Election 2016 Thread

[L'Emmerdeur]

Sure, that's what they say . . .

You could have saved yourself five minutes, and just acknowledged that your characterization was misleading. That's what I was pointing out, and nothing you typed changes the fact.

[pErvinalia]

Tu quoque means "what I did isn't bad, because you did it (or something bad) too." That's not anything that I've argued.

It's what you ALWAYS argue via proxy.

It's not what I argued, at all, ever. I never argue by proxy.

Bullshit. Your argument is "what [my candidate did] isn't bad, because [your candidate] did it (or something bad) too". You do it constantly.

[JimC]

or "what Trump did/said was bad, but what Hillary did/said was also bad if not worse, which means vote for Trump"

[Svartalf]

Fortunately most of the few Merkin posters here are entrenched democrats.

[pErvinalia]

Has universal time slowed or something in the last week or so? I swear the election should be over. But it always seems to be one week away. There's so much riding on this election, and so much hate involved, that the suspense is killing me. I HAVE to know who wins this thing.

[JimC]

Have a G & T and chill...

[Animavore]

I have to admit, arguing over who is personally worse gets you no where. I already stated my reasons for not voting Trump, if American, are environmental and economical. Sure, I have an utter personal disliking of him, but I don't like most politicians.

Even the Chinese just yesterday, who rarely make comments on foreign countries, said that Trump is playing a reckless game by going back on the Paris agreement. No complaint that he was a piece of shit. If you vote Trump and he does reverse that agreement, which already isn't enough, and sets on a knock on effect of other countries who go back on the agreement because they don't see why they should bother if America doesn't, that's on your hands.

But as I've all too painfully learnt this last year, is that Trump fans really, and truly, don't give a shit about anyone.

[Brian Peacock]

There's so many reasons for thinking Trumpism is a disaster just waiting to happen, and yet each one of them is exactly what recommends Trump to his supporters.

[pErvinalia]

I wonder who'll the next Trump will be..

[Forty Two]

There's so many reasons for thinking Trumpism is a disaster just waiting to happen, and yet each one of them is exactly what recommends him to Trump supporters.

I see nothing more disastrous in a Trump Presidency than a Hillary Presidency. What I see is a small chance of real change, if Trump is elected, and zero chance of real change if Hillary is elected. Hillary is corrupt, connected, and has enriched herself at the public trough. She Is the candidate of the establishment, and she is backed by oil interests, finance industry interests, pharmaceutical interests, and the lobbying/consultant industry. She is the darling of mass media, which indulges her at every turn.

Just think what would have happened to a Republican candidate had he or she been caught receiving debate questions in advance from a Republican operative working for Faux News.... Just imagine if a mainstream Republican candidate was subpoenaed for documents by the FBI, and the Republican candidate reserved for himself or herself the discretion to determine, for himself or herself, which documents were work related and which could be deleted as personal, without anyone verifying that, and then the devices were all smashed with hammers and the email trail wiped and beached with bleachbit, and the Republican candidate snarked "what? like wiped with a cloth?" Imagine if it was a Republican candidate who was shown, flat out, to be allowing preferred access to the State Department to donors of that Republican's charitable foundation, and allowing preferred access to "Friends of Spouse"....

Honestly, Trump has shown himself to boorish, and rude, and chauvinistic in his commentary and sexual mores. He has shown himself to be self-serving in his business dealings, and aggressive in his tax filings. He has had business failings, and business successes, and he is a braggart and a self-aggrandizing. He is a showman, who engages in sales-puffery, and has likely exaggerated his promises.

However, for all that, he does not rise to the level of corruption and dishonesty in public office that Clinton has engaged in. He may be just as much of a scumbag, but it would be hard to imagine him being more of a scumbag than Hillary Clinton. He hasn't had the chance, yet, to show his failings in public office.

One advantage of Trump is that he does not take office, if he's elected, beholden to anyone but the voters. He has no large donors expecting access. He has no lobbyists to whom he owes favors. The regular establishment is, primarily, against him, precisely because he does not need to metaphorically pick up their phone calls. If they had him under their thumb, they would have worked to get him elected. Do you honestly think that Republican conservatives give a flying fuck about how rude or obnoxious Trump is, or how many pussies he talks about grabbing? Do you honestly think these guys don't make rude sexual comments in their own private discourse? Of course they do. They don't give a fuck about niceities or whether someone has the right "demeanor." They care about power, and they care about their hold on it or access to it.

For too long, my friends, we have had Republicans and Democrats who are just marginally different than each other. They work behind the scenes in an incestuous pretend battle, and yet the moneyed interests and the military industrial complex has continued to gain power, to the point that voting between the Republicans and Democrats is largely window dressing, and hardly a democracy. A vote for Trump may be, as Michael Moore put it, a big fuck you to the establishment. However, contrary to Michael Moore's thesis in that speech, as for me, I think it's high time the people spoke loud and clear and gave them that big fuck you. And, it's time they started responding to what the people really want, because if the government had been responding to what the people really want, then Trump wouldn't even be close.

[Tero]

Some swing voters in the South?

[Forty Two]

Tu quoque means "what I did isn't bad, because you did it (or something bad) too." That's not anything that I've argued.

It's what you ALWAYS argue via proxy.

It's not what I argued, at all, ever. I never argue by proxy.

Bullshit. Your argument is "what [my candidate did] isn't bad, because [your candidate] did it (or something bad) too". You do it constantly.

That is not now, nor has it ever been, my argument.

The badness of Trump and Hillary's actions are not dependent on each other. HIllary's conduct in public office has been much worse, however, than anything Trump has done, or said. That doesn't make Trump's actions good. I never said it did. If we only voted for candidates without warts, there would be no Presidents. That may be a good thing, but I can't trust the rest of the populace to stay home on 11/8, so I'll vote for the one who (a) I think is right on the issues most important to me, and (b) is the least corrupt of the options available. It's a balancing test. For me, it's not even close. Hillary is such a deceitful and corrupt individual that to elect her would cause more damage than Trump ever can. There has to be consequences to being the liar and cheat that Hillary has shown herself to be. If she gets elected, it just shows all future candidates that nobody gives a fuck how much you cheat.

[Tero]

Trump magical thinking:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/11/ ... ald-trump/

Vote Hillary, she has one foot firmly in reality.

[Scot Dutchy]

Trump magical thinking:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/11/ ... ald-trump/

Vote Hillary, she has one foot firmly in reality.

Nice one behind a pay wall.

[Forty Two]

Trump jumps to 6 point lead - http://graphics.latimes.com/usc-preside ... dashboard/