22:02:45Z")
And if someone really loves the Confederate flag I highly doubt they’d ever entertain voting for Ben Carson either way. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1671 "2015-06-23T22:45:21Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Wallace never held office after being shot in 1968. This is wrong. Wallace was shot in 1972, and won election as governor in both 1974 and 1982. He did [repent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace), though. > [@](#): > > In 1979, Wallace said of his stand in the schoolhouse door: “I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over.” ---
**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:** [June 24, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1672 "2015-06-24T00:13:00Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > This is wrong. Wallace was shot in 1972, and won election as governor in both 1974 and 1982. He did [repent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace), though. Dammit I should have known better. I remember the 68 campaign and should have known GW wasn’t shot then. My apologies. But he did repent his sins. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1673 "2015-06-24T00:19:20Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yeah, JW Fulbright, John Stennis, Robert Byrd, George Wallace, Bull Connor, all just switched their allegiance. > > Oh wait, no they didn’t. And they were knowledgeable. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a lot of hillbillies didn’t switch until very recently, or still haven’t switched. Heck, Democrats maintained a lot of power in the South until very recently. Mainly due to the habits and low information of many southern voters. I’d say there’s seems to have been a lot of switching to Republican party in the last decade or so. Not that it really made any difference, since if we used the term DINO, that’s what many of them would have been. Except the party wasn’t that unified in goals, and that’s rather the point, I know. Really, the party switch for the south at the Presidential level happened so much earlier (I mean, which party the state went for), while at a state level, they tended to just keep on truckin’ with the southern democrat mentality for a while because there was so little of the Republican party in the south in the old days. Often winning the Dem primary was equivalent to winning the election. But I’m getting into voters instead of representatives, now. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1674 "2015-06-24T01:05:00Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Huckabee vows not to marry a gay man [if elected president.](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/mike-huckabee-pledges-block-gay-marriage-if-elected-president) But, if he’s not, he will? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1675 "2015-06-24T07:22:15Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Let’s see- Bull Connor died in 1973 after being defeated in 1972. Wallace never held office after being shot in 1968. Byrd disavowed his racist past and remained a Democrat until his death. Stennis wasn’t quite as repentant as Byrd but did campaign for a black man in 1986. Fulbright supported an extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1970. So the guys on your list either died before the exodus of racists from the Democratic Party was completed or have partially or totally repented for their sins. Yet Strom Thurmond did switch parties and also supported MLK as a national holiday and appointed a black staff member as early as 1971. Whether someone is viewed as “repentant” by liberals has more to do with whether they stayed loyal to the party than whether they actually changed their views. No southern Democrat other than LBJ himself changed their views on race faster than Thurmond. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1676 "2015-06-24T07:23:27Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > I’d say there’s seems to have been a lot of switching to Republican party in the last decade or so. Not that it really made any difference, since if we used the term DINO, that’s what many of them would have been. Except the party wasn’t that unified in goals, and that’s rather the point, I know. > > Really, the party switch for the south at the Presidential level happened so much earlier (I mean, which party the state went for), while at a state level, they tended to just keep on truckin’ with the southern democrat mentality for a while because there was so little of the Republican party in the south in the old days. Often winning the Dem primary was equivalent to winning the election. > > But I’m getting into voters instead of representatives, now. The movement to the GOP began after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, but still hasn’t peaked even now. Old habits die hard for some. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1677 "2015-06-24T12:32:37Z")
Jindal is announcing on Wednesday. No word on whether he’s performing a celebratory exorcism. When Christie joins him, your field will then be complete, **adaher**. 😉 ---
**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:** [June 24, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1678 "2015-06-24T13:45:59Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yet Strom Thurmond did switch parties and also supported MLK as a national holiday and appointed a black staff member as early as 1971. > > Whether someone is viewed as “repentant” by liberals has more to do with whether they stayed loyal to the party than whether they actually changed their views. No southern Democrat other than LBJ himself changed their views on race faster than Thurmond. LBJ represented Texas. He did what he had to do to get in power. But when he got the chance, he did truly great things. [From historian Robert Caro:](http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/apr/14/barack-obama/lyndon-johnson-opposed-every-civil-rights-proposal/) > [@](#): > > excerpts of an interview with historian Robert Caro, who has written volumes on Johnson’s life, presented on the Library of Congress blog Feb. 15, 2013. > > The applicable portion: > > The nation will be marking the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. Like Lincoln, Johnson’s true motives on promoting racial equality have been questioned. Have you come to any conclusions about that? > > Caro: The reason it’s questioned is that for no less than 20 years in Congress, from 1937 to 1957, Johnson’s record was on the side of the South. He not only voted with the South on civil rights, but he was a southern strategist, but in 1957, he changes and pushes through the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction. He always had this true, deep compassion to help poor people and particularly poor people of color, but even stronger than the compassion was his ambition. But when the two aligned, when compassion and ambition finally are pointing in the same direction, then Lyndon Johnson becomes a force for racial justice, unequalled certainly since Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1679 "2015-06-24T14:30:23Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Jindal is announcing on Wednesday. You’re kidding, right? Sheesh. They’re gonna need a bigger clown car. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1680 "2015-06-24T14:57:38Z")
[If only.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/24/bobby-jindal-to-announce-presidential-plans-wednesday/) Not that much bigger a clown car; he’s a little guy. No telling[what shade of brown makeup](http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2015/02/someone_painted_louisiana_governor_bobby_jindal_as_a_white_man.html) he’ll be wearing for his speech, though. I’m guessing something not as different as the stuff Romney used for his Telemundo interview. Now that Haley’s starting to show a sense of responsibility, he may not even be the most popular Indian-American governor in the party. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1681 "2015-06-24T15:12:02Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [If only.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/24/bobby-jindal-to-announce-presidential-plans-wednesday/) No telling[what shade of brown makeup](http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2015/02/someone_painted_louisiana_governor_bobby_jindal_as_a_white_man.html) he’ll be wearing for his speech, though. Good heavens. I’m no art expert, but if he paid more than $100 for that portrait I don’t want him in charge of the treasury. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=83) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=85)