Cruz Con Troll: Top Eight Update

My top eight Republican Candidates with brief notes (with ranking I gave them last time noted--I've narrowed this list down to eight, because Santorum, Huckabee, and Fiorina should have undoubtedly dropped out already).  It's useless to do this for Democrats at this point, as Bernie Sanders should clearly be their candidate, though Hillary Clinton, who should be in prison, will probably get the nomination.  Martin O'Malley does not have a chance to get the nomination, though he could end up on the ticket as a VP candidate.  Note: The graphic I've used is once again the 15-day polling average from 2016.republican-candidates.org.

8th (previously 5th), Donald Trump: It is baffling that Trump has remained so far ahead in the polls.  He would certainly do a better job than Hillary, but I would take any of the other Republican candidates over him.  Trump is a great businessman, he's very intelligent, he speaks his mind, and he doesn't need money from anyone, but the prospect of nominating him is terrifying.  He's already insulted Mexicans, women, Muslims, and I've lost track of who else...  Has he said anything to offend the gays or blacks yet?  If not, is Vegas taking odds on when that's going to happen?  Yes, we need to confront Islamic extremists and fight ISIS, but banning people of a certain religion from entering the country or tracking those who are already here is a really, really slippery slope.  If you thought Obama has been taking a dump on the Constitution, why would we want another President doing that, albeit differently?  Regardless, if Trump gets the nomination, not very many Democrats or Independents would vote for him, and there are millions of Republicans who wouldn't vote for him either.  He seems to have monopolized a very specific base, and this base will support him no matter what he says, but a large portion of the voters outside of this base wish Trump would disappear.

7th (previously 10th), Jeb Bush: His last name is still toxic, and he's still not a very good candidate, but even he can see the issues with a Trump nomination, and he's at least spoken about it and attempted to confront Trump on occasion during the debates.

6th (previously 3rd), Chris Christie: I still like him, but it's hard to see him winning in a general election.  And sometimes it works in his favor that he's more Liberal than the average Republican, but sometimes it works against him.  Christie should do the right thing and drop out.  He's young enough that he can try again in 4 or 8 years.

5th (previously 9th), John Kasich: His debate performances have improved, and it's nice to see someone with a solid amount common sense speaking on that stage.  However, like Christie, I'm not sure he could win a general election right now.

4th (previously 8th), Rand Paul: He got booted from the main debate stage because the FBN rules on which polls they look at, etc.  It is rather arbitrary, and he was rightfully not thrilled about it.  But I think he was a winner by not taking part in the debate, and I'm turning more and more into a Libertarian every day, a mold that the intelligent, strongly-opinionated Paul fits better than that of a Republican.  He may not be the best guy for the nomination, but he has a level of common sense and seems like he would be able to compete on a national level.

3rd (previously 1st), Ben Carson: It absolutely pains me to write this, because Ben Carson has been my personal favorite candidate since he entered the race, but he's starting to seem like the third best option for the nomination right now.  This is a shame, because I think he would do well as President, and that he could do a great deal to unite a very divided nation right now.  His poll numbers have plummeted not because of his ideas, but because he has shown that he is not a politician.  Perhaps the party's lurch further to the right (as the Democrats have lurched further to the left) and the current toxic climate has contributed to his decline as well.  He just comes off as too damn much of a nice and reasonable guy to be president.  He hasn't been able to take control of the debates, notably the most recent one where he was upstaged by several of the other candidates.  I still would like to see it turn around from him, but maybe a few years as a Senator (or VP, which it would be nice to see him considered for if he doesn't get the nomination) could serve him and America well should he choose to serve in that way.

2nd (previously 4th), Ted Cruz: It is my opinion that Cruz won the most recent debate.  He was dominating, he was polished, and he is quite obviously a master debater.  It should strike fear into the bleeding heart liberals that this man is still so young.  With the party as a whole going to the right, Cruz is in the catbird seat.  He's going at Trump, and if the candidates with no shot at the nomination would drop out already and all rally around someone else, it would probably either be Cruz or the new number one on this list...

