Originally posted by Tzeentch
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/09/23/ben-carson-big-bang-evolution/Kind of a shame, considering his entire platform for election is basically "I'm the smartest guy in the room".
It's like this guy doesn't even science. But I guess that's what happens when medical doctors talk about thing outside of their field.
Originally posted by Tzeentch
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/09/23/ben-carson-big-bang-evolution/Kind of a shame, considering his entire platform for election is basically "I'm the smartest guy in the room".
Because he's a brain surgeon, but that's not the same as taking the evidence-based stance on most things.
He's always been like that.
Also, the latest poll from IBD puts *him*, not Trump, in first place.
Just one poll, so I'd wait to see if that holds among others.
I think something that isn't getting talked about much is how the evangelical wing of the GOP has basically collapsed, or at least doesn't seem to have much clout anymore. Now, granted, their supporters will be divided between Santorum, Huckabee, and to a lesser extent Cruz, but if you add those three together they have a meager 9% of the polls, and they don't appear to be making any waves.
I guess time will tell if they become more significant as the campaign draws on, but for now they seem to be irrelevant. The fact that Trump, a guy who claimed to have never felt the need to ask God for forgiveness (which is basically the same as saying "I'm not afraid of God and I don't need Him) is leading the polls shows that.
Originally posted by Omega Vision
I think something that isn't getting talked about much is how the evangelical wing of the GOP has basically collapsed, or at least doesn't seem to have much clout anymore. Now, granted, their supporters will be divided between Santorum, Huckabee, and to a lesser extent Cruz, but if you add those three together they have a meager 9% of the polls, and they don't appear to be making any waves.I guess time will tell if they become more significant as the campaign draws on, but for now they seem to be irrelevant. The fact that Trump, a guy who claimed to have never felt the need to ask God for forgiveness (which is basically the same as saying "I'm not afraid of God and I don't need Him) is leading the polls shows that.
I think that conclusion that it has collapsed is not quite accurate. I think both Trump and Carson are able to pull evangelicals to support them, even if they are not the traditional candidates for them:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/why-do-evangelicals-support-donald-trump/403591/
Trump's been drawing across the GOP, but I can't say that he's really been drawing them especially as a block.
It strikes me that they're more divided and not coalescing around a single Evangelical candidate, instead splitting between all the various GOP candidates. The article does note the Evangelicals seem to be being hit with the anti-establishment backlash.
Originally posted by Omega Vision
I think something that isn't getting talked about much is how the evangelical wing of the GOP has basically collapsed, or at least doesn't seem to have much clout anymore. Now, granted, their supporters will be divided between Santorum, Huckabee, and to a lesser extent Cruz, but if you add those three together they have a meager 9% of the polls, and they don't appear to be making any waves.I guess time will tell if they become more significant as the campaign draws on, but for now they seem to be irrelevant.
Yes, that's a good point. They had a lot of clout backing Santorum late in the last race, and played a large role there in general.
Two races ago, Huckabee was one of three strong contenders. Now his religious-based campaigning is only getting him to the middle of the pack.
Originally posted by Robtard
Doubt that will stick
Likewise, especially with the poll right before being +10 Trump.
Though FiveThirtyEight does make the point to be cautious of poll clustering- that often happens when pollsters start tossing out 'obviously wrong' information that often isn't all that wrong. So we should expect, and be glad to see, the odd outlier poll.
FiveThirtyEight updated their GOP faction chart to add Trump and remove the eliminated:
"The normal rules of politics seem to apply less to the Republican Party each passing day. Carson and Trump’s tenure atop the polls is evidence of that. Boehner came to realize it. And McCarthy apparently figured that out too."
No big news, but Trump is holding steady to maybe a small tick up, Carson ticked upwards, Fiorina's post-debate buzz has faded a little, Bush ticked downwards, and pretty much everyone else is holding steady.
It's interesting how things have gone into a holding pattern, like everyone's just catching their breath and supporters aren't really moving around. And now with the eyes on the House Speakership, that may stay for awhile.
