US General Election 2016

The local board of elections sent us our sample ballots a few days ago so I've been looking into the non-Presidential races. There's not too many since both houses of the Maryland legislature are elected to four-year terms that start in midterm years. Barbara Mikulski is retiring from the Senate so I'm going to vote for Chris Van Hollen, who I also voted for in the primary. I currently live in Maryland's 1st Congressional district which is represented by Andy Harris, Maryland's only GOP representative (there'd be at least one other if the state wasn't so gerrymandered). Embarrassingly, I don't actually remember who I voted for in the Democratic primary, but looking around on the nominee's site he comes across as an idiot, or at the very least he outsourced his campaign website to one. However, I don't agree with Harris on much, especially his positions on abortion and climate change, and I would like to see the House flip back to the Democrats so I'm probably gonna vote for his opponent, although I expect Harris to win.

There are also a couple of judges up for re-election, both running unopposed (I'm tempted to go with a comedic write-in option here), as well as one amendment each to the state constitution and the county charter. The state amendment changes the way that vacancies to the offices of Attorney General and Comptroller are filled, requiring a special election or, if the term is mostly over, that the Governor's appointee be approved of by the political party of the outgoing person. I'm probably going to vote in favor of this. The county amendment concerns a pretty minor bureaucratic shifting of responsibilities between departments but they forgot to actually mention what the second department was in the ballot question so I had to look it up online.

Researching candidates? What happened to the time-honoured tradition of just voting for whoever sounds the most familiar? You're gonna overturn the entire Democratic system with this wild research idea.

I'm sorry, but Trump has been doing all his own leg work, and it was always going to come back to bite him and be the end of him as a legitimte presidential candidate.. (and I can't even believe I'm saying the words "legitimate presidential candidate" about him..)

NYT crucifying Ken Bone. #nooneissafe

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/us/politics/we-may-be-leaving-the-ken-bone-zone.html?_r=0

Yeah, I can't stand watching John Oliver anymore. Arm flailing, fast talking, and "Janice the accountant" jokes are so 2015.

I get that Trump is a protest vote, same thing happened with Brexit and I get why that happened too, but jeez even on basic humanity terms Trump is a regression to savagery. He doesn't give a shit about America or Americans, he just wants power at any cost and he will say anything to get it.
Same as Brexit is cutting your nose off to spite your face, the pound has tanked, the City is haemorrhaging financial institutions, Scotland and Ireland is a huge unknown, we cant even buy fucking Marmite in the shops! the UK is going to become a little parochial non-entity floating in the North Sea, we deserve better, and Americans deserve so so much better than Donald Trump., specially if you happen to be a woman, Black, Latino, disabled, Hollywood celebrity, or blue collar white guy, because he despises everyone. He is NOT going to make America great, he is going to antagonise world leaders, he is going to cream off dollars, he is going to crow and strut and brag and threaten anyone who disagrees with him. it would be like the rise of a Berlusconi-Mussolini Chuckie death doll.
Would any sane person give a volatile nutjob the numbers to a nuclear bomb for fucks sake!.

The Ken Bone meme somehow completely passed me by until last night.

I'm just glad that there's only about 3.5 weeks left to go.

{{{Ken Bone- he sounds like a male sex doll from Matel}}}

{{Trumps lack of knowledge is showing I think- and cant believe I am saying this- but Fox have put on the most substantive debate so far }}}

talk about verbal diarrhea, he talks like a moron.

{{{Surely after that its finally over for Trump}}

I think Slate summed it all up in their headline:

http://amp.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/10/trump_s_final_debate_was_a_slow_motion_meltdown.html

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{Trumps lack of knowledge is showing I think- and cant believe I am saying this- but Fox have put on the most substantive debate so far   }}}

Actually throughout the whole campaign Fox has always done the best debates. I think after decades of being reined in when it comes to attacking Republicans they savor the chance to legitimately sink some teeth in to rebut their reputation.

From Ken Tucker on Yahoo:

"Now the debates are over, and what small light they shed on the candidates will continue to emit a feeble glow from now until November 8."

Nicely put.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:
Clinton has so many chinks in her armour politically that any halfway competent politician who had run and stood as senator could take her down right now.
This election should not even be close because the Democrats have such a flawed candidate myriad in scandals.

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past couple weeks, and you're completely wrong. John McCain and Romney were dragged through the mud, and whoever would have been nominated in Trump's stead would have had the same thing happen to them. They do this to every republican candidate, Trump's flaws just happen to be a lot worse and more revolting than his predecessors. The media would never let the first female democrat presidential candidate lose. There's no way Hillary could fail. Don't try to kid me.

All they have to do is just not report on what's coming out of WikiLeaks (which they're doing(but weren't they praising WikiLeaks a few years ago? funny how things change)) and downplay the original email scandal (which they've done), and have an exclusive report every time Trump grabs pussy.

