the Trump Phenomenon

[Sea Dangles]

Originally Posted by PaulS

I disagree with that first statement. I agree with that 2nd statement up to the white power. I think there is something there where people feel they are losing power or control and are trying to figure out why. They are thinking how great things use to be and want to go back to those days.

Edit - just saw Seadangles response and agree Trump is really a moderate. I think if he stopped his outlandish statements and hateful rhetoric he might be getting more votes.
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Paul, he is getting plenty of votes. And tell me about his hateful rhetoric.
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[Nebe]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

Nebe,this really is some juvenile drivel you are spouting. To stereotype this way makes it seem as though you are the person with no tolerance. Funny thing is that if you actually have been paying attention to this race then you would understand that Trump is a moderate. His answers regarding planned parenthood and healthcare demonstrate a compassion which is unusual for the party he represents.

If you don't think there are racists in the Democratic Party you are not paying attention. Please defend your position by letting us see the white power and ignorance positions that you have accused Trump of endorsing.
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Paul just stated perfectly what I was going to say. The KKK and neo nazi groups endorse trump!

And to address Paul's comment about white power, your thoughts back up why I mentioned it. "Make America great agian" to me means to kick out the illegals, and make this place the way it used to be. Wink wink nudge nudge.
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[Sea Dangles]

What is the reason these groups have endorsed Trump? Especially given that Cruz's stance on immigration is much more harsh. Do you think the open door policy for illegals is helping this country enough that you would choose to continue alowing illegals to enter without consequence? I understand you are a Bernie guy and can understand his appeal, but if I had a crystal ball I would guess he is a footnote come election time. Personally, I like Kasich but he will be the same footnote. That brings us to the unenviable lesser evil that will confront the public on Election Day. She will not be getting my vote,her ass is bought and paid for by the big business/ Wall Street folks and she has zero credibility. Using your logic I should be shopping for SS uniforms and looking for a cross to burn, it's insulting really and narrow minded on your part.
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[buckman]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Paul just stated perfectly what I was going to say. The KKK and neo nazi groups endorse trump!

And to address Paul's comment about white power, your thoughts back up why I mentioned it. "Make America great agian" to me means to kick out the illegals, and make this place the way it used to be. Wink wink nudge nudge.
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You have a lot of misdirected hate my friend . I suggest a different weed .
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[Nebe]

I'm only pointing out that hate the trump is spreading and pointing out how everyone else is gobbling it up
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[Nebe]

The besthate that I have inside me is the fact that this country has fallen so low to let such a hatemongering a-hole hi Jack an election process
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[buckman]

Originally Posted by Nebe

The besthate that I have inside me is the fact that this country has fallen so low to let such a hatemongering a-hole hi Jack an election process
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Then you are hating the wrong man . Trump hasn't done anything to cause this country to fall . I agree 100% that it's in the crapper though
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[Sea Dangles]

Hatemongering,
Whatever that is supposed to mean?
I suppose that explains the "make America Great Again" catch line.Let's talk about Which Hillary.
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[scottw]

from the exit polls Democrat primary in SC last night

ABC News is also reporting that voters said the economy and jobs are the most important issue facing the country (43 percent) with health care (23 percent) and income inequality (20 percent) trailing behind.


I thought the economy and jobs was all fixed...haven't you see that unemployment rate??

I thought Obamacare was taking care of everyone now...by the way...has anyone actually talked to someone on Obamacare?? because it's not pretty

I thought greedy corporations and income inequality was the biggest problem facing us...didn't these democrats get the memo??

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Paul just stated perfectly what I was going to say. The KKK and neo nazi groups endorse trump!


Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I know right...just the other day I bumped into a KKK guy at Dairy Mart...he seemed a bit overdressed and then the neo nazis were having a group event down at the Hibernians....those guys are really something....you see them all over town huh?


seriously Eben...when was the last time you ran into a KKK or neo-nazi group member??

i was however at the home of a proud communist, who wants everyone and everything taxed but him and his, in Franklin Mass the other night

[Fly Rod]

Originally Posted by Nebe

I don't think you are a full blown racist but I would guess you wouldn't be happy if your daughter dated a black man.

