OPEN LIVE CONVENTION THREAD - THURSDAY, JULY 21

[Cripplecreek]

Never means never.

Given the progressive/authoritarian lovefest that the convention was last night, its very likely that I will never vote republican again aside from the few who still show the courage of their convictions.

Trump and his supporters simply are not politically viable partners in the advancement of constitutional conservatism.

[Silver Pines]

The sheep crave it.

They see it, they think they will benefit by it and it will never come around to bite them.

They dream of having big teeth and hunting in packs, of turning the tables on any who have wronged them, even by proxy, so they are actually looking forward to granting power to someone who says he will empower them.

Even as they feed their lambs to the pack, they dream of being wolves.

Perfectly expressed.

[RoosGirl]

Exactly, so why keep doing the insane thing, and repeating the same choices over and over, expecting different results?  It's only getting worse...not any better, at all....and until we put forward ACTUAL CONSERVATIVES, we (i.e. America) will never win.

I respectfully disagree.  We had a conservative to vote for.  We have a values problem and until that problem is overcome an actual conservative will never win. 

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Its ultimately an oath of absolute subservience. It often gave the king or nobility the right to take what they wished from crops and livestock to sons for labor or even wives and daughters.

Cruz said it well when he said he wouldn't be a servile puppy dog to Trump. I will not be one either. If that be Treason make the most of it!

[Smokin Joe]

Here's the crazy bastard:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSnHum7ybeQ


For Pence to stand there and laugh at this nonsense;  to hell with Mike Pence.

He said Cruz "didn't do great in the debates against me". Was that the ones Trump skipped or the ones where he dominated the microphone saying things about bleeding out of whatevers?

[L9teen]

[bolobaby]

Casino glitz. I'd bet the smart money is moving out of the game.

The production costs of these conventions prove there will never, ever, ever be an actual contested convention in the future. They invested millions in "Trump as the nominee." Even if every delegate said "no," the chair would have said, "The ayes have it! Go Trump!"

Politics is a business now.

[Smokin Joe]

I want a body language expert to reveal the tells that Pence is sending. He looks, uh, uncomfortable.

Interesting take. People often laugh when they are nervous. I think Pence's political future was going up in flames while he stood there backing that nonsense.

[Smokin Joe]

Donald says that The National Enquirer is a high quality publication.  I cant defend that.

Perhaps some of the Trump Believers want to give it a go....


Sincerely and authentically, I am asking for your help.

It will stop more bird poo than you want to leave in the cage without soaking through. Good stuff.

[Cripplecreek]

He said Cruz "didn't do great in the debates against me". Was that the ones Trump skipped or the ones where he dominated the microphone saying things about bleeding out of whatevers?

Trump no longer wanted to debate when he was down to two opponents who couldn't be baited into stupid arguments with him.
I fully expect him to look for a way to avoid debating Clinton and his toady brigades to happily make excuses.

[Smokin Joe]

Well, there IS a lot of space available in there...

@Bigun

Yep. there is lots of space, but you need to get the HAZMAT cleanup team in there beforehand.

[Cripplecreek]

Here is an example of Trumpian progressivism I just had sent to me on twitter.

NeoconTraitorCruzbot
‏@heatpacker

@RichardJSunkle They think that constitutional conservatism is for suckers and want to play political hardball as obama has. #rulesbedamned

These are people who have fully embraced ends justify the means progressivism and are completely lost to any kind of constitutional conservatism. I've long warned that using progressive tactis was a double edged sword.

[Smokin Joe]

Only for tonight, we have months, God help us, possibly years of this ahead. Can you imagine a Trump Cabinet, it will be constantly changing with "YOUR FIRED" blaring out from behind the doors.

How about that. A cabinet with revolving doors! How innovative! (As seen on TV!!) What'll they think of next?

[Smokin Joe]

Donald Trump was out for revenge Friday morning against Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas (A, 97%) for the speech Cruz gave Wednesday at the Republican Convention in which he did not directly endorse Trump for president.

At one moment in a press conference, Trump specifically took issue with an “added” sentence in the Senator’s speech.
“I knew his speech, they gave me his speech, I saw exactly what his speech was,” Trump said. “Well he got up, and in the first two sentences he added a sentence.”

Mr. Trump said that the added sentence “could have been viewed as a nasty thing, in terms of what he said, because he was implying something—which is wrong—but that’s OK.”

So what was that “nasty” added line in the “first two sentences?”

The text of Cruz’s speech as it was prepared for delivery was released by the RNC before Cruz took the stage and the first few sentences read:

Now, Time magazine has a transcript of Cruz’s delivered remarks, and if we put the “added” sentences in bold it reads:
So, umm, which one of those sentences were “nasty?” Surely it wasn’t “God bless each and every one of you.” Likewise, it couldn’t have been “I am convinced America is going to come back too?"

