politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The race for the Republican nomination could be clearer after tonight’s final debate of 2015
Judging by the size of the TV audiences for the debates this coming fight for the Republican nomination is attracting more public attention than any previous White House race at the stage.
These positions are not as cray-cray as they first appear. Most Republicans want a wall along the southern border and the Obama administration has deported more immigrants than any other president in US history. As for spying on American Muslims, the NSA scandal showed that all Americans are being spied on, and anyone who thinks the CIA and FBI aren’t monitoring mosques is a fool.
Finally, Trump's proposed Muslim ban is awful – but Congress has already voted to restrict immigration from countries affected by the Islamic State conflict. On substance, Trump isn’t quite as out of the mainstream as he first appears.
I'm not writing Rubio off by the way, but he needs to
1) Beat Trump in New Hampshire 2) Overtake Cruz nationally and convincingly as the 'Stop Trump' candidate, continued good polling for Cruz will place Cruz in that position. 3) Get some better advertising, I thought "My Dad's a bartender" was awful.
He has a chance but methinks it is more of the ~ 7-2 variety rather than the 6-4 one.
Any opinions on whether the Trump as Clinton / Democrat plant murmurs are going to get any mileage whatsover, either in determination of fact or as a political tool?
You would count such a thing ridiculous in most cases, but with Trump nothing seems too out there.
Rubio needs to start polling better in NH to justify any sort of odds on himself.
To be honest ALL the 'establishment' candidate's odds are wrong.
Rubio, Bush, Christie all far too short.
I was reading a piece the other day (can't find the link now) which argued that he was the only other candidate in Trump's "lane" - ie, strong man who gets stuff done - and that if Trump imploded he could pick up a lot of his support. I think the article suggested he had about a 10% chance.
Surely, if the republican race boils down to Trump vs Cruz, punters should go all in on Hillary? Can we really see the Republican establishment comfortable with Cruz? He might not be Donald Trump, but he's still Ted Cruz.
Rubio needs to start polling better in NH to justify any sort of odds on himself.
To be honest ALL the 'establishment' candidate's odds are wrong.
Rubio, Bush, Christie all far too short.
He has a great organization in NH, and his investment is starting to pay off. People following the news would know this.
Folks need to stop focussing on polls and follow the news, trends and momentum. Polls are merely a snapshot and don't track trends etc.
Why are folks on here obsessed with polls yet don't follow what's happening?
Because I'm interested, but only up to a point. It's easy to see poll numbers, but looking at news? Nah, I'll go with my gut instinct.
As a betting person, surely you want all the information you can get. 'gut instinct' - not sure that's a winning strategy - particularly if you are following an election in one country when you live in a very different one.
Rubio needs to start polling better in NH to justify any sort of odds on himself.
To be honest ALL the 'establishment' candidate's odds are wrong.
Rubio, Bush, Christie all far too short.
I was reading a piece the other day (can't find the link now) which argued that he was the only other candidate in Trump's "lane" - ie, strong man who gets stuff done - and that if Trump imploded he could pick up a lot of his support. I think the article suggested he had about a 10% chance.
Yes, that article struck a chord with me too. Christie could have the winning combination of moderate enough policies to get the Establishment on side, with the "blunt-speaking" strong-man persona to win over some Trump voters.
I went deep on Rubio a while ago, but I'm having doubts now: he couldn't have asked for better media attention in the past few months, yet he's still barely above 10% in the polls.
I saw your reply, for which many thanks. I didn't want to make you reply, though I do appreciate it. I just wanted to make clear that I had replied to your question, which was a fair one.
I think that a different Labour party to the one we have now would have a reasonable chance of persuading me and people like me to vote for it.
I think it a shame that you - or the current Labour party - don't seem to think so.
Part of my heart - as my post on some of the work I have done and causes I have adopted - beats left, in the best sense of what the left can be, or so I would like to hope. And I am pretty good friends with a reasonably well known Labour person with whom I've discussed many of the same issues and who seems to share quite a lot of my concerns.
Civil liberties (not just ID cards) are a key issue for me and Labour's adoption of policies which I intensely dislike was the start of a process whereby it seems to me that Labour's default instinct - its moral compass, if you will - has moved away from the best of itself to something really quite ghastly, irrespective of whether individual policies are attractive or not.
