Haven't been paying attention to US election, but...

[KrazyHorse]

It's beginning to look like Rubio's the serious Republican candidate. So either it will be Rubio Clinton, or the Republicans are going to turn it into a clown show.

From what I can tell based on five minutes' research Rubio has a pretty standard set of moderately conservative Republican stances, with a pro-immigration tilt, a somewhat stronger balanced budget focus (including entitlement cuts) and believing in an expansion of the EITC.

Clinton is...a Clinton. And so it's hard to tell what she'll do, other than be a pragmatist with a laser focus on public opinion.

Meh all around. Or am I missing something?

[Kidlicious]

Pretty bad. It might be the worst since Ford/Carter.

[Egbert]

Or am I missing something?

You are a rabid and deranged loon.

[Sava]

Rubio?

Water drinking thirsty man?

Not even gonna post the gif


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[Dinner]

Ever since Jeb Bush turned out to be a failed candidate Rubio has become the preferred candidate of the establishment. They hope he can deliver the swing state of Florida and bump up their share of the Hispanic vote.

Personally, I don't think he can do either of those things.

[giblets]

He can probably get more Hispanics than Romney (~27%) and he might win Florida (he'll still lose the election, Republicans can't win without Florida but they need more than Florida to win).

[Jon Miller]

I think that Kasich (or possibly Christy) is the sort of Republican candidate that I would have considered pre2008. Bush and Rubio are too extreme on the tax side even if they are moderates as far as immigration goes (and generally are sane unlike the majority of current Republicans in congress). Also Bush would probably be return to much worse foreign policy (I am not sure about Rubio).

Basically, even though I do not like Clinton, I don't see voting for a Republican (Even a sane one) while those in congress are crazy. So probably not for another decade at least.

I think that the Republican tax plans are not beneficial because it seems obvious to me that, baring opening up immigration, much higher growth (like Bushes claim of 4%) will not exist for the US (read Picketty/Noah Smith/etc) and so will not happen due to tax cuts. So they are effectively talking about borrowing money to give the wealthy tax cuts that won't produce growth or do anything for anyone else.

JM
(also Rubio admits that his tax cuts would increase the budget deficit by 4 trillion in the next decade, which seems the opposite of a balance budget (especially since it is based on growth estimates which will not be there))

[Sava]

“I obviously am not happy about the events that happened last week in Paris, but

http://gawker.com/marco-rubio-isnt-happy-the-paris-attacks-happened-but-1744055806

yeah, he'll go far

[Aeson]

Yah, to compete with Trump for the nomination he's going to have to be a lot more of a xenophobic ******* than that.

[Boris Godunov]

Rubio has tacked pretty hard right on Immigration, abandoned his previous "moderate" stance and even turned against his own immigration bill. His foreign policy is utterly shallow and full of symbolic claptrap.

Cruz seems to be surging into second place now that Carson is (mercifully) fading due to this utter insanity and being a chronic liar. But both Trump and Cruz can be described the same way, so I guess that's a case of there being not enough room for 3 crackpots at the top of the field. Part of me still thinks that Jeb! is pulling a McCain 2008, that he'll be left for dead until the Republicans again realize, "oh ****, we really can't nominate a lunatic, guys!" and he'll surge into the lead. But the GOP appears to have gone off the deep end after losing two national elections to the Muslim-In-Chief, since even their "sane" candidates are espousing absurd reactionary rhetoric. I think they'd be better off bringing back Romney for another go at it.

Clinton checks all the boxes of "here's a Democratic nominee I think can win handily in 2016," but jesus is she uninspiring, uncharismatic and ungenuine. She'll tack a pragmatic line as president, for sure, which I guess is perhaps the best that can be hoped for this cycle from the perspective of a lefty. I expect her SCOTUS nominees would be fairly liberal, so that's a plus.

Most of the adoration for Sanders is clearly because he's the only anti-Clinton in the race, because it sure as hell isn't because he's an effective candidate or has any realistic shot at winning. I think the Larry David SNL impersonation is doing for him what Tina Fey's did for Palin in the sense that more people are going to think of the caricature than the actual candidate. Plus Sander's myopic focus on his stump speech topics is a real turn-off when he's posed thoughtful questions about a variety of subjects and just ignores them and pivots back to income inequality. Single-issue candidates don't win.

Honestly, on paper, O'Malley would probably be my top choice. But there's just something missing from him as a political candidate. It's deeper than a lack of charisma (he can be a real snooze). Can't really put my finger on it, but there's a missing factor for him. Says the right things. Good record for a Democrat. Nice-looking guy who fits the "Presidential" mold in terms of appearance. But just... meh?

[Sava]

Hillary should be the GOP nominee. She checks most of their boxes anyways.

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[Apocalypse]

I think Rubio has enough somewhat moderate positions to be competitive in the national election. He would have to go closer to his old form on immigration. I think Rubio and the Republican party could go along way and say that Hispanic and Asian immigrants are hard workers who have integrated with their families and helped the economy but immigration rules in general just need to be tightened due to terror threats. Just 11 years ago, the republicans were doing pretty well with Hispanics as Bush increased his vote from 40 to 44 percent.

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[Kidlicious]

Only 20% of americans want increased immigration, compared to 40% that want to see less. Even among democrats the number only increases to 27%. Don't listen to the hype.

[giblets]

I'd like to see some emigration... specifically, Kidicious leaving

[Kidlicious]

You should go, since you hate amercans, Christians, men etc. Just do it! You'll be happier with you're own kind.