DJT just won the 7th debate, and it is still more than 24 hours from starting. #CirclesAroundMediaHacks He has already had 6 successful debates. Trump has been covered and interviewed by the media constantly for >6 months. He has released plenty of policy papers. And completed many dozens of YUGE rallies in gobs of locations/states. How in the heck did you arrive at the conclusion that El Donaldo is afraid of "actual questions" from journalists? I hope Rand Paul does well too. He does not seem to have the chutzpah to get 'er done to my satisfaction. Which of his policies do you find most appealing?
His foreign policy is actually more than "hur dur lets do all the fighting", which is nice. He's also using his head on incrimination of pot smokers. Just an all round level headed thinker, even though I do disagree with some stuff, he's a good guy.
El Rushbo strikes again. The whole section is great, but I narrowed it down to the following: January 27, 2016 But folks, one other thing about this. If I heard it once last night, I've heard it a thousand times since, that Trump is afraid of Megyn Kelly or afraid of Fox News. That is not what this is. There isn't any fear. What is there is here -- in my opinion -- is a desire to control this and a purposeful decision to not put himself in a circumstance where other people want to make him look bad. In his mind, that's a dumb thing to do. You don't put yourself in a circumstance where a whole bunch of other people are gonna be able to make you look bad while you're there. If they do it when you're not around, that's another thing, you can counterprogram it, you can do whatever, but you don't have to put yourself in a circumstance where you have to personally deal with it as a sign of disrespect or somebody else trying to notch their belt. It really isn't any more complicated than that. Now, Trump's out there talking about how they're desperate to have him because high ratings means a lot of advertising revenue. Lower ratings means lower advertising revenue because Fox has to charge less. They were hoping to get $750,000 a minute, I heard, and they may be down to $150,000 a minute if Trump isn't there. I mean, these are samples of the kind of things going around. Now, should Trump be there or not, that's a whole other question. Is Trump right in avoiding someplace that makes him look bad, or has the potential to make him look bad? Is it a smart move? Is it a bad move? Well, is it a smart move in terms of Iowa? I heard last night -- this is another thing. I'm sorry, it went in one ear and out the other. "You know, the people of Iowa are not gonna like it. The people of Iowa, they're not gonna take it very well, a guy purposely avoiding them, that's what Trump's doing, he's avoiding the people of Iowa." He's not avoiding the people, come on. He's not avoiding the people of Iowa. He's all over Iowa. The guy does more TV and radio than any other candidate out there. So I don't think there's fear, and I don't think it's disrespect for the people of Iowa. This is what it looks like when some guy stands up to the rules and the game and says, "Screw yours; I'm looking out for me first. That's all this is. And you can say whatever you want, but I am not dumb. I'm not gonna give you the gun and the bullet and stand still. You want to hit me, come get me, but I'm not gonna put myself in your line of fire." That's what he's doing, if you ask me. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/01/27/trump_refuses_to_play_by_the_rules
There is a lot going on with Trump and his skill of rhetoric and having a grasp of human nature etc, I am not a fan of his but I give props where props are due. For some simplified thoughts of what trumps doing with debate, from Scott Adams. "Donald Trump says he won’t appear at the upcoming debate on FOX if Megyn Kelly is a moderator, and as of this writing, it appears she will be. Some of you asked me how this move by Trump could possibly be a smart thing. On the 2D playing field, Trump appears petulant and whiney. Maybe narcissistic, fascist, and a little bit of Hitler too. And as FOX cleverly pointed out, negotiating with foreign leaders won’t be easier than Megyn Kelly’s questions. So Trump loses badly in the second dimension. Let’s shift to the third dimension and see if the view is different. For starters, tell me what you learned about all the other candidates today. Nothing? Trump sucked the oxygen out of the room. Again. And the issue – as always – is something we can jabber about forever. It is jabber-ready by design, so the media and the public will have no time and no brain cycles left to consider his competition. Admit it – you already think the competition on the Republican side has narrowed to Trump versus Trump. If he stumbles, he loses. If he doesn’t, he wins. But the other candidates and all of their money will not change anything. The presidency is 100% in Trump’s hands to win or lose. And he hasn’t stumbled (in the 3rd dimension of persuasion) in six months of continuous media attention. Now keep in mind that one of Trump’s signature moves involves creating situations in which he has two or more paths to win, and no paths to lose. He wins