Was it, “And, like each of you, I want to see the principles that our party believes in prevail in November?”

Trump said he thought it was very “dishonorable” of Sen. Cruz to add one of those sentences, that Cruz was “implying something.”

The closest statement to the Cruz line that elicited boos from the RNC crowd—“vote your conscience”—was “I want to see the principles that our party believes in prevail in November.” So let’s assume that’s what Trump is referring to.

- See more at: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/07/trump-is-right-ted-cruz-did-add-a-line-to-his-speech#sthash.GmaG1oJ3.8nRmgREe.dpuf

I was looking at Cruz' speech as delivered, and had trouble figuring out what Trump was gibbering about being so offensive, too. Thanks for laying out the 'delivered' version for comparison. I believe the analysis to be correct. The greatest offense seems to be taken when matters of principle are invoked.

[Smokin Joe]

Obammy had Greek columns.  Don't deny the Trumpster his WWF style party.

It looks like the front plate on a slot machine, only the 'window' is too small.

[Smokin Joe]

Agree with the unforced errors.  See above, including McEnroe . 

But McCain was not good enough, Romney/Ryan not good enough and now Trump/Pence is not good  enough.  Multi-decade pattern forming here..

Sadly, the picks just keep getting worse, imho, farther away from Conservatism and the Constitution.

[L9teen]

Maybe our primary base ought to be voting for the candidate that has the greatest intraparty crossover appeal?  In essence, vote for the guy who's everybody's number #2 choice.

Oh, he's everybody's #2 alright...

[Smokin Joe]

I think that's just in the same arena as all the other nonsense Trump has to say; the Rafael/LHO "link", etc.  No one really cares if it's true or not.  I should say, not enough people really care if it's true or not.  It's Trump's m.o.

It was a great smear, timed to come just before the Northeastern State primaries, in a region where the Kennedys are still looked upon as 'royalty' by many. Like the other smears which were trotted out one or two days before an election or caucus, targeted toward the demographics in the regions involved, and designed to have the maximum negative impact on his opponents, specifically Cruz.

I have little doubt the folks in his marketing department burned the midnight oil and earned yuuge bonuses for their efforts, whether they actually got paid a dime extra (on salary) or not.

[L9teen]

I respectfully disagree.  We had a conservative to vote for.  We have a values problem and until that problem is overcome an actual conservative will never win.

Well, yeh.  That goes without saying.  I'm just saying, they keep pushing RINO's and non-conservatives on us as our choices and then push the meme that we HAVE to choose the lesser of 2 evils.  THAT notion is what my main "insanity" idea was coming from. 

[L9teen]

I made a poll, if anyone is interested.  It's on Facebook, but I thought I'd share anyway, if anyone wanted to jump on it...

https://poll.fbapp.io/did-you-change-your-mind?from=admin_wall

[billva]

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2016/07/22/cnn-probably-regrets-polling-viewers-trumps-rnc-speech-well-wow-368574

[HonestJohn]

You wouldn't recognize irony, if it jumped up and bit you on the rump.   

Whose side only believes in Breitbart, WND, and bats#@t insane blogsites?  Calling everything else propaganda?

[Ghost Bear]

I was looking at Cruz' speech as delivered, and had trouble figuring out what Trump was gibbering about being so offensive, too. Thanks for laying out the 'delivered' version for comparison. I believe the analysis to be correct. The greatest offense seems to be taken when matters of principle are invoked.

Actually, I think what most offended Mr. Trump was the line "God bless each and every one of you."  I think he probably saw that as a sly implication by Sen. Cruz that The Donald is irreligious.  Notice that Mr. Trump finished his speech with a similar line ("God bless you and goodnight! I love you!"), which was not in the prepared remarks as they were released to the media before the speech.  At the time he said it I thought it was odd that he didn't go on to say "and God bless the United States of America", as most speakers do when delivering that line at the end of a speech. Perhaps The Donald isn't sure what one is supposed to say when invoking God?   

That's what I think anyway.   

[roamer_1]

Interesting take. People often laugh when they are nervous. I think Pence's political future was going up in flames while he stood there backing that nonsense.

The very BEST thing he could do is walk away... Right now.... Whatever 'dog ate my homework' excuse will do.

[Cyber Liberty]

It was a great smear, timed to come just before the Northeastern State primaries, in a region where the Kennedys are still looked upon as 'royalty' by many. Like the other smears which were trotted out one or two days before an election or caucus, targeted toward the demographics in the regions involved, and designed to have the maximum negative impact on his opponents, specifically Cruz.

I have little doubt the folks in his marketing department burned the midnight oil and earned yuuge bonuses for their efforts, whether they actually got paid a dime extra (on salary) or not.

Then they're all idiots for shooting at the wrong target.