US Presidential Election 2016: Sidney's Victory Lap

The problem with Bengazi is not that Clinton should be held responsible for the deaths that occurred. There was a security failure, but as pointed out, it has happened numerous times in the past. The problem is that the overthrow of Gaddhafi was her idea and when it started to go tits up, the last thing she wanted was evidence that Libya was now in the hands of terrorists. That explains the spin both by herself and her moron spokesperson trying to attribute the attack to a “protest” about an anti-Islamic cartoon (a protest was going on at the time, in Cairo, not in Libya). She couldn’t admit that it was just plain old terrorism, and was ripped to shreds in the congressional hearing for trying to mislead the public.

Well, if it means not being associated with yourself, and the assorted loony tunes liking your post, you can call me anything you like pal.

Libertarian economics is possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever come across.

Johnson doesn’t appear to be a libertarian, merely a Republican who may have once smoked pot while listening to Stairway to Heaven.

That would depend on where he sought to sneak in. For a late one in the Abbey Bar on Saturday night circa 3am is a distinct possibility but for the Oval office it’s a NO from me.
As Labane said, he’s fiscally conservative ergo not a Bertie…He can FRO.

Wrong. It was France’s idea to get rid of Gaddafi. The CIA’s information was that the attack was down to the cartoon protest.

And a Republican-led House report found there was no attempt to mislead the public.

The Benghazi inquiry (4 deaths) lasted longer than the 9/11 one (2,800 deaths) and was specifically designed with one aim, to damage Clinton. A classic witch hunt.

It’s so funny seeing @myboyblue et al coming out of the woodwork after Obama’s speech. They all love shiny things, and you can’t deny his public speaking ability. Actual competent President though, nah.

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For someone who claims to be interested in facts, you have a habit of getting them wrong.

The attack on Libya in 2011, as illegal as the Iraq war before it, was instigated by the US with its NATO allies. It may have been France and Britain who initially wanted to intervene, but Hillary was the one who convinced Obama to act. There was division within the US administration prior to the attack, but Hillary was the most hawkish in supporting massive airstrikes. The US found itself fighting alongside Al Qaeda short term, and longer term creating another unstable country for ISIS to spread into. The entire US Middle East foreign policy during Obama’s two terms was one disaster after another, and Clinton was at the center of most of it.

She’s a dangerous fool who overestimates her own intelligence.

Compared to Socialism? You’re having a laugh mate!

He is a Libertarian. He was never a true Republican. He is very socially liberal, has long supported gay rights, abortion rights, oppses the death penalty, pro drug legalisation, pro immigrantion etc.
Weld is the same, in fact the 1990 MA governor’s race was a really odd race, in that the Republican candidate Weld, was more Liberal than the Democrat, Silber, on many social issiues.

I by and large despise Libertarianism, but it is a big tent and their are many shades, They are not all nut jobs, you’ll find the occasional reasonable one that understands that government has an essential role to play.

That disabled chick they keep taking about and putting the cameras on, Anastasia Somoza, she is part of Somoza DeBayle family, the horrible cunts that ruled and raped Nicaragua for decades, until the Sandinistas ran the cunts out.
Someone should dump the bitch out of her wheelchair.

This thread got very silly a long time ago. Other than @Steven_Naimsith no one has any credibility or is talking sense (me included). So lets start talking about what’s actually important here in terms of the election proper. Lets get away from the approval ratings. They point to the fact that these are two most unpopular candidates in living memory. We know that already.
Lets start talking about the electoral college and what either candidate actually needs to do to win. Personally, I think anyone who reckons Trump will win is either stupid or in denial. The starting point is a very steep hill to climb in terms of the amount of states Trump has to turn from blue to red. His field teams are virtually non existent in many states. The financing and organization of his campaign is, well it’s a joke really. All the variables like Obama’s approval ratings, economy down the toilet etc that repubs were counting on aren’t there.
Clinton’s organization is huge and she has plenty of finance. She has a much easier starting point, essentially to minimise losses rather than having to make big gains vis a vis the 2012 election results.
So long as Clinton coasts through to November, doesn’t do anything stupid (I can tell you the result of the debates now - a question to you first - do you support Trump or Clinton? Because if I tell you the other one won a debate, you won’t believe me. The debates will be a joke and if anything, they’ll hurt Trump more as he’ll be shown to be the fuckwit he is) she’ll win and probably at a canter.

