The Political Junkie™ Thread - USA Edition

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**streamdragon**

"Official" as of midnight. Ted Cruz is the first candidate to throw their hat into the 2016 presidential election.

As a registered republican, let me say 'ugh'.

**Co'tor Shas**

I'd like to say that he has no chance of getting the nomination.

I'd really like to say that.

**Dreadclaw69**

I don't see him getting the nomination. What I do see though is the Republican candidate being so thoroughly savaged by his/her own party that the Democrats don't have much to worry about.

**d-usa**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
I don't see him getting the nomination. What I do see though is the Republican candidate being so thoroughly savaged by his/her own party that the Democrats don't have much to worry about.

A repeat of 2012? There was no way Obama woukd have been able to win that one without having it handed to him by the GOP primary process.

**Co'tor Shas**

I don't know, he already had 47% of the population in the bag

.

**whembly**

Meh... he's a Senator. The last Senator-turned-President isn't turning out so well...

Both parties don't like him.

*shrugs*

There were rumours that both parties may perfer Cruz as a SC Justice rather than President (or serial-Senate). That'd be something else...

Anyhoo... his campaign posters better be a variation of:

**Co'tor Shas**

Yeah, who is going to honestly consider him for SC justice. He's s senator, not a judge.

Edit: and I could say the same about are last governor turned president too.

**Dreadclaw69**

d-usa wrote:
A repeat of 2012? There was no way Obama woukd have been able to win that one without having it handed to him by the GOP primary process.

I don't know about that, but I know that having your opponents do the majority of the heavy lifting does't hurt. The Democrats have better party discipline than the Republicans, they know not to savage their own candidate.

**whembly**

Co'tor Shas wrote:
Yeah, who is going to honestly consider him for SC justice. He's s senator, not a judge.

First and foremost, he's an attorney. He'd probably make a great Justice... but, he'll be Borked for sure.

**Dreadclaw69**

whembly wrote:
First and foremost, he's an attorney. He'd probably make a great Justice... but, he'll be Borked for sure.

By both sides. Democrats won't nominate him, or support his nomination. The Republicans can't rely on him.

**Kanluwen**

whembly wrote:
Co'tor Shas wrote:
Yeah, who is going to honestly consider him for SC justice. He's s senator, not a judge.

First and foremost, he's an attorney. He'd probably make a great Justice... but, he'll be Borked for sure.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh man, that's a good one.

**Co'tor Shas**

I'm pretty sure almost all senators are or were attorneys, but that doesn't mean they are fit to serve on the supreme court. You want presidential candidate to have executive experience, I wand judical candidate to have judicial experience.

**Frazzled**

Co'tor Shas wrote:
Yeah, who is going to honestly consider him for SC justice. He's s senator, not a judge.

Edit: and I could say the same about are last governor turned president too.

He was AG of Texas for quite a period of time.

OT but I love that poster.

**whembly**

Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'm pretty sure almost all senators are or were attorneys, but that doesn't mean they are fit to serve on the supreme court. You want presidential candidate to have executive experience, I wand judical candidate to have judicial experience.

So you have issues with Elena Kegan then?

**Co'tor Shas**

Frazzled wrote:
Co'tor Shas wrote:
Yeah, who is going to honestly consider him for SC justice. He's s senator, not a judge.

Edit: and I could say the same about are last governor turned president too.

He was AG of Texas for quite a period of time.

OT but I love that poster.

That's better. Just "attoney" doesn't really cut it in my book.

whembly wrote:
Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'm pretty sure almost all senators are or were attorneys, but that doesn't mean they are fit to serve on the supreme court. You want presidential candidate to have executive experience, I wand judical candidate to have judicial experience.

So you have issues with Elena Kegan then?

I... don't know who that is. I'll go look her up.

edit: From an experience standpoint, not really. According to wikipedia, she was a clerk in federal appeals court and SC, and served as solicitor general. It's not "they agree with us and has a law degree" sounding thing that Cruz as SCJ

**whembly**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
whembly wrote:
First and foremost, he's an attorney. He'd probably make a great Justice... but, he'll be Borked for sure.

By both sides. Democrats won't nominate him, or support his nomination. The Republicans can't rely on him.

Well... the idea was to get him "out" of the Senate and take him out of any future Presidential runs.

There were interesting "for" and "against" op-ed by both sides of the parties.

*shrug*

imo, it'll never happen... as, I think Cruz enjoys being Senator too much.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kanluwen wrote:
whembly wrote:
Co'tor Shas wrote:
Yeah, who is going to honestly consider him for SC justice. He's s senator, not a judge.

First and foremost, he's an attorney. He'd probably make a great Justice... but, he'll be Borked for sure.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh man, that's a good one.

Glad to give you your morning dose of levity.

**Dreadclaw69**

So just out of interest, who else might be running. I know of Hilary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren for the Democrats. Possibly Chris Christie and Jeb Bush for the Republicans.

**Co'tor Shas**

If Hillary doesn't run, I'm pretty sure Andrew Cumo (NYs governor) is thinking of running. He definitely has presidential ambissions, although he might not run this time.

**streamdragon**

Pretty sure Warren said she's NOT running.

