lost highway

Cruz has intelligence, but no charisma, which makes him unelectable. W Bush had limited intelligence (or at least seemingly) and a certain charisma, he won. Obama has a lot of both.

I think everyone needs to take a breath and contextualize his success. I'm gonna answer fear with faith (and not in god): all of his garbage that is so offensive- which you've listed- is the very reason he will not be elected. In fact it's the death rattle of American republicanism as we know it.

This is getting a little weird. You guys know a party nomination doesn't make you president, right? I agree that the mere possibility of a Trump presidency is upsetting, but given the numbers, our whole country, not just whatever percent of Republicans who caucus, do we really need to paint a doomsday picture? I mean get out and vote, of course, but I think we can leave our pants unsoiled at this point in the game. There are so many normal, reasonable people in our country right now that we're not hearing. They don't get to be on TV. Talk to the people at work, talk to your neighbors.

Yeah, he nailed it on the weird "he tells it like it is" mythology. Trump is proof that if people repeat things enough times they can seem true, even when it's about the biggest liar in a field crawling with them.

Did you guys catch this "Donald Trump won't condemn former Ku Klux Klan leader who endorses hom" story?

Yeah, thanks for sharing that. It's a good one.

It was an incredible, hilarious, flaming pile of dog shit. I have to wonder if any of the Trumpers felt rattled when Rubio talked about Donald hiring illegals and his two defenses were: a. It was very hot that summer and hard to get part time help and b. That was a long time ago.

I'm Always in Love (tiny desk edition) is my favorite version since the rehearsal footage of it in iattbyh.

Right. Which matches my pragmatic pleas to my friends. I don't "sell out" because I voted for a candidate I won't whole heartedly celebrate, just as much as not voting because "it all stinks" gives you zero bragging rights or superiority. We use our limited tools to affect things in the best way we can. It's not a symbolic war at that point.

One thing I'll say for her, she has her foreign policy shit together WAY more than anyone else in the race. We might not always know what her agenda is, or fully trust her motives, but she knows what's going on, she knows how to build a cabinet (Benghazi be damned). Sanders, Cruz, Trump, Rubio.... these men do not understand how the world is working the way that HRC does. Sounds like I'm on her team, but I'll be damned if she's not sitting right in Wall Street's pocket. That's going to affect her banking reform, her environmental agenda- all of it can be undermined by that fact.

Interesting how it flips; I can see exactly what you're saying here and it makes sense. However, I was unclear, what I was talking about is different. It's how you respond to a Clinton nomination as a skeptical progressive. In other words, I'm saying "go ahead and vote for her, it's better than the alternative" in the general election if she gets it, whereas my friends are considering abstaining from voting if Bernie doesn't get the nomination.

I actually got into an ill-advised Facebook debate about this. It's pretty much a classic pragmatism vs. idealism story. I'm part of the former. My argument is that if you consider your vote to be a deeper part of your identity you need to get over it. I don't love Clinton, but I'll turn in my coupon for her if that's my choice, it'll take five minutes, and will be my contribution to a slightly safer world.

Sanders still scored a good chunk of the delegates. His continued relevance is captivating. The Jeb campaign is so sad to me. I have no love for the Bush family and had no interest in president Jeb, there's just something palpably tragic in the figure he casts. It reminds me of the Romney documentary that was on Netflix, you can just taste the failure. What I wonder for the GOP is have they all torn up every candidate that could actually challenge Trump to the point where they're irrelevant? Everyone had stars in their eyes for Rubio a few weeks ago, and his debate performance was so

Totally.

That's more than a little coy to me. I suppose it could all be theater to him, and he might actually be the surreptitiously mellowest prankster who ever swindled and hoodwinked us all. I think what's important here is that people enter a public arena and interact with their country's perception of them- whether that's their truest self, or just a role they've chosen. I think that warrants well placed cries of "buffoon" or "asshole" in Trump's general direction. As you've probably already pointed out, it doesn't warrant grave dancing. If you want to step on the national stage and run the

Do you think Cosby is a jerk? Would it be safe to assume that Trump is? Can we not judge public figures by their record?

I found this to be a pretty fair analysis. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/02/17/466730455/fact-check-bernie-sanders-promises-free-college-will-it-work

Christianity is suffering the same fate as American conservativism; the crazies are drowning out the sane people and turning off the undecided.

Bummer. I enjoyed half-heartedly respecting that man and using him as an example of who isn't a ding bat to my conservative friends.

Sooooo.... this got signed. How do you feel about it? Who finds it difficult to comprehend? (me)

I'm no moderator, but I think "getting political" over what powers the Executive Office has to nominate a justice of the Supreme Court is good. "Getting political" over pillow-gate and questioning each others' sanity, reasonableness, or wording is bad. It did produce some comedy, I'll give it that. Just my $0.02.

How many nominations have they had at this point? A lot. That's saying something.

Broadcasting the truth when it is argumentatively convenient doesn't change the fact that it's true. This is a basic principle in rhetoric.

No, I think he's saying it's absurd to presuppose blocking a nominee before any specific person is actually mentioned.

The idea that someone can't be rightfully called a piece of shit because of the office they've achieved is thoroughly undemocratic.