The embrace of Islamism is not a recent matter - it started, in a small way, when the Rushdie fatwa was issued and people like Roy Hattersley were somewhat reluctant to criticise those who seemed to think that attacking a writer in such a way was understandable. That point of view leads - eventually, as we have seen - to writers and cartoonists being murdered in an office in Paris.
Christopher Hitchens in his autobiography describes very well his reaction to the fatwa and I find many echoes in what he wrote in my own reactions at the time.
Anyway, clearly I won't be able to persuade you but I would hope that some of what I say may, just may, resonate. I don't assume that all lefties are somehow evil but I think that now too many of them have ended up- perhaps without realising it or without wanting to - in a morally repulsive cul de sac.
At any event, I don't want to derail this thread. I appreciate your answers. No doubt we will resume the debate at some point, or perhaps in person at a PB meet.
Rubio needs to start polling better in NH to justify any sort of odds on himself.
To be honest ALL the 'establishment' candidate's odds are wrong.
Rubio, Bush, Christie all far too short.
I was reading a piece the other day (can't find the link now) which argued that he was the only other candidate in Trump's "lane" - ie, strong man who gets stuff done - and that if Trump imploded he could pick up a lot of his support. I think the article suggested he had about a 10% chance.
Yes, that article struck a chord with me too. Christie could have the winning combination of moderate enough policies to get the Establishment on side, with the "blunt-speaking" strong-man persona to win over some Trump voters.
I went deep on Rubio a while ago, but I'm having doubts now: he couldn't have asked for better media attention in the past few months, yet he's still barely above 10% in the polls.
Rubio's price is, remarkably, as low as it has ever been. Lay him out at 2.54 on Betfair Danny.
Rubio needs to start polling better in NH to justify any sort of odds on himself.
To be honest ALL the 'establishment' candidate's odds are wrong.
Rubio, Bush, Christie all far too short.
I was reading a piece the other day (can't find the link now) which argued that he was the only other candidate in Trump's "lane" - ie, strong man who gets stuff done - and that if Trump imploded he could pick up a lot of his support. I think the article suggested he had about a 10% chance.
Yes, that article struck a chord with me too. Christie could have the winning combination of moderate enough policies to get the Establishment on side, with the "blunt-speaking" strong-man persona to win over some Trump voters.
I went deep on Rubio a while ago, but I'm having doubts now: he couldn't have asked for better media attention in the past few months, yet he's still barely above 10% in the polls.
Rubio's price is, remarkably, as low as it has ever been. Lay him out at 2.54 on Betfair Danny.
Forget Trump and Cruz. The key factor might be what happens to Carson's supporters. Though also an outsider, he is fishing in a different pool from Trump, and his on-his-sleeve Christianity is not the evangelical sort that Cruz is courting in Alistair's link.
Rubio needs to start polling better in NH to justify any sort of odds on himself.
To be honest ALL the 'establishment' candidate's odds are wrong.
Rubio, Bush, Christie all far too short.
I was reading a piece the other day (can't find the link now) which argued that he was the only other candidate in Trump's "lane" - ie, strong man who gets stuff done - and that if Trump imploded he could pick up a lot of his support. I think the article suggested he had about a 10% chance.
Yes, that article struck a chord with me too. Christie could have the winning combination of moderate enough policies to get the Establishment on side, with the "blunt-speaking" strong-man persona to win over some Trump voters.
I went deep on Rubio a while ago, but I'm having doubts now: he couldn't have asked for better media attention in the past few months, yet he's still barely above 10% in the polls.
Rubio's price is, remarkably, as low as it has ever been. Lay him out at 2.54 on Betfair Danny.
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
Trump's non-interventionist foreign policy stance is a serious disaster for the powers that be in the US. It must and will be stopped at all costs. If I were Trump, I'd be limiting unnecessary air travel, skiing holidays, and extended periods in open topped vehicles.
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
Trump's non-interventionist foreign policy stance is a serious disaster for the powers that be in the US. It must and will be stopped at all costs. If I were Trump, I'd be limiting unnecessary air travel, skiing holidays, and extended periods in open topped vehicles.
