I'm tempted to say (hope?) that we'd get a 1912 situation in 2016, Paul and the GOP nominee splitting the vote with Hillary winning out (and you and Boehner can rant on and on about Benghazi, krellin, the fact remains--like it or not, barring a huge upset, the lady's running as the Democratic nominee in 2016 and would be a powerhouse among non-conservatives...a female candidate who unlike Sarah "I Can Shoot a Moose in Russia from My House, Eh?" Palin...yeah...Hillary has the credentials to back up a run. Doesn't mean the GOP can't or won't muddy up those heels and pantsuit of hers, that'll happen with any candidate and Hillary has a long political history to use as ammo, but even so...she's gonna run, and if she does, she's gonna be a powerful opponent, and a credible one.)

And semck beat me to it, lol.

Mitch Daniels should run and grab the GOP nomination.

This hypothetical has virtually no chance of occurring.

I'd say less then no chance PE. Rand Paul isn't stupid and knows far more about how to play politics then the rest of us.

Like his father always did, he'll end up endorsing whomever wins the republican primaries knowing full well that its the lesser of two evils. Its the smarter play.

I'm not sure why you expect Rand Paul to hand Hillary "what difference does it make" Clinton the election.

*obi, I'm not sure...

"Rand Paul isn't stupid"

Right off the bat we have a disagreement. ;)

Though I will say that I think we have more of a chance now for a Third Party candidate than in recent years because of Paul and his Tea Party/Libertarian ilk (not conflating the two, just saying that those factions growing and their friction with the Religious Right, Big Business Republicans and Old Guard Republicans may be enough to cause splits...Ted Cruz had a war going on with other Congressional Republicans during the government shutdown...if not Paul, I think another Tea Partyer might fly in the face of the GOP and run.)

"I'm not sure why you expect Rand Paul to hand Hillary "what difference does it make" Clinton the election."

See: 1912 Election and what happens when voting bases are split between two candidates.

And elaborate on your "what difference does it make" comment?

"Like his father always did, he'll end up endorsing whomever wins the republican primaries "

Ron Paul didn't endorse whoever won the Republican primaries. Definitely not in 2012 or 2008, and I'm fairly certain he didn't before that, either. Rand Paul's endorsement of Romney in 2012 was a source of great discontent among Paulistas, even though he'd promised to endorse the 2012 presidential nominee while he was running for the senate in 2010.

I’ve made this argument and I’ll make it again: Tea Party *is* the third party option. Only difference is that unlike other (stupid) third party attempts, which try to win on the national ballot (or “final election” of whatever race they are in) and inevitably end up splitting the vote with whomever they are most closely aligned, the 3rd party Tea Party acknowledges that they are most like Republicans, and thus fights them at the Primary Level – thus, if they win, they displace the “second” party Republican candidate with the Third party Tea Party candidate, and thus garner the full support of the displaced 2nd party. It has been an intelligent and effective strategy that has caused majot disruption in the Rpublican party (thank god…Republcunts suck ass in their modern manifestation).

The only problem arises when bitchy 2nd party Repubicans can’t handle the bloody nose at the primary and turn against their own, run independent or simply fail to provide any financial backing from the party mechanism, even thought the 3rd party Tea Party candidate will run as a Republican and will CAUCUS as a Republican, thus keeping power away from the democrats, whom they are most different from.

But make no mistake about it – Tea Party *is* the third party in US politics.

Everybody is talking about elections in U.S. and I'm just sitting here, in a country whose voting system isn't absolutely insane...

"The only problem arises when bitchy 2nd party Repubicans can’t handle the bloody nose..."

Can't handle the bloody nose? Who wants to get punched in the face by supposed allies and made vulnerable vs. the opposing party?

Or, phrased the good old-fashioned way--

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Just a bloody nose? Mark my words, two groups of Congresspeople are in big, big trouble this midterm--

Moderate Republicans and Obamacare Democrats/Dems in Red States

The Left is going to have to deal with fallout from Obamacare (whether or not it works long-term, in the short term, it was always going to piss people off and cost some Congresspeople their jobs, and that referendum day is coming) and the Right?

Polls have repeatedly shown atrociously-low approval ratings for Congress, and they likewise have shown the GOP getting blame for more issues such as the Shutdown last year...but the Tea Party? They'll be fine. Tea Party Republicans shouted and screamed because they knew they were playing to the krellin constituency--people who would elect them for, among other things, their shouting and screaming vs. Obama.

Tea Party Republicans could take a literal dump on the White House lawn and they'd see a 5-point popularity spike...while the nation saw its cumulative IQ dip a point or two, of course.

So it's Moderate Republicans, the ones that were more interested in, oh, actually reaching a budget deal rather shouting and screaming and shutting down the government and sending people home without pay for those days the way the Tea Party prats did--it's the Moderate GOP that has big problems ahead...

And that's a HELL of a lot more than just "a bloody nose" to be bitchy about.

Both parties are moving to the poles, the GOP in particular moving ever farther towards a more extreme Right--we have the krellin constituency to blame for that...and to thank for that, because the extreme Right STILL isn't an inclusive club, and I'll go on record again--

If the Republicans, in ANY iteration--Libertarian, Tea Party, Religious Right, Big Business, you name it--if they don't move more towards the center on social issues in particular and not just start embracing some of the groups in the Obama/Clinton Coalition, but actively making those groups WANT to vote for them...

You'll see the 2012 election happen all over again in 2016. You will.

Women voters, young voters, Latinos, blacks, Asian-Americans, Jews, gays and lesbians...

