When will this stupidity stop?

I don’t think it will. It’s appalling.

Trump is an attention whore.

Nothing to see here. Everyone move along.

He knows exactly what he is doing. He is stirring up the crazies and the racists. It is nothing but racism.

What other white president has ever been asked about his grades?

Trump has no shame.

When he’s dead. He just wants to get attention by providing what some of the public wants to investigate, which will eventually make people idolize him (even more than they do now…?). No big deal though.

@marinelife Bush was asked for his grades early in the campaign in 2000.

Other than that Trump just wants attention and this is the best way to get it right now.

Who does this Trump guy think he is? He gets one vote like the rest of us.

I think Trump is getting himself into the media and playing to the Republican fanatic base. Although, today he talked about knowing and voting people from both parties, and that he changes his mind over time on issues, like everyone does, and he sounded a little more rational again.

Everyone’s a little bit stupid.

@WestRiverrat Bush use to make up words. I can see why his grades were of some concern.

@Pandora Obama thinks there are 57 states, shouldn’t we have the same concerns with him?

Like the birthers and the 911 truthers allegations, it is a non issue with most of the voting public. If the media spent the same effort going over every word Obama has uttered, they would find several gaffs on his part as well.

I think Trump is making noise to win himself the republican nomination. He’s made himself a hero to the “birthers”, and the rank and file republicans love him because he has made Obama do something. Besides that, he can put his own money into a campaign, and maybe he thinks that the rest of us (US citizens) are so sick of everything we’ll vote for him to get rid of the career
politicians! (please make him go away…)

@GracieT Wish I had a magic wand. I would make your wish a reality.
@WestRiverrat I’ve listened to both speak. Bush was always guaranteed to make me laugh. I don’t think I ever saw a time where he didn’t throw in a made up word when he was agitated or didn’t know what to say. Looking back now, I wonder if it was on purpose. Like Trump. Laugh at my poor grammer and don’t pay attention to the fact that I’m simply saying nonsence so you don’t notice that I don’t really know what I am doing. Maybe he was a genius. After all we let him get away with doing a poor job and now he has a nice pension for life.

Trump couldn’t afford to be President…he would lose his TV show and all the other fun and games he gets to play. He will do this as long as people keep throwing money at him to do this dog and pony show and once people start backing a real Republican contender he will bow out.

@GracieT If you want to at least have a way of dealing with Trumps existence. This is what I envision whenever I see him.
He’s on the Titanic with his trumpettes on the front of the ship. His arms are stretched out and he is yelling, “I am king of the world”, just then the ship drops the front and he plunges into Ice cold water along with his trumpettes. When a search party is sent the only thing they fish out of the water is the squirrel he wore as a toupee and silicone filled globes.

@Cruiser I agree. I don’t think he really intends to run. But he is freaken annoying. Ah, I get it. The republican party is paying him to be a buffoon so when they spring someone else, everyone is so relieved they vote for the other guy in mass droves.

@WestRiverrat Obama thinks there are 57 states?!

Yes, during the primary campaign he stated he had visited all but two of the 57 states.

Here you can listen to his own words.

@WestRiverrat I’m pretty sure he knows how many states there are. I remember the media picking on it but I’m sure he was probably really tired. I know I’ve typed some silly things when I’m tired. Where as Bush did it so many times, he must’ve been really tired.

I honestly think Trump is just trying to draw people in to watch his shows season finale that is coming up. He has said before that he won’t announce if he is going to run or not until the season finale and I think this is his way of trying to get more people to tune in to see what he says. I really think it’s all for attention.

I think Trump certainly deserves the Republican nomination. I can’t think of any other person that better represents Republican voters right now.

@WestRiverrat, 45% of Republicans believe Obama was born overseas. 22% don’t know. source It’s not just a lunatic fringe. (Well, I guess you could say that the Republican party itself is a lunatic fringe…)

@WestRiverrat, do you actually believe that Obama does not know how many states there are, as opposed to, you know, simply mis-speaking?

@pandora I can probably find as many gaffs by Obama as you can find from Bush over a comparable amount of time.

I have the same trouble ennunciating that Bush has, it is a form of dyslexia. Does Obama have a medical condition to explain his gaffs?