If Trump is non-interventionist then what does that make Obama?
I can see the GOP race easily becoming a Cruz vs Trump contest. I was never sold on Rubio gathering any momentum.
Very interesting that the Times editorial (apparently) is pro votes of 16-17 year olds. The Times have clearly become massive lefties now.
And you have to really despair at the Labour party at this minute. Not because of Labour MPs. Or even those (including Milne) at Labour party HQ right now. But because of the kind of people now a part of the activist and membership base. That is, at least if The Guardian was anything to go by. CIFers have surely go to be among the most intolerant people in Britain alongside Daily Mail readers. They really cannot bare any kind of criticism against Corbyn. The comments under the Jess Philips article speak for themselves, and I can't bring myself to see how they've responded to Stella Creasy's recent piece. Sometimes, I almost want Labour to do rubbish in May purely to put two fingers up to them. It's one thing disagreeing, it's another thing to believe the only people only earth worth anything are Corbyn supporters, which is what a fair amount of people in the Labour party appear to believe these days.
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
and your criteria would be, as a US citizen?
Are non-US citizens not allowed to have an opinion?
Absolutely!
But if you are not here, familiar with the ebbs and flows of the US political environment - as most on here are not - it's of diminished value. Hence the slavish devotion to opinion polls. It's like betting on a Bolivian betting exchange on the outcome of an election in Botswana.
You didn't answer my question. - and your criteria would be, as a US citizen?
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
It's one thing disagreeing, it's another thing to believe the only people only earth worth anything are Corbyn supporters, which is what a fair amount of people in the Labour party appear to believe these days.
"The Force can have a strong influence on the Weak-Minded!"
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
Die Hard 2 is my favourite Christmas film
Wrong film - that's the one where Colm Meaney's plane crashes.
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
Die Hard 2 is my favourite Christmas film
I think you're think of Die Hard 3
Quite right, I bow to your superior knowledge of the classics.
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
Die Hard 2 is my favourite Christmas film
Wrong film - that's the one where Colm Meaney's plane crashes.
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
Die Hard 2 is my favourite Christmas film
Wrong film - that's the one where Colm Meaney's plane crashes.
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
Die Hard 2 is my favourite Christmas film
I think you're think of Die Hard 3
Quite right, I bow to your superior knowledge of the classics.
TSE edited his post after seeing mine immediately upthread!
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
Die Hard 2 is my favourite Christmas film
I think you're think of Die Hard 3
I can hear it now - "After 4 hours fruitless search, they found a pineapple".
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
Trump's non-interventionist foreign policy stance is a serious disaster for the powers that be in the US. It must and will be stopped at all costs. If I were Trump, I'd be limiting unnecessary air travel, skiing holidays, and extended periods in open topped vehicles.
If Trump is non-interventionist then what does that make Obama?
Interventionist.
Just because you're sponsoring men with beards to blow things up rather than putting boots on the ground doesn't mean you're not intervening.
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
and your criteria would be, as a US citizen?
Are non-US citizens not allowed to have an opinion?
Absolutely!
But if you are not here, familiar with the ebbs and flows of the US political environment - as most on here are not - it's of diminished value. Hence the slavish devotion to opinion polls. It's like betting on a Bolivian betting exchange on the outcome of an election in Botswana.
You didn't answer my question. - and your criteria would be, as a US citizen?
You didn't ask me it. It was Danny who said Cruz seemed less electable.
This is a properly fun tool from 538 - you can shift partisanship and turnout amongst different groups of the electorate to see how the election outcome changes:
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
Trump's non-interventionist foreign policy stance is a serious disaster for the powers that be in the US. It must and will be stopped at all costs. If I were Trump, I'd be limiting unnecessary air travel, skiing holidays, and extended periods in open topped vehicles.
If Trump is non-interventionist then what does that make Obama?
Interventionist.
Just because you're sponsoring men with beards to blow things up rather than putting boots on the ground doesn't mean you're not intervening.
Obama has no interest in foreign affairs whatever. He's only doing the minimum he has to, with the incremental approach he's taking, because of pressure from Democrats to give them political cover.
He gave an Oval Office address last week, and it got panned because he had nothing new to say about a policy everyone knows has failed. He went to the Pentagon yesterday and then gave an address, also panned because he still had nothing new to say about his failed policy.
