Boys, boys, why get all upset about the human condition. We could be in the forest, desert, mountains; fending for food. You wouldn't have time for poli ticking your time away is oh look, mountain lion! Why in fact it's coming this way and fast! I wonder who is going to eat well tonight? I'm fresh out of club.

My guy was Ben Carson right out of the gate. As much as a few stitches short of being tight, the other times he spoke were right there with clear logical thought and common sense. I mean, if you are looking at a sack of whacks that came for the job...

Now, see me get upset my guy is out of the running? As if I had any control of my or his fate. And you are getting upset for the conspiracy theory voters out there who put Oh Bummer in the house for 8 fat ones and is he going home rich? Retire or move his head like one of those dog heads on a spring in the back of the sundeck an get paid to tell the group how much he brought the debt down, pork belly greasing the hand, favor this, do me that, you owe me, and then the next year, it was shovel ready to open that door for transparency and knock-knock, was that sort of a closed office for how many years transparent?

A lot of people have been hurt by Obamacare-Rook

If this is even true, do their numbers come any where near the 20 million more citizens who now have health coverage? Thee may be changes that could and should be made, but it's still better than what we had before. If you had coverage previously, you were also paying for those 20 million plus all those who still do not have any. The effect will not take place immediately, but ultimately there will be positive effects on costs for consumers, especially when people who were not previously covered begin maintaining their health instead of waiting until a problem is severe and then going to an emergency room and receiving free or unpaid-for care.

so you see the republicans have NEVER been given a chance to try their ideas, because this country hasn't given them a chance, and the dems will not go along with any new idea, that doesn't involve even more debt and more spending,

What exactly ARE the Republicans' new ideas? Lower taxes on the rich and let whatever happens trickle down to everyone else? Let the oligarchs run wild and run the country into another economic disaster? Roll back environmental regulations and run government like a business based on bottom line? Tell that to water customers in Flint.

The problem is, they haven't had a new idea in over 40 years and their old ideas have all failed. I think it's hilarious that they are scrambling to figure out how to cock-block The Donald and his rabble-rousing campaign is close to guaranteeing him the nomination.

James Carville once said something very telling about the two parties: "The Democrats try to do the right thing, but they do it the wrong way. Republicans do the wrong thing but they do it the right way."

Donald Trump's rise is nothing more than a symptom of the hate, mistrust and outright lies that are pounded in people's ears every day by so-called "conservative" pundits and politicians. Now they have to figure out how to deal with the monster they created. Like the monster wrecking Dr.Frankenstein's laboratory, the Republicans are trying to figure out (unsuccessfully) how to stop him. It takes a village.

* Last updated by: Danno on 3/18/2016 @ 7:11 AM *

And if we look at actual facts, Bill Clinton's Presidency coincided with the best economy of my working lifetime, and it was done with a Republican Congress in place.

Eight years of W saw us involved in an ugly little oil war resulting in over 4,000 young American soldiers dead, billions of dollars wasted on "nation building' or "defending democracy" or whatever moniker you want to hang on militaristic imperilism, and a moneyed few nearly ruining the world economy with creative paperwork that produced absolutely nothing but another wealth shift away from the middle and towards the top.

Eight years of Obama resulted in 4.9% unemployment, economic recovery (still ongoing), healthcare for 20 million Americans who had none previously (which cost all of us only a fraction of what was spent in Iraq) Sub-$2/qal. gas prices, the death of Osama, the rebirth of the U.S. auto industry, shrinking deficits and scrutiny of big banks and Wall Street.

So if you put your fingers in your ears whenever the shrill bleating of the cynics and the haters ramps up and look at actual results, you get a totally different picture.

* Last updated by: Danno on 3/18/2016 @ 7:32 AM *

Danno - It's certainly a beautiful thought to think of everybody having all the health care they need.