O'Malley put out feelers earlier, but apparently that didn't go well. He definitely wants to make the run (rumor is he wanted on Hillary's ticket as VP; fat chance), but I just don't think he has the support.

**Frazzled**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
So just out of interest, who else might be running. I know of Hilary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren for the Democrats. Possibly Chris Christie and Jeb Bush for the Republicans.

It will be Walker/Rubio on the Republican side. Mark my words today.

Team Clinton knows where all the skeletons are so odds are its her. I didn't realize how much i missed the Lani Davis / James Carville scandal response team (NOT!). I miss Bill.

**Dreadclaw69**

Looks like Mrs. Clinton had a culture of staff using personal emails for official business

http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-aides-used-personal-emails-communicate-her-nyt-131012522.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private emails that Hillary Clinton turned over to a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, show her aides sometimes used their personal email accounts to communicate with her, the New York Times reported on Monday.

But the approximately 300 emails from Clinton, the presumptive presidential candidate, do not prove the former secretary of state ordered a "stand down," stopping U.S. forces from responding to the Benghazi attack or participated in any related cover-up, the newspaper reported, citing four senior government officials.

The Times report is the latest revelation in the saga over Clinton and her use of a personal email address to conduct government business, as well as a private computer server to store that correspondence.

Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill told the Times that Clinton's aides primarily used their work email to correspond with her about government matters, adding that "only the tiniest fraction of the more than 1 million emails they sent or received involved their personal accounts."

According to the Times, at least four Clinton aides occasionally used personal emails to contact her while she was at the State Department, including her foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan; chief of staff, Cheryl Mills; senior adviser, Philippe Reines; and her personal aide, Huma Abedin.

A spokesman for the Republican-controlled House Select Committee on Benghazi declined to comment, according to the newspaper.

Clinton has said she gave copies of all work-related emails to the State Department, but Republicans, who see her as their top target in the run-up to the 2016 election, continued to press for more records.

Last week Republicans asked the State Department to hand over numerous documents related to Clinton's use of private email while she was secretary of state and have called on her to hand over her email server to a third party.

Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who chairs the House committee investigating Benghazi, has said he does not think Clinton has given the committee all emails related to the attack and last week extended the deadline for her to turn them over.

**A Town Called Malus**

Browsing down from the article Dofma posted I found this which made interesting reading:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/02/18/ted-cruz-the-reincarnation-of-joe-mccarthy/

Some interesting parallels.

**d-usa**

The best thing to do for Hillary would be to turn her server over to an agreed upon mediator who will search the emails and make sure that all work emails are turned over.

**Dreadclaw69**

d-usa wrote:
The best thing to do for Hillary would be to turn her server over to an agreed upon mediator who will search the emails and make sure that all work emails are turned over.

Any suggestions for a mediator?

**squidhills**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
d-usa wrote:
The best thing to do for Hillary would be to turn her server over to an agreed upon mediator who will search the emails and make sure that all work emails are turned over.

Any suggestions for a mediator?

I'll do it. I mean, I'm a registered Democrat, so the Dems shuold approve of me, and I hate Hillary, so the Repubs should approve of me, too!

**d-usa**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
d-usa wrote:
The best thing to do for Hillary would be to turn her server over to an agreed upon mediator who will search the emails and make sure that all work emails are turned over.

Any suggestions for a mediator?

Probably Obama. Neither Hillary nor the Republicans like him, so he's perfect

.

But honestly, no idea. And it would probably take another 3 years for them to agree on one.

**whembly**

d-usa wrote:
Dreadclaw69 wrote:
d-usa wrote:
The best thing to do for Hillary would be to turn her server over to an agreed upon mediator who will search the emails and make sure that all work emails are turned over.

Any suggestions for a mediator?

Probably Obama. Neither Hillary nor the Republicans like him, so he's perfect .

But honestly, no idea. And it would probably take another 3 years for them to agree on one.

It exists... The Inspector General.

**Kanluwen**

whembly wrote:
d-usa wrote:
Dreadclaw69 wrote:
d-usa wrote:
The best thing to do for Hillary would be to turn her server over to an agreed upon mediator who will search the emails and make sure that all work emails are turned over.

Any suggestions for a mediator?

Probably Obama. Neither Hillary nor the Republicans like him, so he's perfect .

But honestly, no idea. And it would probably take another 3 years for them to agree on one.

It exists... The Inspector General.

Inspector General announces no issues with what Clinton did--Republicans claim he's acting as a lackey for the administration.

**whembly**

Kanluwen wrote:
whembly wrote:
d-usa wrote:
Dreadclaw69 wrote:
d-usa wrote:
The best thing to do for Hillary would be to turn her server over to an agreed upon mediator who will search the emails and make sure that all work emails are turned over.

Any suggestions for a mediator?

Probably Obama. Neither Hillary nor the Republicans like him, so he's perfect .

But honestly, no idea. And it would probably take another 3 years for them to agree on one.

It exists... The Inspector General.

Inspector General announces no issues with what Clinton did--Republicans claim he's acting as a lackey for the administration.

Then there shouldn't be any issues for the IGs to review the actual server.

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

Ok, American dakka members, what's the lowdown on Ted Cruz, and should I be worried that's he running for president? He's not going to bomb Britain or anything is he?