American Presidential candidates GoP/Dems

[mattyn1]

unrepentant said:

mattyn1 said:

I really do not understand why it is a straight race between Clinton and Trump. There are more people on the ballot paper - the Libertarian for instance - who for me, despite not having a handle on foreign affairs, make much better candidates - which is not difficult.

Why are these - Johnson, Stein et al, not making more noise? Or are they, and it is just not getting reported in the UK?

Stein is an irrelevance. Johnson has received a lot of airtime here, prime time interviews regularly on cable news channels etc... Unfortunately he's proven himself to be a blithering idiot. Didn't know what or where Aleppo is, couldn't name a single foreign leader etc...

Thank you.

So Johnson comes across as a bit of a cretin. Is that worse than the conventional candidates? I do not get why a couple hundred million people will put up with the other two.

[Countdown]

Halb said:

Arizona, Iowa and Ohio flipped back to red.
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-...

Senate race stil going great for dems though.

Not that great I think.... they're still going to be in a minority in both houses so if HRC does win then she'll be in much the same position as Obama.

[Halb]

Countdown said:

Not that great I think.... they're still going to be in a minority in both houses so if HRC does win then she'll be in much the same position as Obama.

Even as Clinton dips, the senate went back up. I reckon the dems will take the senate, but the house, unlikely.

[scherzkeks]

Wikileaks: 2006 audio of Clinton proposing election rigging in Palestine:

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/7921477179380...

Another gem.

[Countdown]

Halb said:

Countdown said:

Not that great I think.... they're still going to be in a minority in both houses so if HRC does win then she'll be in much the same position as Obama.

Even as Clinton dips, the senate went back up. I reckon the dems will take the senate, but the house, unlikely.

I think (might have missed something) but the best they will do is 50:50.

[Art0ir]

Halb said:

Arizona, Iowa and Ohio flipped back to red.
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-...

Senate race stil going great for dems though.

6 points difference? Didn't see it being that close.

[Halb]

Countdown said:

I think (might have missed something) but the best they will do is 50:50.

They need to win 4 seats if Hilary wins.
I am not going to predict what they will do, but in my head it looks possible they could take 4.

[Halb]

MM on Trumpland on now...very good.

The stuff on healthcare is depressing.

[JagLover]

Halb said:

MM on Trumpland on now...very good.

The stuff on healthcare is depressing.

Healthcare is going to be a big issue for the Republicans up to election day.

The burden of Obamacare falls on taxpayers and healthy people earning above the threshold where subsidies end ($47,520 for individuals). Those earning over $70,000 and paying for their own insurance (rather than through their employer) have seen premiums rise 75% since 2010 (source Economist)

[Lucas CAV]

JagLover said:

Halb said:

MM on Trumpland on now...very good.

The stuff on healthcare is depressing.

Healthcare is going to be a big issue for the Republicans up to election day.

The burden of Obamacare falls on taxpayers and healthy people earning above the threshold where subsidies end ($47,520 for individuals). Those earning over $70,000 and paying for their own insurance (rather than through their employer) have seen premiums rise 75% since 2010 (source Economist)

I have no handle on what Americans pay for healthcare outside the scare stories -

What would those over 70k earners be paying?

[Pesty]

Lucas CAV said:

I have no handle on what Americans pay for healthcare outside the scare stories -

What would those over 70k earners be paying?

Sample costs at bottom of this link



https://www.healthinsurance.org/obamacare/will-you...


70k a year on a calculator varies obviously depending on levels of care

https://www.getinsured.com/private/planselection?f...

Edited by Pesty on Sunday 30th October 09:31

Edited by Pesty on Sunday 30th October 09:32

[amusingduck]

scherzkeks said:

Wikileaks: 2006 audio of Clinton proposing election rigging in Palestine:

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/7921477179380...

Another gem.

Relax.

