US Presidential Election: Tuesday November 6th, 2012

Team Brian GB

Such are the absurdities of American Politics that we have not yet reached the midway point of Obama's first term in the White House though it is feasible to begin a thread on who will run the United States from 2013 to 2017.

There are so many potential Republican candidates there is no use listing them beyond Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. The most intriguing name I have heard of late is that of Donald 'the Donald' Trump who says he is considering a run - an interesting prospect.

Once the list of candidates become apparent I'll update the list of Republicans and courageous Democrats who challenge the President, what the status, whether they have formed an exploratory committee and what they are polling at I'll list also which helps in these sort of threads which can be short on clarity.

ha_rooney

I hope to God that dumbshit Palin does not get elected. I'd rather have Bush back.

I read on CNN a month or so back that the Democrats might consider an Obama/Clinton presidency with Biden taking over Clinton's role as secretary of state.

niMic

I can't think of anything more entertaining than if Palin became the choice. Unless I know a lot less about US politics than I think I do (always a very real danger), I can see her scaring almost all independents into the hands of the Democrats. Hell, she'll probably scare some Republicans into their hands.

Plechazunga

It will be Romney I reckon. I'd still back Obama against him, especially since the jobs situation ought to have improved somewhat by then.

If a third party candidate like Bloomberg runs though the Dems could be stuffed.

Team Brian GB

I thought he would get it two years ago.



That would be interesting, as I say Donald Trump has announced his interest in running though tentatively as a Republican.

Red Dreams

In this country we show how we can go from someone as dumb as Bush to someone as smart as Obama. Palin is not smarter than Bush, just more cunning. She is a hillbilly. So you can expect all the yokels and Kristain hypocrites to be rushing to the polls for her.

The interesting mix in all this would be if Bloomberg runs. He would make a very good President. But most probably will act as spoiler.

Opinion is split about who he will takes votes from. My guess is he will take more from the GOP if there is an absolute nut like Palin.

Plechazunga

I haven't seen any evidence that Palin is stupid. I've seen plenty that she's ignorant and uncurious.

I thought at the time it was stupid to drop out of the Alaska governorship, but so far it doesn't seem to have hurt her. It might still do, though...

rednev

What does the Caf make of Bobby Jindal?

I've noticed that over the past couple of weeks he's been pedalling the populist, pro-American values nonsense that Republicans love to hear, possibly lining himself up for a bid?

Personally, I think what the first two years of Obama's presidency has shown us is that conservative America just cannot handle a non-white man in the Whitehouse yet, so the prospect of an Indian-American being picked to oust him seems out of the question, even though most Republicans can't get enough of what he has to say. I do think he'd be a perfect shield for Palin in the form of vice president on the ticket if she were to get selected to run, though. If she does go for the presidency, the racism that has come to be associated with the Tea Party movement is something that she will have to shake off if she wants to stand any chance of winning.

Alex

I'd be surprised if Romney doesn't run he is ahead of Obama in the polls they have been doing

Red Dreams

I'm sure he will run, but no way will he win the nomination....too wishy washy...on all sides of any argument...and just simply he is not a 'lunatic'...


the GOP is owned by the Teaparty freaks....

they may have won the last election because of the Dems not turning up in a mid term and the highly energized loonies on the GOP side, but that will not be the case in a Presidential year.

Excal

Romney will run, but polls 23 months before the election are utterly meaningless, especially between a guy whose name doesn't even get mentioned outside of "Who will run for the nomination?" stories and an incumbent President.

Raoul

Realistically speaking, its Romney's to lose - assuming he does infact decide to run. He has a good chance of reuniting the three pillars of American conservatism (fiscal, social, and military). Palin will probably run but drop out at some point after she realizes that she can't hide behind FoxNews, and will at some point have to make herself vulnerable to the major networks, at which point of course, she will lose her momentum after saying something utterly daft. Huckabee will probably run as well and could end up on a ticket with Romney.

Neutral

Complete fucking fruitloop. The man is not stable...he has publicly uttered all kinds of mental things.

Only people that are proud of him are republicans who want to show they aren't racist, and Indians who aren't really intune with American politics...so they mistakenly think he is something to be proud of.

He and Palin would be the funniest ticket ever...

Raoul

He's not as bad as some make him out to be. Unfortunately for him, he's been clumsily mismarketed by others in the GOP as some sort of Republican Obama. He doesn't have a snowballs chance in the Presidential race mind you. Americans are a bit weirded out by Indian guys who talk like they're from the Dukes of Hazzard.

Neutral

I went to an event a couple of years ago for ex pats from the subcontinent, and he was the guest of honor. He couldn't stop berating everyone there for their lack of integration.

It was the dumbest thing I've ever seen, the room was full of successful doctors, engineers, businessmen, some were community leaders and others something as american as members of the PTA at their childrens schools etc etc. Integration is not an issue like it is in the UK..yet he as guest of honour decided this was the platform to use...If he did it in a constructive manner, I'd maybe cut him some slack...but he was downright condescending.

Obama will be praying that it is anyone but Romney...I think Romney could very well defeat Obama if he got the nomination, he does appeal to a lot of swing voters...

Excal

Jindal's got nothing. He got tagged as the Republican Obama because he's young and brown-skinned. After Obama's first address as President, they put him up to do their rebuttal. He walked out to this cheap-looking faux-Presidential podium in a smallish room and grinned his way through a bland and pointless speech, coming off as a total lightweight. (The most common comparison at the time was to Kenneth from "30 Rock")

While the tone and his cheesy smile got most of the attention, he failed on a substantive level as well. He tried to make hash about wasteful spending, and managed to completely fail in doing so:

A) Ever wonder how many cars the US Government owns? According to the US General Services Administration, as of 8/3/2008, the number was 642,233. And I'd imagine a lot of those can't be tiny subcompacts. High-security vehicles for VIPs, law enforcement vehicles with some possibly extensive security upgrades. Off-road vehicles for Federal rangers in places where Chelsea tractors just won't do. If that $300M went for cars at an average $20,000 apiece (not a bad price, all things considered,) that would buy 15,000 vehicles, or enough to replace 2.33% of the government's fleet.

