The 2016 Republican candidates

[BobLibDem]

Scott Walker says, “I’ll see your anti illegal immigrant xenophobia and I’ll RAISE you anti LEGAL immigrant xenophobia.”

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.

[DrumBum]

Kansas joins the list of states with a budget shortfall. I do not know if Gov. Brownback is planning a run for president but this might hurt.

[BobLibDem]

@DrumBum

Kansas joins the list 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.

[BrainGlutton]

@Rick_Kitchen

David Koch is pumping Scott Walker.

Or maybe not.

[adaher]

@BobLibDem

Scott Walker says, “I’ll see your anti illegal immigrant xenophobia and I’ll RAISE you anti LEGAL immigrant xenophobia.”

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.

[ElvisL1ves]

Even by the standards of debate team pricks (a familiar species even here on this board), Rafael Cruz was reportedly a standout.

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.”

5. 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.

[ElvisL1ves]

Just to have a little fun with the GOP lineup:

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?

[Gyrate]

@ElvisL1ves

Just to have a little fun with the GOP lineup: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”.

[ElvisL1ves]

And no one could forget the impeachment of William … Jefferson … Clinton! (don’t forget to use a deep, solemn, resonant tone of voice).

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@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).

[BrainGlutton]

@ElvisL1ves

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.”

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.

[BrainGlutton]

Jeb apparently intends to evade such little campaign-finance law as remains by “outsourcing” his campaign to a superPAC.

[adaher]

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.

[Gyrate]

@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.

[adaher]

You think he’s going to primary President Rubio?

[ElvisL1ves]

If Bush is stomped by Clinton?

You were going for a quip there, I know, but … fail.

[Gyrate]

@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.

[ElvisL1ves]

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.

[Gyrate]

@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.

[wonky]

@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.