"Jeb Bush's COLLAPSE is COMPLETE" declares our favorite gay wunderkind Nate Silver

If the media told everyone that Jeb Bush won, everyone would believe that Jeb Bush won. "Jeb Bush was calm and cool headed, showing an unflappability that would be vital in a crisis, while Rubio played to the rafters and others blew mostly hot air."

But the media doesn't want Jeb to win, I guess.

I can't be bothered to watch these debates. It's already been decided who the candidate is going to be.

I'm taking a guess that it's going to be Mitt Romney. All the other candidates wil gradually fall apart as the GOP tells the media to go after each one of them over some leak . Then, when it's close to the election, they'll pull Mitt out of the top hat. Miitt Romney has decided to throw his hat in the ring!"

Then he will be a "fresh" candidate, because the media can't remember what it said last week, let alone three and a half years ago. This way, Mitt won't look like stale bread and will have minimal contact with the media before the elections.

[quote]But the media doesn't want Jeb to win, I guess.

The media had been very pro-Bush, are you kidding me. They had basically anointed that it was going to be Bush vs Clinton. Bush came into this race as the darling of the wealthy and powerful elites who wanted to crown him as the nominee.

However he has SUCKED as a candidate and they all have egg on their face and are realizing how wrong they were.

Exactly R2. The media was prying for Bush/Clinton Race. They already had their copy written and the hype machine locked and loaded. But then Trump happened, and instead of a consensus building around Jeb, you have 16 people all running against him. It sends a message that he gets no respect, no one is afraid of him, and he's a weak candidate. The other problem with Jeb, is he is obviously so accustomed to being a top guy, one of the elite, that he's not used to being challenged or attacked. WTF did he expect? No one is going to defer to him because he's a Bush, and yet you get a very real sense he feels entitled and is suprised when he's smacked down. He becomes very petulant. Last night, a reporter tried to talk to him after the debate and he got mean. So there it is. Go home Jeb. Just go.

Jeb! is utterly and completely underwhelming.

A bowl of day-old, cold oatmeal.

So who do we want up against Hillary? I thought for sure that Bush would be an easy take down v. Hillary

R5 Bernie Sanders. And he'll win!!

The help better watch their backs today!!

"Jeb" - Loser on name alone.

So, if Jeb! is history, does that mean that the only "electable" candidate the Republicans can come up with is Marco Rubio?

Rubio v Clinton would be interesting.

I really thought Scott Walker might get it. I'm surprised at how fast he crashed and burned.

It more or less has to be Bush, right? The GOP isn't going to nominate a minority. It'll turn off the racist TP base.

From what I've read, Bush has accumulated far more Wall Street money than any of the other candidates. And, until recently, the powers that be in the Republican Party assumed that he would be the party's nominee.

Pretty much, R9, although there's A LOT of enthusiasm for Cruz. I could totally see Romney *IF* no one has a clear majority, AND polls show a clear majority of GOP voters favoring his entry. Didn't Ann already say she thinks he should try?

If the power elite got behind Kasich instead of Bush, I could see Kasich getting the nom.

Rubio looks way too green. I know Obama was too, but Obama had something that Rubio doesn't have - the it factor.

Plus Mexicans hate Cubans. Cubans are stuck up snobs.

Plus Rubio is Catholic Mormon Catholic Baptist. That won't play with conservative Christians who KNOW they're brand of Christianity is the right one. They'll see him as a wishy washy moral appeaser.

Yeah both Kasich and Chris Christie are guys the establishment could get behind if it came to that. Silver makes the same point.

Christie is dirty. Really dirty. The GOP would be insane to allow him to be the candidate.

Romney? Oh brother, what has America come to?

I'm betting Canadian candidate Ted Cruz gets the nom.

Trump is the only one who creates buzz and excitement. Why not just go with him, despite his many downsides? The others are non-entities.

If we're going to have a Canadian candidate, it should be Jussie Trudeau.

[quote]I'm taking a guess that it's going to be Mitt Romney. All the other candidates wil gradually fall apart as the GOP tells the media to go after each one of them over some leak . Then, when it's close to the election, they'll pull Mitt out of the top hat. Miitt Romney has decided to throw his hat in the ring!"

I was actually evaluating your post as though you had a clue what you were talking about. Until I read this sentence.

Who knew George and Bar had TWO dunces loafing around the grounds?

Nate also said that Trump was over ten times and had to correct himself repeatedly. He keeps fucking up by making outrageous predictions. NATE'S COLLAPSE IS COMPLETE.

I actually believe Trump is a lot more liberal than he lets on. I think the Birther bullshit was mostly for attention. Yesm he is probably racust, and absolutely sexist, but I don't think he'd be an awful Preisdent. If he got elected I do believe he would try to do the right thing. Trump loves being loved. He would want to jeopardize that. So of all the lunatics running who could actually win I say Trump, although Kasich would be someone I would not mind too much. But Carson, Christie,Fiorina, Bush, Cruz, and Rubio turn my stomach. Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham are two more who might be decent as VP.

Trump needs to improve his campaign and tone down the narcissistic need to be no. 1.