But when did health care become a right, a right that we must all pay for collectively? And remember, this right comes also at a cost to doctors who must agree to provide that health care at a price the govt dictates. This is an absolute must, because if doctors were free to set their own prices, they could and probably would eventually set them so high that the health care insurance money brought in from productive tax payers would not cover those doctor's fees, then the system's broken. So the free, capitalist part of health care is going away, or may be already gone. I'm not hearing good things from any doctors I know.

And why draw the line at health care? To stay alive we must all eat, every day. So why don't 'we' provide all the meals for all the people? Just overhaul and simplify our silly current system that requires me to work in order to eat. How degrading! This is stressful! So the govt could I mean should mandate that everybody purchase 'food insurance', or whatever you wanna call it ... might sound better to the idiots who can't think past today to call it Meal Freedom. Yeah I like that! Feel Free to Order Whatever You Like! ... so the govt will surely take all of that money we pay in, minus a 'small' amount to run the myriad of programs required to dole out these 'quality' meals and meal oversight ... and then we can each walk into any restaurant we want and order whatever we want ... "If you like your restaurant, you can keep your restaurant." And if you don't like your restaurant, what the hell, you can now go to any one you want! cuz I've mandated meal pricing that restaurants cannot exceed. Phew, this is a great relief, cuz I was getting really really tired of longing for steak and lobster and shrimp which was too expensive to eat every day like I need. I feel so blessed and enlightened now! Finally, the man is in office who can make all my dreams come true! And that's what it's about, right? Making voter's dreams come true, so you can obtain their vote for yourself and your cronies and rise higher and higher into the 1%, cuz nothing is ever enough.

And, if that sounds good, let's do housing. 'Housing insurance' ... no the House Freedom Act ... HFA, they love acronyms, legitimizes idiotic ideas. "If you like your house, you can keep your house." If you don't like your house, go get a different house.

Oh, and utilities: No McMansion is worth anything if you can't afford the utilities to power it: So, I hereby mandate the Power Freedom Act ... PFA ... which will be overseen by the Power For All Dept (PFAD). "Will we hereby guarantee that everybody has equal electric power, regardless of income level.

I mean, come on, in this new utopia where everybody's needs are provided for by everybody else, and comfort is certainly involved, because discomfort is stressful, it only makes sense to provide the bare minimum of health care, housing and utilities, right? Next up: Cars! (I want a Lambo!, and I surely cannot afford one. Senator, Governor, Mr President, what can you do for me to make this happen for me? My vote is awaiting your answer).

We already know everybody has a right to own a cell phone, so we already provide those.

Let's discuss ... what say you Danno? You'll argue that I'm being ridiculous, that the govt would never go that far, that health care is it, that's the firm line, no more, that's all we want to control and demand and mandate on, that my Housing Freedom Act mandate is ridiculous, that housing isn't required for survival ... oh, wait yes it is otherwise people freeze to death. And to drag the workers into it, govt must promise nicer houses for them. The real answer is that we already have it, HUD, CPD etc, but it's generally directed towards poor people so it's not quite up in everybody's faces ... YET.

Danno ... where have I mis-spoken?

Anyway ... Trump is no doubt as big a whack job as the others, but he seems most likely to try to undo the increasing Socialist path we're on ... if for no other reason to do something that irritates others (the establishment) ... the most likely to try to administer the tough love this country needs bad ... so he's gonna get my vote.

Oh, I thought of this: Our collective bus was motoring along a curvy mountain road with a steep cliff along one side and a rock wall face along the other. Obama steered our bus over to the edge of the cliff, a couple of the wheels are actually bouncing along in the grass and gravel and bumps just off the pavement, oh so close. I have no doubt Hellary will steer the wheel right off the cliff into the abyss. I have at least some hope that Trump will try to steer the bus back onto the pavement. Of course he may very well yank the wheel too hard and slam us into the rock wall, but I like my chances with that wall vs the abyss 1,000' feet below.

