[QUOTE=schickel;394018]Well, that was quick: [URL="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mitt-romney-2016-presidential-run/story?id=28604278"]Mitt Romney Says No to 2016 Presidential Run[/URL].[/QUOTE]The political version of a [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce"]dead cat bounce[/URL].

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;394007]I will start. :smile:

We need a law that limits how long pre-election campaigning/publicity/debate/etc. can be conducted. :smile:

A modest proposal:

No one is allowed to announce that they are running until 6 months before the election date. (yes; this is in conflict
with free speech)

[/QUOTE]

I wish this were possible, Dr. Silverman. Since we are violating one piece of the Bill of Rights- why not violate another? Any politician who announces his/her candidacy outside of this six month window shall be subjected to their choice of the following:
1) Close-range BB gun fire
2) Forced to sit in a chair with their hands tied while two dozen tarantulas are placed onto their lap

Any candidate that strays away from the issues during their campaign shall be subjected to standing in a pit of rattlesnakes for the amusement of the caucus that opposes them. Lastly, any candidate found to have taken money under the table, given fellatio to the Koch Brothers/Big Business/{insert interest group} or otherwise defaulted on their promise of public service shall be thrown into Mount Doom (leading to the probably extinction of the slimy species [I]Politicianus scumbagus[/I].

Now that I've had my fun... it is hard to understand how every single American is not completely jaded regarding politics.

[url]http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/jeb-bushs-dubious-new-pitch-i-am-my-own-man[/url]

[QUOTE]In fact, Philip Bump [URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/18/jeb-bushs-foreign-policy-team-is-eerily-familiar-in-1-venn-diagram/"]reported[/URL] that of the 21 people reportedly advising Jeb Bush, 19 are veterans of the first Bush administration, the second Bush administration, or in a few cases, both.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/sc-county-gop-if-you-ve-had-pre-marital-sex-you-can-t-be-a-republican[/url]

[QUOTE=chappy;396580][url]http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/sc-county-gop-if-you-ve-had-pre-marital-sex-you-can-t-be-a-republican[/url][/QUOTE]
Yeah, that will work. :rolleyes:
Ibid.:
[QUOTE]Before you can join the Laurens County Republican Party in South Carolina and get on the primary ballot, they ask that you pledge that you've never ever had pre-marital sex -- and that you will never ever look at porn again.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]From the Chronicle:

You must favor, and live up to, abstinence before marriage.

You must be faithful to your spouse. Your spouse cannot be a person of the same gender, and you are not allowed to favor any government action that would allow for civil unions of people of the same sex.

You cannot now, from the moment you sign this pledge, look at pornography.[/QUOTE]

Too Long; Don't Read:
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States"]List of federal political sex scandals in the United States[/URL], [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_and_local_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States"]List of state and local political sex scandals in the United States[/URL]

Newsflash! White American Males between the ages of 18 and 25, who self-identify as "Conservative" like Rand Paul!

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/02/28/rand-paul-wins-cpac-straw-poll-narrowly-topping-walker/?hpid=z1[/url]


Discerning readers may remember Paul as the Senator so full of shit that his toilets didn't work: [YOUTUBE]FAn1FWInBi0[/YOUTUBE]

They may also remember that The CPAC strawpoll rarely translates into electoral success.

[url]http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/judicial-elections-fundraising-115503.html[/url]

In-depth NC piece on the Hillary e-mail scandal:

[url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/no-secretary-state-not-get-privatize-email-not-even-hillary-clinton.html] No, the Secretary of State Does Not Get to Privatize Their Email, Not Even Hillary Clinton[/url]: [i]Is converting public property to private use what we expect and demand of a President?[/i]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;397131]In-depth NC piece on the Hillary e-mail scandal:

[URL="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/no-secretary-state-not-get-privatize-email-not-even-hillary-clinton.html"] No, the Secretary of State Does Not Get to Privatize Their Email, Not Even Hillary Clinton[/URL]: [I]Is converting public property to private use what we expect and demand of a President?[/I][/QUOTE]

:bangheadonwall: (I agree.)

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/04/06/jeb-bush-listed-himself-as-hispanic-on-voter-form/]Jeb Bush marked 'Hispanic' on Florida voter form[/url] | NYT

One commenter sums it nicely:

"Pretty ironic that he didn’t list himself as ‘Black'; if he had, he could have been purged from the voter rolls when the Republicans were trying to steal Florida 2000."

(Imagining how Jebbie might 'splain away if he *had* 'accidentally' voted while black: "Ich nicht bin Schwarze Neger, er der gut Führer von Kalifornia war. Ich ja bin Mexikaner - bitte votar mucho conmigo, amigos!")

Echoing the theme of a recent exchange of quips in the Lounge "Things that make you go Hmmm other than having learned how to purr..." thread:

[url=www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/campaign-2016-hillary-clintons-fake-populism-is-a-hit-20150416?page=2]Campaign 2016: Hillary Clinton's Fake Populism Is a Hit[/url] | Matt Taibbi, [i]Rolling Stone[/i]:
[quote]It doesn't matter that these [later "cooler heads must and will prevail" followup] op-eds usually come in the conservative or centrist press. They're part of a psychological cycle, designed to make voters think that the things that they really want, like tax fairness or prosecution of white collar crooks or ends to wars or illegal surveillance or torture or whatever, are just pie-in-the-sky aims that inevitably perish when they run into the "reality" of governance.

The campaign season is a time of promises. Election and subsequent rule, we are to understand, are a time of disappointments, coupled with the behind-the-scenes repayment in favors for financial support – usually described to us using more gentle names like "pragmatism" or "reality."[/quote]

And on the 'R' side of the Pharisaic-hypocrisy aisle:

[url=http://pando.com/2015/04/15/how-silicon-valley-almost-joined-the-confederacy-and-the-rand-paul-speechwriter-who-wishes-it-had/]How Silicon Valley almost joined the Confederacy; and the Rand Paul speechwriter who probably wishes it had[/url] | Mark Ames, [i]PandoDaily[/i]