On the Democrat side, Hillary's numbers leveled out, then ticked upwards. Sanders is a bit up and down, but he's managed to stay ahead of Biden, who's surge upwards has stalled out right on Bernie's heals
Webb's been on the board a bit more, rising to 2%.
And of course, this is leading into the Democratic debate, which should be interesting, and is a chance for the minor players to be heard and seen by many for the first time.
I expect this will hurt Biden's pseudo-campaign, since, well, he won't be there, reminding people he's not officially running.
Also, here's a Tom Clancy style but left wing short story bit with President Sanders, because fun:
A roundup of things:
First and perhaps most significant, Ben Carson pauses his campaign to do... a book tour
This seems an odd move for a number two position candidate to say the least! Fundraising is important- book sales less so- but I wonder if he's really in it to win it, or if he's hedging his bets.
Related to that, Jeb continues to campaign, but is cutting spending, taking cars instead of jets, because his spending habits on train were scaring donors and his high price 'shock and awe' free-spending ways were not getting much bang for the buck.
Who has raised what in the last quarter, who is spending what (alt source)
Interestingly, the Republicans as a whole have raised more money, while the top two individual candidates in fund raising are Hillary and Bernie. Carson is in top place of the Republicans.
Due to different spending rates, Ted Cruz is actually in first place of the Republicans in terms of cash-on-hand, at $13.7 million. And Bush, though he had an early fundraising lead, has had to cut back due to his spending like water as mentioned above (though that does NOT include his huge 100m superPAC money it has squirreled away- the main reason he's not screwed), and is behind Cruz, Carson, and Rubio. All of those are over 10 mil, with Fiorina at 5.5 (Trump, of course, has not done nearly as much fundraising because he's self-funded).
Over at the dems, Hillary has $32 million on hand, Sanders $27 or 25, depending on the source. So they've both been stocking up well.
Next, Kasich!
It is... questionable. Namely, it has huge tax cuts in the wealthy, and while he plans to do huge cuts in domestic spending, he's also planning on raising military spending.
And for the Clinton scandal side of things, another Republican Congressperson admits that the Benghazi probes were mostly a hit job
“This may not be politically correct, but I think that there was a big part of this investigation that was designed to go after people and an individual, Hillary Clinton,” Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) said on WIBX First News with Keeler in the Morning, a radio show in upstate New York.Republicans say they formed the House Select Committee on Benghazi to investigate the attack. Democrats have complained that the committee, which has cost taxpayers about $4.5 million during its 17 months of existence, was primarily a political stunt.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last month let it slip that the committee aimed to sink Clinton's poll numbers. His gaffe reverberated across Capitol Hill and was a major factor in McCarthy's abrupt decision to drop out of the race to replace outgoing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
So She supported it, then said she was against it, and guess what shes back for it.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs...al_1046015.html
She keeps flopping like a fish out of water, I think he is in over her head.
FiveThirtyEight- Ted Cruz's odds may be better than they previously though, due to his fairly solid poll numbers and high favorability among Republican voters, and his ideology lining up with the current state of the party fairly well. He's doing well in fundraising too.
He's still got the problem of the party establishment hating him, but that's a good number of pluses.
Originally posted by Time-Immemorial
So She supported it, then said she was against it, and guess what shes back for it.http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs...al_1046015.html
She keeps flopping like a fish out of water, I think he is in over her head.
Your link doesn't seem to be working, TI.
Originally posted by Q99
FiveThirtyEight- Ted Cruz's odds may be better than they previously though, due to his fairly solid poll numbers and high favorability among Republican voters, and his ideology lining up with the current state of the party fairly well. He's doing well in fundraising too.He's still got the problem of the party establishment hating him, but that's a good number of pluses.
So we'll be seeing Meg Mucklebones in the conceivable future. Was hoping he would drop out early.
Huh, Biden sounds like he may actually be going for it. Though I think post debate, it's too late now.
Originally posted by Time-Immemorial
http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/696750Wow
what are your thoughts on this?