The bottom line is ALL of us in the middle class shouldn't be fighting each other. If we stopped the corporate welfare to the huge corporations and banks, make them and the rich pay the same taxes we pay, there would be money to accomplish a lot of good things for the rest of us. The middle class is the engine of the economy but the bigwigs know that turning us against each other keeps us from focussing on the real theives of our wealth and future. I don't care if you're a conservative or a liberal, if WE rise up and kick the deadwood out of government and DEMAND a fair society then and only then will things change.
Bickering on who the worst party is or who caused what is pointless.

Mad

The moderate conservative writer David Brooks had this to say about Trump;

"The voters have spoken.

In convincing fashion, Republican voters seem to be selecting Donald Trump as their nominee. And in a democracy, victory has legitimacy to it. Voters are rarely wise but are usually sensible. They understand their own problems. And so deference is generally paid to the candidate who wins.

And deference is being paid. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida is urging Republicans to coalesce around Trump. Pundits are coming out with their “What We Can Learn” commentaries. Those commentaries are built on a hidden respect for the outcome, that this is a rejection of a Republicanism that wasn’t working and it points in some better direction.

The question is: Should deference be paid to this victor? Should we bow down to the judgment of these voters?

Well, some respect is in order. Trump voters are a coalition of the dispossessed. They have suffered lost jobs, lost wages, lost dreams. The American system is not working for them, so naturally they are looking for something else.

Moreover, many in the media, especially me, did not understand how they would express their alienation. We expected Trump to fizzle because we were not socially intermingled with his supporters and did not listen carefully enough. For me, it’s a lesson that I have to change the way I do my job if I’m going to report accurately on this country.

And yet reality is reality.

Donald Trump is epically unprepared to be president. He has no realistic policies, no advisers, no capacity to learn. His vast narcissism makes him a closed fortress. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and he’s uninterested in finding out. He insults the office Abraham Lincoln once occupied by running for it with less preparation than most of us would undertake to buy a sofa.

Trump is perhaps the most dishonest person to run for high office in our lifetimes. All politicians stretch the truth, but Trump has a steady obliviousness to accuracy.

This week, the Politico reporters Daniel Lippman, Darren Samuelsohn and Isaac Arnsdorf fact-checked 4.6 hours of Trump speeches and press conferences. They found more than five dozen untrue statements, or one every five minutes.

“His remarks represent an extraordinary mix of inaccurate claims about domestic and foreign policy and personal and professional boasts that rarely measure up when checked against primary sources,” they wrote.

He is a childish man running for a job that requires maturity. He is an insecure boasting little boy whose desires were somehow arrested at age 12. He surrounds himself with sycophants. “You can always tell when the king is here,” Trump’s butler told Jason Horowitz in a recent Times profile. He brags incessantly about his alleged prowess, like how far he can hit a golf ball. “Do I hit it long? Is Trump strong?” he asks.

In some rare cases, political victors do not deserve our respect. George Wallace won elections, but to endorse those outcomes would be a moral failure.

And so it is with Trump.

History is a long record of men like him temporarily rising, stretching back to biblical times. Psalm 73 describes them: “Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. … They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.”

And yet their success is fragile: “Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly they are destroyed.”

The psalmist reminds us that the proper thing to do in the face of demagogy is to go the other way — to make an extra effort to put on decency, graciousness, patience and humility, to seek a purity of heart that is stable and everlasting.

The Republicans who coalesce around Trump are making a political error. They are selling their integrity for a candidate who will probably lose. About 60 percent of Americans disapprove of him, and that number has been steady since he began his campaign.

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Worse, there are certain standards more important than one year’s election. There are certain codes that if you betray them, you suffer something much worse than a political defeat.

Donald Trump is an affront to basic standards of honesty, virtue and citizenship. He pollutes the atmosphere in which our children are raised. He has already shredded the unspoken rules of political civility that make conversation possible. In his savage regime, public life is just a dog-eat-dog war of all against all.

