The GOP would have a hard enough time getting the presidency unless they get over 35% of the Hispanic vote

Can't imagine Trump getting close to that

JFLNYC wrote:Yeah, the problem is when Trump makes a misstep it bounces off him. When Hillary does so nobody ever forgets it. These latest couple of missteps by Hillary (the Nancy Reagan AIDS quote and the "where was Bernie on healthcare in the 90's" quote) make her look like an idiot.

Hillary's base doesn't include people who agree with her dumb statements.

Jesus, Matt Yglesias is annoying even when he wises up

"I'm so clever, and I'm even more clever when I find out what I previously imagined was cleverness on my part was really just fucking stupid"

Doll Is Mine wrote:My only concern would be something flukey happening in Ohio to give Trump the election.

True fact: you could take the 2012 map, give the Republican candidate Ohio, Florida, and Virginia, and the Democrat still wins. If you swap out Michigan for Virginia, that results in an electoral college tie and President Trump / Cruz.

If you think Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are more a matched set, Republican could win all of those and as long as the Democrat still wins Florida and Virginia, you still have a Democrat in the White HOuse. Obviously, Republicans flipping Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia but not Florida or Pennsylvania fails to win them the presidency.

Personally, I don't see any current candidate for Republicans winning Pennsylvania.

So the Republican path is pretty narrow, in any case.

ashton wrote:Among Rubio's problems is that he has no constituency. The people who want a strong leader to protect "us" from "them" are voting for Trump. The people who want more God in government are voting for Cruz, and the Rockefeller Republicans who want someone who knows how to govern are voting for Kasich. Rubio is a poor man's Cruz mixed with a poor man's Kasich. The only things he brings to the table are youth and being Cuban. Youth gets him nothing, and being Cuban helps in Miami. The people who are voting for him are doing so because he's the party approved anti-Trump candidate; yet most of the anti-Trump people have rejected him. At this point he's just taking party loyalist votes away from Kasich and "the Bible has all the answers" voters from Cruz. If Rubio had dropped out a few weeks ago like he should have and the Party had endorsed Kasich, then Rubio's voters would be going for Kasich and Cruz, strengthening those two at the expense of Trump.

The idea that Rubio should have dropped out a few weeks ago to back Kasich is beyond absurd. Two weeks ago Rubio was coming off of finishing 2nd in South Carolina and Nevada. Kasich finished behind Jeb! in South Carolina and dead last in Nevada. Then on Super Tuesday (less than two weeks ago) Rubio finished ahead of Kasich in almost every state, actually won a state, and got more votes outside of Texas than Cruz did. I'm not entirely sure what has happened in the last 10 days, and it looks like we're three days away from the Rubio campaign being over, but he was always going to compete through Florida. He's now won three places, Kasich has won none. Kasich's claim to being in the race has always been weaker than Rubio's and if he had dropped out after Nevada or Super Tuesday perhaps Rubio could have consolidated and been in better shape going into Tuesday. We'll never know, but that Rubio should have yielded to the guy he was repeatedly beating makes no sense.

And while I'm grumpy on this gray Sunday, a few words on the Governor of Ohio. John Kasich has demonstrated in this campaign that he is a selfish, delusional man with a weak character. He stands up on stage when Rubio and Cruz are laying into a Trump - a narcissistic conman whose campaign is tearing apart the party and in many ways the country - and tries to pretend to be above it all. There is nothing honorable in saying "gosh I don't know what we're fighting about" when we're fighting about the soul of the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and trying to make sure it isn't hijacked by a wannabe fascist lunatic. It does not make you the adult on the stage - it makes you a coward who is enabling the fascist. He is a disgusting opportunistic piece of crap, who if he wins Ohio will plod on for another month or two and maybe win another state along the way but mostly just make sure the party can't consolidate behind Cruz and hand the nomination to Trump.

mozartpc27 wrote:

Doll Is Mine wrote:My only concern would be something flukey happening in Ohio to give Trump the election.

True fact: you could take the 2012 map, give the Republican candidate Ohio, Florida, and Virginia, and the Democrat still wins. If you swap out Michigan for Virginia, that results in an electoral college tie and President Trump / Cruz.

If you think Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are more a matched set, Republican could win all of those and as long as the Democrat still wins Florida and Virginia, you still have a Democrat in the White HOuse. Obviously, Republicans flipping Michigan, Ohio, and Virginia but not Florida or Pennsylvania fails to win them the presidency.

Personally, I don't see any current candidate for Republicans winning Pennsylvania.

So the Republican path is pretty narrow, in any case.

I wouldn't fixate on the map too much with Trump or assume that 2012 results are going to swing mostly uniformly. If the race is competitive he'll put weird states in play. If he's losing by 10%+ nationally, it won't matter either way.

Also, he has a bad haircut.

What is the soul of the conservative movement? To me, it would seem the soul is hatred and Trump is riding the soul to the nomination.

Ouch.

But you ain't wrong.

Maybe Trump has offered him the VP spot. If so, then his strategy is sound if he doesn't care about the country.

What we're seeing is what happens when a group that hates government and cooperation is fully unleashed.