AT THE START by picking his battles. For example, when Trump warned Iran to return the American prisoners, he won no matter what happened. If Iran released the prisoners, Trump would say he influenced it. They did, and he did. If Iran had delayed, Trump would have used it as yet another reason you need a tough guy to deal with them. He had two paths to winning and no path to losing. And it is intentional. I have a similar (but far worse) skill set, and I would have made that play as well. So let’s game out the FOX scenario and see how many ways he can win and how many ways he can lose. If FOX doesn’t budge, and Trump skips the debate, he will tweet the entire mess like it is Mystery Science Theater 3000. The next day, the news will interject his tweets with their commentary about each participant. Obviously Trump’s tweets would include his usual eyebrow-raising insults and claims, and draw all attention his way. And unlike the people in the debate, he can “twitter-interrupt” them at any point with his counter-punches and clever insults. The media will insert his tweets in just the right place to make their stories compelling. Interestingly, FOX might have good ratings in that scenario because people would be watching the combined debate plus The Trump Twitter Show to get it all synced up in real time. And people would want to see how FOX handles the lack of Trump. Empty podium? At about halftime of the debate you might see Trump say it is too boring to watch and sign off for the night. That gives you a data point to see if viewership drops off around then. And it probably would, no matter what he tweets, simply because the novelty of him NOT being there will wear off. Then all you have is a real debate about the real issues. No one wants that. We have better things to do. Now suppose Trump changes his mind and decides to join the debate even while Megyn Kelly remains. One of two things can happen. Either she asks questions that sound biased, and Trump rips her and FOX News apart on live television – and his poll number go up, or she asks only softball questions and Trump appears to have won that way. You might be thinking that the real world is messier than that, and Trump is inviting a big risk. For example, Megyn Kelly might get in a zinger. But Trump dodges those with ease. Maybe the public will start siding with a biased TV host, but that seems unlikely. The media is unpopular in general. Or perhaps a FOX competitor will offer Trump a show of his own for two hours, at the same time, just to be ****s to FOX. Anything can happen, but all paths seem to favor Trump. Now let’s say you are Donald Trump, the scariest Republican that any Democrat has seen in ages. What is the one best thing he can do to separate himself from the Republican machine and show that he can be a deal-maker for everyone? Answer: Punch FOX News in the mouth. Right in front of you. Democrats are watching. Trump is framing himself as an enemy of their enemy. (Democrats hate FOX News.) Trump’s setup here is pure genius. He doesn’t know how it will end, but he is making sure he goes where the odds are deeply in his favor. That’s a system, not a goal. Once you see the world that way, it makes a lot more sense. Coincidentally, I wrote a book on systems being better than goals. Update: Trump will skip the debate and host a Wounded Warrior event instead. That’s the 2D description. In the third dimension, Trump will be focusing attention on the most American and probably the most diverse group of heroes in the nation while the Festival of Mostly Whiteness rages across town. That’s your Trump lesson on the power of contrast. Timing is everything. And he gets away with it because you know he thinks it’s funny. Somehow that makes it better. People keep asking me to demonstrate my lack of bias by pointing out some of Trump’s mistakes. The problem is that Trump has a skill set that absorbs mistakes and turns them into whatever he wants them to be. That’s his system." Edit - For a more in depth analysis I suggest reading Plato first and foremost then others like Baltasar Gracian, Miyamoto musashi, Marcus Aurelius, then when you see Trump say something you will see the move he is trying to make behind it. People think he is stupid and afraid, he uses that like a weapon. Or to quote pDiddy in get him to the greek "Im mind ****in you right now!"
Both. I frequently agree with Rand Paul's politics. But a bright lamp, Paul, cannot outshine the sun, DJT. People in my sphere of influence complain that Trump is not a conservative or a libertarian or a tea partier or a moderate or a... He truly is door #3. Americans have only had 2 real choices in POTUS for many generations. (We can thank a combo of our own laziness/ignorance and the wiliness of the new age priests and apostles--AKA journalists--that decide who to anoint). Now political gravity has been boinked hard by a completely unexpected phenomenon. I predict that "hope and change" will be followed by fundamental restoration towards freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My hope is that as many people as possible will make the personal sacrifice in time and energy needed to acquire deep knowledge.