From Politico, which I think sums it up nicely:

For the Democrats, a victory in 2016 entails zero expansion of the blue map, merely the limiting of blue-to-red transformations. Assuming the lean, likely, and safe Democratic states remain loyal to the party, the nominee need only win 23 of the 85 toss-up electoral votes. And if a lean Democratic state such as Wisconsin turns red, it is relatively easy to replace those votes with one or two toss-ups.
On the other hand, Republicans must hold all their usual states plus find a way to stitch together an additional 64 electoral votes, or 79 if they can’t hold North Carolina. To do this, the GOP candidate will have to come close to sweeping the toss-ups under most scenarios—a difficult task unless the election year’s fundamentals (President Obama’s job approval, economic conditions, war and peace, and so on) are moving powerfully against the Democrats.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/2016-predictions-117554#ixzz4FlRxfE8W
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

Unless of course some redneck assassinates her, which would be rather inconvenient for the Democrats, though Kaine would get a huge sympathy vote.

The question after the election (not the assassination, we’ll wait to see about that) is what lasting damage this does to the GOP and can it recover.

Do your worst.

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States Clinton has in the bag… All the west coast -74 votes, everything from Maryland up through New England - 92 votes, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan -46, Hawaii and DC are dead certs - 7 votes. That’s 219 EC votes that she is pretty much guaranteed.
New Mex, Colorado, Wisconsin, Penn and VA she would be fav to take those, that’s another 57 right there. That brings her to 276. She only needs 270 to win.

Iowa, Ohio, Florida she would have pretty decent chance of winning, at least 50-50, that’s another 53. But she could let Trump have those and still win.

So, its; hard to see a path for Trump to get to 270. But I’m sure @Tim_Riggins and @anon7035031 will be along with some concocted cock and bull about how the Don will pull if off.

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That was a bloody powerful speech Mr Khizr Khan gave to the convention. Mr Khan’s son, Humayun Khan, a Captain in the US Army, was killed in an explosion in Iraq in 2004 and posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.

“We are honored to stand here as the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan,” the elder Khan said at the Democratic convention, “and as patriotic American Muslims with undivided loyalty to our country.” He spoke of his son’s dreams of becoming a military lawyer and how Hillary Clinton had referred to his son as “the best of America.”

Then he focused his attention on Trump.

“If it was up to Donald Trump, [Humayun] never would have been in America,” Khan said. "Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.
“Donald Trump,” he said, “you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy.” He pulled a copy of the Constitution from his pocket. "In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law.’ " Earlier this month, Trump promised congressional Republicans that he would defend “Article XII” of the Constitution, which doesn’t exist.

“Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery?” Khan said. "Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America — you will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities.

“You have sacrificed nothing. And no one.”

Terrible speech by HRC as expected, she is just a dreadful orator - she went on and on and on mixed in with cough, cough, cough. Her “hum dinger” of a line getting play with the media, “Let our legacy be about 'planting seeds in a garden you never get to see” is stolen from one of those memes you see on LinkedIn or the Lessons from Life from Self Help Gurus thread. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. I felt like I aged 15 years after going through that.

Lucky that she had the Obamas and her husband this week to put a gloss on the week.

So you’ll be getting the telegram from the Queen of England any minute then Tim?

It isn’t a question of anyone thinking Trump “will” win fitzy, it’s whether Trump “can” win. The reality is anyone thinking Trump can’t win is misguided or possibly deluded, as they are applying “normal” rationality and history to this very unique election. You may as well throw away all the blue state/red state maps as this will be an election like no other. Trump is appealing primarily to blue collar workers, a traditional Democratic stronghold, but one they have lost touch with.

As you say, both candidates are very unpopular, so how many Democrats will hold their noses while voting compared to Republicans, how many independents will vote for one of the other two candidates etc. For example I have seen polls with Jill Stein and Gary Johnson as high as 15% combined. Johnson will attract dissatisfied Republican and Democratic voters, and Independents, Stein will get a lot of the hard line Bernie supporters.

According to the most recent Rasmussen poll, 76% of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. 76 fucking percent. What we know is that a Hillary presidency will be 4 or 8 more years of the same. Do you think the 76% are pleased about the prospect of more of the same for themselves and their children? Now they may have grave reservations about Trump, but the urge for change is the great unknown that could lead to a paradigm shift. There are two factors in elections, fundamentals and sentiment. Fundamentals are easy to measure and predict, history of how states have voted, demographics, voter views on the issues, etc. Elections generally follow the fundamentals. Sentiment though is the wild card, the black swan that’s impossible to predict. How many predicted a Brexit outcome, even after all the pressure applied by the establishment parties?

What you have to remember is Hillary (a weak candidate) is not running against a traditional Republican opponent. Trump has exposed the traditional Republican candidate as a loser, the establishment hated him for it and tried everything to defeat him, but failed. Anyone thinking he can’t do the same to Hillary and her campaign is likely to have a surprise during the debates and in November.

@Fitzy - a week ago just after Candidate Trump delivers his powerful speech.

@Fitzy - a week on as Crooked Hillary delivers her speech.

Please make it stop.

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Irony and humour were never your strong points Geoffrey were they?

Four more months of it mate, then the legals begin…