Ugly, bitter and stupid in no time...

for the Republicans, leaving them with as weak a candidate as possible.

To see some weakling repuke nominated and Trump as an indie. Democrat walks in the White House and repunks lose the Senate.

I agree with you.

Think about it. By the convention we will have had 10-12 months of watching the clown car hobble down the road, losing tires and whatever. Then in Cleveland, we get John Doe...and he (cuz I'm assuming the Repubs would NOT nominate a woman through normals business let alone the controversy of a brokered convention), he will have NO track record.

Sure, maybe some voting records and a lot of opinions but he'll have nothing from the primaries that he'll need to defend.

For the republicans...who could it be...no idea but I look to the military. These guys are, for the most part, squeaky clean and getting into a pissing contest with them is easily positioned as anti-vet or anti-American (cuz you know we ARE our military).

McCrystal comes to mind. And he's a favorite of the right because he got hammered for bad mouthing Obama.

Wes Clark - I know he had his shot at the brass ring but the times they are a changing and he might have been rehabilitated when the options are The Donald or TedMan.

Anyway - who the hell knows but you're absolutely right, better a moron we know than a moron we don't.

He's a Democrat. Really.

He feels like a Jim Webb Democrat. Why do I have this memory of him messing around in the republican primaries ?

I don't doubt you but I have always thought of him as a republican. Wonder why I missed that. thanks.

I liked him because of his record and because he could talk about Outkast.

Republican primaries". He was a candidate in 2004 for the Democratic nomination. He has a long list of Democratic candidate endorsements, including Hilary Clinton and Obama. He was also a Rhodes scholar (Economics, Philosophy, etc) as well as West Point graduate (at or near top of his class).

He has been fairly liberal on social and economic issues, including gay rights (and military service), pro-choice, healthcare for the uninsured (was not at the point of universal in 2004), environment and global warming, etc. He was critical of the Iraq War and the Bush tax cuts. He was not a good politician, though, and never mastered the consequences of soundbites, being taken out of context, etc. Yes, he had some conservative positions, too. I don't know that I'd compare him to Jim Webb.

I'd like to have a real choice, and not just one between "meh" and "oh dear gods no!"

If it's Hillary vs whatever the GOP comes up with, it will be a toss up between "oh dear gods noes!".

If the Base over there were to finally be able to get a really-real CONservative on the ticket (like Cruz, where NO ONE could ever claim he wasn't conservative ENOUGH), and that nominee had to stand on stage with a real FDR Liberal like SenSanders, that nominee would get their ass kicked so fucking hard it would destroy the GOP as a national party--and they would finally know beyond doubt that 20% is NOT a majority. They would spend the next quarter century awash in their own tears. The paymasters need 'more balanced' outcomes than that, in order to maintain the illusion that Sensible Woodchucks are the best outcome.

I say LET them nominate the most batshit insane, narcissistic, self-absorbed knownothing asshole they can find. LET them be dumb enough to put that person on stage opposite a Bernie Sanders or an Elizabeth Warren or (much as I might personally prefer otherwise, but I will give credit where it's been earned) a Hillary Clinton. Lets SERIOUSLY HAVE THAT DEBATE ABOUT WHAT THIS NATION VALUES. Because if they want to be dumb enough to pour gasoline on themselves, fuck em light that shit on fire and burn their conservative house DOWN TO THE BEDROCK.

...it's a tragedy that one of the two major political parties in this country will almost certainly nominate candidates that have abandoned the concept of actually governing.

Willard Romney and John Ellis Bush,now there is the ticket.

I think that is why he is still hanging in there. But, I wouldn't rule out JEB¡ either. TPTB really want JEB¡ Romney had such a poor showing last time out, I don't think anyone would suggest him seriously.

A real snoozefest.

Lowest turnout in history. Winner in a coin toss.

wish to push in Paul Ryan. I could see that happening. Or bringing back Mittens. Rubio can be VP for any of them.

of pushing a Jeb or anyone else in the cellar onto the ticket ahead of candidates with millions more votes and higher popularity? They couldn't possibly piss off voters any more if they tried, and despite the popular opinion that repub elites would do so anyway, there is no reason to believe they will.

has said they might push someone who'd been rejected, like Bush or Kaisich, expecting the pubs would fall in line to do battle behind him against us. Large numbers are loyal team players and also have an authoritarian streak, including the "fed-ups," and I still think they probably would do as told. The question is how many would come out in November.

Rubio, if he were second or third placed, is my main guess for someone to replace Trump.

Otherwise, a "new" person would have to be a big name, of course, no time to develop a brand. Paul Ryan does have the name and charisma -- and the extremism that does make him very popular with many big funders, including the Kochs, who backed him in 2012. Rubio would be their man too, though.

Even if Trump didn't go 3rd-party, the voters would be utterly alienated. It would be a GOP turn-out disaster.

If they go brokered, and pick a guy other than the one who won the primaries, the base will be angry.

If they have to go to a brokered convention they are free to choose ANY Republican, regardless of whether he'd been in the primaries. I think they'll choose someone who hasn't been in the 2016 clown car, and who isn't all that well-known, and who is definitely NOT Sarah Palin.

Since being governor has long been a stepping stone to being a Republican president, I looked at the Republican Governor's Association website and picked Bill Haslam, Governor of Tennessee. It could be just about any of them, or at least the ones who haven't tried running for president yet.

Haslam is fucking terrible. He refused to take money to expand Medicaid[thanks for the lack of healthcare, asshole], is currently pushing to replace workers at the university system with outsourced labor who will have to work for shitty pay and no benefits. Seriously, Haslam is about as vile as they come.

I know he is vile. His family ain't that great either. But right now, who else do they have? They'll want a governor because their opponent is going to be either a former Cabinet official or a sitting Senator, so they want to counter that with state-level executive experience. (We didn't take Palin's stint as a mayor seriously, and the GOP will show Bernie's stint as a mayor the same courtesy.) A LOT of GOP governors ran for president this time around, and the non-runners who are known, are known as scumbags. (Rick Scott, anyone?) So who do they have left? Haslam.

It might be REAL entertaining to pin his family's attempt to rip off every trucking company in America on Bill and watch him squirm.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/investigations/jimmy-haslams-849-million-pilot-flying-j-settlement-deal-awaits-approval-monday-in-federal-court

not for party insiders to condescendingly and greedily decide they are going to protect their cronies and monied interests by picking an appropriate puppet.

plus, bernie will pound the living snot out of trump in a ge

...they appoint someone like Ryan or Romney to be the nominee, despite Il Douche's big lead. Trump goes batshit crazy, tries to go Third party--but is unable to get onto the ballot in most states because of jerryrigged rules designed to prevent just such a thing happening. The Donald goes ballistic, sues everybody in sight, and a large proportion of the GOP electorate--and even some of the Dems--thinks he's been screwed. God knows what happens then. In the immortal words of John Dean: what a delightful prospect!

No matter who runs for which party this year, turnout is likely to be low. I just hope theirs is much lower.

Whomever comes out drawing the short straw in a brokered convention, it is bound to alienate 25 to 30 percent of the GOP base at minimum. And for years to come.

We win.

The PTB just want to make sure it's a moron who can be counted on to take orders. That eliminates Trump and Cruz.