Trump wants to "bomb the shit out of ISIS". Obama's air campaign is minimal at best. Hardly comparable.
All schools closed in LA due to a credible threat.
"Schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said every school in the 700,000-pupil district would be searched. The district includes 1,124 schools plus other facilities, including ones for adult language instruction."
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
Die Hard 2 is my favourite Christmas film
I think you're think of Die Hard 3
The original Die Hard is a squillion times better than any of its sequels.
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
and your criteria would be, as a US citizen?
Are non-US citizens not allowed to have an opinion?
Absolutely!
But if you are not here, familiar with the ebbs and flows of the US political environment - as most on here are not - it's of diminished value. Hence the slavish devotion to opinion polls. It's like betting on a Bolivian betting exchange on the outcome of an election in Botswana.
You didn't answer my question. - and your criteria would be, as a US citizen?
You didn't ask me it. It was Danny who said Cruz seemed less electable.
The idea of this coming down to Trump V Cruz, is almost bringing me to tears. Perhaps as a few more drop out that with give anough space for somebody else to gain momentum.
I would love that to be my favourite Carly Fiorine, to me she is the one that 'gets it' That actchaly seems to have an understanding of what the role of government in a free society should be. And could be somebody that the rest of the would looked up to when looking at the leader of the 'free would'
But I am also realistic if you are polling at under 5% both nationally and in the early states at this stage, well, its going to be hard to say the least.
Just hoping that she shines in tonight's debate, and is not overshadowed by idiots making outlandish remarks that will dominate the news cycle for the next few days.
"Obama, as Peter Beinart noted recently in a column in The Atlantic, tends to view the threat of ISIL differently than his Republican counterparts. In Obama’s view, while ISIL has indeed proved problematic, the organization’s threat to the security of the U.S. homeland remains minimal. So ISIL is Europe and the Middle East’s problem. This viewpoint has been consistently echoed in his approach to Syria and Iraq—treating Baghdad’s political challenges and Syria’s civil war and its effects as problems that he may have underestimated, but not ones that merit any deep policy commitment from the U.S."
"The American Enterprise Institute recently published the most comprehensive anti-ISIL strategy to date, in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of War. While a number of elements of the strategy are cogent, it’s unclear whether either President Obama or his potential successors will assume the political risk of adopting them.
If they do, they risk committing the U.S. into an open-ended strategy with an end goal that isn’t fiscally, strategically or politically sustainable. As much as Washington has tried to use its diplomatic and military tools to support regional states and parties in these states to resolve conflicts and deny ISIL a safe haven, there’s also a limit to what the U.S. can realistically do in these situations."
It's one thing disagreeing, it's another thing to believe the only people only earth worth anything are Corbyn supporters, which is what a fair amount of people in the Labour party appear to believe these days.
"The Force can have a strong influence on the Weak-Minded!"
No doubt Corbynites think that the force is with them (and only them).
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
Trump's non-interventionist foreign policy stance is a serious disaster for the powers that be in the US. It must and will be stopped at all costs. If I were Trump, I'd be limiting unnecessary air travel, skiing holidays, and extended periods in open topped vehicles.
If Trump is non-interventionist then what does that make Obama?
Interventionist.
Just because you're sponsoring men with beards to blow things up rather than putting boots on the ground doesn't mean you're not intervening.
Obama has no interest in foreign affairs whatever. He's only doing the minimum he has to, with the incremental approach he's taking, because of pressure from Democrats to give them political cover.
He gave an Oval Office address last week, and it got panned because he had nothing new to say about a policy everyone knows has failed. He went to the Pentagon yesterday and then gave an address, also panned because he still had nothing new to say about his failed policy.
Trump wants to "bomb the shit out of ISIS". Obama's air campaign is minimal at best. Hardly comparable.
I have not seen Trump's statements to the effect that he wants to commit more forces to Syria. I have seen statements that he thinks Ukraine is Europe's problem, the Iraq war was a mess (he opposed it at the time), and that the Russians should be left to deal with Syria. It has been widely commented that he has stolen a lot of Rand Paul's foreign policy clothes, but is managing to articulate them in a more bullish, pro-American sounding way.