[davepoth]

The latest is that the US Justice Department told the FBI that making an announcement this close to the election would be in breach of the rules, but they went ahead and did it anyway:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-3781555...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comey

Was a registered Republican in the past, and donated to both McCain and Romney. I just hope he was very certain of what he had in front of him.

[Eric Mc]

Imagine if something like this happened in the UK i.e. a government agency such as MI5 or MI6 releasing information about a party leader a week before a General Election.

[hidetheelephants]

amusingduck said:

scherzkeks said:

Wikileaks: 2006 audio of Clinton proposing election rigging in Palestine:

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/7921477179380...

Another gem.

Relax.

That's quite a stretch, going from what's on the tape to her wanting to put the fix in; there are any number of things a country or an individual politician can do to influence an election or plebiscite in another state which are overt and legal if morally dubious. Obama wasn't shy about which side of the Brexit debate he was on and there are heads of state prepared to slag The Donald off despite him potentially being in the White House in a couple of months.

[Einion Yrth]

hidetheelephants said:

That's quite a stretch, going from what's on the tape to her wanting to put the fix in; there are any number of things a country or an individual politician can do to influence an election or plebiscite in another state which are overt and legal if morally dubious. Obama wasn't shy about which side of the Brexit debate he was on

And how's that working out for him again?

[Countdown]

davepoth said:

The latest is that the US Justice Department told the FBI that making an announcement this close to the election would be in breach of the rules, but they went ahead and did it anyway:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-3781555...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comey

Was a registered Republican in the past, and donated to both McCain and Romney. I just hope he was very certain of what he had in front of him.

Can you imagine the howls/screams from the Trumpinistas if this had been against him? It's all rigged, apparently.....

[iphonedyou]

Einion Yrth said:

And how's that working out for him again?

That doesn't have any relevance to the point being made.

[unrepentant]

Lucas CAV said:

JagLover said:

Halb said:

MM on Trumpland on now...very good.

The stuff on healthcare is depressing.

Healthcare is going to be a big issue for the Republicans up to election day.

The burden of Obamacare falls on taxpayers and healthy people earning above the threshold where subsidies end ($47,520 for individuals). Those earning over $70,000 and paying for their own insurance (rather than through their employer) have seen premiums rise 75% since 2010 (source Economist)

I have no handle on what Americans pay for healthcare outside the scare stories -

What would those over 70k earners be paying?

The vast majority of working Americans have healthcare provided by the company they work for. The percentage of people who earn over $50k and don't have healthcare provided by an employer is tiny. All employers except those with very few workers must provide a company scheme under the ACA.

A central plank of the ACA, and the one the GOP objected to the most, is the individual mandate. In effect that means that everyone must have healthcare. For the first couple of years the fines for not having it were non existent or tiny. From next year they ramp up it won't be so easy to choose not to take it. The biggest issue has been young, fit people who have decided not to buy a policy. That's all very well until they get in a wreck or something else happens and the rest of us have to pick up the slack. When those people all buy in premiums should fall because the pool will expand and include more people who will pay in but won't take out.

The problem is that we're dealing with vast medical insurance companies. They are motivated only by profit and they make plenty of it. Even with the pool expanded they will probably try to continue to gouge those who are outside the company or government system. I believe that the government could solve the problem by removing the insurance companies from the equation and including ACA customers in the Medicare and Medicaid pool.

While their has been some pain for a tiny number of people in the short term we should not forget that 20 million people who previously had no access to healthcare now have it. In addition insurance companies are no longer able to refuse coverage to those who have pre existing conditions and are no longer allowed to apply arbitrary annual and lifetime limits. Millions of Americans have been forced into bankruptcy over the years by those two factors.

The system is not perfect but it is a hell of a sight better than what we had before and will get a lot better over the next few years I believe.

[Einion Yrth]

iphonedyou said:

Einion Yrth said:

And how's that working out for him again?

That doesn't have any relevance to the point being made.

But it does. Attempting to influence another nation's plebiscite is always at best morally dubious, and frequently counter productive; and that's if it is done by legal means...