It took me years to call Lew Alcindor Kareem, and I still call that LSU guard Chris Jackson. I'll have to stick with Drumpf until he's gone from the POTUS race. in honor of the Great John Oliver. Speaking of grade school, what do you think of Drumpf's tweets and retweets, and his "congratulatory" statement to Lyin Ted for his Blowout win in Wisky. Say what you want about Hillary, but she was gracious in defeat. Drumpf, not capable of it.
The only thing they've been underestimating is his backing among the brain dead portion of voters who call themselves Republicans. As you will find, very much to your chagrin, that the polls showing that he has the highest unfavorability among ALL voters, practically since they've been measuring such things, are spot on.
I rarely do ties up my money on any bets for that long. But the odds were just too good to pass up. After 8 years of Obama, no democrats has a chance in November. Or at least shouldn't have a chance. Trump is my ideal candidate. Smart. A leader. Not taking huge donations for those expecting favors in return. Not politically correct. I can't believe he doesn't have a 99% support.
hno::think2:Loser!@#0true but that has to do a lot from the dishonest media who are being paid by those that own their ass. Once he is up against the democrat candidate, more people will support him. Trump's a great guy. Anyone that knows him knows it. He has super smart kids and good people they are. That's not by accident.They could have easily turned out to be spoiled rich fucks. Trump leads by example. He will make a great president. He won't need to spend tons of time fundraising and begging for money. Best person running for president in a generation.
Obama has a net positive rating. I know that's hard to believe with how he's fried in the media, but it's true. Check the RCP Approval/disapproval numbers. Markets are way up, unemployment is way down, no 911 style attacks. Got Iran to stop on it's march to nukes. Things are generally OK, and Obama would EASILY win re-election if he was running again.
If you like a candidate not beholden to donors in exchange for favors(Drumpf's best quality, even though it's not entirely true), you should be Feelin The Bern.
That's a good one. He would beat down Drumpf by over 20%. It would be a beat down of epic proportions. Drumpf is a highly flawed candidate. He's losing to the untrustworthy bitch by over 10, the old socialist by over 15, a sitting POTUS that has a net positive would blitz Drumpf by historic numbers.
not correct. Trump makes himself available. That's how smart he is. He's uses the media to his advantage by appearing on these shows and calling in constantly. Other candidates decline. Trump doesn't. That's not including social media. He's brilliant. Trump sleeps only 4 hours a day. He uses the tools available to get his message out there. While others are doing the same thing their predecessors have been doing forever .... whoring themselves out for donations. 2 billion worth of free air time. Genius.
Ahhh, those who run those polls are being paid off? Well, why didn't you tell us that before? And, of course, you have PROOF of that, right? And, how the fuck do YOU know that he's a "great guy?" Are you claiming to "know" him well? I've not run into many people who think he will win it all, but, none, absolutely NONE, who think he's gonna win in a "landslide." You are in for a very rude awakening, the morning after Election Day you may jump into one of Costa Rica's many active volcanoes, lol...
Actually he's quite a leader, and as an Independent in a 2 Party system, he's actually done alot. If one is looking for an outsider, who actually has accomplished things in Gov't, Feel The Bern. Drumpf is absolutely clueless about how things actually get done.
Bernie Gets It Done: Sanders' Record of Pushing Through Major Reforms Will Surprise You
What kind of experience does Bernie Sanders have? Let's take a look.
By Zaid Jilani / AlterNet
October 17, 2015
“I'm a progressive, but I'm a progressive who likes to get things done,” Hillary Clinton said at the first Democratic debate, in response to a question from moderator Anderson Cooper about whether she defines herself as a moderate or a progressive.
The implication was that progressive Bernie Sanders is too far to the left to accomplish anything—all of his ideas are pie-in-the-sky. You have to be able to find the bipartisan, “warm, purple space” as Clinton said earlier this year, to get anything done. Slate's Jamelle Bouie was super-impressed by this rationale, saying Clinton has “skilled use of bureaucratic power.”
The problem with this narrative is that it is completely false. Not only has Sanders gotten a lot more things done than Clinton did in her own short legislative career, he's actually one of the most effective members of Congress, passing bills, both big and small, that have reshaped American policy on key issues like poverty, the environment and health care.
The Amendment King
Congress is not known to be a progressive institution lately, to say the least. Over the past few decades, the House of Representatives was only controlled by the Democrats from 2007 to 2010, and a flood of corporate money has quieted the once-powerful progressive movement that passed legislation moving the country forward between the New Deal era and the Great Society. Yet, as difficult as it may be to believe, a socialist from Vermont is one of its most accomplished members.
Bernie Sanders was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1990, and many immediately doubted his efficacy. “It is virtually impossible for an independent to be effective in the House,” said then-Congressman Bill Richardson (D-NM). “As an independent you are kind of a homeless waif.” Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), today an outspoken advocate for Hillary Clinton, said Bernie's “holier-than-thou attitude—saying in a very loud voice he is smarter than everyone else and purer than everyone else—really undercuts his effectiveness.”
As if things didn't look bad enough, in 1994 the Republicans swept into power in the House of Representatives, dashing the hopes of many that Congress could do anything progressive whatsoever. But Sanders was not content with tilting at windmills. He didn't want to just take a stand, he wanted to pass legislation that improved the United States of America. He found his vehicle in legislative amendments.
Amendments in the House of Representatives are often seen as secondary vehicles to legislation that individual members sponsor, but they are an important way to move resources and build bipartisan coalitions to change the direction of the law. Despite the fact that the most right-wing Republicans in a generation controlled the House of Representatives between 1994 and 2006, the member who passed the most amendments during that time was not a right-winger like Bob Barr or John Boehner. The amendment king was, instead, Bernie Sanders.
