2016 General Election Thread

[Alhazad]

People didn't call call you a racist scumbag who needs to be murdered and ostracized if you said you were voting Romney.

Yes, they did. It just wasn't as loud because even Mitt wasn't stupid enough to suggest that people of certain ethnicities aren't capable of treating him fairly.

Yes he did, he just referred to them as "47%" of voters.

Neither he nor Trump were wrong.

Are you saying that black-Latino-Muslim is 47% of the vote, or that women are an ethnicity? Because Trump is going to get the rails from both.

[GORDON]

Yes precisely.

[Malcolm]

Why Gary Johnson probably isn't doing shit this year.

[Vince]

Saw somewhere on Twitter (I think) a great quote. This election isn't about the lesser of two evils. This year it's about the evil of two lessers.

[Vince]

Ha!

So, they're nominating Palpatine, & we're nominating Binks.

[Leisher]

That's a good ad.

I've heard he's only 2 percentage points away from being included in the debates. He may not have a chance of winning, but it'd be interesting to see him in the debates. As they stand, Trump and Clinton will probably spend every debate talking about BLM, DNC emails, Sanders, Republicans who didn't honor their pledge, women, Bill, and everything else that isn't details of their actual planned policies.

[Malcolm]

I've heard he's only 2 percentage points away from being included in the debates.

That'd mean 13%, which is two points higher than the highest estimate I've seen. Depending which poll you check, he's in the 10-13% range right now.

[Leisher]

I've heard he's only 2 percentage points away from being included in the debates.

That'd mean 13%, which is two points higher than the highest estimate I've seen. Depending which poll you check, he's in the 10-13% range right now.

No matter what, it's still close.

Also, you bring up an interesting question, which poll do they go by when determining who participates? What if some polls have him above 15%, but others have him below 15%?

[Malcolm]

I've heard he's only 2 percentage points away from being included in the debates.

That'd mean 13%, which is two points higher than the highest estimate I've seen. Depending which poll you check, he's in the 10-13% range right now.

No matter what, it's still close.

Also, you bring up an interesting question, which poll do they go by when determining who participates? What if some polls have him above 15%, but others have him below 15%?

Any of them.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) requires that candidates poll at 15 percent in five national surveys leading up to the three scheduled debates and that they garner enough spots on state ballots to chart a path to the White House.

I assume there's a list of "approved national polls" that are all designed to fuck over everyone except the two major parties:

But that’s a catch-22 for third-party or late-deciding independent candidates: Most polling outlets are only testing match-ups between Trump and Clinton in their surveys.
...
Johnson said he’s pushing hard for pollsters to include his name, but he said he’s met with resistance from several outlets that have told him he’s not well-known enough to be included.

The dudes on the CPD are extremely proud of this fact.

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., co-chairman of the CPD, told The Hill that while the group faces lawsuits almost every cycle, including one this year from Johnson and other third-party leaders, the criteria has been upheld because it is objective and nonpartisan.
...
Johnson has railed against the commission and its criteria, describing it as a rigged process designed by a closed cabal of Republicans and Democrats hell-bent on maintaining power by keeping insurgent candidates at bay.

But [bought and paid for Baruch College political scientist David] Birdsell defended the commission, arguing the high bar is by design.

“That’s a very, very difficult task, a dauntingly difficult task. And, in my view, it should be,” he said.

“We don’t want to treat presidential debates as the audition platform for the next-out party. If the Libertarians have not been successful at establishing a large base, they need to get that work done.”

Yep, we can't have people get on that stage whom the voters hate LESS than either the jack-asses or pachyderms. That'd simply be un-American, offering people real choices.

[Malcolm]

Here's something I'm already fucking tired of hearing.

Even as Clinton attempts to shatter what she has called "the highest, hardest glass ceiling," other women like Thomas are testing other, lower ceilings. There are many: Women in the U.S. remain significantly underrepresented at all levels of elected office.

So ... as of today there aren't enough women in office. Let's take a look at this:

According to exit polls, 53 percent of voters in the 2012 elections were women, which means that women determined the outcome of the presidential election.

Does anyone think that number is going down? Women were the major demographic difference that let Clinton destroy Dole. More women have been voting than men since 1980. Why isn't the question, "Are women voters ready to stop being such bitches and vote for a woman president?"

[TPRJones]

I'd want to see a study on win/loss rates for men versus women before I'd be willing to admit there's a problem. I suspect the real problem is that fewer women choose to run for office in the first place. In which case all these female pundits need to stop complaining about a ceiling and actually go run for office.

[Malcolm]

I suspect the real problem is that fewer women choose to run for office in the first place.

Hah. Sexist. The patriarchal system is keeping them down. You know, the one they own the majority vote in.

[Leisher]

Trump's convention bounce has him winning in the polls (on average).

[Vince]

Heh... they show Nate Silvers "Now-cast", but not his Nov forecast. Trump got the exact same 4 point bounce that Romney did. Not that I'm not impressed by that. I wasn't expecting him to do that well (especially given his speech).

This is an interesting election.

[Malcolm]

This is an interesting election.

Yeah, I always wondered what "Harold and Kumar Run for President" would be like.

[Malcolm]

Way to keep on top of it, North Carolina.

“.@timkaine wears a Honduras flag pin on his jacket but no American flag. Shameful,” read tweet from the North Carolina GOP account.
Mr. Kaine was in fact wearing a Blue Star Service pin in honor of his son, Nat, a Marine serving in Eastern Europe, a point raised by WNYT reporter Ben Amey.

[Vince]

To be fair, Tim Kaine scored a liberty rating of zero on the Conservative Review liberty scoring. To put that in perspective, Nancy Pelosi tripped over an 11% Liberty score. Tim Kaine is NOT a moderate (at least by his voting record). He's practically a communist.

[Leisher]

WikiLeaks releases DNC voicemails.

Sanders supporters might stage a walkout tonight.

Nice to see each party is a complete dumpster fire.

[Malcolm]

Eh ... until September 26th, I see a shitload of mediocrity and minor flux.

[Vince]

And to capitalize on this news, Trump appears to go after Bernie in an ad?

I'm at a complete loss as to what he's doing and how anyone outside of those dedicated Dems and Repubs are being swayed to do anything other than stay home November.