Re: 2016 Election
 

I'm willing to bet that Trump is putting on an act -- he's trolling everyone. He's the first reality TV star to seek the presidency and he knows his audience.

Cruz seems to mean it, which makes him that much worse. But at least he can't be president, thanks to the whole natural born thing. (Trump does have a point about that.)

Re: 2016 Election
 

That's the old guard, the more moderate Republicans, that are saying that. I don't know if they're the majority anymore --- this whole thing is off the rails. However, IMO it's all academic because Ted Cruz is so incredibly unlikeable there is no way he'll win ... of course, that's what I used to say about Trump. Did you see Cruz doing the most sickening impersonation of JFK that any human has ever done. And he ****ing misquoted him. Bill Maher said that he always thought that Ted Cruz had the world's most punchable face until he saw Paul Ryan sitting behind Obama at the SOTU. I disagree, Ted Cruz has the world's most punchable face EVER.

Re: 2016 Election
 

JFK didn't say that. :rolleyes:

Re: 2016 Election
 

I don't understand this idea that JFK wouldn't be a part of the Dems these days. I assume it's because he's was closer to to Bernie Sanders than what the establishment is.

That's probably accurate, but doesn't play with the idea that the Dems are a bunch of socialists.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Nobody says that except Republicans. Because Kennedy is so iconic, they're trying to claim him for themselves. Nobody believes it.

Re: 2016 Election
 

To an extent the old guard still control the delegates at the conference.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Don't worry, there is always a choice. You could, and undoubtedly will, vote for a yeast infection.



Well, JFK recognized that the level of taxation, then in effect and now urged by Sanders, was strangling the nation's economy, so he advocated and signed a significant tax cut (remember the recession of 1960 that cost Nixon the election?) He also believed in and pushed for a robust military and a muscular foreign policy. By the way, the tax cut led to an amazing level of growth and prosperity.

Those positions are anathema to the linguini- spines who run the Democratic Party now. He would either have been a Republican or - being from Massachusetts - would have pushed the Party more toward the centre, which would be healthy today.

Re: 2016 Election
 

JFK/LBJ cut the top bracket from 91% to 70%, with the top bracket beginning at $200,000, which would be the equivalent of about $1.5 million today.

Currently, the top bracket is 39.6%. Sanders wants a 50.2% bracket above $2 million and a 54.2% bracket above $10 million.

So in effect, Sanders wants to have lower tax rates than JFK-LBJ era that you like so much. During much of Reagan's time in office, the top bracket was 50%.

Re: 2016 Election
 

No-one is voting for Rand Paul.


JFK cut the top tax rate from 91% to 65%. Sanders is proposing a top tax rate of 54.2%. If you're going to try and make a point it's normally a good idea to base it on reality, otherwise, you'll look like one of those [economic] illiterates you claim to despise. Also, it wasn't just the tax cut which brought the country out of recession, it was running up a massive (at the time) deficit.

JFK was also for birth/population control, affirmative action, tried to create socialist healthcare (Medicare), believed in separation of church and state and supported a pathway to citizenship for illegals. So there's no way there would be a place for JFK in today's GOP.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Former (iconic) presidents are often invoked in exalted tones, but more often than not only to suit one or two policies.

The GOP debates are full of reverential nods to Reagan (hallowed be thy name), but of course when it comes to *cough* immigration reform *cough*, let's all ignore who enacted an amnesty last time.

So I wonder, if Reagan were alive now would he be a member of the GOP?

Re: 2016 Election
 

Bernie first stated he thought a 90% tax rate wasn't too high, then backed off, so he's presented a moving target and has flipped on his initial proposal like any other politician. But what would he really do if he had his druthers?
The important points about JFK was his military and foreign policy stance. Would Obama have stood tall in Berlin or stood up to the Russians in Cuba? And it was LBJ who pushed through the Civil Rights Act with Republican support - for which they get zero credit.

Don't play cute with your 'yeast infection' vote, which is inevitable. Everyone here knows that the only reason you won't be voting for Sanders is because your only choice is going to be Hillary, unless she's indicted. That won't happen because, much as Obama doesn't like her, he wants someone who will continue his legacy.

Re: 2016 Election
 

It's amusing for you to suggest that the president who is associated with drone strikes, thousands of sorties against ISIS and ordering the killing of Bin Laden is timid.

The Republican party of today does not resemble the Republican party of 1964. Today, those supporters of civil rights would be labeled as RINOs.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Had Kennedy lived he would have been destroyed by the war in Vietnam just as Johnson was. There was no indication before his death that he would have seen Vietnam as a quagmire to be avoided. He was a staunch believer in the "domino theory" and a supporter of the rotten and corrupt South Vietnam Diem regime which had alienated so many of the Vietnamese peasantry that it made it that much easier for the Viet Cong to gain the necessary support it needed in the countryside.

Many believe that Vietnam was a war between Capitalism and Communism. It's only half true. Ho chi Minh was a communist but he was essentially a Vietnamese nationalist who had banished the foreign French from the country and then saw the Americans as other invaders. Any country that finds itself fighting against a force of determined nationalists had better accept the possible reality that the war could well be lost in the long run.

Kennedys philandering and sexual exploits would not be something he could get away with today. His brother Bobby managed to cover up a lot of it and in exchange for J Edgar Hoover's agreement to co-operate in the cover up dropped his support for Martin Luther King Jr who Hoover loathed and believed was a member of the Communist party

Re: 2016 Election
 

Alright, alright, Obama is a super-strong foreign policy hawk leading a mighty coalition, has smashed ISIS, which no longer exists and achieved ultimate victory against Iran, that is now a neutered helpless puppy licking its wounds. I stand corrected.

Re: 2016 Election
 

The GOP today is a party split between the ultra right and the conservative middle to moderates.

Reagan if he was alive today wouldn't recognize it,