The Frankish Reich

So look at those 2016 primary numbers and tell me how you call that "domocratic." You can defend our primary process on one of those "everyone knew the rules and the rules deemed Trump/Biden/Clinton/Whomever the winner." But the bottom line is that a plurality in a number of states gives one a disproportionate number of delegates, plus you've got the superdelegates, etc. It's focused on crowning a winner quickly, not on enacting the will of the people.

He's too old. The debate revealed that he looks and sounds older and more tired than people had really internalized. So it's sunk in ... no 81 year old should be running for President. Especially this 81 year old. Yes, and a lot of people think his mental fitness is not o.k. For me it's a sliding scale, and it's not ideal, but yes, it's o.k. to continue as President. I've seen no outrageous errors from his White House other than the Afghanistan withdrawal, and that was obviously something that was done based on very flawed information from the "experts."

2016 Republican Primaries. Here's what our "democratic" primary system did. - Iowa caucus: Trump 24%, others 76% - NH: Trump 35% - SC: 32.5% ("winner take all" so he got all the delegates even though 2/3 of Republican voters preferred someone else) - NV: 45.7 then the Super Tuesday states: - AL: 43.4 - AK: 33.6 - AR: 32.8 - GA: 39 - MA: 49 - MN: 21 - OK: 28 - TN: 39 - TX: 27 - VT: 33 - VA: 35 But he "won" 7 of those states (without a majority in any) with an aggregate vote percent of 34.4%. Again, 2 in 3 Republican voters wanted someone else. And that continued with the March 5-12 primaries where he "won" 5 states (Cruz 3), again without a majority in any. The next Super Tuesday, Trump "won" 4 states/territories with his only majority vote in ... the North Marianas Islands. Kasich won his native Ohio. And it was pretty much over without Trump EVER winning a majority in any state/territory other than super-critical Marianas Islands. Only Cruz and Kasich remained, so Trump finally got a majority in NY on April 19, which mathematically eliminated Cruz. And that's what our incredibly undemocratic primary process hath wrought.

"Undemocratic." What is more undemocratic than imposing a two-party system on Americans, with state sanctioned parties on state sanctioned ballots, that results in a choice between two candidates who don't even come close to 51% approval? George Washington famously warned about the creation of political parties. I think at this point I would prefer the states to disengage from this nonsense and to run a "jungle primary" in which there is one single ballot, Republicans/Democrats/Others, with the top two vote-getters advancing to a final election day run-off. Now that would be democracy. Read my next comment ^ I'm not calling for a return to the smoke-filled room. The solution is more democracy.

Good riddance. With our system, we got Trump in 2016 because half a dozen other competitors split the 60+% of the Republican vote that didn't go for Trump. With our system, we got Biden in 2020 for much the same reason. The modern Primary system was a response to the whole 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention riots and all the talk of the smoke-filled room poohbahs thwarting the will of the (young) Democrats. Since then we've discovered that a pure primary system is a neat way to make sure that your nominee is a candidate that the majority of your electorate doesn't actually want or like, and it is the nature of our primary system to reward candidates who are toward the far right or far left. It's high time to rethink how we've been doing things.

Because he's losing. As I've said, he's been an effective Democratic president. Even if you disagree with his policy agenda (and I disagree with about half of it, maybe more), he has been successful in getting it implemented despite having a Republican House since 2022 and an extremely slim Senate majority.

Among the things that increasing wealth has destroyed: the English bad teeth thing. It was fun while it lasted. It's actually kind of hard to find bad teeth in people under about 40 in England now. Sad.

Just as Trump - even after the election loss - remained the clear leader of the Republican Party, so has Obama remained the clear leader of the Democratic Party. Unless he quickly and publicly disavows this story, it will be the final nail in the Biden reelection campaign coffin. I did mean 2016. When a guy is the nominee 3 election cycles in a row, it gets a little confusing ....