As the founders would have understood, he is a threat to the long and glorious experiment of American self-government. He is precisely the kind of scapegoating, promise-making, fear-driving and deceiving demagogue they feared.

Trump’s supporters deserve respect. They are left out of this economy. But Trump himself? No, not Trump, not ever."

Danno - What's your summary of that article? I don't understand your reason for posting it. I get that the author doesn't like Trump, which is fine, neither do I, but the author respects conservative voters I guess ... so where are you going with this?

One of the things that gives me hope is that, unlike Mitt Romney, unless Trump changes, it seems he will not get steamrolled ... he'll actually be the one doing steamrolling, basically bullying his way past Hellary. And that's good, cuz as I said, I don't like Trump but he's gotta be better than Hellary. Just has to be. Please.

Trump warned Wednesday morning that there would be widespread unrest if he does not “automatically” get the nomination as the candidate with the greatest number of delegates.

“I think you would have riots,” Trump said during an interview with CNN, adding that he represents “many, many millions of people,” including several first-time voters.

If we look back at the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore won a half a million votes more than George Bush, but lost the electoral college by a count of 271-267. The U.S. Supreme Court made the final decision by a 5-4 majority.

It is safe to say that Al Gore represented “many, many millions of people”. Gore, for the good of the country, five weeks after the election, put a stop to the recount in Florida and concedes the presidential election.

Do any of you recall Al Gore threatening or inciting his followers with widespread riots as a result of losing the presidency?

Trump, the short-fingered vulgarian, is the biggest threat to the United States and will make this country less safe.

Fox News has had enough of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s attacks on anchor Megyn Kelly :

After Trump on Friday called Kelly “sick” and “crazy” on Twitter and appealed to supporters to boycott her show, the network went to bat, labeling Trump’s attacks “deplorable,” and “beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate.”

“Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land,” a network spokesman said.

I guess Trump was right when he proclaimed himself a "unifier" last week, maybe he can truly unify this country. I see bi-partisan support to stop his run for the White House. [insert sarcasm here]

Danno - What's your summary of that article? I don't understand your reason for posting it. I get that the author doesn't like Trump, which is fine, neither do I, but the author respects conservative voters I guess ... so where are you going with this?-exrapolator

It's just an explanation of the phenomena of Trump's political rise and a reinforcement of stories I've heard of Republicans vowing not to vote for him and it's also likely that there are Democrats that will. As Brooks said, his supporters are the folks who are pissed-off and disillusioned with both parties. I have to respect those who actually believe he will do (some of, not all) the things he claims, because they sound good. I personally don't have a clue as to what he might do, good or bad, and that's probably his idea, because he appeals to everyone's baser instincts. Pissed-off and frustrated voters feel screwed over and they want someone to screw someone besides themselves. Trump plays into that masterfully. My biggest concern with a Trump Presidency is that he would do as he has always done and think and act with his huge ego rather than in the interests of the country as a whole. For all his successes, for which he takes total credit, there have been many failures, for which he takes zero responsibility. Kinda reminds me of the time GWB was asked if he regretted any decisions and he didn't have an answer. Either he was avoiding the subject or in total denial. Which is it with Trump? I don't think anyone really knows.

I also believe respect and understanding is what's missing from our political discourse and bringing it back is more important than anyone's "ideal" candidate or belief system. I don't agree with everything ANYONE says, but I'm not interested in rekindling the Civil War over those disagreements. We should agree to disagree, work out compromises and move on.

As a point of fact, there are several countries that manage to provide free healthcare for all their citizens. Along with free college,including housing while in college. Funnily enough, these same countries also rank at the top for happiness of their citizens. The US is 13th... We have plenty of money for everything we need. But we let the oligarchs steal it with slanted laws and rulings that only benefit them. Unbridled capitalism is not always such a good thing without a moral compass.

Mad

Capitalism is fine as long as goods and services are produced and those doing the producing get a fair share of the wealth they create. When nothing is produced and wealth is gained, it should be classified the same as any other larceny and punished accordingly.