B) Presumably he picked "Las Vegas to Disneyland" because it sounds like you're picking up a trainful of kids fresh off of Space Mountain and dropping them off at a brothel, but it's total fabrication. There is no proposed high speed rail line from anywhere in the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas. In fact, the only HSR line proposed anywhere in California is from LA to San Francisco, and is a project that Congressman John Mica (R-FL), who will chair the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has called a project that merits grant money.

C) "Something called 'volcano monitoring'." See, you can argue whether or not Obama is a good President or not, but no one who isn't an idiot bothers to try and claim that the President isn't smart. I don't think a Governor of a state hit by the most destructive natural disaster in the country's recent history who apparently either doesn't think monitoring for potential natural disasters is a good use of resources or simply doesn't know what it is is going to be able to make that claim. The really impressive part about this bit of nincompoopery was the timing:

January 30, 2009: Scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) warned that an eruption of Mt. Redoubt, an active volcano located about 110 miles southwest of the city of Anchorage, was imminent, sending experienced Alaskans shopping for protection against a dusty shower of volcanic ash that could descend on south-central Alaska.

January 31, 2009: Volcanic earthquakes increased to several per hour, and a large hole in the glacier on the side of the mountain was spotted. Scientists began to monitor seismic data from the mountain twenty-four hours a day in an effort to warn people in nearby communities. A flyover conducted by the AVO detected "significant steaming from a new melt depression at the mouth of the summit crater near the vent area of the 1989-90 eruption.

February 24, 2009: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal says the above quotation, adding "Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."

March 15, 2009: Seismic activity at Redoubt increased. An AVO observation flight reported that a steam and ash plume rose as high as 15,000 feet (4,600 m) above sea level and produced minor ash fall on the upper south flank of Redoubt. On the basis of this change in activity, AVO increased the level of concern and alert level to ORANGE/WATCH.

March 22, 2009: Mt. Redoubt "erupts explosively". Over the next two weeks, the volcano would continue to erupt and spew ash, with the ash cloud on March 26 observed to be as high as 65,000 feet. Tephra particulates from these events would fall on the cities of Anchorage and Valdez.

crappycraperson

I think that makes him for perfect for VP run. Tea party folks can then claim they are not racists since they are also voting him in.

Neutral

More Palin foreign policy expertise

Dear Leader will be pleased.

Team Brian GB

A poll came out yesterday on re-election for the President: 36% say they would vote for him, 48% say they won't whilst 16% are on the fence.

Whilst at the same time a poll says that 45% of democrats want the President to face a challenge in the primaries.

holdsteady

Sleepers to watch out for: Thune in South Dakota and Gov Perry in Texas.

I think Thune could be the Republican's Obama.

Team Brian GB

Thune has a massive forehead.

niMic

He's also of Norwegian descent.

Unfortunately, practically every Norwegian who went to the Mid-West ended up being an evangelical christian, so there's that...

Commadus

Bobby Jindal is a slimey cunt using the BP disaster for his own political aims - absolute slimeball of a man so should do well for GOP.

Team Brian GB

So what do we all think of Sarah Palin today? Anyone else and you'd say it was a simple mindless mistake, with her you just do not know.

Commadus

What she do now?

JezChan

Pointless. The world's going to end before you even have a President-Elect.

Neutral

not with her..she is completely clueless. Even if Dubya had done the same thing, I'd put it down to a slip of the tongue, with her, you know it is her actual lack of knowledge.

Excal

"Simple" and "mindless" is pretty much Sarah Palin's problem.

wr8_utd

Talking of her :

Replying to questions from the anchor, Palin, a potential candidate for the 2012 US Presidential poll, said, "Obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies."



PS: Oops it's already been mentioned here.

ha_rooney

Just read the North Korea comment,

Nistelrooy10

I'm going to stay away from political campaigns for a year and a half.

mjs020294

You might have to sell your TV and radio and quit reading papers and the Internet then.

Actually I would like to see Palin running: she is half decent eye candy and the comedic value would make the campaigns worth watching.

mjs020294

BBC News - Sarah Palin makes gaffe, saying North Korea is US ally

Cali Red

First there is still an unbelievable amount of time until the election in the world of politics. And even if Palin does run she'll never get the nomination. She's still toxic at this point. There aren't enough repubs behind her.

I'd think Romney and maybe Boehner depending on how the next 12-16 months go.

Obama's biggest problem could come from his own party if the economy doesn't turn around and/or he fails to move a bit more to the center.

mjs020294

I think Obama will be just fine we can still remember GW Bush.

Palin would just make the whole thing more fun in a farcical sort of way, which is how I like my politics.

Red Dreams

if Obama moves anymore 'to the center', he might as well join the GOP

Raoul

It should be a good election. I'm not naive enough to believe that Obama is unbeatable, especially during an economic dip.

Red Dreams

The economy will improve. A lot will depend on the platform the GOP nominee will run on.

Its not just about Obama being re-elected, but about retaining teh Senate and taking back the house. Certainly not unachievable if the economy improves.

Suedesi

Obama will win it comfortably. I am willing to bet money on it.

Team Brian GB

Murmourings are afoot in Washington that the President is launching his campaign for re-election as early as March, and will base his headquarters in Chicago.

The Fix - Obama shifts political staff, will launch campaign in March or April