Your 2016 Presidential Candidate Speculation Thread

Cruz in that article was like somebody doing rails while they talked about their anti-drug initiatives.

the washington post weighs in with a hard-hitting profile piece:

from the first handful of paragraphs:

...the man who would be president...the steely man of principle...The son of a Cuban man who saw what happens when freedom is stripped away swore that “I'll die before I let it happen again.”...the crowd stood as one, roaring with admiration and hope...sending an unpopular but vital message...His Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, calls him “off-the-charts brilliant.

then,

...Beneath Cruz’s mesmerizing speaking style — midnight-smooth delivery, never ruffled, even as he drops lacerating lines about the evils of Obamacare — and his unthreatening appearance — suits, slicked-back black hair, baby-faced complexion — how the senator would govern remains unclear. Is he a rigidly uncompromising originalist or, as Cruz argues more like Ronald Reagan, who preached conservative populism but governed as a dealmaker?

followed by a story about how badboy ted cruz refused to rat out his friends after a legendary badass prank that they pulled - even after the principal threatened to take steps to deny his admission to Princeton! way to strong tall ted cruz!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/03/24/ted-cruz-principled-or-smug-know-it-all/?hpid=z1

way to strong tall ted cruz!
way to strong tall ted cruz!
way to strong tall ted cruz!

i should be a proofreader, i'm really good

alan dershowitz knows off-the-charts brilliance when he sees it

I wouldn't call his Mister Rogers-ish smarm "midnight smooth" exactly...

http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2013/2/15/ronaldreagan.gif

Hah so I just learned not only were the students required to go to that Ted Cruz rally, but if they didn't they were going to be fined $10.

worth it

freedom isn't free

is it possible at this point to get rid of obamacare as a practical matter or has the current system of insuring become too intwined w/ it that even w/ popular support, legislative support, and executive support it would be too difficult to get rid of it?

it's not going anywhere

we're FIVE years in already!

i'm not asking if it's likely to disappear. i'm asking if it's even possible, or whether it is too institutionally embedded to remove, even if the will were there.

like what happens to the ppl who are currently signed up? is the idea that they'd just find new coverage? or revert to older policies?

They die.

u mean they take on a lifetime of debt

who knows man

well this is why theyll be able to cope with a hastened demise. Single-payer would just spoil them horribly.

I heard J Toobin on Fresh Air last night calling Cruz "a very smart guy” who just happens to say a couple of crazy pandering things now and then.

btw guys it's going to be Jeb.

keep thinking there must be someone besides jeb hes an even more comically establishment candidate than romney, the gop cubbard is bare

there's going to be an amazing charisma vacuum with Jeb and Hillary (akin to '88 Dukakis/Bush as I've said before)

so you thought W and Gore just projected white-hot lava.

people were clearly charmed by Dubya's "aw shucks" schtick

which Jeb does not have

i never cease to find that amazing xp

people are stupid. and they like someone who is stupid, JUST LIKE THEM

see, I don't think he is truly stupid. Never did.

Whatever happens it will be incredibly entertaining to watch.

Who was it here who characterized the successive surges of the 2012 non-Romneys as the "Angry Birds trajectory"? So apt. Perry, Cain, Gingrich, Santorum...

Conservative salivation over Cruz is delightful and life-sustaining. The dude is so obviously non palatable to the country as a whole. Yet because conservatives feel like they've been served milquetoast moderates without success, they're saying, why not try an election where they get the hard-line nominee they want? To which I say, yes, please. This nifty chart has him to the right of Goldwater: here. Please PLEASE GO THERE.

these ppl are not conservatives, they are 16th-century crackpots.

sorry if i don't find "entertainment" trumping the spectacle of Jeb-Hil's double-sealing of America's doom.

These people are just all so smart, I wish we could elect them all president.

as Bubba and Bamster have proven, you can be smart and a fucking criminal president.

