Tue 11/10/15 GOP/Republican Debate with link to free streaming.

a reply to: interupt42

I agree with that. I saw the biography that you are referring to.

The problem for me is that I don't think any of these people can deliver what they are promising. I'm a post democracy voter, which might be coining a phrase. I don't believe what any politician says when they are campaigning, even though they themselves might believe it in the moment. Most of what they "promise" to deliver and actually can deliver are really cosmetic sorts of things, as we saw in Justin Trudeau's case in Canada, when he appointed a cabinet that was 50/50 male and female.

I'm no fan of Trudeau. I think he has bamboozled people, but he hasn't made a mistake in principle because, even if one isn't the most talented person available for a particular job, a person with enough talent and enough grit will grow into the job. If not, at cabinet level, they are easily replaced most of the time anyway. If they are good enough, the job itself will make them better.

I think Trump is good enough and I think the presidency is the sort of job that will keep him in line. I don't think he is the kind of guy who will use the position to help turn all of his cronies into billionaires. That, to me, would be the only danger from a person like him. In places like Mexico and also, historically, in the United States gangs of families cooperated to game the system. I don't think Trump operates that way. I might be wrong. Croneyism was something that was missing from the Trump biography.

I don't think he likes people that much. I don't think he wants his friends to be billionaires.

I think any of the candidates could be a good President but I don't think any of the candidates has anywhere near Trump's drive. Their policies don't matter that much to me. I don't think any President can really dominate issues anymore. They are all boxed in by reality, but if any candidate has the sort of wrestling holds needed for the job, that person is Trump, I think. He's a bet I would be willing to make.

A lot of the candidates, including Trump, said that they would not raise the minimum wage. That is just another way of saying to a large mass of the work force, who vote, "You are going to take a cut in pay." It is what it is thanks to rising costs of living. Unfortunately it also says, "As President, I am going to push for the reinvigoration of the labor movement in the United States." That's a headache that none of these people want, but that's reality. That is an example of how reality boxes candidates in on an issue.

That is a quagmire that a smart candidate should want to avoid. Raising the minimum hourly wage is an easy way to do it. I disagree with Trump's stance on this, but he is not alone. The minimum wage cannot be a make or break issue for anybody's economic policy, particularly Trump's. If it is, then America really is in big trouble. For any of these candidates, minimum wage should be a piffling issue.

I would say, if I were Trump, "We'll look at raising the minimum wage in the context of the general health of the economy and if my ideas work, raising the minimum wage will be easy for businesses across the country to do."

As an outsider, I think it is time for the Republican Party to rediscover noblesse oblige, the notion that with great power comes great responsibility for the powerless. It is time to crapcan "greed is good".

originally posted by: woodwardjnr

Transport is ready to go, que the music

Oh good there was coverage of the protesters outside the debate, after all.

originally posted by: kosmicjack
Fiorina just gave the nod to Bush as ballot partner.

Rand is doing really well, IMHO.

Rands the only one out the bunch of warhawks and religious loons thats any sort of balanced.

How the other "candidates" can be take seriously I dont know.

Candidates who don't want to raise the minimum wage should look at this linked page:

www.citylab.com...

The minimum wage peaked in 1968 at $8.54 per hour, after adjusting for inflation. The current $7.25 is far too low for the 3 million hourly workers who earn at or below that threshold, and certainly not at par with the wage hikes instituted by other countries with similar economic trajectories. . . .

The entire map is fiery red; there isn’t a single county (in the country!) in which a minimum wage can match the local cost of living. In some counties, such as Marin County near San Francisco or Prince Williams County in Virginia, the breadwinner of this household would have to bring in upwards of $20 more per hour to support his or her family.

For a candidate not to even consider raising the minimum wage is tantamount to saying, "I have no confidence in my economic plan. Do not vote for me if you think I can improve the economy, because I'm not sure of it myself."

We got a brief 5 second glimpse at trump.