I'm not sure the answer to this question, but maybe someone here knows. Where is the line between free speech and actively inciting violence? I would think the latter is against the law, especially if he's offering to pay legal fees for the sucker punch guy. That's pretty close to paying someone for a hit, isn't it? I mean, can someone really say, "I'll give you money to beat someone up." Where's the line on this thing? He's got to be pushing it, right?

jerseyhoya wrote:John Kasich has demonstrated in this campaign that he is a selfish, delusional man with a weak character. He stands up on stage when Rubio and Cruz are laying into a Trump - a narcissistic conman whose campaign is tearing apart the party and in many ways the country - and tries to pretend to be above it all. There is nothing honorable in saying "gosh I don't know what we're fighting about" when we're fighting about the soul of the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and trying to make sure it isn't hijacked by a wannabe fascist lunatic. It does not make you the adult on the stage - it makes you a coward who is enabling the fascist. He is a disgusting opportunistic piece of crap, who if he wins Ohio will plod on for another month or two and maybe win another state along the way but mostly just make sure the party can't consolidate behind Cruz and hand the nomination to Trump.

I don't want Kasich as POTUS any more than you appear to, but suggesting he's being any more opportunistic than either non drumpf R candidate is straining things. He has a home state - in which he's the sitting governor! - and is every bit as 'entitled' to take his slice of the non-drumpf pie as the other remaining hopefuls. The odds of anyone clinching the nomination before getting to Cleveland are dwindling. If you're going to have a scrum, why not make it a real doozy?

While in other years I might apply the label disgusting to Kasich, in this year one guy owns that one, along with every other similar epithet. Kasich's 'job' - and Rubio's and Cruz's - is only to squelch that guy.

Danny DeVito introduced Bernie in St. Louis today.

Terrorist bombing in Istanbul killed 27 at a metro hub

16 dead in a hotel shooting in Ivory Coast

Rubio showing that personal courage that Kasich lacks...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Saturday that it was getting difficult to keep his promise to support whoever is ultimately the GOP nominee.

"I still at this moment continue to intend to support the Republican nominee but it's getting harder every day," Rubio said.

Rubio's comments came after rival Donald Trump's rally in Chicago was cancelled when thousands of protesters were in attendance.

A CBS reporter was arrested in Chicago and charged with resisting arrest...the reason he was arrested was...???? There was no reason if you see it.

Monkeyboy wrote:Rubio showing that personal courage that Kasich lacks...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Saturday that it was getting difficult to keep his promise to support whoever is ultimately the GOP nominee.

"I still at this moment continue to intend to support the Republican nominee but it's getting harder every day," Rubio said.

Rubio's comments came after rival Donald Trump's rally in Chicago was cancelled when thousands of protesters were in attendance.

The entire press conference that is from was really good.

drsmooth wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:John Kasich has demonstrated in this campaign that he is a selfish, delusional man with a weak character. He stands up on stage when Rubio and Cruz are laying into a Trump - a narcissistic conman whose campaign is tearing apart the party and in many ways the country - and tries to pretend to be above it all. There is nothing honorable in saying "gosh I don't know what we're fighting about" when we're fighting about the soul of the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and trying to make sure it isn't hijacked by a wannabe fascist lunatic. It does not make you the adult on the stage - it makes you a coward who is enabling the fascist. He is a disgusting opportunistic piece of crap, who if he wins Ohio will plod on for another month or two and maybe win another state along the way but mostly just make sure the party can't consolidate behind Cruz and hand the nomination to Trump.

I don't want Kasich as POTUS any more than you appear to, but suggesting he's being any more opportunistic than either non drumpf R candidate is straining things. He has a home state - in which he's the sitting governor! - and is every bit as 'entitled' to take his slice of the non-drumpf pie as the other remaining hopefuls. The odds of anyone clinching the nomination before getting to Cleveland are dwindling. If you're going to have a scrum, why not make it a real doozy?

While in other years I might apply the label disgusting to Kasich, in this year one guy owns that one, along with every other similar epithet. Kasich's 'job' - and Rubio's and Cruz's - is only to squelch that guy.

He's perfectly entitled to be in the race. On paper he has the best resume in the field, and he's a popular governor of an important swing state. It is just his presence in the race over the past month, and his likely continued presence in the race past Tuesday, has increased the chance that Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee. And his pretending that not confronting the malignant actor on the stage is noble rather than moral cowardice is obnoxious.

jerseyhoya wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:Rubio showing that personal courage that Kasich lacks...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Saturday that it was getting difficult to keep his promise to support whoever is ultimately the GOP nominee.

"I still at this moment continue to intend to support the Republican nominee but it's getting harder every day," Rubio said.

Rubio's comments came after rival Donald Trump's rally in Chicago was cancelled when thousands of protesters were in attendance.

The entire press conference that is from was really good.

close your eyes and you'll think your hearing a Matt Damon speech in a movie

jerseyhoya wrote:.... his likely continued presence in the race past Tuesday, has increased the chance that Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee.

how do you figure that? He's more likely to win his home state than Rubio is to win FL. Beyond that, Rs practically need a 3 man 'race' to keep drumpf at bay. It doesn't matter which of those two sticks.

I'm listening to Rubio w/Chuck Todd in some recorded "town hall". He talks in serious tones, but when you attend to his words you understand he's no more serious as a guy who would govern than the party's frontrunner. He's inane. Listen to him defend idiotic laws okaying carrying weapons on college campuses. ffs