That's all I have left to say about this election. The results in two weeks will speak for themselves. There won't be need for any analysis. I expect an electoral map that looks something like this. http://www.270towin.com/maps/XdbQp

[quote="bungobaggins"]

Pettytyrant101 wrote:
The media would never let the first female democrat presidential candidate lose. There's no way Hillary could fail. http://www.270towin.com/maps/XdbQp

I agree that the media has a lot of influence in who gets elected, and always have had. Candidates who hold lot's of press conferences, speak in sort quotable soundbites, and get to know all the reporters in the press corps by their first names have always had an edge. FDR with his Fireside Chats on the radio, Kennedy, Reagan, Obama, they all made a point of being darlings of the Press and it gave each of them a huge edge.

The thing is, at the beginning of this year Trump was more nearly that guy than Hillary. He'd been making headlines his whole adult life. He's a master of it. As a result he walked all over the other Republican candidates at the same time Hillary somehow found herself struggling against Bernie Sanders.

Hillary hates press conferences. She's always done as few as possible, she's often brushed off reporters when the do get a chance to ask a question, and as a result we've been getting headlines about why she's not popular, why people don't trust her etc. for most of this election cycle. If Trump hadn't been so eager to pick fights with FOX News, NY Times, Washington Post and especially picking fights with individual reporters like Megyn Kelly I think he'd be in a very different place right now. But reporters are tribal and they take care of their own.

I have a friend who is trying to convince not to vote FOR Trump, exactly, but to vote AGAINST Hillary. The argument is she's far more corrupt than the media is letting on.

My argument is this may be true, but Trump has shown how through his foundation he can be equally corrupt. If both are bad, I'd rather have the one who at least has the ability to LOOK good. Trump has failed miserably in this respect.

But one thing we all agree on

No matter whom they support at the polls, Americans can mostly agree on one thing about this presidential campaign ― they’re really, really ready to be finished with it.

An 81 percent majority of Americans say they wish this election were over, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, with just 12 percent saying they’re enjoying watching things play out. More than three-quarters of people in both parties say they’re ready to move on.

An identical 59 percent of Democrats, Republicans and independents say they’ve heard too much discussion of the presidential election. Just 7 percent of all Americans say they wish they’d heard more.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/election-over-poll_us_580f564fe4b0a03911ee966d?yduaeed1ls198uxr

Not long now.... Boring Clinton for me... let me sleep then for another four years... but no more Trumps... you Americans and your scary hoaxes!

that should be Trump.

Warm greetings to all.
The thoughts and feelings this subject and thread cause in my brain... Wow ... yuck, ikes ! and = (

I have never loved any candidate for president and have learned to harbor very small hope that a great man or woman will come forward as an option. With each cycle in memory I've found myself confused, suspicious and alarmed about the two bad choices we are offered.  Shocked that any one could actually be an avid supporter and believer in their parties horse.

But this time we've out done ourselves. The two groups in the U.S. which hold the cards of power to make a president have offered us two most unpalatable poisons to choose between. How can this even be real?  

How could one of these two people who are so widely despised be our next president in weeks? What does this reality say about the state of America's collective mind and soul?

At the risk of offending someone I ask who but a blind or villainous fool could truly love in their hearts either of these self-serving, repeatedly proven dishonest persons? I totally understand how you can hate either and choose your perceived lesser evil but to actually Like either and promote them as a Good or decent choice is beyond my abilities to fathom.

How is it that we find ourselves in oz...wtf.
Hate hate hate... people love to hate. It scares me to discover that the hate crowd has grown so large and powerful that today it seems reasonably likely they'll elect a tiny minded con man who lies like a rug and promises everything will be outstandingly excellent... a huge win for everyone...never mind the details... only He can understand the complex complexities...and so forth...

Or choice two...

A lifetime politician who has a cloudy smoky trail of deceitful actions and words spontaneously arising in her wake. So many shady acts so many lies stacked upon lies.

Slick, slippery, sly. Never quite getting caught...but the sum total of questionable decisions and actions in themselves are damming.

Such an unlikable person. Guarded, hidden and full of "great ideas " and ways to legislate how americans "should " think and behave. To save us from ourselves through her superior and inspired philosophy. To remake us all into something better that her pure and inspired wisdom has revealed to her superior sensibilities.

She seems so tainted in lies so very sour and thoroughly unlikable that I have little hope that her vision for change whatever that truly means will produce anything but sour fruit.

What a choice. Poison A or poison B ?

I must stop my rant now... I feel ill again.

Good luck to us all.

I doubt you'll find much argument among the Americans. The Europeans seem to have seen little of the unsavory side of Clinton - but with only a little digging it's not to be denied.

A few posts up I said that given a choice between two such sleazeballs, I'd go for the one who at least is capable of saying the right things.

I wish Bernie Sanders had not gone as far left as he did. Jill Stein is pretty close to his positions, but I fear with the Clinton/Trump numbers so close that sending votes her way may end up with a bombastic embarrassment for president.