As for the black vote, why wouldn't the majority of the black population vote democratic? They want progress.
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WRONG!!!!....majority want freebies....my hat is off to those that want to B educated....and I'm willing to bet there R way more black uneducated & poor people voting democratic

[Nebe]

I agree
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I think if you get a breakdown of all the freebies this government gives out you would find that most of it goes to the military-industrial complex and of course banks that are too big to fail, etc. but the freebies but you were talking about also align with what I was talking about and that is progress or at some call it progressive thinking. We just spent over $1 trillion on an airplane that barely works that money could've gone to educating people or healthcare for everybody. I would much rather see my tax dollars going to help someone in need and then some ridiculous government military boondoggle.

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Nebe

I agree
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I think if you get a breakdown of all the freebies this government gives out you would find that most of it goes to the military-industrial complex and of course banks that are too big to fail, etc. but the freebies but you were talking about also align with what I was talking about and that is progress or at some call it progressive thinking. We just spent over $1 trillion on an airplane that barely works that money could've gone to educating people or healthcare for everybody. I would much rather see my tax dollars going to help someone in need and then some ridiculous government military boondoggle.

Your way, way off on how the Federal Government spends ( I assume you meant Federal not State spending).

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...g-internet-mi/

And if you add State spending to ''government" spending, you're even more wrong. State's spend 9 times more on education than the Federal government does. So just on education alone, we spend about as much on education as we do on military. And when we add the rest of State spending, the amount spent on non-military grows even more than the amount on the Federal pie chart.

[Nebe]

The last I heard we were electing a federal president.
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[spence]

Originally Posted by detbuch

Your way, way off on how the Federal Government spends ( I assume you meant Federal not State spending).

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...g-internet-mi/

And if you add State spending to ''government" spending, you're even more wrong. State's spend 9 times on education than the Federal government does. So just on education alone, we spend about as much on education as we do on military. And when we add the rest of State spending, the amount spent on non-military grows even more than the amount on the Federal pie chart.

You forgot his mention of big banks. I think the working assumption that the Government will bail out the big guys if the fan hits has to lower their borrowing costs. How many billions in taxpayer subsidies is this equivalent to?

[Nebe]

Pell grants are federally funded no?
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[detbuch]

Originally Posted by Nebe

The last I heard we were electing a federal president.
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?????????????????

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

You forgot his mention of big banks. I think the working assumption that the Government will bail out the big guys if the fan hits has to lower their borrowing costs. How many billions in taxpayer subsidies is this equivalent to?

I thought It was the evil "conservatives" and libertarians who opposed bailing out the big banks. Wasn't it a progressive idea to bail them out? Aren't big banks in cahoots with big government a progressive idea? And wasn't that supposed to be good for the economy, therefor good for the people that Nebe wants the money to go to?

Anyway, if the military is not good for the protection of the people that Nebe wants to get the money, what's it good for?

And, again, for progressives and so-called "liberals," government means the Federal Government. The States spend almost all their money for the "good" of the people. But that never seems to add to the equation that progressives consider when they complain how the "government" distributes money. Of course, for progressives, States are an unnecessary nuisance. It would be so much simpler and more efficient if they were eliminated as governmental agencies and all was left to one central government.

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by detbuch

Of course, for progressives, States are an unnecessary nuisance. It would be so much simpler and more efficient if they were eliminated as governmental agencies and all was left to one central government.

Yes,they would love to see the end of home rule where individual citizens can
speak their minds and participate in the government.
They love the sheeple mentality rather then think for themselves.

[JohnR]

Small Government -v- Big Government is not all Federal either. More conservative people think the states should have bigger responsibility and the Federal gov less, Progressives think the Federal Government needs more control.