I feel sorry only for the fact that he was pushed aside in 2016 because all the big Democratic groups were dead set on electing Hillary as the first woman president. In retrospect, a 2016 Biden would have beaten Trump, and even if he got two terms he'd be on his way out now. He blamed in on Beau, but I think the main reason was that unlike almost all VPs he wasn't going to be recognized for his loyal service to Obama for 8 years. Having said that, it's his own damn fault that he let his ego (much like Trump, didn't want to be seen as a one-term president since those are losers in our history books) get in the way when he decided to make a second run. Alternative history: Trump loss would've saved the Republican Party as we've known it, would've led to better candidates in 2020 and 2024, and would've put America in a better place today. Hillary, it's still on you.

From the Wiki page on the Access Hollywood tape: Calls to drop campaign By October 8, several dozen Republicans had called for Trump to withdraw from the campaign and let his VP running mate, Mike Pence, take over the Republican ticket.[76][77][78] Among those favoring a Pence takeover were former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and U.S. Representatives Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Bradley Byrne of Alabama, Rodney Davis of Illinois, and Ann Wagner of Missouri.[78][60]

Haha. I do think he's mentally fit to do the job now. I am having more doubts than even before about his fitness in a year, or two, or more. Why does this bother you so? When Access Hollywood broke, there were Republicans talking about replacing Trump on the ballot just weeks before the 2020 election. That all came out in the hush money trial. It's not like this is the first time a political party has talked about (or actually accomplished) switching horses in midstream. I have to assume the only reason people are upset is that they want to run against what they assume is the weakest Dem candidate.

I might have mentioned certain kinds of surgery too. If a procedure - or at least key steps of a procedure - can be automated, they will. The state of jobs and the economy under AI is something we should be talking about. I'm not hearing our politicians doing that.

Hey, if you're gonna go the foreign agent wife route, better her than Bob Menendez's wife.

Has anyone examined Kimberly Guilfoyle?

In a primary, where they chose delegates who under the party rules have a conscience clause, wherby they can vote for someone else at the Convention. Everyone seems to agree that the issue is whether Biden will drop out; if he does, then by definition they go to plan B and decide it at the Convention.

Boo effin hoo. Maybe it would be better if Kamala as VP just rejects the electoral slate from a few Republican states. I guess you think that's fair. You said the debate once and for all proved he's unfit to be president. Now apparently all the important Democrats agree. Good. Maybe we'll have a good race based on policies and visions for the future instead of whether Joe successfully navigated the stairs. Be careful what you wish for!

Yes, I did, when it was pretty new. It is well written, thoughtful, and honest. It doesn't try to "fix" anything; it just shines a light onto the nature of the problem. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the movie now, which is much better than I expected too.

I'm not so sure. This is certainly the case now, but will it be in 10 years?

Young people do need to think: am I embarking on a career that can be automated? Performed by AI? By remote workers abroad? Building things, plumbing, making sandwiches, whatever - these will still be largely on-site jobs. On the other hand, some high paying jobs today like Radiologist? Pathologist? Jobs that will be overtaken by AI.

Parts were good. He does have a compelling story; he should've stuck to it. I know it won't get fact checked anywhere, not even in that liberal MSM. But if you read Hillbilly Elegy, it's hard to see how his litany of Biden actions - supporting NAFTA, supporting the Iraq War, supporting freer trade with China - had anything to do with his childhood in a declining region of America. It is clear that the Vance family had fallen into serious decline well before even the first of those actions. The book itself is focused on a collapsing white rural/small town American culture, of which Vance's family was emblematic. Now that he and Trump are looking for nothing more than votes from that part of the country, the cultural critique is completely excised from his speeches. It's all about what outsiders like Biden have done to them, rather than what they've also done to themselves. He has become the enemy, the type of Politician he used to decry.

I now expect you to lay off the Hunter Biden jokes forevermore.

He forgot the TruckNutz. wimp. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_nuts

Do you think JD will have his mama there? Did he provide her a clean urine sample so she can pass the background check? Will little Vivek have HIS hair in a pomp?

You gotta admit it. Kim’s a fright now.

Oh you’ve been waiting. This Kimberly’s tuck underpants seem to be working nicely, but those veins popping in her neck under that big wig? Come on honey, it’s called a turtleneck. Have Donboy get you one!