If they don't flip two or more of those in their favor, they're screwed. Period.

If they don't change their stance on immigration, they won't flip Latinos...
If they keep challenging voting laws they won't flip Latinos OR blacks...
If they keep railing against the LGBT community they can kiss that group goodbye...

You cannot win with just the White Christian Male demographic alone, krellin.

Sorry--you ESPECIALLY can't win with just the ANGRY White Male Christian demo.

There is no possible outcome in the 2016 presidential race where a Republican wins, with or without the contributions of Rand Paul or anything else.

The dems will get 4 more years to accomplish very little.

Obi, as you are a dyed-in-the-wool mind-number robotic Libtard, your analysis of Republipuke politics is...

tldnr...

You are like all the idiotic Democrat talking head morons on TV trying to advise Republicans on how to win elections. Obvious moron is obvious.

Further to the point, any moron (read Obi) trying to predict the outcome of the 2016 elections before the 2014 mid-terms have even taken place (in which even Libtard talking heads are saying the Demoncrats will get royally ass-fucked) is just another poo-flinging ravenous clown not worthy of attention.

Go away Obi.

^It's my thread, krellin, lol, no one's forcing you to stay...

Mute me, if it bothers you--the clearer the WebDip air and the more sanity for me.

"You are like all the idiotic Democrat talking head morons on TV trying to advise Republicans on how to win elections."

Well, somebody has to, right? I mean, besides Karl Rove. :3

Obi- go away. You are a moron.

Did you get *all* your talking points for Democrat web sites?

Why are you people so obsessed with "parties?" It seems absolutely ridiculous to me that all of your political ideals are matched by one of two parties.

Please don't get me started on the overall retardicism of Municipal politics.

All of you people are so fucked up.

Lando, you apparently have no idea how the government of the US runs. The Congress and Senate are controlled by the party in power in whichever body you are talking about...and by control, I mean quite literally they control it. In the Senate, for example, Harry Reid has spent about 10 years *not* bringing various pieces of legislation to the floor for a vote, and refusing to allow Republicans to offer amendments to legislation.

The party in power gets to Chair the various committees, which is where a lot of legislation gets stuck (never to see the floor for a vote).

So parties are the power structures in US government, and the parties in power *truly* wield real power.

THAT is why we are so obsessed with parties.

As if whatever fucked up pretend government your country has is any better....lol

As it relates to a thrid party, there is no national power structure in place to back a third party candidate, thus no (or very little) money. Further, national debates are often controlled by the parties, with rules stating that a candidate needs to have x% representation or whatever in various states to join debates (which is just horrifying in concept that the two parties can block out the third party because they don't have enough representation...which they'll never get if they can't win votes by being in elections that they win by being in the debates...that they can't get in to...).

Of course, the Nation MEDIA is *fully* complicit in keeping third parties out of the debates....they don't HAVE to televise a debate if they feel the platform (i.e. excluded third parties) is fraudulent...but...the media is just another wing of (generally) the Democrat party, except for Fox News, which is the singular Republican media outlet (versus ABC,NBS, CBS, CNN, MSNBC. as the Demoncrat operatives)

Bottom line - just because YOU personally, Lando, are ignorant/stupid about how the party structure in US politics works, doesn't mean it's bad -- it just means that you are stupid/ignorant.

So instead of just belittling and trying to insult...you COULD try to educate yourself. (WHAT!?!? GASP!! What a concept...)

"retardicism"

If this isn't a word yet it needs to be.

Here's some American political education, children. Courtesy of Chris Hedges

"The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or “extraordinary rendition,” restore habeas corpus or halt the warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of citizens. It will not push through significant environmental reform, regulate Wall Street or end our relationship with private contractors that provide mercenary armies to fight our imperial wars and produce useless and costly weapons systems. The sad reality is that all the well-meaning groups and individuals who challenge our permanent war economy and the doctrine of pre-emptive war, who care about sustainable energy, fight for civil liberties and want corporate malfeasance to end, were once again suckered by the Democratic Party. They were had. It is not a new story. The Democrats have been doing this to us since Bill Clinton. It is the same old merry-go-round, only with Obama branding. And if we have not learned by now that the system is broken, that as citizens we do not matter to our political elite, that we live in a corporate state where our welfare and our interests are irrelevant, we are in serious trouble. Our last hope is to step outside of the two-party system and build movements that defy the Democrats and the Republicans. If we fail to do this, we will continue to undergo a corporate coup d’etat in slow motion that will end in feudalism."

You people are morons.

Mitch Daniels should run and grab the GOP nomination.

+1 for bo

To the "parties are stupid" talk from Lando, and surprisingly emotional, IMO, response from Krellin - I like that picture: http://www.lolwtfcomics.com/upload/uploads/1362561914.png

And btw, yes, your whole political system is incredibly messed up, utterly insane and I have no idea how a country with such long democratic traditions still didn't make up its mind to change it's voting system. You know, there are several bad voting systems and first past the post is one of the worst of them because it strongly encourages two-party system. But yours? Your system is the worst possible version of that, were you actually don't even have to have the most votes to win, you just have to win in the right states. How are you guys still a country, seriously?

Never mind my euro-faggy poor grammar : )

"It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush."

That's wholly unfair--we kill discriminately...

Why, discrimination is one of the things America does best, why do you think we only bomb countries with oil and brown-skinned people in them now?

#KosovoDoesntCount #krellindoesntcount

And b it's a good thing none of us live in Russia--why, this law would take away almost all of krellin's vocabulary!

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-cracks-down-swearing-arts-media-164805298.html