Control -v- Liberty, sliding scale

The moderate middle is lacking leadership.

[spence]

So I'm watching the republican front-runners on the stump this week. Primary campaign issues appear to be bottled water, spray tans, pathological dishonesty and hand size.

WTF is wrong with the GOP?

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Nebe

I have thought a lot about it. It's the same bull chit that people say about Sanders being a Comunist.
Rand Paul is endorsing him as being the most free market friendly of the bunch. Think about that.

There's no question in my mind that a vast majority of Trump supporters are mouth breathing poorly educated racist xenophobes. Sure, some are smart highly educated racists.
The fact is... Trump = hate, fear, ignorance, and white power.
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"Trump = hate, fear, ignorance, and white power"

I don't think he's ignorant on business and economics. Othe rthan that, you are correct.

Using that logic, Obama = hate, fear, ignorance, and black power.

[buckman]

Originally Posted by spence

So I'm watching the republican front-runners on the stump this week. Primary campaign issues appear to be bottled water, spray tans, pathological dishonesty and hand size.

WTF is wrong with the GOP?

I suppose it doesn't compare to non stop pandering for the black vote .
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Nebe

As for the black vote, why wouldn't the majority of the black population vote democratic? They want progress.
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Yeah. During the height of segregation, 30% of black babies were born out of wedlock. Today, under a black president, that figure is 72%. That's some progress, Nebe.

Nebe, look at the big urban areas in our country, heavy black populations, most controlled by Democrats. How many of those places are better off today than they were 25 years ago. Here in CT, I think of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford. 35 years ago, those were nice places to vosit with a family (at least Hartford and New Haven were). Today, those places look more like Mogidishu than they look like the cities they were a generation ago.

That's progress?

What you call "progress", is actually a need for blacks to feed their addiction to entitlement, because liberal policies have rendered many of them unable to compete. It's like finding a wounded animal. The goal should be to nurse it back to health, and then let it fend for itself. Sometimes, the animal becomes too dependent on its enablers, and is then unable to fend for itself, so it must be kept in a sanctuary.

Republicans want to help boor people acquire the skills they need to succeed (and continue to help the few who truly can't provide for themselves). Liberals want to make hugfe numbers of poor people addicted to welfare, forever dependent on the feds to avoid starvation, in return for votes. That's not respect, and it sure as hell isn't progress.

And if you don't believe me, come to CT and take a stroll in Bridgeport or Hartford, and see for yourself all the progress that poor blacks have made at the hands of the bluest of liberals.

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Small Government -v- Big Government is not all Federal either. More conservative people think the states should have bigger responsibility and the Federal gov less, Progressives think the Federal Government needs more control.

Control -v- Liberty, sliding scale

The moderate middle is lacking leadership.

The importance of the moderate middle in a sliding scale is its ability to keep the scale from sliding any further in any direction. To maintain the status quo. So it depends at what point the moderate middle asserts itself.

The scale has obviously slid in one direction, toward Federal power, for a long time. So if we assert moderation at this point, we maintain the massive power advantage the Federal Government has at this point. And granting that the mechanisms by which the central government have used and are using to gain more power are part of our status quo, moderation will keep in place those mechanisms. So we will continue sliding in that direction, perhaps at a moderate pace, although the mechanisms have allowed the pace to quicken.

Conservatives of a constitutional stripe believe the power scale should rest at that place where individuals have the most influence on where the widest scope of direct power over them is applied. They believe that place is local government. They believe moderation at that point will best maintain the "Control -v- Liberty, sliding scale" necessary for self-government.

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

So I'm watching the republican front-runners on the stump this week. Primary campaign issues appear to be bottled water, spray tans, pathological dishonesty and hand size.

WTF is wrong with the GOP?

Maybe you should start by figuring out what is wrong with your "perspective."