@Qingu I am just pointing out that when Bush did it, he was a dummy, but when Obama does it he is just mis-speaking. I would like to see them both held to the same standard.

@WestRiverrat Oh, he meant 47 obviously, seemed tired and searching for the number. But, I admit sounds bad. Even if it was a mistake, how do you screw that up if you know there are 48 contiguous states. If Bush did that I would be all over it admittedly. Usually people from Hawaii and Alaska know better than the people here in the lower 48 that there are 48 over here. I hate when Americans don’t know there are 50 states, it makes me queazy. A lot of people don’t know, but I think Obama knew.

@WestRiverrat, I seriously doubt you could find as many Obama gaffes as Bush per capita.

And I don’t think Bush was a dummy because he wasn’t a good public speaker. I think he was a dummy because he had a naive, simplistic, and often counterfactual view of the way the world worked.

(By the way, I’m not sure why so many people think Obama is a good speaker. He’s a good writer, but he doesn’t come anywhere close to Clinton or Reagan when it comes to speaking. Still better than W Bush, of course—maybe that’s why.)

I agree with @Qingu this whole thing about Obama being a good speaker is ridiculous. He does well with a prewritten speech, but when he answers questions he almost stutters. Not that stuttering indicates intelligence, but it sure doesn’t make him a great speaker in all areas of speaking.

@Qingu I get the same response from the other side on the hunting forums I frequent, that have a strong conservative leaning.

If the conservatives think I am a flaming liberal and the liberals think I am a staunch conservative, I must be doing something right.

I get sick of both sides close mindedness, their candidates can do no wrong and the other sides candidates can do no right.

@WestRiverrat How can you say @Qingu or me for that matter is closed minded? We defended Obama about the 57 states thing, and then criticised him for not being a good speaker.

@JLeslie I actually think he speaks much better when he’s answering questions than when he’s reading speeches….

@WestRiverrat, how nice it must feel to be above the fray. And I’m certainly glad you’ve found a way to feel superior to both ends of the political spectrum without actually engaging in it or making choices.

I am very engaged, I am not above the fray. I just believe both sides have their flaws and their advantages. The country would be a lot better off if each side would recognise this and work together instead of trying to score points off the other side.

I have voted in every election since I was old enough to vote, I have volunteered on at least 4 republican and 5 democrat election campaigns, sometimes both in the same election cycle.

@WestRiverrat Would you volunteer for Trump?

It’s not going to stop until Obama admits that he’s a Kenyan Muslim socialist who did 9/11.

No, but I didn’t volunteer for Bush, Gore or Obama either.

I just think it’s disingenuous to suggest that you’re “doing something right” purely because you’ve managed to stake out the middle of a political conflict. Oftentimes one side of the political divide is truly better than the other.

For example, during the 1800’s, one side of the political spectrum felt that slavery should be abolished; the other side felt it was worth seceding and using force to preserve its legality. Staking out the middle in this divide wouldn’t have made you right.

Today, one side of the political spectrum believes that cutting taxes never increases the deficit, that our country should not have a social safety net, that the market is essentially a deity to be worshiped and appeased; large chunks of it believe the Bible is the literal word of God, that you can spread democracy by invading and occupying countries, that America is an “exceptional” nation that therefore does not have to follow the rule of law, that human activities do not impact Earth’s climate, and that evolution is a lie.

The other side, on the other hand, is mostly sane.

I don’t really understand why you feel proud to take no sides in this situation.

@Qingu Really. Well, we disagree there, but we still try to call ‘em as we see ‘em I think.

As @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard said, you really shouldn’t pay attention to the bastard. It’ll only egg him on.

@Qingu You are wrong. One side is not better than the other. The reason he should feel proud not to take sides is because both “sides” as they exist in our country in this time are acting like a bunch of whiny, immature, selfish children who won’t give an inch if they don’t get what they want.

@ladymia69, nonsense, on several levels.

First, if you’re going to say that both sides policies are the same, I think you ought to have your head examined. Either that or you simply don’t know what their policies are. Do you really think that “we should give massive tax cuts to the rich” is the same as “we should preserve the social safety net for the sick, elderly, and unemployed”?

