I wonder at what point they'll drag up Jeb's very active (and unpopular) role in the Terri Schiavo case. His role in that will play well to the "base," but not the rest of the country.
Regarding Hillary's invincibility, I think it depends on who the Republicans choose to nominate. She'd have no trouble with someone like Huckabee, Jindal, Christie (imagine those debates!), or even Mittens. I think Walker (who is a very good debater) represents a more formidable challenge, though.
Updated On: 2/3/15 at 10:08 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
Between the fact that this country loves to vote against its own interests, and that way the Republicans are great at coming up with a boogeyman to rally the troops against, I have no confidence whatsoever that Hillary (if she even runs) is gonna walk away with this.
Me either...I've been burned by that mentality too many times. Way too much can happen.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
Hollywood is leaning towards Elizabeth Warren
Link
A Warren-Clinton fight is every conservative's wet dream.
Not gonna happen.
It's my wet dream too.
But sadly I agree. It's not gonna happen.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"A Warren-Clinton fight is every conservative's wet dream."
But let's be honest. Warren reaches younger people, where Hillary can't. Warren has posted some interesting ideas, whereas Hillary is just running on "When bill was in office..."
Hillary is just running on "When bill was in office..."
Why do you guys think Jeb can't win? The Republicans aren't stupid, they need someone electable who can get some of the Hispanic people on their team, not for just 2016 but forever. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, ain't happening. Hope Clinton is brushing up on her Spanish.
The thought of having to choose between another Bush or another Clinton is horribly depressing.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"The thought of having to choose between another Bush or another Clinton is horribly depressing."
Exactly!!!
Why do you guys think Jeb can't win?
Because no one likes him.
Ya sure PJ? He brings an I can carry Florida tag, what are smart Republicans looking for? Someone who can carry Florida, Ohio, New Mexico. I see no difference in Jeb and Hillary and I'm a flaming liberal.
Take the Drudge poll yourself. Vote for Jeb. Look at his numbers--and the Drudge poll represents two demographics: news junkies and deep conservatives.
DRUDGE: YOUR VOTE FOR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Now the two parties are jumping in on the vaccine "debate" with democrats saying, "VACCINATE YOUR DAMN KIDS!" and republicans saying, "There needs to be an element of personal choice!" I can't believe the GOP is willing to hitch their wagons to another tin foil hat topic.
Right? It's the most absurd thing.
Where is this whole vaccination issue coming from all of the sudden? Or has it always been an issue and I was just unaware because I don't have children?
ETA: Oh, I forgot about the measles outbreak. I'm assuming that's why this is suddenly an issue.
Long rant follows. Feel free to skip!
It's a big story because of the Disneyland outbreak, but the political interest is also because of climbing numbers of parents choosing to not vaccinate, based on, "personal research." This research is often limited to single minded blogs and, "studies," with NO peer revision. Without peer revision the data is worthless. If it can't be replicated, it's a theory that can easily be disproven by science. I used to question vaccines because I lived with staunch anti-vaxxers and read Andrew Wakefield's report on vaccines and autism. My problem was always that his data couldn't be replicated, but he was a serious scientist who worked with children on the spectrum. It was hard to ignore. Then he admitted he lied and falsified data. That pissed me off enough. Then I became a parent. Now I take the sh!t VERY personally.
At Disneyland, they think an international traveler was carrying the virus, but not yet symptomatic. You are contagious up to four days before the first symptom. It has a 90% contagious rating and can live airborne for more than 2 hours, so literally thousands of people were directly or indirectly exposed. If patient zero hit every ride in the park, every spot could have been swimming in the virus for two hours. Think about the people that move through there. There are 48 known cases of measles contracted by people who were at Disneyland in that time frame. 25 of those people were not vaccinated. The others didn't have enough titers that developed from their own vaccine. That happens. They fall under the category of people who depend on herd immunity. (My daughter falls under the same category, as she can't have her MMR yet, due to a benign brain tumor she has been on medication for since birth.) All 48 have taken the virus and theoretically spread it before knowing they had it. That number would have been at the very least cut in half had people been responsible. The bigger picture is that these kids who are unvaccinated by parental choice are often the kids of parents who associate with like minded families. One unvaccinated kid can spread it to dozens more. They can take it to school. They can pass it to kids too young or sick to get vaccinated. It's one of the easiest viruses to spread and one of the easiest to control. It stops being a personal choice when your kid can make my kid/grandmother/friend sick.
Of course, this whistle blower from the CDC also has all of the anti-vaxxers saying, "SEE?!!! I TOLD YOU!!!" GRRRRRR! lol
Yesterday, for some odd reason I tuned into Rush Limbaugh's radio talk show.
Rush claims that the root cause of the measle outbreaks are the school-aged children of undocumented workers who have entered the country at points along the US-Mexico border.
Rush's pearls of wisdom are at the jump.
Sorry for being the skunk that showed up at the garden party.
Rush's Pearls of Wisdom
Yes, Rush. It's undocumented children. Wait... wasn't it those undocumented children that get all of that FREE healthcare you're always bitching about?
Someday, the GOP may learn that willful ignorance is an increasingly bad plan.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
"Rush claims that the root cause of the measle outbreaks are the school-aged children of undocumented workers who have entered the country at points along the US-Mexico border."
And what do you think is the cause?
From what I hear, the Disneyland outbreak was most likely started by an infected foreign visitor. Early reports suggested that genetic tests of the virus affecting Americans are similar to strains seen in Indonesia, Qatar, Azerbaijan and Dubai. It spread, of course, because of unvaccinated American children.
PEOPLE CHOOSING TO NOT VACCINATE THEIR CHILDREN! If all children capable of getting vaccinated would GET vaccinated, there would be a few cases here and there, brought in by people from countries where the vaccine is not readily available, caught by those unable to be immunized. Those cases would be rare, as it would take DIRECT contact for them to be infected. Now, it takes an unvaccinated person passing it to another, passing it to 15 in kids in the Crunchy Mama play group, passing it to an elderly person and an infant while shopping.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
The Rethugs know exactly what they're doing by keeping this phony debate going. Nobody's looking as they redistribute wealth to corporations and the rich.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could return to a time when "I did my own research on the topic" was not synonymous with "Googling".
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
Anti-vaccination has been pushed by both liberals and conservatives.
Link
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