However, be that as it may, I would profoundly disagree that the limited bombing campaign against ISIS represents non-intervention. On the contrary, it allowed ISIS to metastasize, allowed its oil trade to grow, allowed its sponsors to continue to ressuply it, and allowed it to continue to take territory from the Assad government. At the same time, it represented the beginnings of a 'no fly zone' strategy in Syria that would almost certainly have led to the downfall of Assad - the USA's original objective.
The idea of this coming down to Trump V Cruz, is almost bringing me to tears. Perhaps as a few more drop out that with give anough space for somebody else to gain momentum.
I would love that to be my favourite Carly Fiorine, to me she is the one that 'gets it' That actchaly seems to have an understanding of what the role of government in a free society should be. And could be somebody that the rest of the would looked up to when looking at the leader of the 'free would'
But I am also realistic if you are polling at under 5% both nationally and in the early states at this stage, well, its going to be hard to say the least.
Just hoping that she shines in tonight's debate, and is not overshadowed by idiots making outlandish remarks that will dominate the news cycle for the next few days.
Ted Cruz being the latest "establishment choice" (if true) is baffling. To me he seems even less electable than Trump.
Trump's non-interventionist foreign policy stance is a serious disaster for the powers that be in the US. It must and will be stopped at all costs. If I were Trump, I'd be limiting unnecessary air travel, skiing holidays, and extended periods in open topped vehicles.
If Trump is non-interventionist then what does that make Obama?
Interventionist.
Just because you're sponsoring men with beards to blow things up rather than putting boots on the ground doesn't mean you're not intervening.
Obama has no interest in foreign affairs whatever. He's only doing the minimum he has to, with the incremental approach he's taking, because of pressure from Democrats to give them political cover.
He gave an Oval Office address last week, and it got panned because he had nothing new to say about a policy everyone knows has failed. He went to the Pentagon yesterday and then gave an address, also panned because he still had nothing new to say about his failed policy.
Trump wants to "bomb the shit out of ISIS". Obama's air campaign is minimal at best. Hardly comparable.
I have not seen Trump's statements to the effect that he wants to commit more forces to Syria. I have seen statements that he thinks Ukraine is Europe's problem, the Iraq war was a mess (he opposed it at the time), and that the Russians should be left to deal with Syria. It has been widely commented that he has stolen a lot of Rand Paul's foreign policy clothes, but is managing to articulate them in a more bullish, pro-American sounding way.
However, be that as it may, I would profoundly disagree that the limited bombing campaign against ISIS represents non-intervention. On the contrary, it allowed ISIS to metastasize, allowed its oil trade to grow, allowed its sponsors to continue to ressuply it, and allowed it to continue to take territory from the Assad government. At the same time, it represented the beginnings of a 'no fly zone' strategy in Syria that would almost certainly have led to the downfall of Assad - the USA's original objective.
I'm merely saying that Trump would increase the air campaign more than Obama would - it's all relative. In neither case would it 'commit more forces'.
Los Angeles police contacted Ramon Cortines, superintendent of schools, early this morning to report an "electronic threat".
The nature of the threat is unknown, but Mr Cortines said it involved backpacks or packages.
While he said the schools are threatened "all the time", this threat was serious enough for Mr Cortines to issue the order that all schools be closed for the day.
"It was not a threat to one school two schools or three schools, it was many schools not specifically identified. There were many schools- that's the reason I took the action that I did."
Mr. D, not only that, it's practically to the coastline of multiple nations.
The extent may be piss-taking, so they can be conciliatory (ahem) and graciously allow countries a mile or two of coastal water to call their own.
It's apalling behaviour. However there's bugger all we can do about it, and China knows there's bugger all we can do about it. If anyone thinks differently, they can take their complaint to the last century of policians who've reduced us to our current state.
Comments
Anyone but Trump
Anyone but Clinton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NjbGr2nk2c
If Trump wins in New Hampshire and Iowa goes Cruz, this becomes a two horse race with Trump the favourite.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428515/conservative-leaders-ted-cruz-earns-allegiance-private-meeting
To be honest ALL the 'establishment' candidate's odds are wrong.
Rubio, Bush, Christie all far too short.