[quote]Trump needs to improve his campaign and tone down the narcissistic need to be no. 1.

He is constitutionally incapable of doing that.

Yes sadly that appears to be the truth. He lives up to his rap of being a bat shit crazy narcissistic. Pity, because he's not dumb and he has good instincts, and he brilliantly trolls people who need to be trolled.

The thing is that Trump can be a jerk, but he's not beholden to his donors or the RNC, so he will probably actually put competent people in charge of things rather than the usual political hacks and advisers. And you can't say that about anyone else. I don't really want the special interests essentially drafting all our legislation anymore.

R26, I think I mostly agree with you about Trump's being more liberal, and a better bet overall, than the others, but I'd say the same thing about Arnold Schwarzenegger's ideology, and he wasn't an effective governor. A moderate celebrity blowhard would be worse in the White House.

I myself am rooting for whoever will lose so big against the Democrat that they'll put social conservatism and supply-side economics out of the mainstream for a generation or two.

He got lot o'money. Bush can stay around as long as he needs to get some traction

Karl Rove is already pitching the "comback" narrative. The accepted "wisdom around the Bush supporters is that Jeb is everyone's second choice and once Karl Rove destroys or buys off his opponents, he will emerge as the only reasonable choice to make. I'm looking for Christie to drop out very soon, maybe even days. I also think Jindal will quit, and Huckabee is for sale. Right now, the long knives are out to destroy carson.

While you correctly say Trump is self funded and therefore owes nothing to anyone, I disagree. Trump is going to be cutting deals and spreading money around in the primary states. He has to. He has to promise something to people in all these states in order to succeed. In order to make deals, get endorsements, and win a few primaries he will owe favors to people. Delegates don't come cheap either. It isn't just cold hard cash it's the favors people do. Quid Pro Quo is alive and well in Trumpville.

Pataki is doing nothing so he'll probably drop out soon. I think in the case of Pataki, Jindal and Christie, they're hoping Rove offers them $omething to leave town. Same with Miss Lindsey. That's why Huckabee is still standing. He & Carson are fighting forthe Evangelical vote. I don't understand why Rick Santorum is still running around.

Trump has called all the shots so far and all the other candidates are stuck in a reactive position.

If this was prison, everyone of them would be running around naked except for a tee-shirt and koolaid lipstick.

They've been punked!

The strategy should be to assure that the GOP nominates someone so outrageous that their own political pros turn against them and we get someone like Karl Rove actually sabotaging their own team because their noimnee is that bad. Could that ever happen?

If the GOP wanted to field a ticket that would really be competitive and stand a chance of actually winning, they ought to plan for a Kasich/Rubio ticket. But of course no one would want Rubio on his ticket as VP because you could never trust him. He's an ambitious little narcissist.

r34 Santorum believes he's been transfigured into Carson.

It will be Clinton v Rubio. Rubio will win.

Why is Carson polling so high if he is a non-starter for GOP candidate?

I doubt it'll be Romney. AFAIK, the only candidate to run again after losing a presidential election was Nixon.

If Romney actually does get in, how long can he wait and be an effective candidate? At what point does he have to start raising money? Is he raising it now? Depending on the RNC to do all the fundraising for him? What about getting his name on the ballots as a primary candidate? Isn't that window about closed?

The only way I can see this happening is if the RNC does a backroom deal and nominates him on the convention floor, against the wishes of all the voters who voted for somebody else in the primary. Then you have a candidate that can't win an election, with no money, depending on large donors. What would Republican voters say to this, especially Teabaggers? I would think a lot of them would stay home, and sit on their wallets.

Looks like the nominee is Ben Carson, unless he crashes and burns towards the end. Then, who? Rubio? He's an ass, but they all are so I don't see what difference it is anyway.

If the Republicans go with Carson, they lose the racist vote. They won't take that chance.

[quote]Why is Carson polling so high if he is a non-starter for GOP candidate?

The media declares a new front-runner out of the pack for the express purpose of running him out of the race as soon as a new front-runner id declared. The rise of Carson only means it's time to wind down the Donald Trump Reality Show Campaign. Cruz will knock Carson off the pedestal and out of the race. Cruz will go down in turn, a process that will presumably repeat till none are left but the preselected Bush.

The lying propaganda artists used the media to play the same game in 2012. We all knew it would be Romney, so they waltzed everyone else around the dance floor once then whisked them out the door. As with Romney, the less people hear from and learn about Jeb! early on, the likelier they are to support him when nomination time is nigh.

JEB IS A MESS!

JEB IS A WASTE!

JEB IS A BIG FAT DISGRACE!

To his credit, it was Jeb! who said Trump’s would be a “chaos” presidency. He nailed that!

Fucking 2015 bump troll can’t stay gone.

Fuck off (again), DeFecto.

I thought he posted a tearful "Goodbye for now, DL" thread a while back?

And now he's fallen so low, he's arguing with Room Rater:

[quote]Mr. Room Rater, is it possible now that the election is over to rate rooms on a non partisan basis? Are you a room rater or a hyper partisan person that is the problem? We need less hyper partisanship on backgrounds at this time for our country.

"A while back" does not equal "now".