And the Democrats are perfectly willing to compromise. The Democrats let the Republicans extend their massive Bush tax cuts for the rich in exchange for more stimulus, for example. The health care law was massively watered down because Democrats had to compromise to get right-wing holdouts. The Republicans have always been less willing to compromise, in part to appease their insane base.

Like I said to @WestRiverrat: it’s easy to make yourself out to be above the fray. Much more difficult to get involved and figure out which policies work better and are worth supporting.

@Qingu Do you really believe everything that they are telling you about their agenda is really what is on their agenda? That is nonsense.

They both have their hands in the pockets of the corporations and businesses that own/run this country. I did not say that they are the same. I said they are both acting in an abomidable fashion at the moment. Don’t screw up my words.

It’s also easy to believe everything can be reduced to a corporate conspiracy. That also lets you off the hook and gives your apathy an air of moral superiority.

Corporations exert enormous influence in America; that’s just the way America is structured. If that’s such a concern for you, one might think you’d be more on the side of Democrats, whose policies actually support organized labor, federal regulation of corporations, and progressive tax structures.

@Qingu I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am going by what I have read, which is not what I have been spoonfed by the general partisan press. Do you ever get your information from impartial sources?
And the Democrats are supported completely by corporations, from the campaigns up. They are slaves to the lobbyists of this nation, just like the Republicans. Haven’t you ever considered that there might be another option besides the ones you have been taught?
The only ones who can make a difference in this country are the people. As far as government, the people pulling the strings are the ones who have the money. I love how you partisan types cry “conspiracy” at the first utterance of someone claiming you have been disinformed.

Neither party wants to make the hard choices. The deficit is out of control and both sides think the best way out is to spend China’s money on the problem. That will only work as long as China is willing to write a blank check to the US government.

Eventually China is going to want its money back, and I think sooner than the politicians on both sides are expecting.

Paul Ryan is taking a lot of hits from both parties because of his budget plan. I think his plan has some serious flaws, but it is the only one out there right now that even tries to get the deficit under control.

Trump is delighting in thinking he can make Obama jump thru his hoops.
Dance!

Bread and circuses.

I will give Trump credit for shredding whatever credibility the Birther movement had amongst swing voters and others who were/are not already so steadfastly anti-Obama/anti-Democrat that reality has no bearing on their thought process.

@ladymia69, what are these fabled nonpartisan sources that you have read, that give you such enlightenment about the true state of political affairs that you think sheeple like myself somehow lack?

@WestRiverrat, my problem with people like you is that you have such a strong opinion on matters that you demonstrably know nothing about.

For example, did you know that China does not hold most of our debt? They hold a slight plurality. Japan holds almost as much as them. But don’t let that stop you from making the (false) rhetorical point about China writing us a blank check.

You also seem to be unaware that Paul Ryan’s plan’s deficit reduction is based on a number of pure fiction, such as unreasonably low unemployment and a reduction of defense spending to a fraction of the rate it actually describes. It is complete fucking fraud. source

But don’t let that stop you from championing it, you brave, brave independent. Oh wait, Ryan’s plan is flat-out Republican partisanship. But of course you want to feel superior to the party system, so keep on calling yourself an independent.

He is Ross Perot in disguise, a pawn; he can’t do anything except make things more diffused. My prediction Obama is your next President. Doesn’t make much difference at this point, but my prognostication. if I am wrong I have to send you flowers!

@Garebo If you are wrong, do you happen to live in a warm climate? I may need to move for 4 years or take up drinking. :((

You know the answer, bring your scarf, but I can still grow flowers. Choice must be made, I would choose the latter, because that is what it will take for me to have a smile on my face. And we have just got started, long ride indeed, it will be.

Did you know that Dick Cheney is actually a time traveler and Romulan undercover agent who had advanced reconstructive surgery.

What? You don’t believe me? Aha. So?

Well, no, I don’t believe you. Prove it to me that you are right.

You got proof? Aha. Show it to me.

Oh no, that’s not a proof. Dick Cheney is a time traveler and Romulan undercover agent.

Yes, I’m sure of it. You disagree? I said prove it to me that you are right.

Yeah, see you tomorrow.

Yeah, we’ll see.