I was listening to this interview with Charlie Sykes this morning. Apparently The Donald called the radio station, was unaware that Charlie Sykes is a #Never Trump republican and supporter of Ted Cruz.

I think Trump is going to have a hard time recovering from this embarrassing interview, at least with Wisconsin voters.

https://youtu.be/mA8zWGtUQVI

On another story, the truth finally is coming out, Trump's own people are selling him out.

Former Trump strategist disavows support for GOP front-runner in scathing tell-all column — 'Trump never intended to be the candidate, but his pride is too out of control to stop him now’

Stephanie Cegielski, who worked as communications director for the Trump-aligned ‘Make America Great Again’ Super PAC, penned a shocking article for XOJane, in which she said even Trump was surprised at his electoral success and never had any real intention of being President.

A former strategist for Donald Trump's surging 2016 campaign admitted in a shocking column published Monday that even the GOP presidential front-runner himself was surprised at his electoral success and never had any real intention of being the President of the United States.

In a blunt article written for XOJane, a blog geared toward women, Stephanie Cegielski, who worked as communications director for the Trump-aligned "Make America Great Again" Super PAC, claimed that Trump had simply aimed to position himself as a "protest" candidate and was grossly unprepared to ever be commander-in-chief.

"I don't think even Trump thought he would get this far. And I don't even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all," Cegielski wrote in disavowing her support for the hate-spewing huckster.

"Trump never intended to be the candidate. But his pride is too out of control to stop him now," she added.

"He doesn't want the White House. He just wants to be able to say that he could have run the White House. He's achieved that already and then some. If there is any question, take it from someone who was recruited to help the candidate succeed, and initially very much wanted him to do so," Cegielski wrote of the Republican front-runner.

"He certainly was never prepared or equipped to go all the way to the White House, but his ego has now taken over the driver's seat, and nothing else matters," added Cegielski, whose "Make America Great Again" PAC was shuttered in October.

Central to her disillusionment with Trump was the candidate's apparent lack of serious policy proposals when it came to fighting terrorism.

Cegielski said she "fell in love" with Trump's candidacy in 2015 due to his straight-talking, no-nonsense style and his "business background" and was recruited for the high-profile communications job shortly thereafter.

But she was dissuaded by the temperamental titan's repeated foreign policy gaffes, writing that Trump's tweet following the terror attack Sunday in Lahore, Pakistan that left at least 72 dead and scores of others injured was the last straw.

"Another radical Islamic attack, this time in Pakistan, targeting Christian women & children. At least 67 dead, 400 injured. I alone can solve," the mogul tweeted Sunday afternoon — a statement Cegielski blasted as "ridiculous, cartoonish" and "almost childish."

"This is not how foreign policy works. For anyone. Ever," she wrote. "Superhero powers where 'I alone can solve' problems are not real. They do not exist for Batman, for Superman, for Wrestlemania and definitely not for Donald Trump."

Cegielski, whose LinkedIn profile describes her as an adjunct professor at NYU teaching courses in "reputation management," and as a consultant at Cegielski Communications Group, urged voters to help "stop this campaign in its tracks."

"I am now taking full responsibility for helping create this monster - and reaching out directly to those voters who, like me, wanted Trump to be the real deal," she wrote, pointing to her belief that Trump is simply a television "character" whose 2016 bid is merely an extension of his TV and real estate-fueled celebrity.

"I wanted Trump to be real," wrote Cegielski, who, along with the Trump campaign itself, did not immediately respond to the Daily News' request for comment on her story. "He is not."

"The problem with characters is they are the stuff of soap operas and sitcoms and reality competitions — not political legacies," she said. "Trump made me believe. Until I woke up."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-strategist-disavows-support-scathing-column-article-1.2580370

Kofla - Trump could come right out and say: "APRIL FOOLS!!! I was kidding the whole time, you idiots! I have no intention of being president! I never wanted to! My whole campaign was a joke, and WAH-LAH look who I have here, it's Ashton Kutcher! behind the scenes filming everything! Suckers! All I ever wanted was to use the campaign to sell crap and make millions!! And it worked! JESUS you all are idiots!!"