Sanders did something particularly original, which was that he passed amendments that were exclusively progressive, advancing goals such as reducing poverty and helping the environment, and he was able to get bipartisan coalitions of Republicans who wanted to shrink government or hold it accountable and progressives who wanted to use it to empower Americans.
Here are a few examples of the amendments Sanders passed by building unusual but effective coalitions:
- Corporate Crime Accountability (February 1995): A Sanders amendment to the Victims Justice Act of 1995 required “offenders who are convicted of fraud and other white-collar crimes to give notice to victims and other persons in cases where there are multiple victims eligible to receive restitution.”
- Saving Money, for Colleges and Taxpayers (April 1998): In an amendment to H.R. 6, the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, Sanders made a change to the law that allowed the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to make competitive grants available to colleges and universities that cooperated to reduce costs through joint purchases of goods and services.
- Holding IRS Accountable, Protecting Pensions (July 2002): Sanders' amendment to the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 2003 stopped the IRS from being able to use funds that “violate current pension age discrimination laws.” Although he faced stiff GOP opposition, his amendment still succeeded along a 308 to 121 vote.
- Expanding Free Health Care (November 2001): You wouldn't think Republicans would agree to an expansion of funds for community health centers, which provide some free services. But Sanders was able to win a $100 million increase in funding with an amendment.
- Getting Tough On Child Labor (July 2001): A Sanders amendment to the general appropriations bill prohibited the importation of goods made with child labor.
- Increasing Funding for Heating for the Poor (September 2004): Sanders won a $22 million increase for the low-income home energy assistance program and related weatherization assistance program.
- Fighting Corporate Welfare and Protecting Against Nuclear Disasters (June 2005): A Sanders amendment brought together a bipartisan coalition that outnumbered a bipartisan coalition on the other side to successfully prohibit the Export-Import Bank from providing loans for nuclear projects in China.
- Greening the U.S. Government (June 2007): A Sanders amendment made a change to the law so at least 30 percent of the hot water demand in newer federal buildings is provided through solar water heaters.
- Protecting Our Troops (October 2007): Sanders used an amendment to win $10 million for operation and maintenance of the Army National Guard, which had been stretched thin and overextended by the war in Iraq.
- Restricting the Bailout to Protect U.S. Workers (Feburary 2009): A Sanders amendment required the banking bailout to utilize stricter H-1B hiring standards to ensure bailout funds weren't used to displace American workers.
- Helping Veterans' Kids (July 2009): A Sanders amendment required the Comptroller General to put together comprehensive reporting on financial assistance for child care available to parents in the Armed Forces.
- Exposing Corruption in the Military-Industrial Complex (November 2012): A Sanders amendment required “public availability of the database of senior Department officials seeking employment with defense contractors” – an important step toward transparency that revealed the corruption of the revolving door in action.
- Support for Treating Autism in Military Health Care: Sanders worked with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to pass an amendment by a vote of 66-29 ensuring that the military's TRICARE system would be able to treat autism.
While Sanders was an amendment king who was able to bring bipartisan coalitions together to make serious changes to laws, he also knew how to be a thorn in the side of the establishment until it offered up something in return. Sanders was able to get the first-ever audit of funds given out by the Federal Reserve, which made transparent over $2 trillion of funds handed out by the secretive organization. This was a cause that Republican congressman Ron Paul (TX) had been pursuing for decades, but Sanders was able to get the votes to do it by forging a compromise that required an audit for the bailout period alone.
When the Affordable Care Act was in danger of not having the votes to pass, Sanders used his leverage to win enough funding for free health treatment for 10 million Americans through Community Health Centers. This gutsy move—holding out until the funds were put into the bill—has even Republican members of Congress requesting the funds, which have helped millions of Americans who otherwise would not have access.
Another moment came when Sanders, who was then chair of the Veterans committee, worked with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), to overhaul the Veterans Administration. McCain praised Sanders' work on the bill in an interview with National Journal. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) even went so far as to say the bill would never have passed without Sanders' ability to bring the parties to a deal.
His Theory of Change, From Burlington to the White House
The big question is, can Sanders translate his time as an effective senator into an effective president? After all, a legislative job is different than an executive job.
But Sanders has a theory of change, in order to be an executive who can pass progressive policy even in the face of a recalcitrant Congress. He frequently talks about a “political revolution” that means vastly increasing voter turnout and participation in political activities so conservative lawmakers and Big Money are unable to overwhelm public opinion. During the Democratic debate, this line had its doubters, from former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) to a skeptical Anderson Cooper.
Sanders is probably not so unsure of himself. After all, he's done it before. When Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, one of his big accomplishments was to increase civic life in the city. During the course of his terms, voter turnout doubled. In his eight years as mayor, he rejuvenated a city that was considered by many to be dying, laying out progressive policies that cities around the country later adopted, and he did all this without particularly alienating Republicans. As one former GOP Alderman noted, he implemented ideas from the Republican party that he felt were not particularly harmful to working people, such as more efficient accounting practices.
It's easy for the establishment media and politicians to make the assumption that Bernie Sanders is not an effective lawmaker or executive. He has strong convictions and he stands by them, and we're often told that makes one a gadfly—someone who is out to make a point rather than make an actual change. But with Sanders we have the fusion of strong principles and the ability to forge odd bedfellow coalitions that accomplish historic things, like the audit of the Federal Reserve or the rejuvenation of Burlington that has served as a model for cities around the country. “Don't underestimate me,” Sanders said at the beginning of the race, words that anyone who knows his political and policy history take to heart.