So many smart criminals, I wish we could ellect them all president.

http://i.imgur.com/gykJie9.gif

still feels deeply weird to be contemplating another bush in the white house, would've seemed downright impossible eight years ago. otoh that's probably what some ppl said in 2000.

Nah ppl dumb as rocks, W could win again if he ran today.

HRC's political obituaries were written in 2008. Tot Nixon, again.

being a bush is gonna be a major liability for jeb, also prob being jeb

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/25/yes-ted-cruz-is-a-hypocrite-for-going-on-obamacare/?tid=pm_opinions_pop

With Cruz’s wife, Heidi, stepping away temporarily from her job at Goldman Sachs, the Cruz family has to get its insurance somewhere, and the Texas senator has decided that “somewhere” is HealthCare.gov. Thanks to a Republican amendment to the law, the federal government can only offer members of Congress and their staffs insurance that requires going through Obamacare exchanges. Cruz will, however, reject the 75 percent employer contribution that the federal government decided to continue offering to all members and their staffs.

Liberals quickly lobbed accusations of hypocrisy. Conservatives argued back that Cruz is just following the law, like a man who pays income tax even though he believes it is unconstitutional or who follows gun control laws that he doesn’t support.

But this isn’t a case of following the law or not. The law does not require Cruz to get health insurance on the exchanges. Instead of going through the exchanges, he could have paid the tax penalty for not having insurance, “likely cheaper than buying an insurance plan,” but at the cost of being uninsured. Or his wife could have applied to COBRA and extended her benefits from Goldman Sachs for up to 18 months, though she would have to pay all of the premium. Or he could bypass the exchanges and buy insurance directly from a private insurer. Sure, he’d have to spend time navigating the market himself, but I’m sure the Princeton graduate can figure it out.

Each of these options would cost Cruz time, money or both. But several Republican representatives already have purchased insurance without going through the exchanges, so it is clearly possible. Yes, Cruz would have to purchase a plan that meets minimum standards established under Obamacare, but anyone who thinks that someone with his resources would otherwise buy a plan with excessive co-pays or skimpy coverage is fooling themselves. And Cruz is rejecting the government’s employer contribution, even though he is entitled to it as a member of Congress. That is thousands of dollars a year, and accepting it would still be following the law. So Cruz clearly has already made the decision to spend lots of money to make a symbolic stand. Why not follow through on that and avoid the Obamacare exchanges?

fun w/ Sidney Blumenthal and a Georgian billionaire

http://gawker.com/did-clintons-backdoor-adviser-illegally-lobby-for-putin-1693111549

@ggreenwald
Harry Reid on why Hillary should be President: "Women are much more patient" & "not combative"

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/us/harry-reid-hopes-to-ensure-democrats-success-as-tenure-winds-down.html

i'll be ordering them lots of Sbarro's pizzas

The lease is signed: Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters will work out of 1 Pierrepont Plaza in Brooklyn Heights, according to a source familiar with the deal. The campaign will occupy two full floors of the office building, which is close to 12 subways lines and a dozen bus lines, and will be taking them as is – no buildout. On its website, the building markets it as “Modern Offices. Brooklyn Cool.” The Clinton team’s neighbors in the building will be Morgan Stanley and the office of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. The clock on Clinton’s official announcement is now officially ticking. FEC rules state that you have 15 days between conducting campaign activities and filing a campaign committee.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/hillary-clinton-campaign-headquarters-brooklyn-116649.html

tim @ kfc.gov

for presidetn!!!!!!!!!!

Dug this up on some throwback Google shit, a very unilluminating experience: http://archives.timesleader.com/2000/2000_12/2000_07_09_SANTORUM_PLEDGES_TO_TRY_TO_GET__100_000_FROM_FEDS_HEADED_HAZLETO.html

Paul announces tom'w, enjoy yourselves

lol rand is announcing at the "Galt House"

so glad Paul's here to take our country back, so tired of people taking my country and not returning it

well HRC will be "making change," so hopefully you'll get fries with that.

We can listen to Paul's zingers on our own, ok?

lol