1) Beat Trump in New Hampshire
2) Overtake Cruz nationally and convincingly as the 'Stop Trump' candidate, continued good polling for Cruz will place Cruz in that position.
3) Get some better advertising, I thought "My Dad's a bartender" was awful.
He has a chance but methinks it is more of the ~ 7-2 variety rather than the 6-4 one.
You would count such a thing ridiculous in most cases, but with Trump nothing seems too out there.
Folks need to stop focussing on polls and follow the news, trends and momentum. Polls are merely a snapshot and don't track trends etc.
Why are folks on here obsessed with polls yet don't follow what's happening?
This is talking about the 2001 Tory leadership contest, yes?
I went deep on Rubio a while ago, but I'm having doubts now: he couldn't have asked for better media attention in the past few months, yet he's still barely above 10% in the polls.
Hello Nick:
I saw your reply, for which many thanks. I didn't want to make you reply, though I do appreciate it. I just wanted to make clear that I had replied to your question, which was a fair one.
I think that a different Labour party to the one we have now would have a reasonable chance of persuading me and people like me to vote for it.
I think it a shame that you - or the current Labour party - don't seem to think so.
Part of my heart - as my post on some of the work I have done and causes I have adopted - beats left, in the best sense of what the left can be, or so I would like to hope. And I am pretty good friends with a reasonably well known Labour person with whom I've discussed many of the same issues and who seems to share quite a lot of my concerns.
Civil liberties (not just ID cards) are a key issue for me and Labour's adoption of policies which I intensely dislike was the start of a process whereby it seems to me that Labour's default instinct - its moral compass, if you will - has moved away from the best of itself to something really quite ghastly, irrespective of whether individual policies are attractive or not.
The embrace of Islamism is not a recent matter - it started, in a small way, when the Rushdie fatwa was issued and people like Roy Hattersley were somewhat reluctant to criticise those who seemed to think that attacking a writer in such a way was understandable. That point of view leads - eventually, as we have seen - to writers and cartoonists being murdered in an office in Paris.
Christopher Hitchens in his autobiography describes very well his reaction to the fatwa and I find many echoes in what he wrote in my own reactions at the time.
Anyway, clearly I won't be able to persuade you but I would hope that some of what I say may, just may, resonate. I don't assume that all lefties are somehow evil but I think that now too many of them have ended up- perhaps without realising it or without wanting to - in a morally repulsive cul de sac.
At any event, I don't want to derail this thread. I appreciate your answers. No doubt we will resume the debate at some point, or perhaps in person at a PB meet.
It's still clearly a lay though, IMO.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35103383
I especially enjoyed the last section about Mao. Compare the first and last sentences there.
Very interesting that the Times editorial (apparently) is pro votes of 16-17 year olds. The Times have clearly become massive lefties now.
And you have to really despair at the Labour party at this minute. Not because of Labour MPs. Or even those (including Milne) at Labour party HQ right now. But because of the kind of people now a part of the activist and membership base. That is, at least if The Guardian was anything to go by. CIFers have surely go to be among the most intolerant people in Britain alongside Daily Mail readers. They really cannot bare any kind of criticism against Corbyn. The comments under the Jess Philips article speak for themselves, and I can't bring myself to see how they've responded to Stella Creasy's recent piece. Sometimes, I almost want Labour to do rubbish in May purely to put two fingers up to them. It's one thing disagreeing, it's another thing to believe the only people only earth worth anything are Corbyn supporters, which is what a fair amount of people in the Labour party appear to believe these days.
But if you are not here, familiar with the ebbs and flows of the US political environment - as most on here are not - it's of diminished value. Hence the slavish devotion to opinion polls. It's like betting on a Bolivian betting exchange on the outcome of an election in Botswana.
You didn't answer my question. - and your criteria would be, as a US citizen?
Reminded me of the second die hard film. Let's hope it turns out to be a hoax....
It might be someone riding a bicycle without lights, but this tends to be more serious when it's dark.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_with_a_Vengeance
Still, stay safe, Rob!
I think you're think of Die Hard 3
That's how bad Die Hard 5 was.
Mr. Eagles, I haven't seen the fifth one. I may watch it if it's on TV.
