2016 U.S. Presidential Race Megathread Mark 2.

Overheal wrote: »

Oh, they'll try and bring about impeachment hearings day one, or so its been suggested.

They will probably try and deny SCOTUS appointees for the next 4 years - literally anything to keep the court from going blue for the first time in two generations. At which point Eric Trump will run for president and everyone will vomit in their mouths a little.

Overheal wrote: »

Oh and there's another wrinkle in the GOP's arguments: they had complete control of the court for decades!In fact this is the only period since Whittaker resigned that Republicans have NOT had a majority.

Working backwards from 1991 to the start of the Nixon Administration, the GOP appointed 10 justices to the Supreme Court:

Clarence Thomas (1991)
David Souter (1990)
Anthony Kennedy (1988)
Antonin Scalia (1986)
Sandra Day O'Connor (1981)
John Paul Stevens (1975)
William Rehnquist (1972)
Lewis F Powell Jr. (1972)
Harry Blackmun (1970)
Warren Burger (1969)

And thats even overlooking the fact that Eisenhower appointed 5 justices in the 50s, 4 of whom were still serving throughout some of that timeline. Prior to this, Truman and 4 term president FDR had established a Democratic appointed court. JFK appointed Byron White and Arthur Goldberg both in 1962, and LBJ appointed Abe Fortas (1965) and Thurgood Marshall (1967) the only Democratic appointees between 1949 and 1993.

Which explains a rationale behind why Biden might have been outraged at the prospect of appointing yet another GOP judge to the court in 1992 - a speech by which McConnell and his cronies are now calling "the Biden Rule" because - god forbid, Clinton was able to appoint 2 justices, Obama was able to appoint 2 justices (how dare he! Nixon only got to pick out 4!), and now for the first time since the Space Age, there is no longer a conservative majority on the supreme court, which of course, if you're a Republican, means the sky is literally dripping with flaming blood. And god forbid the Democrats should be able to appoint 5 judges to the court, it would be all out chaos. Satan would literally rise from the earth and start showering gay couples with birth control pills.

So, with that in mind, it should come as no ****ing surprise that they are doing everything they can think of to dodge, duck, dip, dive, dodge, filibuster, dodge, and dodge having to perform a hearing for someone that the filthy Democrats want in the seat! I thought it was interesting anyway, nobody has really mentioned that in the news; the Republicans would rather spit out strong-sounding-yet-flaccid soundbytes how this is the first election year this or that in 130 years bla bla bla without pointing out 'hey, we have enjoyed majority control of the Supreme Court for two or three generations'. But it's not bad when 'they' have the control, it's only catastrophic when 'the liberals' have any control. These Republicans have never even lived in an age where there wasn't a Republican majority in the Supreme Court.

edit: full breakdown of all justices appointed since FDR:

D - Elana Kagan (2010)
D - Sonia Sotomayor (2009)
R - Samuel Alito (2006)
R - John G. Roberts (2005)
D - Stephen Breyer (1994)
D - Ruth Bader Ginsberg (1993)
R - Clarence Thomas (1991)
R - David Souter (1990)
R - Anthony Kennedy (1988)
R - Antonin Scalia (1986)
R - Sandra Day O'Connor (1981)
R - John Paul Stevens (1975)
R - William Rehnquist (1972)
R - Lewis F Powell Jr (1972)
R - Harry Blackmun (1970)
R - Warren E Burger (1969)
D - Thurgood Marshall (1967)
D - Abe Fortas (1965)
D - Arthur Goldberg (1962)
D - Byron White (1962)
R - Potter Stewart (1958)
R - Charles Evans Whittaker (1957)
R - William J Brennan Jr (1956)
R - John Marshall Harlan II (1955)
R - Earl Warren (1953)

Overheal wrote: »

46 years of Supreme Court control, and they don't want to lose it

our out of five likely voters in New Hampshire said they watched the debate between Clinton and Trump -- 59% of those said that Clinton won, compared to 19% who gave Trump the win. While just over half said that the debate "made no difference" in how they would vote, 27% said the debate made them more likely to vote for Clinton, ahead of the 13% of said it would make them more inclined to vote for Trump.
The WBUR poll also surveyed voters on whether they thought each candidate was "fit to be president." Forty-nine percent said that Clinton is while 46% said no, and 33% said yes for Donald Trump compared to 62% saying no.
Both candidates, though, are still disliked by a majority of voters. Fifty-one percent say they have a negative view of Clinton, and 61% say the same about Trump.
The WBUR poll was conducted between September 27 and 29, and surveyed 502 likely voters. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 points.

The Mason-Dixon poll was conducted between September 27 and 29, entirely after the first presidential debate which took place on Monday. It surveyed 820 registered voters, all of whom reported they were likely to vote, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 points.

Fifty-seven percent of likely Nevada voters also thought that Clinton had won Monday’s first presidential debate--reiterating responses from a range of analysts, pundits and polls following their one-on-one debate. The results of this poll suggest a shift -- for now -- in sentiment among Silver Staters toward Clinton. The August Suffolk poll of Nevadans showed her with a slimmer lead of two points.

..

The Suffolk University fielded the poll from Sept. 27-29 and comes with a +/- 4.4 percent margin of error.

NYT wrote:

Fact-checkers have found no evidence that Ms. Machado, who was featured in Playboy, appeared in a sex tape. Her critics may be referring to a risqué scene that she appeared in on a reality television show.