I have stayed away from commenting on him because I know him real well and have been waiting for him to show us the real trump. He has no ability to control himself if cornered. This flaw in his character that he believes that having money means that he does not have to listen to any thing he does not agree with. He has a severe problem that will burn the country to the ground on a national level. You have been warned that his monster is out to destroy the world if he has power and does not get his way. I am definitely not here to say he is worse than anyone else but to say that I know that spirit well and it is one that does not play well with others and will destroy if givin the chance.

“I built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars,” he said. “I don’t have to hear from this guy.”

the wrap

a reply to: kosmicjack

Anti-climatic end.

They make pills for that but lets face it head on.

We do not need any more dysfunction.

a reply to: deadeyedick

I hear you and I think you are right about his personality. I just think that things are different in the presidential arena. Trump won't be buying people or bullying employees when he is in the Oval Office. He will be dealing with people he can't intimidate. The temptation to buy them is the real danger here.

In the international arena, particularly with the Russians, the same will apply.

He's a tough guy and I think he has what it takes to think his way through the problems he will encounter, but you are right. Voting Trump is not playing it safe. It's a gamble.

One of the things I like about him, compared to Carly "take back the government" Fiorina, for example, is that I don't think he is going to put the country through a paroxysm of self analysis and re-invention. To some extent, Rand Paul is a re-inventor too. Most of these candidates are "small government is better" people. I get it and it is right, to some extent, but achieving that will be a real magician's trick.

To me, Trump is more about, "America is fine, but it's not being run well." I think that is a wiser approach to things. Things are the way they are for a multitude of reasons and they got there over a long bi-partisan period of time, as Carly Fiorina says. Trimming that edifice is preferable to tearing it down wholesale, lopping government departments off in bunches as one candidate (Ted Cruz?) wants to do.

One big mystery for me is Jeb Bush. He needs to get articulate and get discriminate about how his grasp of the issues is better and subtler than those of other candidates. As it stands now, I think he is in big trouble, and this is someone with a lot of money and a large political machine in place behind him.

a reply to: ipsedixit

Yes that is the deal with him

all that trumpness does equate to power over people

manipulation can be a very rewarding personality attribute

The only thing that keeps trump in check is the fact that he does not run the world.


The only thing that keeps trump in check is the fact that he does not run the world.

I also have spiritual issues with carson. Something I have yet to pin point


My spiritual take on the bush brother is that he is the true candidate that could really make America shine. He has some attributes that are far superior to the rest of his clan. My view is that he would be the absolute best choice for us all but neither he nor I have the words to overcome the damage done by his family.

a reply to: deadeyedick

Carson is an interesting candidate. He is a compassionate person with a feeling for the "little guy", but he didn't give me the impression that he has spent enough time wheeling in business or government to prepare himself adequately for the big time job.

As far as Bush goes. I think he knows too much and is self-editing his responses, much like a person who stutters self edits while speaking and can't say what he wants to say and knows is right, quickly enough. That is costing him.

A more negative appraisal of Bush would be that he seems to think that all one has to do to be considered for President is to know how to act presidential, and with two Presidents in the family, he has had a lot of role models to emulate. He is too concerned with projecting an image for America. Intelligent policies project their own image. America is far too self-conscious as it is and Bush is the most self-conscious of the candidates, with maybe Carson next to him in the mirror.

American self-consciousness is derived from the gradual slide which has taken place in American policies since WW2. America is not the world's savior any more, but an effort continues to be made to "project" that image. American image consciousness and self-consciousness would vanish if American policies abroad, and at home, truly embodied traditional American values. It would no longer be necessary to keep up a front.

originally posted by: introvert
That's because Sanders has a record like Ron Paul. He practiced what he preached.

The left loved Ron Paul for precisely this reason. He was consistent, stuck to his votes, didn't flip flop on issues, and didn't sell out to special interests. He was precisely what every politician should have been. Sanders has that exact same record, so again he's seeing that same type of support. Even though they're complete opposites ideologically, their personal integrity is exactly the same, and that's what people want. People with integrity and new approaches to try and improve things.