I never said anything about interference. Non-encouragement is not in the same category as interference. I leave the interference to the Ted Cruz's and Katherine Harris's of the world.

"I'm more interested in promoting the candidate that I want rather than going negative and making everyone bitter and resentful at their government."

The GOP and the talk radio loving dittoheads who support them make a living off of making everyone bitter and resentment at their government. So until they disappear from the face of the planet I will treat them how they treat everyone else.

@Putin, I'm encouraging everyone to vote. It happens to be the case that I was talking to KC specifically, but there are people on our side of the aisle who think similarly to him. I'm also preaching to a tiny group of people on the webDiplimacy forum. If I were in a position to actually be pushing the importance of voting to the masses, I'd do the pragmatic thing and focus my efforts on those who agree with me. This is not that position.

@KC, I agree that the two party system sucks, and my opinions don't align exactly with the Democratic party either, but the majority of the (running) people I'd be interested in seeing in office run as Democrats, so I see no reason not to be a Democrat and get my opinion counted in any small way that I can.

@ghug: One reason to register with the third party of your choice is ballot access. States usually require all political parties to meet an arbitrary minimum threshold percentage of all registrations for them to automatically be eligible to field candidates for office in statewide general elections. Alternately, the third party candidate may need to achieve a certain threshold for POTUS of Governor.

If that fails, the third party needs to do a lot of expensive groundwork getting petitions signed that allow them to be on the ballot.

Now, you may have to sometimes change your party registration to one you don't like in order to vote for your favorite candidate, but party registration is usually flexible enough that you can change it right back (which begs the question, why bother?).

I somehow think the media is going to start propping up Jeb Bush now.

Nah, they're gonna give Trump some undeserved love and try to crash Cruz.

Trump's economic and social positions are just what the nation needs, but his plan to cut the EPA budget bothers me.

I wish the GOP would return to the 1920s, when it supported environmental conservation and big business.

Those don't go together anymore.

That's too bad. They did then, and I don't see why they can't now.

leon1122: Why? Because big business operates on a business model that encourages burying environmental concerns.

I think even just the word 'big' offers a strong implication that big business isn't going to be putting environmental concerns anywhere high up on the priority list with the goals of maximum profit and expansion.

@Putin, how exactly would you say I am a fascist?

I think he would say it quickly and curtly, with a hint of disdain.

The more I think of how exactly he would say it, I imagine him saying it in a French accent (even though he's American), a French accent would add a sense of flair and drama to the phrase "You are a fascist!"

^^^True

I said the GOP and its base were fascist, because they support registering and/or banning minorities, and rely on racist demagoguery and thuggery to win votes.

How exactly would you say it though, eh?

Answer the friggin' question, Rubio !

That Rubio-Christie exchange is priceless.

Rubio's 3x verbatim repeat of his script is so awful. I thought it was edit-job joke at first. But no, he was really that feeble in a moment of golden opportunity.

Putin33: I'd say you're missing other values or beliefs of many Republicans that are core pillars of fascism. For instance, the belief that some countries or people are inherently superior to others, the value placed on blind obedience to foreign policy objectives and the value placed on order (as in racial conformity, perhaps what you were getting at) add to the scary picture. However, most Republicans are still not true fascists.

Militarism too, particularly the patriotic militarism that the US has cultivated so well.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/10/hillary-earns-more-new-hampshire-delegates-than-sanders-after-loss/

Such is the reality when the party puts its own interests over those of its voters.

and you say USA is democratic (not that my country is democratic either, in spite of being classified so too by USA standards)

If super delegates rip this nomination away from Bernie and give it to Hillary, they hand the general election to the Republicans.

Lol, no they won't. Hillary will win the general election over any ridiculous Republican candidate. Via super delegates or not.

@y2k: What do you base that on?

Hillary, as a moderate centrist, is far, far more likely to win the general election than Sanders.

Much though I like him and would want to see him do well, it's clear that Sanders would be fighting a very difficult struggle against bogey words like "socialist", which is poison in America, where that word still reminds too many generations of the Cold War and Soviet villains.

Barrack was labeled a socialist but he won twice. I don't think you guys have a very solid idea of what americans value.

Barack*