And if he did that, I'd go, "Well, damn that sucks! Can we convince him to give it a go anyway????"

Cuz otherwise we're stuck with Hillary

So, yeah, I'd take a ridiculous, offensive, obnoxious, arrogant "reality" show "star" huckster who doesn't even want the job, over Hillary. That's how much I dislike her and think she'd continue Obama's harmful policies. She'd have an instantaneous orgasm if she could force thru some kind of Hillarycare.

Trump could come right out and say: "APRIL FOOLS!!! I was kidding the whole time, you idiots! I have no intention of being president! I never wanted to! My whole campaign was a joke, and WAH-LAH look who I have here, it's Ashton Kutcher! behind the scenes filming everything! Suckers! All I ever wanted was to use the campaign to sell crap and make millions!! And it worked! JESUS you all are idiots!!"
And if he did that, I'd go, "Well, damn that sucks! Can we convince him to give it a go anyway????"

Cuz otherwise we're stuck with Hillary
So, yeah, I'd take a ridiculous, offensive, obnoxious, arrogant "reality" show "star" huckster who doesn't even want the job, over Hillary. That's how much I dislike her and think she'd continue Obama's harmful policies. She'd have an instantaneous orgasm if she could force thru some kind of Hillarycare.

I am not an Obama or Hillary fan. He continues and have extended lots of Bush policies. In my opinion, as I've said many times before, Obama is basically Bush 2.0.

We are a nation of 300 million people, is this the best we can do? We’ve having a presidential election and the roster of candidates is worse than the NY Knicks roster.

Presidents are just sock puppets for Wall Street, all the candidates are bought and paid for by special interests

It's very telling that Hilary is less likable than Bill. If it came down to likable, it would be Bernie vs. Kasich.

The reason we don't get the best and brightest for Presidential candidates is, who would want the job? The withering scrutiny, the current political climate of extremism, and the fact that good people can get more rewarding work makes the Presidency something of a short-straw game.

Seems like the Republicans are in full auto destruct mode and will succeed in snatching a defeat from an easy victory and Hillary or god help us Bernie will be Prez.

I think I'd take bernie over hillary. I really give up hope if Hillary wins. I just throw my hands up, sit back and watch. If Hillary can win, I will really start to believe there must be a conspiracy going on. Someone is giving us all bad candidates every time just to make it look like we are choosing our own leaders.

Not going to argue or debate. I'm voting for Trump. If they don't nominate him, and Cruz is nominated, I'll vote for Cruz.

Anyone else and I'm writing Trump's name in by hand, like a few million other people.

privateer - That's a good plan. I'm following suit.

Well I hope all you Drumph supporters don't get too upset when he either flames out and quits or does something totally insane.

Mad

Mad ... "or does something totally insane." Oh I'm counting on that! ... and yet I still prefer him to Hellary or Bernie.

"or does something totally insane." Oh I'm counting on that! ... and yet I still prefer him to Hellary or Bernie.

Oh so well said. I agree. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I wish we had an even better candidate than Trump. At this point, I'll take almost anything that is not run of the mill. Must admit, I'm at a loss when it comes to predicting what he will do. I'd rather see him quit than hand it over to hillary.

If Trump doesn't win My plan B is to hope for Bernie and all of the free stuff.

Quit my good job so he can't tax us to poverty, sell the house, IRAs and 401Ks and buy gold - lots of gold. Then go back to school, maybe Stanford or MIT for a double PHD in pharmacology and IT security all for free. Live off the grid as much as possible and stay in touch with a new Obama phone. Oh, and move out of CA which is raising taxes and running off the Bankruptcy cliff at the sametime.