Generic 2016 US Election Cycle Recycling Bin

[anon73629133]

@daneel

but minus the charisma and general badassery of Obama

[daneel]

Woo. Inspiring. Yay, glass ceiling broken, not gonna deny that’s important.

But…look at the sort of people who want to vote for her.

Neocons for Hillary

More fucking neoliberal/neocon crap for 4 more years.

At least now I don’t have to bother getting citizenship so I can vote, so that’s some money saved.

[Kimmo]

Just checked the results, looks like all that’s good and true is screwed.

Go to fucking hell and burn, US electorate.

[Mindysan33]

Tonight’s results… ugh.

[Brainspore]

@daneel

I really don’t give a shit about the GOP nomination. As I mentioned elsewhere, might as well pick the worst one. Whichever one that is. Better that than have someone like Rubio Kasich put a reasonable face on that awful party.

As much as I don’t want the Republicans to win, we’re all better off when both parties present the best candidates and the best ideas they’ve got to offer. It looks like Hillary is probably going to take the Democratic nomination, but even so I think debating ideas with Bernie Sanders made her a better candidate.

Conversely having a candidate like Trump in the race lowers the level of public discourse for everyone, and dramatically shifts the baseline by which “reasonable and intelligent ideas” are measured.

[smulder]

It’s not technically true that Hillary Clinton is a neocon. Neoconservatives are former leftists who now hate their old comrades with a blinding fury. The Clintons were never that committed to anything in the first place.

But the explanation necessary in order to describe exactly how and why HRC is not a neocon is getting longer and longer and less and less convincing. People look at her record and her proposals, people say “I know that, those are the neocons!” It’s like, yeah sure, why not.

[daneel]

@Brainspore

I think debating ideas with Bernie Sanders made her a better candidate.

I don’t believe she’ll stick to a word of what she’s said in debates with him.

@Brainspore

Conversely having a candidate like Trump in the race lowers the level of public discourse for everyone, and dramatically shifts the baseline by which “reasonable and intelligent ideas” are measured.

If Kasich is as good as it gets, they don’t have any “reasonable and intelligent ideas”, he’s simply not immediately repulsive. And if he becomes President, you’ll get 3/4 Scalias in the SCOTUS over the next 4 years, helped through congress by the likes of Cruz. And that’s the best case scenario. If either of the other two were to win…shudder.

[Brainspore]

@daneel

If Kasich is as good as it gets, they don’t have any “reasonable and intelligent ideas”.

Whereas if Trump is the best they have then it’s time to chalk the whole “democratic republic” idea up as a loss and burn it all down for the insurance money.

[daneel]

SCOTUS nominee in an hour, apparently.

Smart money says Merrick Garland, picked because he should be the easiest confirmation ever.

So he won’t get one, and the GOP will be shown up as obstructivist trolls.

EDIT: seemingly confirmed now.

Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court

[wrecksdart]

Garland announcement was surprisingly moving. Comic books, a daughter that’s offline and hiking somewhere right now, and genuine humility. As someone else noted on Teh Tweeter, this first date has been quite nice, but I’m not sure I’m looking forward to the soon-to-come deep dive into his judicial past.

[daneel]

In less miserable news…

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/15/3760660/bye-anita/

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/16/3760734/tim-mcginty-ousted/

I should probably crosspost to @funruly’s Black Lives Matter topic.

[daneel]

A few weeks ago, Graham said that you could kill Cruz in the Senate and nobody would care.

Now he’s fundraising for him.

In a few weeks he’ll be fundraising for Trump.

[IronEdithKidd]

What a stunning display of integrity. /s

[RogerStrong]

@daneel

I think debating ideas with Bernie Sanders made her a better candidate.

I don’t believe she’ll stick to a word of what she’s said in debates with him.

Integrity is an issue, of course.

But there’s also the issue of simply being in touch with the average citizen. Bernie’s popularity and debating has no doubt made her a lot more aware of what people think outside of her inner circle, handlers and Washington and Wall Street contacts. That’ll be reflected in her policies.

[daneel]

I’m sure she already has plenty of studies and focus groups helping her to work out what positions will get her 50.1% of the vote in the swing states.

[Wanderfound]

@RogerStrong

But there’s also the issue of simply being in touch with the average citizen. Bernie’s popularity and debating has no doubt made her a lot more aware of what people think outside of her inner circle, handlers and Washington and Wall Street contacts. That’ll be reflected in her policies.

Research suggests otherwise: Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

[daneel]

Also this.

Obama privately urges Dems to rally around Clinton

Obama acknowledged to the donors that Clinton suffers from a perceived lack of authenticity, but called it an overrated political virtue, the report said.

[milliefink]

@IronEdithKidd

What a stunning display of integrity. /s

Another cunning stunt, by another of those stunning –

[daneel]

Anyone wanna guess which way they’ll go?

Donald Trump will force the Democratic Party to make a fundamental decision

[anon73629133]

These young people rock. Watch the vid.

Jacob Rascon (KPRC2Jacob)