1st (previously 2nd), Marco Rubio: Rubio has been very solid all around, trailing only Trump and Cruz in the polls right now.  Clearly not as conservative as Cruz, Rubio may have a disadvantage among Republican voters because of that, but it would play as an advantage in a general election.  He's also at the top spot because I could see Rubio, like Carson, as someone who could help to unite us and bring together those who vote red and those who vote blue.  Trump or Cruz could inadvertently (if you give them the benefit of the doubt here) continue what Obama began in dividing the nation.  Rubio seems like a genuinely good person who could become our next President.  It should be interesting to see how this all plays out this year...

Oregon Trail

How are we somehow turning what's going on in Oregon into a debate involving race?  What's going on in Oregon has nothing to do with race.  And no, sorry, they are not terrorists.  That doesn't mean that they're going about things the right way though.  In general, an armed takeover of a government building should really be a last resort.  But maybe they feel this is the last resort, and that's it's time to take a stand.  Yes, they're armed, but there has been zero violence so far.  Armed does not imply violent.

In case you're not familiar with what's going on, the nutshell version is that a father and son who are ranchers (the Hammonds) were arrested for Arson.  One of the annual fires that they started burned some grass on land owned by the federal government, and they also started a backfire that probably saved their home, among other things, from another fire.  If you're not familiar with these sorts of things, neither am I.  It's because we're not ranchers.  This is what ranchers have to deal with.  Anyway, for some asinine reason, the Hammonds were arrested for this, served time in prison, and were released.  Now, prosecutors have argued that the sentencing was too lenient, and they have headed back to prison for another five years each, essentially on terrorism charges.  So, a large group of folks, led by the Bundy family, have taken control of the headquarters of a Wildlife Reserve as an armed militia.  They have done this to protest the injustice of what has happened to the Hammonds, and the overreaching of the government.  That is what's going on.  The Hammonds should not be in prison.  Although I think there are better ways to protest that, but we'll get back to that in a minute.

First, let's discuss what this is not.  This is not something that has anything whatsoever to do with race or religion.  Why are so many people asking what would happen if the protesters were Black or Muslim?  It is a pointless hypothetical question meant to incite people.  My estimate is that it would pretty much go the same as it is going now.  No, the cops would not shoot them all.  No, they would not be and should not be labelled terrorists.  Let me ask a question to the folks asking these questions.  Do you know the race or religion of the folks in this militia?  Are you just assuming that all ranchers are white, you racist, you?  I would guess that this is NOT an all-white militia, let alone an all-white Christian militia, but I don't really know because I haven't polled them.  Neither have you.  And it doesn't matter either.  That's not the issue here.  The retort that Eric Holder was part of an armed protest in a government building is a proper response to this hypothetical question.  He's African American, and look what happened to him.  Not only did he not get shot or thrown in prison for life, but he became one of the most powerful people in the country (as well as one of the most inept at his job, but that's a totally different subject).

Additionally, this is not domestic terrorism.  These people don't want anyone shot.  There has been no violence.  There has been no terror.  They want the Hammonds released from prison and the government to keep their hands out of the everyday lives of ranchers to some extent.  Quite honestly, it's up for debate whether or not these people are even criminals.  The recent protesters in Baltimore and other cities are also not terrorists.  But those protests turned into riots, looting, arson, etc.  They were not always peaceful.  People were harmed.  There was violence.  Those people were clearly criminals.

Now that we have all of that out of the way, I personally don't think that a militia takeover was the best idea in this case.  I don't think that this has reached the point of a last resort yet.  I mean, really, if Ted freaking Cruz is telling you that you should stand down, you've probably taken things a bit too far.  Protests in Washington would make more sense, or perhaps even protesting the President wherever he goes.  He's issued a lot of executive actions recently.  Can't he issue one with regard to ranchers?  He's issued a lot of pardons.  Can't he pardon the Hammonds?  That would be a good way to get out of this whole mess.

TOTALLY DIFFERENT SUBJECT: The photo I put here is Mr. Bill.  Poor Mr. Bill has brought a knife to a gun fight.  OHH NOOO!  If you appreciate vintage SNL Mr. Bill humor, I'm starting a new blog that will mostly just have pictures of Mr. Bill with a line or two.  If you're not familiar with who Mr. Bill is, google it!  Here's the link to that blog: http://theadventuresofmrbill.blogspot.com/