Your 2016 Presidential Candidate Speculation Thread

Plus, Christie hugged a black president in October 2012, a sin for which the GOP has never forgiven him and used as an example of his apostasy because they're stupid.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 13, 2014

how big a deal is this? i mean, say christie's politics are almost perfectly aligned with the gop base, and his one misstep was the sandy situation (which, of course, includes his hugging pres. obama). is he DOA in the 2016 primary?

say christie's politics are almost perfectly aligned with the gop base

let's stop right there

xps presumably before some kid transferred into his district and took the starting catcher's job

why? it's a hypothetical question. not taking a position either way. i'm genuinely curious about how serious that one moment of bad-optics was for the gop base.

(xp)

xps presumably before some kid transferred into his district and took the starting catcher's job

― mookieproof, Thursday, February 13, 2014

president christie will not stop until he hunts-down that kid and drone-kills him.

Other than defending Muslims, there is no -- none -- difference between Christie and the GOP in 2014.

okay. so exactly how heretical is his "hugging a black president" moment?

i mean, the gop's know about that very public image -- and been upset about the timing -- for over a year now. but that's not what's supposedly stopping or slowing christie.

oh I dunno, used to be pro-choice, "soft" on immigration - there's some light there I think

xp

He lost the election because he hugged this thing and thus showed he was a RINO all along, according to the base.

wait, wasn't christie leading polls of republicans recently as the 2016 favorite? they knew about the "hugging the black president" moment then, and all the other gop contenders were just as high-profile at that time as they are now, but the polls still favored christie v. other gop hopefuls.

i dunno. if his 15 minutes of fame is over, i'll hardly cry about it. i just didn't realize we'd reached that point.

good going, america.

Daniel, watch Chris Hayes, who as I'm typing is reviewing the Sandy allegations.

The hug won't hurt Christie at all. The Sandy allegations are much, much more potent for obvious reasons.

Am so glad Biden has no chance in this thing.

christie's done. hugging a gay black chicago thug muslim kenyan weak dictator didn't kill him but it's part of why nobody really has his back, it's part of why rand paul is able to get traction continuing to attack. this christie thing has made msnbc completely unwatchable btw. john cornyn's tea party challenger has been using a pic of cornyn hugging obama from a photoshopped image of crist hugging obama in their campaign against him. moveon/kos used lieberman hugging bush against him in 2006.

hillary doesn't have a platform yet cuz it's 2014

Daniel, watch Chris Hayes, who as I'm typing is reviewing the Sandy allegations.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 13, 2014

on it (and thanks). but since you and i are the only people watching chris-hayes right now . . .

lol xpost

omg is RAND PAUL gonna be the nominee? hrc v. rand is almost better than hrc v. christie.

this christie thing has made msnbc completely unwatchable btw

dude, it was unwatchable EXCEPT for Kornacki and Hayes. Now it's tedious. But, you know, journalism.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ otmfm

what's really sad there is that kornacki and hayes should switch roles. another discussion for another thread.

I don't see how Rand Paul gets the nomination, even with a solid year to rehab his image

dammit.

Christie's biggest problem is that he is an asshole and being an asshole (especially in this day and age) usually gets in the way of a presidential run. It's hard for an asshole to be consistently telegenic.

And while we're at it, America is not ready to elect a fat person.

http://www.history.com/images/media/slideshow/william-h-taft/william-h-taft-speaking.jpg

most gop hopefuls are assholes.

• rand paul? asshole
• paul ryan? asshole (can't see how people keep paul and rand/rand and ryan's names straight)
• rick santorum? asshole
• ted cruz? huge, huge asshole

Nice try Alfred but that shit won't fly in These Times.

Rand Paul - slight asshole tendencies, but not perceived as an asshole
Paul Ryan - not widely perceived as an asshole
Rick Santorum - asshole
Ted Cruz - asshole

None of those guys can raise money well, although Cruz is a bit untested.

Jeb Bush - not an asshole, can raise money
Rubio - not an asshole, can raise money
Scott Walker - not an asshole, likely can raise money

Not that many people think Jeb actually wants the job.

lol, the gop is deep in its "wandering aimlessly in the wilderness" phase if it's gonna be rand v. ryan v. rubio. walker, eh, but really no.

that is one motley crew of a primary.

COME BACK, HERMAN CAIN, ALL IS FORGIVEN.

no it isn't

Walker's just not likeable enough to translate to a national stage, imo. He may play in the primaries, but no further.

Of course, John Kerry came close to taking the White House in 2004 and he's a blank piece of paper.

I would love to see the GOP hip-deep in Santorum for as long as humanly endurable in 2016.

http://gs1.wac.edgecastcdn.net/8019B6/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxcpjj9Ndd1qa7bh4o1_500.png

she'll make a fantastic candidate, especially if she's savvy enough to pivot left lie her ass off to liberal idiots on select issues

"Christie's staff killed an old woman" was actually dismissed by the old woman's family, but no lie is too large told on behalf of the party that blows apart Yemenistaniwherever kids with drones.

(kids and old women I bet)

also why will Rodham have to "pivot left" at all? The primaries are going to be a coronation, I thought? Rob Reiner said so.

she'll make a fantastic candidate, especially if she's savvy enough to pivot left lie her ass off to liberal idiots on select issues

yes this is exactly what i meant!

http://rightpunditry.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/liberal_idiot.jpg

I would love to see the GOP hip-deep in Santorum for as long as humanly endurable in 2016.

― Aimless, Thursday, February 13, 2014 6:04 PM

Coffee break's over, back on your heads.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/da777e3e4e60e1cdcce85975f3d1f6f1/tumblr_n1glddKwUN1qdmmiqo2_500.gif

picture of our next president.

twitching.

hm! poll finds republicans resistant to chris christie's presidential candidacy. shocking!

i mean, if christie and jeb are unacceptable, as the poll suggests, then the gop has only clowns stuffed into their traditional clown-car (i guess maybe scott walker mig ... nah, clown).

of course, if hrc (and, absent her, warren) doesn't run, then it could be clowns all around. biden? eh . . . .

and hey, look who has the most support among republicans, including self-described conservatives!

http://ct.fra.bz/ol/fz/sw/i54/2/10/18/frabz-Hi-Im-mitt-romney-i-hate-food-stamps-42e066.jpg

hilary v. mitt would be a fun general-election. two retirees!

well, hrc isn't a retiree, but i can't recall a general election where both nominees didn't have definite, ongoing employment while they ran (even if the employment was an elected political position).

Romney was fun once.

That poll must be delusional. My guess is that Romney finished that election as the most despised Republican candidate--despised within his own party--since Nixon. And even Nixon had undying love within part of the party, even past resignation--don't think Romney had actual support anywhere, except for those two or three weeks post-debate when he appeared to be winning. And that was after they had already tried to hand the nomination to almost everyone in the country.

"handing the nomination to almost everyone in the country" was essentially media-created bullshit suspense.

Don't agree--it was a refection how much they really didn't want to nominate Romney. They did, in the end, because the election was there to be won, and there was a survival instinct that prevented them from conceding it up front with Gingrich or Santorum or anybody else.

But it wasn't the media that lost all those primaries that Romney should have won handily.

the "media" didn't decide on having two dozen debates

romney love is toldja so gloating about the ukraine and some morons floating 'maybe he should run again!' (some of these morons are connected to romney tbf).