2016 U.S. Presidential Race Megathread Mark 2.

frostyjacks wrote: »

96% of campaign donations from journalists have gone to Hillary.

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/10/17/20330/journalists-shower-hillary-clinton-campaign-cash

If we don't have an impartial media, then we don't have a fair election. The whole process has lifted the lid on the globalist cabal who are intent on subverting our western, Christian society. They must be stopped, and Trump is the man to stop them.

Thank god somebody talking the truth.

Quin_Dub wrote: »

Given that Trump has invited Obamas step-brother and the Mother of one of the Benghazi victims, one can only assume that Trump is going to aim lower than anyone thought possible in those final sections.

He got precisely zero traction out of rolling out the Bill wimmin last time round, so it looks like no lessons learned there. Obama's half brother isn't really going to provide much of a critique of the Hillary ticket, and if he's known for anything (debatable) it's his differences with Obama (who's not running). I can see his empathy for Trump though - both having married three wives, albeit only one of them in a polygamous context (that's going to go down well with the GOP base!).

The Republicans have tried long and hard to pin anything on Hillary for Benghazi, without any success, so that's unlikely to change now - particularly since making a compelling case for State Dept responsibility for the deaths in Benghazi would involve an involved, articulate argument, without diversion off into red herring territory, or shilling the Trump brand. He's not the man for that job - "Believe me!"

I think Trump is going to be his usual clusterf**k in this debate, and all Hillary needs to do is ride this out and let Trump further bury Trump's candidacy. He's certainly not looking any less unhinged in the last few days, so expect more of the same.

Billy86 wrote: »

What is really going to be interesting about tonight is FOX. On one hand, they are FOX, on the other this is a presidential debate and not am hour with Hannity or O'Reilly. But then in the other hand, it is a Clinton... and this is FOX! But the on the other, Trump has completely burned bridges with them which cost cost him what may have (only saying MAY HAVE...) been an incredibly biased debate which has never been seen before in the US despite the Trumpeteers claims to the contrary over the last two.

As for the debate itself, meh. It won't make much difference. This election has been finished for weeks.

Chris Wallace is far more moderate than Hannity or O'Reilly and I don't think he has any love for Trump.

Still though it is FOX so expect far more questions on emails, Benghazi etc than the first two debates.

Agreed, Wallace is definitely from the more 'saner' side of Fox and is seen as being from the old school of actual journalism (previously anchored Meet the Press and NBC Nightly News among others) and thereby gives Fox some semblance of credibility, as opposed to the opinion led mini-demagogues of Irish extraction that fills their prime time slots. He did say his role was not to fact check, but my guess is that he'll probably focus on giving equal time to the candidates and fact-checking in this post-reality election is probably useless anyway....

Billy86 wrote: »

A lesson about crossing John McCain in Arizona, when you've already done so pathetically as to turn it into a toss up state...

CLINTON NOW +5 IN ARIZONA - http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/az/arizona_trump_vs_clinton_vs_johnson_vs_stein-6087.html

McCain is political royalty in Arizona. Trumps comments towards him and McCains un-endorsement obviously hurting Trump in a big red state.

McMullin for Arizona!!

They had a luke warm handshake at the end, but yeah, nothing at the beginning - would guess that they will tonight - their teams will make sure of it - I think it only (or didn't) happened the last time as they were both on edge, not sure it was deliberate on either part....

TheDoctor wrote: »

Would not be surprised if there was no concession speech, or a phone call from the defeated candidate to the winner on the night.

Did they shake hands at the second debate? Don't remember them doing it when they walked out.

They didn't at the beginning, but they did shake hands at the end. They had just had the "what's a nice thing about your opponent" question a little before the end, so tensions had lessened somewhat.

I think tonight will go one of two ways;
1) A civilised, issues-based debate, which will follow the agreed format, in which Clinton will easily cope with any questions which will come up (The list of the topics was a few posts earlier) and in which Donald will attempt to portray himself in a professional manner.
2) Trump will obfuscate, bluster and deflect, as he has done in every media encounter and both debates, in order to avoid giving specific answers to specific questions.

I know which way I think its going to go...!

Alaistair, I think you could be right - he'll do it for the sake of formality - i.e. because he's told he has to - and then will be back on Twitter come 3 am...

Jan_de_Bakker wrote:

Pity Trump is being so petty at this stage, wail rigged election all you want when (if) you lose, but not now ... the race is still on !!

In fairness he's been say that it's rigged for months. And it's been standard Republican fare to complain about voter fraud for the past decade. It's been an obvious attempt to supress votes among minorities and the poor. Republicans know that there has been no voter fraud, they just don't like the votes being cast so they cry fraud. The lie rattled around the Alt Right echo chamber long enough that people actually began to believe it.

The same echo chamber that thinks Clinton is next to death's door, so much so that when the rumours of her demise were put to rest by actually acting like human throughout the first two debates, the only logical conclusion was that she was doped. And it was logical based on the "facts" available to these people. Wait for the "fact" that Clinton is an abuser of drugs to be trotted out sometime soon.
The same echo chamber that believes the polls are skewed and that the media is biased against them. So that when the results come out on (2)9th November, if Trump isn't declared the winner, facts would lead you to believe that the election was rigged.

The Republican party has allowed a lunatic fringe to take over.
The outcome of the post-mortem after the last presidential loss was that they relied too much on whites and men. If they lose this election, it looks as though they'll have burned all other bridges but white and men.

I fail to see what bringing Malik Obama to tonight's debate is supposed to achieve other than show that Trump has at least one black supporter. Maybe if he was debating Barack Obama that might have some effect but, despite Alex Jones' (one of the great amplifiers in the above mentioned echo chamber) predictions, Barack isn't running for a third term(on a personal level I'd like to see someone who speaks was well as Barack Obama debate someone was unhinged as Trump).

The really scary part about the Republicans crying fowl of rigged elections is the deliberate misdirection from their attack on voting rights. I believe some of the voter ID laws that they introduced at State level have been deemed unconstitutional, but a lot are still in place - the fact there seems to be no discussion about that in the media over there speaks volumes, and I am not talking about some tinfoil hat cover up - just that it's not picked up by the media as it's boring and nuanced, it requires too much discussion and factual understanding and can't be diluted down into an easy soundbite or twitter quote....