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by buckman

I suppose it doesn't compare to non stop pandering for the black vote .
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Spence accidentally stumbled into one truth, that teh debates aren't about ideas, or why one person has a better vision than the other. Until Super Tuesday, it's desperation tactics to take Trump down.

We're probably on the verge of nominating a punch line instead of a real candidate.

Spence woul dhave us believe that the Democrats are on the verge of nominating someone as competent as Eisenhower. Not exactly true. By his own admission, she has trouble remembering whether she was shot at, or whether she casually worked a rope line, shaking hands and posing for the camera.

Our choices...(1) An amoral, serial liar, who was a disaster as Secstate (inherited a stable Iraq, left office with Iraq ablaze), with zero integrity..or (2) a narcisstic, flip-flopping, horse's ass of a reality show host with zero integrity. What a choice. At a time when we are on the edge of an abyss.

What the hell is wrong with all of us? How can we not demand more?

[PaulS]

Originally Posted by buckman

I suppose it doesn't compare to non stop pandering for the black vote .
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The Repub. appeal so little to blacks anything that is said about them is considering "pandering"

[spence]

Originally Posted by detbuch

Maybe you should start by figuring out what is wrong with your "perspective."

Why do you assume my perspective is wrong?

[PaulS]

Trump did disavow Duke's support after Rubio laid into him.

I'm suprised he knew nothing about "David Duke or white supremacy or white supremacists"

LEESBURG, Va. — Republican front-runner Donald Trump drew sharp criticism from his rivals in both parties Sunday for refusing to denounce an implicit endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, raising the specter of racism as the presidential campaign hits the South.

Trump was asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether he rejected support from the former KKK Grand Dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers this week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to "treason to your heritage."

"Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke. OK?" Trump said. "I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists."

Trump's comments came the same day he retweeted a quote from Benito Mussolini, the 20th century fascist dictator of Italy. And in a boost for his campaign in the South, he scored the endorsement of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of the most strident opponents of immigration reform on Capitol Hill.

But it was Trump's statements about Duke that sparked a wave of censures with just two days to go before 11 states hold GOP primaries involving about a quarter of the party's total nominating delegate count. Several states in the South, a region with a fraught racial history, are among those voting in the Super Tuesday contests.

Marco Rubio quickly pounced on Trump's comments, saying the GOP "cannot be a party who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan."

"Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable," Rubio told thousands of supporters gathered in Leesburg, Virginia. "How are we going to grow the party if we nominate someone who doesn't repudiate the Ku Klux Klan?"

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Trump's comments "Really sad."

"You're better than this," Cruz wrote on Twitter. "We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent."

Trump has won three of four early voting states, roiling a party divided over the prospect of the brash billionaire becoming its nominee. Late Sunday, Nebraska's Ben Sasse became the first sitting Republican senator to say explicitly that he would not back Trump if he does win the nomination.

"If Trump becomes the Republican nominee my expectation is that I'll look for some 3rd candidate — a conservative option, a constitutionalist," Sasse wrote on Twitter.

With a strong showing on Super Tuesday, Trump could begin to pull away from his rivals in the all-important delegate count.

In the Southern states that vote Tuesday, Republican candidates will face an electorate that is overwhelmingly white. In South Carolina, the only Southern state to have voted so far, 96 percent of the GOP primary electorate was white, while 6 in 10 voters in the Democratic race were black.

While the South was once a Democratic stronghold, many white conservatives who backed the party started moving toward the GOP during the civil rights movement. Trump has borrowed from the rhetoric former President Richard Nixon used during that time to appeal to working-class white voters, describing his campaign has a movement of the "silent majority."

Trump holds commanding leads across the South, with the exception of Cruz's home state of Texas, a dynamic that puts tremendous pressure on Rubio and Cruz as they try to outlast each other and derail the real estate mogul.

Trump was asked Friday by journalists how he felt about Duke's support. He said he didn't know anything about it and curtly said: "All right, I disavow, ok?"