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[mainiac]

It's the republican party's fault they picked someone who wouldn't have stomped all over Clinton en route to an easy win,

Who?

Rubio?
Jeb!?
Cruz?
The only "mainstream" republican with a net favorability was John Kasich.  Kasich is also still pretty unknown and wasn't important enough to get criticized much.

The same political forces that are making Clinton so hated are doing a number on republicans too.  Constantly telling people that everything is corrupt and nothing will get fixed doesn't make anybody popular.

[Neonivek]

The same political forces that are making Clinton so hated are doing a number on republicans too.  Constantly telling people that everything is corrupt and nothing will get fixed doesn't make anybody popular.

Another problem is that they are radicalizing their fan base... You light a fire under someone long enough and they will burst into flames.

Yet here is a prediction... Eventually EXACTLY that will happen and they won't take responsibility "We have no idea why they would do that. I mean we only told them that the system is entirely corrupt and that the election was stolen from them and to use guns against a totalitarian government"

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I think the Zodiac Killer could have pulled it off. As we've seen with his Tea Party interactions, Cruz is a shrewd operator (a lot like Hill Dawg, come to think of it) and had he realized the climate of the election (whatever the fuck the climate of this election is) I think he totally could have sat on a center-right unitary campaign and pulled many voters away.

Remember, Trump was set to surpass Clinton before the first debate. In truth, it was his race to lose, and he absolutely fuckin lost it. I think Americans are generally more friendly towards serial killing than sexual assault, so even if the Zodiac Tapes were brought up it wouldn't have hurt him as much as it did Trump.

America is still a nation who's political climate is sluggishly conservative and afraid of change; it is the Republicans who have failed to take advantage of this in the way that Reagan (PBUH) did in favor of indulging psycho-right types to the exclusion of all else.

[mainiac]

he totally could have sat on a center-right unitary campaign and pulled many voters away.

Except that it's Ted Cruz.  That's like saying Bernie Sanders could have pivoted to the right and become the next Jim Webb.

Eventually EXACTLY that will happen and they won't take responsibility

Will happen?  Isn't it happening right now?

[Max™]

It's the republican party's fault they picked someone who wouldn't have stomped all over Clinton en route to an easy win,

Who?

Rubio?
Jeb!?
Cruz?
The only "mainstream" republican with a net favorability was John Kasich.  Kasich is also still pretty unknown and wasn't important enough to get criticized much.

The same political forces that are making Clinton so hated are doing a number on republicans too.  Constantly telling people that everything is corrupt and nothing will get fixed doesn't make anybody popular.

Basically anybody who could have kept a semblance of not being a sockpuppet over a giant insane lizard would have a better chance. The closer people got to realizing "wait, we actually did this" the more all the people who aren't actually excited about Trump started to jump ship.

A candidate who could actually do better than try to plug holes in a leaky boat would be a different story than we have now, where even the "ironclad floor" Trump had seems to be leaking.

Really Kasich would have been pretty damn hard for Hilldog to win against.

[Rolepgeek]

No civil war yet, mainiac. That's the fire. This is just thick, cloying smoke.

[smjjames]

The same political forces that are making Clinton so hated are doing a number on republicans too.  Constantly telling people that everything is corrupt and nothing will get fixed doesn't make anybody popular.

Another problem is that they are radicalizing their fan base... You light a fire under someone long enough and they will burst into flames.

Yet here is a prediction... Eventually EXACTLY that will happen and they won't take responsibility "We have no idea why they would do that. I mean we only told them that the system is entirely corrupt and that the election was stolen from them and to use guns against a totalitarian government"

Hopefully this election makes them snap back from the brink, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Also, the massive slate (which arguably is largely what helped Trump) showed that the republicans have real problems with leadership in that they don't have someone generally popular and is able to unite the different sections of the GOP, plus the whole antiestablishment backlash.

On the democrat side.... I blame hillary because her juggernaut of a campaign would have forced people to be at risk of getting run over by it. Probably a wise decision to do so in hindsight however, better to hold off and play your cards for 2020 or 2024.

No civil war yet, mainiac. That's the fire. This is just thick, cloying smoke.

You need a fire for smoke, technically.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

he totally could have sat on a center-right unitary campaign and pulled many voters away.

Except that it's Ted Cruz.  That's like saying Bernie Sanders could have pivoted to the right and become the next Jim Webb.

Cruz, like all successful serial politicians, is a pragmatist at heart. Was making a deal with the devil in pimping the Tea Party the best idea? It won big in 2010, so maybe.

Cruz wouldn't have made a lot of the stupid mistakes Trump has made, and that would go a long way in this race. He doesn't have to denounce everything he purports to believe in, he just has to talk a lot about how he's the nominee for the whole party, not just the ones who voted for him.

[Zangi]

Maybe the Republicans will double down on the crazy... again after this election.  Then we will see Kanye West running for president in 4 years.

[mainiac]

Really Kasich would have been pretty damn hard for Hilldog to win against.

The guy who pushed an individual mandate and busted unions?  Right off the bat he cant attack her on Obamacare for the exact reason why Romney couldn't.  Social issues like abortion and gay marriage are liabilities for republican presidential candidates.  Kasich isn't going to want to make the election a referendum on foreign policy so it's probably going to be a referendum on the economy.  So Clinton just blankets the airwaves in the midwest about unions, unions, unions.  Did you know that she supports card check?  Did you know that Kasich said we need to "break the back" of unions?  Did you know that Kasich cut salaries for teachers while he gave tax breaks to millionaires?

It's basically Obama vs. Kasich redux.  Romney 2.0 says the economy sucks so vote for me but the economy doesn't suck that badly so the democrats coast through.  Of course a yeah ago we didn't know what the economy would look like right now but with hindsight we know that it's continuing on it's slow and steady level.

Cruz, like all successful serial politicians, is a pragmatist at heart.

The problem with a politician trying to radically rebrand themselves is that there are all these cameras recording them.  If Cruz tries to pass himself off as not a tea party radical then we see mash ups of him claiming to be a moderate alongside him promising to shut down the government and criminalize abortion.

[Neonivek]

Here is how it works (well how I THINK it works, I could be wrong)

Republicans aren't there to win the republican vote... They already have the republican vote.

The Republicans are here to win the undecided vote.

The average American is Centrist leaning slightly to the left.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Cruz, like all successful serial politicians, is a pragmatist at heart.

The problem with a politician trying to radically rebrand themselves is that there are all these cameras recording them.  If Cruz tries to pass himself off as not a tea party radical then we see mash ups of him claiming to be a moderate alongside him promising to shut down the government and criminalize abortion.

He could totally do that. Half the country wants to criminalize abortion and there's a whole clusterfuck of opinion centered around government shutdown and the deficit.

It's far from ideal, but remember here that Clinton is very unpopular if not widely hated. She's doing so well in part because of her campaigning, but honesty? Trump is a godsend. You couldn't ask for a better fuckup to be pitted against when you yourself are not liked.

[Reelya]

@Neo: What you've describe is how it's suppose to work, but the center-right Republican party have been increasingly trying to shore-up Alt-right and Far-right votes as if that's some sort of growth strategy. Hello? Those voters aren't going anywhere.

It's basically like going broke, so you keep spending more and more time looking for coins under the couch, and digging up your yard, rather than getting out there looking for a job.

[Neonivek]

But isn't the ridgidry the worst aspect of the right and the growing problem with the left?

[PTTG??]

Yeah, Kasich would have had this on lockdown. But then, the republican party that would nominate Kasich is clearly very different from the party as it is.

I wonder why parties stick with these highly polarizing fptp primary designs instead of moderating approach.