So...I'm Thinking About Next U.S. Presidential Election

[Imran Siddiqui]

Minimize the number of debates? There are SIX of them planned.

[DinoDoc]

Warren met privately with 'Draft Warren' supporters

[kentonio]

Warren met privately with 'Draft Warren' supporters

So you didn't bother actually reading your own article then?

In an hourlong meeting with her staff and a 30-minute meeting with Warren, the group of about a half-dozen top progressive activists — including three who were active in the “Draft Warren” movement — did not discuss the draft campaign. Instead, the conversation focused on issues of social and racial justice. They highlighted specific issues the senator can use to influence the presidential debate in 2016 and, they hope, push Hillary Clinton to the left on issues including police brutality, immigration reform, the privatization of prisons, and reducing naturalization fees to promote naturalization, among other issues.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The funny part is that Hillary Clinton has already articulated (somewhat) her position on police brutality and immigration reform and they are probably as left as any progressive could hope for.

In addition, Warren has already endorsed Clinton and if Warren did want to go back on that endorsement, she's missed her chance - Bernie Sanders jumped into her slot.

[Sava]

I thought Warren endorsed Clinton already?

[Sava]

Yeah, what Imran said

[Imran Siddiqui]

Warren met privately with 'Draft Warren' supporters

Actually I had a thought. This was in reference to an article by some progressive sort who was imploring all of the "Draft Warren" supporters to face the facts and start working for Bernie Sanders rather than wait for someone who wasn't going to run to run - I wonder if this meeting was part of Warren's plan to support Clinton, who she has already endorsed. As long as the Draft Warren folks still think there is a chance that Warren may jump into the fray at some point, they won't be volunteering or donating to Sanders. It could be a brilliant pro-Hillary gambit (or maybe I'm just watching too much "House of Cards" ).

[giblets]

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush would have authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as his brother and then-president George W. Bush did, he told Fox News' Megyn Kelly in an interview to be aired Monday.

“I would have [authorized the invasion], and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody. And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got,” the likely 2016 presidential contender said.

As a senator from New York, Clinton voted in favor of the invasion — a decision she has since said was wrong.

The mistakes, Bush argued, were in the decisions made in the aftermath: “Once we invaded and took out Saddam Hussein, we didn’t focus on security first.”

He said George W. Bush agrees that this was a blunder, "so just for the news flash to the world, if they’re trying to find places where there’s big space between me and my brother, this might not be one of those.”

The former Florida governor's comments came just days after he told a private gathering that his brother was his most influential adviser of U.S.-Israel policy. “If you want to know who I listen to for advice, it’s him,” Jeb Bush said, according to four people who were present at the session with financiers in New York.

Iraq is tricky territory for the younger Bush. Polls consistently show that a vast majority now believe that the war, which lasted from 2003 to 2011 and cost nearly 4,500 American lives, was not worth it. It remains the most controversial element of George W. Bush's legacy.

Their father, former president George H.W. Bush, also went to war in Iraq, in 1991. But that engagement lasted only months.

In his biggest foreign policy speech to date, an address in February to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Jeb Bush largely avoided the subject of Iraq, mentioning the country only in passing.

He said he had been fortunate to have both a father and brother who had served in the Oval Office,

“I recognize that as a result, my views will often be held up in comparison to theirs,” he said. “But I am my own man.”

Jeb Bush added that his approach to geopolitics would be shaped by “my own thinking and my own experiences.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/10/jeb-bush-says-he-would-have-invaded-iraq/?postshare=6041431279380874

Awesome, can't wait for this guy to run against Clinton

[giblets]

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush would have authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as his brother and then-president George W. Bush did, he told Fox News' Megyn Kelly in an interview to be aired Monday.

“I would have [authorized the invasion], and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody. And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got,” the likely 2016 presidential contender said.

As a senator from New York, Clinton voted in favor of the invasion — a decision she has since said was wrong.

The mistakes, Bush argued, were in the decisions made in the aftermath: “Once we invaded and took out Saddam Hussein, we didn’t focus on security first.”

He said George W. Bush agrees that this was a blunder, "so just for the news flash to the world, if they’re trying to find places where there’s big space between me and my brother, this might not be one of those.”

The former Florida governor's comments came just days after he told a private gathering that his brother was his most influential adviser of U.S.-Israel policy. “If you want to know who I listen to for advice, it’s him,” Jeb Bush said, according to four people who were present at the session with financiers in New York.

Iraq is tricky territory for the younger Bush. Polls consistently show that a vast majority now believe that the war, which lasted from 2003 to 2011 and cost nearly 4,500 American lives, was not worth it. It remains the most controversial element of George W. Bush's legacy.

Their father, former president George H.W. Bush, also went to war in Iraq, in 1991. But that engagement lasted only months.

In his biggest foreign policy speech to date, an address in February to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Jeb Bush largely avoided the subject of Iraq, mentioning the country only in passing.

He said he had been fortunate to have both a father and brother who had served in the Oval Office,

“I recognize that as a result, my views will often be held up in comparison to theirs,” he said. “But I am my own man.”

Jeb Bush added that his approach to geopolitics would be shaped by “my own thinking and my own experiences.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/10/jeb-bush-says-he-would-have-invaded-iraq/?postshare=6041431279380874

Awesome, can't wait for this guy to run against Clinton

[N35t0r]

Will he run twice?

[Dinner]

The funny part is that Hillary Clinton has already articulated (somewhat) her position on police brutality and immigration reform and they are probably as left as any progressive could hope for.

In addition, Warren has already endorsed Clinton and if Warren did want to go back on that endorsement, she's missed her chance - Bernie Sanders jumped into her slot.

Lots of people like Hillary's stated position on those topics but doubt the position is heart felt (instead of simply tactical; she loves to follow the polls) and doubt even more her willingness to really fight on those issues instead of simply making a half hearted public speech and then giving up declaring she tried.

[giblets]

Map of states by Cook Partisan Voting Index:

Spoiler:

All the states that are colored blue add up to 272 electoral votes, the red colored states add up to 253. Looks like Hillary will probably be the next president.

[rah]

The election is still a long way off.

[Sava]

Marco Rubio loves government spying

Mr. Rubio wrote in USA Today.

“The government is not listening to your phone calls or recording them unless you are a terrorist or talking to a terrorist outside the United States,” Mr. Rubio wrote. “There is not a single documented case of abuse of this program. Internet search providers, Internet-based email accounts, credit card companies and membership discount cards used at the grocery store all collect far more personal information on Americans than the bulk metadata program.”

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz3ZxJvN7fo

[rah]

It's like the repugs are trying to out wacko each other in an attempt to make Bush look like the only sane one.
Frustrating. Normally I'd just say, I'll vote Dem this time, but Unless Hillary falls off, that ain't happening.