2016 in 2015

Scott Hardie | September 4, 2015
Is there any candidate that you support at this early stage of next year's presidential election?

Steve West | September 5, 2015
I just adore Carly Fiorina. I've never had this much respect for any female candidate although I long for the day when we can stop speaking of presidential sexes.

Erik Bates | September 5, 2015
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Samir Mehta | September 5, 2015
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Samir Mehta | September 5, 2015
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Scott Hardie | September 12, 2015
Steve, I remember your support for Peter Ueberroth in another discussion, based on his business experience, so I can understand your interest in Fiorina. Does that aspect of Trump's candidacy have any similar appeal? And as long as I'm on the subject, if you don't mind me asking, does a candidate's success in the private sector outweigh (for you) any lack of experience in the public sector? They do require two different skill sets, after all. Or is the lack of public sector experience a positive, because they haven't been corrupted by years of working the system yet?

Erik, no similar support for Rand Paul?

I'm with Samir, personally -- none of the candidates yet have strong appeal to me, though if I had to pick one, it would be Webb, or possibly Sanders, or possibly Biden if he decides to run.

Samir Mehta | September 12, 2015
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Scott Hardie | September 12, 2015
Agreed, same here. When I think of Trump, I think of the trashy, bottom-feeding, tabloid celebrity that he was for so many years in the public consciousness, and thus I'm flabbergasted that so many people now consider him respectable enough to elect to the nation's highest office. Having some proudly (and loudly) pro-Trump friends has given me some insight into why he's so loved: Trump's disdain for illegal immigrants and foreign enemies are big plusses, but more important is his willingness to speak his mind freely (he's not a robotic equivocator who's had the humanity market-researched out of him like Bush or Clinton), and most of all, he seems like a leader. When he speaks, his supporters feel fired up and passionate about making America great again, while other candidates leave them cold and unimpressed. (I don't feel it, myself. I've watched videos of Trump rallies and he just blathers and rambles mid-sentence like he has ADD, but to each their own I guess.) For the people who support Trump for these reasons, I can see why the size of his business empire doesn't matter as much to them, to degree that they're even aware that it's much smaller than he lets on.

Everything that Kanye West does is met with derision.

Samir Mehta | September 12, 2015
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Steve West | September 12, 2015
I detest Donald trump as a businessman, a politician, a television personality and pretty much as a human being. His motives need constant questioning. His personal agenda will always outweigh the country's best interest and therefore cannot be trusted. Period.

Scott Hardie | September 20, 2015
Well said, both of you. I'm in complete agreement. I imagine that my pro-Trump friends don't foresee all of that planning being a problem once the Trump administration is in place. They get fired up about Trump's vague claims like "I will be so good at the military your head will spin" and don't sweat the details. And they make fun of low-information voters! They are completely convinced that Trump will win not just the nomination but the general election, and they're rather smug and self-satisfied about it too, gloating over ever poll like sports fans obnoxiously pointing out that their team won again. Me, I'm with Nate Silver that Trump's odds of getting the nomination are something like 2%.

Aaron Shurtleff | September 21, 2015
I'm going to plead the obnoxious here. As a registered independent, I have no say in who ends up on the final ballot, so it really doesn't feel like I need to get too jazzed up about a huge deluge of candidates that I will largely never have an opportunity to vote for or against. I'm not not paying attention, but I don't feel any particular urgency to pick a favorite this early in the process, if that makes any sense.

That said, I also don't have anyone I'm hoping to see make it to the final ballot of the ones I've seen so far.