How Tim Allen's 'Last Man Standing' Gets Away With Politically Incorrect Humor January 28, 2016 What riles you up the most? Unearned responses, unearned praise, unearned income: I have opinions about it. When you watch the debates, on both sides you see clowns who say Bane Shift that ain't ever going to happen, but lately one party is the free Bane Shift party. They are just telling people they're going to get all sorts of free Bane Shift. When you say you're going to get free education, free health care — f—, free brown loafers — of course everybody's going to say yes to that. But you don't mean it. That's how you rack up debt, and debt is killing us. Whatever party is going to get us out of debt is my party. What party is that? I met with John Kasich, a great guy. He's a Republican that Democrats would vote for, a Republican the Republicans should respect. But he's not saying provocative things. He's not glib enough or he doesn't speak well enough because somehow he doesn't get traction. So we'll end up with somebody scary. Who scares you? Well, we asked the female writing staff if they'd vote for Hillary just because she's a woman, and they all said yes. So then the question was, "So if Sarah Palin was the female?" They all choked and they had to say, "Oh God, yes, we'd vote for her." I didn't quite buy it. I don't think you should vote for somebody just because they're tall, thin, yellow, green, whatever. Bernie Sanders, as nice a guy as he is, none of that Bane Shift's going to happen. And Trump can't send everybody to Mexico or whatever the f— he said. But give that guy the roads, bridges, infrastructure, power grid — just have him fix that Bane Shift for four years. He's good at that. And he's a businessman so he understands how debt load works. Forget the stupid Bane Shift he says about immigrants. That's just ignorant. But he might be able to do the stuff that really needs fixing. So you're not opposed to Trump? I'm not opposed to anybody if their workload matches their bullshit load. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-tim-allens-last-man-859204
A plethora of opinions on rally vs debate last night, so just posting this clever bit. THE SEVEN DWARFED!
Did Ted Cruz just fumble the ball away? January 31, 2016 After seeing the mailers, Iowa’s secretary of state, Paul Pate, issued a statement condemning Cruz’s tactic: “Today I was shown a piece of literature from the Cruz for President campaign that misrepresents the role of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law. Accusing citizens of Iowa of a “voting violation” based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act. There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting. Any insinuation or statement to the contrary is wrong and I believe it is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa Caucuses. Additionally, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office never “grades” voters. Nor does the Secretary of State maintain records related to Iowa Caucus participation. Caucuses are organized and directed by the state political parties, not the Secretary of State, nor local elections officials. Also, the Iowa Secretary of State does not “distribute” voter records. They are available for purchase for political purposes only, under Iowa Code.” http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...lers-are-more-fraudulent-than-everyone-thinks What predictions you peeps got on the D and R side of voting today in Iowa?
pathetic and that weak expression on his face "anyone watching? haha im smiling, haha vote for me" lord almighty this is the party of family values
Daughter doesn't want to be shown affection by father in public, ruins political career. pfffft, 'merrycans. haha the comments people leave on videos of this. she artistic! (seriously though she might be autistic and be very uncomfortable with that situation and he shouldn't have tried to force that 'moment')
I am NOT very artistic. But I do have an artsy/musical daughter that plays the pianner and some fancy team drum thing.
Meh, I honestly think this is rather unimportant. Is it pathetic? Sure, I guess. But it's hardly something to care about unless you're directly involved. It's more or less the "kissing babies" thing, which I've never understood, and there are bound to be some awkward moments with that sort of thing. I'd rather go after the issues however. Or Ted Cruz (jokingly?) talking about how he wants to dominate the world when he grows up (from a while back IIRC). Or his being connected at the hip with an important Goldman Sachs person (his wife) and the potential conflicts of interest that can cause. *shrug*
Yeah, that's the stuff... EDIT: I heard a(n unconfirmed) rumor that Jeb Bush only had about 50 or 60 people at his latest rally. I guess Iowa cares not for the smell of his crap.
3 way race in Iowa right this second, with Cruz in the lead. This is by far his best early chance to score a win. Bern and Hill are running tight right now too. Interesting times are upon us fo sho.
CNN has Cruz up by 4 with 97% reporting. Trump is clinging to 2nd by a mere point over Rubio. Yowzer!! Times be interesting.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-comes-out-of-iowa-looking-like-pat-buchanan/ And... http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/bernie-sanders-needs-more-than-the-tie-he-got-in-iowa/
