I still cringe watching that clip.

...JEB will beat Hilary in a close election when the Republicans take Florida by a Supreme Court decision...Democrats nationwide will be jumping off cliffs like the lemmings they are .

I think I speak for my fellow Republicans when I say we've had enough bush. Time to shake things up a bit and put someone who's successful in there

Bold: Of course, I don't think anyone would seriously deny that capacity. I firmly believe that the nature of the GOP primary debates where their eventual nominee has to take extreme positions to win over the heart of the party will decide the general election. You're a little backwards on 2012 though. The 47% comments were revealed in September before the first debate. The only impact they and the debates shared was the Romney's team failure to prep him to comment on them in either the first OR second debate, allowing Obama to land a devastating hit on them in his closing statement in the second debate. Romney only really received a boost (and it wasn't significant, it was just portrayed that way by a lazy and clueless media) after the first debate because of the way the media uniformly covered the performance.

I can see several paths to victory for the GOP in 2016. Nominating any of the four I mentioned is a requirement. From there they'd need: 1) A legitimate scandal that taints Clinton or possibly Obama, 2) a massive recession, or 3) an uncharacteristically poor campaign effort from Clinton combined with the first great GOP-ran presidential campaign since 1984.

Honestly #3 is probably close to a requirement as well. No Republican has run a great campaign since 1984. They've needed a lot of sheer luck to end up on the right side of merely serviceable campaigns (1988, 2004). They need a GREAT campaign to beat Clinton.

...you speak for yourself not me .

They don't have anyone who is successful though. I don't think a single one of their candidates could have won their elections in a presidential year, outside of red-staters like Cruz where Election Day is an afterthought. Walker would have lost if WI-GOV took place in 2008 or 2012, same for Rubio if his FL-SEN took place in those years. Jeb might be the only person who could win even a hypothetical 2012 FL-GOV.

The GOP no longer has much success in presidential years because they're pitching to a decided minority. That's their whole problem. There's a low ceiling to the success they can routinely generate in presidential years, so they're stuck with national politicians who can only play in midterms. Their candidate who has undoubtedly the highest potential, Rubio, would still be an underdog to Clinton in a neutral year because the advantages he does have (free pass from the media, no record to attack outside of shitty votes, strong biography, building a national infrastructure) still don't extend far into presidentials.

This post was edited by Pollster on Jul 18 2015 09:37pm

If I had to have a GOP president, i'd much rather have Trump then another Bush cause i know he knows when to take advice and when to dole it out while still always being in charge
but that being said, I still think Hillary or Bernie has a far better shot and id be happy with either.

I really don't know the history of all the presidents - but has there ever been a pure business man (like no political experience at all) serve as POTUS?

Trump can't get out of his responsibilities as president by declaring bankruptcy, so I wouldn't trust him to be a good businessman for the country.....

Don't be dumb Thor, Trump is worth BILLIONS. I imagine he'd make every home in America the same quality as his hotels.

Yes, Trump is worth BILLIONS, that he made with a huge inheritance from his father, and protection through bankruptcy laws.