The Sam Spade Memorial Good Post Gallery

[MT Treasurer]

I suppose the key to the question is would Iraq have occurred under a Gore presidency. (Afghanistan would occur regardless if 9/11 still happened). Given his vote for the Gulf War (at a time when the Democratic base was rallied against it) and his constant pushing for strikes on Iraq as vice president, it's not totally out of the question that Gore might have invaded Iraq.

YES.

I would even go as far as to say that up to when Bush became President Gore might have been the biggest cheerleader for war against Hussein.

In fact on the 1992 Campaign Trail one of his favorite memes was to bash George HW Bush for "not going all the way" in Iraq and punishing the "vicious tyrant" Sadaam Hussein.  His comments in the following video are probably one of the few real sincere moments I've seen from him in fact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDitSbkQKIs

Oh, that's unfair you say?  1992 is too early?  Well how about the 2000 Presidential Election, where he pretty much defended his record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chn1qAn1f3w

Oh how quickly people forget.

[MT Treasurer]

Write-in unless Hillary picks Warren as her running-mate.

Dude, you seriously want to live with President Drumpf? You don't even have the excuse that your State won't be in play.

No, a write-in does not equal a vote for Trump.  I don't like Sanders that much and Hillary is even worse.  If the Democrats want my vote, they should've run someone worth voting for.  I don't need an excuse for casting a protest vote, it's a perfectly legitimate use of one's vote.  I have an open mind and want to be convinced that Hillary's not as bad I think (obviously Trump is way worse, but that's beside the point), but that hasn't happened yet.  So with all due respect, folks like BRTD, Bedstuy, and yourself can take your entitled, patronizing whining and stick it where the sun don't shine   The Democratic Party isn't entitled to my vote and neither is Hillary. 

Try making a case for Hillary.  It'd also be nice to see her supporters acknowledge and address the legitimate concerns about her (such as her hawkishness, her use of race-baiting, the e-mail scandal, etc) instead of just acting like she's the messiah.  FTR, I do think she has to deal with far more crap than many politicians due to the fact that she's a woman, but there are plenty of legitimate criticisms that her supporters seem unable or unwilling to address.

[MT Treasurer]

He certainly does have a point about New Hampshire women. NH men haven't voted majority Democratic for at least as long as 2004, while NH women have been trending Democratic since at least 2000. 52% in 2000, 54% in 2004, 61% in 2008, 58% in 2012 and 60% in 2014 (Hassan). Men in 2014 clearly tried to thwart Hassan by voting 55% against her!

So they are definitely powering Democratic success there, while those stubborn male specimens refuse to concede to the glory of Climbing Maggie's Democratic New Hampshire fiefdom.

[MT Treasurer]

Trump's supporters are the people the establishment have abused and lied to for 30 years in exchange for their votes. There are a number of hateful people in that group yes, but many of them are tired of having their issues ignored. The neoliberal agenda has ruined their lives, just like it has ruined many others and these are the voters that make up a substantial portion of the party, especially in the states that are trending Republican relative to the national average. The Republicans cannot keep tring to impose an Orange County, CA agenda on a Kentucky/MO/Indiana Party.

Jmfcst used to say whoever won his type of voter (high end/Evangelical/Sunbelt) was the nominee of the party. Now, the base GOP voter is a lower middle class guy in the suburbs of St. Louis. These people exist by the millions and in states that offer the paths of least resistance to GOP victory (The South and Midwest), therefore they now have outsized influence in the nominating process.

I will say again, Trump won this nomination when all the establishment candidates jumped on board the open borders band wagon. If you put all your eggs in the wrong basket, don't be surprised if people reject it. Romney was smart, realizing his path to the nomination was to go populist on trade and hard line on immigration. Bush, Rubio and Kasich realized the hard way what Romney calculated in 2007. This is also what I tried to explain to you way back when you were all gaga for Jon Huntsman.

This is the Republican Party. You cannot suppress its current base demographics, or you will end up with another Trump. If you think you can pull that off without consequences just as Jeb Bush tried, than clearly you have learned nothing and forgotten everything from the 2016 cycle.

[MT Treasurer]

Bernie is the Democrat who is built the worst for Virginia...and Trump is the Republican who is built the worst for the state as well.

Hard to know.  I'd give a slight advantage to Bernie though. 

Why do you guys think Bernie was such a terrible fit for VA?  Repressed black vote?  What exactly is the theory here?

The reason NOVA swung heavily towards Clinton in some areas was because the intelligence and establishment community was strongly against Trump... not because they loved Clinton.  Bernie was a bit more of a wild card than Clinton but much less of a wild card than Trump, so they would have still swung to Bernie.  Couple that with a diverse electorate and a generic Democrat easily wins the state despite massive rural turnout downstate.  There are simply not enough heavily Republican areas in the state to counteract NOVA.  Hillary didn't inspire massive turnout and NOVA was still way too much despite Trump inspiring massive turnout in the rural areas.  Virginia is a perpetual lost cause for Republicans, they have just enough votes to make it within 4 points but no more votes than that.