Let's Take a Moment to Really Look at How Things Have Changed

The GOP is known as the old white man party. The elite, good old boys club that tries to rule the world with a selfish myopic eye.
So let's take a quick look at the current candidates for the GOP nomination-

Ben Carson- most obviously not a member of the old white man's party.
Marco Rubio - A Miami-born, Cuban American, the son of Cuban immigrants
Ted Cruz - his name is actually Rafael Edward Cruz, was born in Canada, to an asylum-seeking Cuban married to an American woman.
Donald Trump - okay, obviously he would be the poster for entitled, old white men. (But if you look at Cruz' background you'll discover he was pretty entitled as well.) But let's give him some credit for having married 3 different woman, Ivana born in Czechoslovakia , Marla, an American, and Melania from Slovenia. So while still an entitled old, white guy, he does have some international influence on this thinking
Jeb Bush- again, the ultimate in entitled white guys. But he is married to Columba, a Mexican woman.
And John Kasich- the only one of the candidates without an international, non-white familial connection.

When 2 of the candidates can spar on stage about speaking Spanish, this isn't your father's Republican party.

Polls (Why You Shouldn't Believe Most of What You Read)

Tonight I was stupid enough to answer the landline for an unknown number. It was a political pollster call. They said it would only take 2-3 minutes so I said I'd answer their questions.
That was the first lie they told me. (The call lasted nearly 30 minutes. I nearly hung up halfway through.)
They didn't identify who they were calling on behalf of. If they did, they said it so fast I didn't hear it. It was a loud, noisy call, the kind where you hold the phone 6 inches away from your ear so it doesn't get blasted.
The first few questions were generic- name, income, zip code, party affiliation, who did you vote for last time. They asked a few predictable questions like "If the national campaign came down to Jeb Bush v Hillary Clinton who would you vote for?"
But then they asked what month I was born in. And tada, my birth month would be answering questions just about Hillary. And this is where things got weird. And by weird, I mean so completely, inappropriately biased, that I had to decline answering a few. All of the questions were about Hillary and the email server. "The right-wing media has disseminated false information claiming there has been criminal activity. Hillary has done everything she can to be open and forthcoming about her emails, and has done nothing criminal. Does this make you 1. More Likely to Vote Hillary, 2. Somewhat Likely to Vote Hillary, 3. Somewhat Unlikely to Vote Hillary, or 4. Not at All Likely to Vote Hillary?" Uh, wait. I disagree with the statement altogether. I don't believe the right-wing media has disseminated false information, or that Hillary has been forthcoming with her emails. I can't answer that question!
There was never a question about "Do you believe anything Hillary says?"
There were similar questions about "The Republicans have painted Hillary as untrustworthy. Does this make you more or less likely to vote for a Republican?"
Uh, again, I don't agree with the statement, so I can't continue!
By the end of the phone call I realized yet again, how little you can trust a poll. I keep seeing something on Facebook about how Ben Carson beat Trump in a poll. But the truth is, he beat him by less than a tenth of point, in a poll of just 405 registered GOP Iowa caucus voters. So really, they tied, once you consider the margin of error. And Carson isn't even remotely close to Trump in any of the other polls out there.
In other words, Carson isn't really a threat to Trump. Not that I don't wish he was. I'd love to see anyone give Trump a run for his money. I'm not a big fan.
But I digress.
The point here is that you really shouldn't believe most polls. Sometime next week there will be very favorable poll results announced for Hillary. But only because the poll was so slanted in her favor, that they can't help but spin the results their way.




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A Quick Look at Jeb Bush

Governor of Florida Jeb Bush, Announcement Tour and Town Hall, Adams Opera House, Derry, New Hampshire by Michael Vadon 07" by Michael Vadon - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Of all the GOP candidates, it is in my humble opinion that Governor Jeb Bush is the most serious and viable long-term candidate. He has name recognition, experience, and deep pockets. He is more credible than most of the other GOP candidates. And for that reason, it is time to take a look at him. I'll save the deeper look for later.

• Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007
• Real name: John Ellis Bush
• He's 7 years younger than George W. Bush
• His wife, Columba, is from Mexico. He met her while she was on a summer exchange student program. She spoke little English. He spoke no Spanish. He learned Spanish just to be able to talk to his crush. 
• Supports stem cell research; opposes abortion, supports parental consent, pro-life counseling
• Supported government bailouts
• Florida budget grew by 27% under Bush
• Supports a balanced budget amendment
• Has a complicated record on gay rights, depending on how you look at it. His record on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been straight forward. He's voted in favor of it, and was supportive of the related civil rights involved. As for gay marriage, he has urged "respect" for same-sex unions. He has stated support for businesses to express the religious views regarding gay marriage. "This is simply allowing people of faith space to be able to express their beliefs, to be able to be people of conscience," Bush said. "I just think, once the facts are established, people aren't going to see this as discriminatory at all."
• A former entrepreneur and business owner, he has a free-market, pro-development, pro-growth philosophy
• Pro-Common Core, supports teacher bonuses based on student performance
• It should be noted, Florida doesn't have a great record when it comes to education
• Skeptic on global warming
• In Jan 2004, he did not support Obama's actions on the Cuba embargo, "the latest foreign policy misstep by this President, and another dramatic overreach of his executive authority. It undermines America's credibility and undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba." This week he said, "Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Havana is a birthday present for Fidel Castro." He went on to say, "We need an American president who will work in solidarity with a free Cuban people, if I am elected President, I will reverse Obama’s strategy of accommodation and appeasement and commit to helping the Cuban people claim their freedom and determine their future, free from tyranny. Standing up for fundamental human rights and democratic values should not be an afterthought to America’s Cuba policy, it should be its guiding principle."
• Like all candidates, he is anti-ISIS. We'll save foreign relations and international conflicts with the Islamic state for another day, as that is a subject that shouldn't be summed up in a bullet point.

Jeb Bush on Sharknado

Apparently this is the week where the politicians sound off on cable TV.

Needed a quick explainer on this #Sharknado3 thing, Mark Cuban
Posted by Jeb Bush on Friday, July 24, 2015

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2016 Presidential Primary Candidates on Healthcare

"Gov. Bobby Jindal in Oklahoma 2015" by Michael Vadon - https://www.flickr.com/photos/80038275@N00/17871530750. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

I've been gone for a while, but I'm back. It's time to start talking about the new round of contestants in the presidential campaign primary elections! (Please go back and re-read that last line in your best Bob Barker "Price is Right" voice.) 

As is always the case this early on, the field is flooded with nearly identical campaign platforms. I will be taking the next few weeks, maybe months, to highlight the contenders and the issues. 

Today we start with a simple line item comparison of where they all stand on healthcare. 

The following statement are direct quotes from the candidates' websites, thereby keeping my opinion out of things [for the time being].

Rick Perry - no website statement

Scott Walker - I refuse to "get an account" on his site to get past the front page

Donald Trump - no website statement (but I did learn that "he is the very definition of the American success story") 

Mike Huckabee - "ObamaCare is a $2.2 trillion disaster that dumps millions of people into a broken, expensive system and does nothing to fix the basic problems everyday Americans face. We must tackle out-of-control costs. ObamaCare raided $700 billion from Medicare. This is not reform — it’s theft. We must reject government dependency. We need solutions and choices — not government mandates and new taxes. We must address pre-existing conditions with common sense. As a governor, I know these issues first hand. Our system of “sick care” is upside down. Doctors, hospitals and drug companies get paid for treating people who are sick — not keeping people healthy or preventing illnesses. So many Americans cannot afford to get sick, while others take advantage of a system that isn’t fair. ObamaCare simply doubles down on this backwards, broken, flawed and failing system. We need honesty, leadership and real reform. As President, I will repeal ObamaCare and fight for real health care reform."

Bobby Jindal - no website statement (but then, he's literally only been in the race 5 minutes)

Carly Fiorina - no website statement

Rand Paul - I was not a member of the United States Senate during the 111th Congress, but if I had been I would have voted against Obamacare. As your President, one of my first acts would be to repeal the abomination that is Obamacare.
As a doctor, I have had firsthand experience with the immense problems facing health care in the United States. Prior to the implementation of Obamacare, our health care system was over-regulated and in need of serious market reforms—but Obamacare is not the answer.
Government interventions in health care have driven up the cost of coverage and decreased competition within the market. More—not less—freedom to choose and innovate will make sure our health care system remains the best in the world.
As your President, I will ensure that real free-market principles are applied to the American health care system so that it is responsive to patients, families, and doctors, rather than government bureaucracy.

Hillary Clinton - Defend the Affordable Care Act and reduce health costs
We will slow the growth of overall health care costs and deliver better care to patients. And we will ensure that the savings from those reforms benefit families—not just insurance companies, drug companies, and large corporations.

Jeb Bush - no statement

Jim Webb - no statement

Martin O'Malley - no statement

Marco Rubio - "Repeal Obamacare and replace it with a conservative solution." There is a very long and detailed statement on his website. Also, for what it's worth, he has the most organized and detailed website of all the candidates thus far. 

Ted Cruz - no statement, which is a little shocking actually!

So basically what we've learned here today is that most of the candidates don't have an issues page up on their websites yet, And the Republicans that do are against Obamacare, and the Democrats that do like it. 

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