2016 election
793 pieces tagged “2016 election”, newest first.
A Scary Time for the GOP, What the Headlines Reveal
It's Friday the 13th and the GOP is afraid, very afraid. I know because The Washington Post told me so. A front page article this morning says that the party elders are hitting the "panic button" and see "doom" ahead if the leading "outsiders" — Donald Trump or Dr. Ben Carson — get the GOP nomination. Some of the insiders are so afraid that they are reportedly talking once again about drafting Mitt Romney to run again in spite of his repeated statements that he won't do so.
Why Ted Cruz Gets No Respect
Ted Cruz gets no respect. At least no respect in keeping with the impressiveness of the campaign he's built and his increasing odds of winning the Republican nomination. The press and the political class are beginning to catch on to Cruz's strength, and there has been more talk of a prospective Cruz-Marco Rubio race during the past two weeks, but his coverage and his buzz have been lagging indicators — and they are still lagging.
The Most Revealing Debate Yet
The Republican debate on CNBC was riveting, the way a train wreck is riveting — you can't take your eyes off it. The Fox Business Network debate was merely satisfying. A serious political discussion requires a bit more work, but it repays the effort. The CNBC affair was a contrived food fight during which substance occasionally broke out (such as the brief exchange between Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee on entitlement reform). FBN, on the other hand, conducted a meaty debate during which a tomato or two was occasionally tossed.
Rubio and Cruz Look Like Top Contenders in Debate
Tuesday night's Fox Business/Wall Street Journal debate in Milwaukee provided clues as to why Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have been climbing, not by wide margins but perceptibly, into the top-polling positions of the candidates behind the two poll leaders, Donald Trump and Ben Carson. The widespread assumption among political insiders is that in the crunch time when things really matter Republican voters will abandon the frontrunners for candidates with experience in public office. That hasn't happened yet. But if it does, Rubio and Cruz are clearly better positioned than anyone else.
Assessing the GOP Field
I get the feeling that the Republican presidential field is gradually beginning to narrow and that we will see interesting dynamics among the principal survivors. I would be shocked if John Kasich moved up, because he has demonized conservatism itself and tried to shame conservatives, hinting that he's a more compassionate practitioner. He exudes an impatience that voters don't recognize his superior goodness and competence.
Is Rubio the One?
Unlike last month's contentious GOP debate on CNBC, the event staged by Fox Business Network and The Wall Street Journal was thankfully less about the moderators and more about the candidates. It was about content, not about which moderator could ask the best "gotcha" question. We are moving beyond the "who won" stage in these Republican debates into the "who would you be most comfortable with as president" and "who is best equipped to defeat Hillary Clinton?" The answer to both questions seems to be Sen. Marco Rubio.
Honoring Our Vets, GOP Debate
[Wednesday was] Veterans Day — a day set aside to recognize the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who have served our country in uniform. The day originally began as Armistice Day to mark the 11 AM ceasefire on November 11, 1918 that ended World War I. Congress voted to change the name to Veterans Day in 1954 to commemorate veterans of all wars.
Oh, So That's What a Real Debate Looks Like
From open to close, this debate was different from the last debacle.
Politico's Leftmedia Hatchet Job on Ben Carson
Targeting Ben Carson for being conservative while black.
Take the Winnings and Run
Where do Republicans get that special talent for turning gold to dross? They score an electoral "massacre" (The Economist) in 2014 and, a year later, what do they have to show for it other than another threat to shut down the government? Hillary Clinton is caught in email flagrante and Benghazi mendacity and yet, with one Kevin McCarthy gaffe and a singularly ineffective 11-hour Benghazi hearing, Republicans render her sanitized.
Conventional Wisdom Proves Ignorance in the Presidential Race
The current presidential campaign is blowing up lots of political myths. For years, the conventional lament was that the "wrong" Bush had run for president in 2000. George W. Bush was supposedly tongue-tied. He was said to be polarizing. He was derided as too much the twangy, conservative Texas Christian. If only his younger, softer-spoken brother, then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, had run instead!
Cruz and Rubio Are Outflanking the GOP Field
Politics is a breeding ground for martial metaphors, starting with the word "campaign" itself. Politicians "under fire" "take flak" as their consultants sit in "war rooms" and launch ad "blitzes" in "targeted districts" and "battleground states" to put their clients "over the top" -- with the help of their "troops" in the field. When that doesn't work, the generals sometimes resort to some dreaded "nuclear option." Even if it succeeds, the pundits often declare it a "Pyrrhic victory."
How Ted Cruz Changed the Presidential Campaign Landscape
About a quarter of the way into the CNBC-hosted Republican debate at the University of Colorado, Sen. Ted Cruz reached back and cast a lightning bolt into the proceedings. He jolted the debate, the whole debate process, and possibly even the election. CNBC's Carl Quintanilla raised the issue of the debt limit with Sen. Cruz. The deal that Congress and the White House is about to make, said Quintanilla, "would ... prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you are not the kind of problem-solver America voters want?"
What Happens When an Irresistible Force Meets an Immoveable Object?
What happens when an irresistible force meets an immoveable object? That's one question raised by the 2016 presidential campaign. The immoveable object is the close and bitter partisan division that has prevailed in general elections for the last two decades. The irresistible force is the corrosive discontent of American voters, their sense that the nation is headed off on the wrong track and that experienced leaders are more the problem than the solution.
Tax Reform Is Having a Comeback
Overshadowed by this week's CNBC-versus-the-Republican-presidential-nominees brawl was the release of Ted Cruz's flat tax plan. The Texas senator would impose a 10 percent tax rate on wage earners and a 16 percent tax on businesses, with no deductions. "Flatter rates," says Cruz, "will make for a more rapid-growth economy." He's right: in virtually all the cases of the last 100 years, lower tax penalties on working and investing have led to more jobs and higher incomes.
Primary Losers
Donald Trump did not dominate the debate stage in his usual way. Ben Carson may have put a few people to sleep. Former GOP heavyweight hopeful Jeb Bush was badly bloodied by the counter punches of Kid Rubio. Mike Huckabee and Carly Fiorina were lost in the crowd and held scoreless all night. John Kasich yelled too much and Rand Paul continued his slow disappearing act.