Four was weakened by the terminal decline in villain quality. The first had a German super-thief. The fourth had a disgruntled ex-IT worker.
Hans Gruber shot people in the head when he was calm. Fourth-Villain-Whose-Name-I-Do-Not-Know swept some paper onto the floor when he was angry.
Just because you're sponsoring men with beards to blow things up rather than putting boots on the ground doesn't mean you're not intervening.
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-swing-the-election/
Awful. I hope everyone involved got paid enough to salve their consciences.
I thought the fourth Indiana Jones film got a slightly rough reception (though one hopes Shia Laboeuf's[sp] character gets killed off).
Mr. 1983, that may have occurred in the fifth, but he also took down a helicopter with a car in the fourth.
He gave an Oval Office address last week, and it got panned because he had nothing new to say about a policy everyone knows has failed. He went to the Pentagon yesterday and then gave an address, also panned because he still had nothing new to say about his failed policy.
Trump wants to "bomb the shit out of ISIS". Obama's air campaign is minimal at best. Hardly comparable.
Any idea which GOP candidate yr state is likely to go for ?
These aren't the sequels you're looking for!
I would love that to be my favourite Carly Fiorine, to me she is the one that 'gets it' That actchaly seems to have an understanding of what the role of government in a free society should be. And could be somebody that the rest of the would looked up to when looking at the leader of the 'free would'
But I am also realistic if you are polling at under 5% both nationally and in the early states at this stage, well, its going to be hard to say the least.
Just hoping that she shines in tonight's debate, and is not overshadowed by idiots making outlandish remarks that will dominate the news cycle for the next few days.
Gosh, sounds familiar
It's not as bad as SPECTRE, but it is a disgrace to the Die Hard franchise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35031313
Hilary would be the 2nd oldest;
Trump the oldest.
Shutting down an entire school district like this is almost unprecedented.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-islamic-state-will-haunt-obamas-successor-14583
"Obama, as Peter Beinart noted recently in a column in The Atlantic, tends to view the threat of ISIL differently than his Republican counterparts. In Obama’s view, while ISIL has indeed proved problematic, the organization’s threat to the security of the U.S. homeland remains minimal. So ISIL is Europe and the Middle East’s problem. This viewpoint has been consistently echoed in his approach to Syria and Iraq—treating Baghdad’s political challenges and Syria’s civil war and its effects as problems that he may have underestimated, but not ones that merit any deep policy commitment from the U.S."
"The American Enterprise Institute recently published the most comprehensive anti-ISIL strategy to date, in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of War. While a number of elements of the strategy are cogent, it’s unclear whether either President Obama or his potential successors will assume the political risk of adopting them.
If they do, they risk committing the U.S. into an open-ended strategy with an end goal that isn’t fiscally, strategically or politically sustainable. As much as Washington has tried to use its diplomatic and military tools to support regional states and parties in these states to resolve conflicts and deny ISIL a safe haven, there’s also a limit to what the U.S. can realistically do in these situations."
However, be that as it may, I would profoundly disagree that the limited bombing campaign against ISIS represents non-intervention. On the contrary, it allowed ISIS to metastasize, allowed its oil trade to grow, allowed its sponsors to continue to ressuply it, and allowed it to continue to take territory from the Assad government. At the same time, it represented the beginnings of a 'no fly zone' strategy in Syria that would almost certainly have led to the downfall of Assad - the USA's original objective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3pnp3URpfw
Mike Huckabee = gelatinous cube
Marco Rubio = paladin, 18 charisma, all other stats 9, cursed broadsword
Ben Carson = necromancer, 19 intelligence, 4 wisdom
Jeb Bush = NPC with 8s in all attributes and leather armor
Rand Paul = halfling thief
Carly Fiorina = level 5 Drow elf with a + 1 Ring of Vampiric regeneration
Chris Christie = shambling mound
John Kasich = level 4 fighter with standard plate armor and a standard long sword, 10 strength
Ted Cruz = dwarf cleric with 3 Charisma
The extent may be piss-taking, so they can be conciliatory (ahem) and graciously allow countries a mile or two of coastal water to call their own.
One's gast is not flabbered.
Iowa, four years ago:
http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2011/12/14/has-the-gingrich-surge-run-out-of-steam/
Caveat punter.