I think he's given Democrats a lot of ammunition to attack him with, given the government shutdowns and whatnot. But, I don't think that makes him unelectable. I could see him still striking that sort of strident tone, but becoming more centrist about his views on what should be done. If he gets the chemistry right, I can see voters perceiving him as a strong can-do type that would chart a realistic but clearly conservative path forward. Really, when it comes to personalities, I think Cruz has the "It" factor none of these other guys do. He's got charisma, gravitas, intelligence and savvy. People can defer to him as a leader. Trump has the charisma but not the gravitas. That's really why I've been saying since forever that I'm afraid of Cruz winning. Because he probably would be an effective president, but going in a direction I don't want to go. With his mass, once it gains momentum there will be no stopping it!
One thing that Cruz and Rubio would have going for them is that it's kind of hard for a rich white woman from suburban Illinois to tell two guys who were raised by immigrants about how they don't know what they are talking about when it comes to immigration policy.
Sure, the polls don't clearly show it happening yet and both guys have lasted longer than expected. That doesn't change the fact both Carson and Trump are toast. It's amusing to watch people fret about them. In my opinion, Trump's attacks on Carson hurt him just as much as Carson and will hasten their mutual demise.
I read somewhere that Cruz had "audiographic" memory as opposed to "photographic"memory. Never heard of such a thing but this might be evidence of it.
In Ben Carson's world, Al Qaeda are not global jihadists... http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-carson-al-qaeda-paris-attacks-215950 Ben Carson wants to increase military intervention in Syria because he sees Islamic State militants as an existential threat to the United States, something he said was not an issue with Al Qaeda in 2003. “A lot of Americans really think back to 2003, and they remember Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda,” Carson explained at a Nevada rally on Sunday, according to MSNBC. “They say, ‘we never should have gone in there and destabilized it.’ And they may be right about that." “But here’s the problem, Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda at that time was not an existential threat to us. The global jihad movement is an existential threat. They want to destroy us and everything that has to do with us,” the retired neurosurgeon continued, even though Al Qaeda was the force behind the 9/11 attacks. ...
Now Carson's own advisors are saying he has no clue what he's talking about. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/u...ing-to-grasp-foreign-policy-advisers-say.html Ben Carson Is Struggling to Grasp Foreign Policy, Advisers Say Snippets: Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson — who leads in some Republican presidential polls — was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews with The New York Times that he had struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect. “Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,” Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to Mr. Carson on terrorism and national security, said in an interview. He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so “we can make him smart.” ... But the briefings do not always seem to sink in, Mr. Clarridge acknowledged. After Mr. Carson struggled on “Fox News Sunday” to say whom he would call first to form a coalition against the Islamic State, Mr. Clarridge called Mr. Williams, the candidate’s top adviser, in frustration. “We need to have a conference call once a week where his guys roll out the subjects they think will be out there, and we can make him smart,” Mr. Clarridge said he told Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams, one of Mr. Carson’s closest friends, who does not have an official role in the campaign, also lamented the Fox News interview. “He’s been briefed on it so many times,” he said. “I guess he just froze.”
Trump Trump Trump! Bahaha... maybe someone should introduce him to the 1st amendment. You know the one before the 2nd amendment. Donald Trump: 'Strongly consider' shutting mosques http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/16/politics/donald-trump-paris-attacks-close-mosques/ (CNN)Donald Trump on Monday suggested he would "strongly consider" shutting down mosques in the U.S. as part of the response to the terror attacks in Paris. "Well, I would hate to do it but it's something you're going to have to strongly consider," Trump said during an interview on MSNBC. "Some of the absolute hatred is coming from these areas...The hatred is incredible. It's embedded. The hatred is beyond belief. The hatred is greater than anybody understands."
Carson not only struggles with foreign policy, but apparently with domestic too... at least with the states. To be fair, it was his campaign staff, but... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/18/ben-carsons-campaign-made-a-u-s-map-and-put-a-bunch-of-states-in-the-wrong-place/
Three interesting things about that Trump quote: 1. It has received relatively little media exposure. 2.He is still in the race when you would think something so blatantly anti-Constitutional would immediately sink a candidate. 3. Related to #2, it seems to be resonating with a frighteningly large number of Americans.
Trump is immune to pretty much all the conventional rules of politics. He can virtually anything he wants and it doesn't hurt him. It's really a fascinating phenomenon - it will be really interesting to see how far this can carry him.
The GOP...so adamant about the 2nd amendment...completely ignore the 1st. Hypocrites that pick and choose what they want. I'm sure a lot of republicans in no way whatsoever agree with him, but you're not gonna see a single one come out and criticize him.
Probably been shared before, but what the hell. From The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/article/area-man-passionate-defender-of-what-he-imagines-c-2849
Serious question - How much longer do we have to deal with Trump as a contender? This is getting beyond ridiculous.
