'course he is

An amazing turn of events. I have to admit... I never thought for a moment that Trump would ever have a chance. All he has to do now is wait for more **** to pile on Hillary (while not going overboard on the stupid) and the election is his.

But don't you see?? It's the Russians! The Russians are attacking Hillary to prop up a candidate who is more open to international cooperation between people of different countries and races, which is Donald Trump apparently? Also they made the Democrats write those horrible things in their emails I guess??

The point is, you'd never know how ****ty these people are without the Russians, so it is all their fault.

Yeah, "the Russians!!" is a tired excuse, and really this whole thing gives the impression that the DNC is only sorry that they were caught.

Though, some sources report that we may see millions of Americans leaving the Democrat party. Also people are planning to boo Hillary at the convention, I so hope that happens.

Getting a poll bump after the Trump convention isn't a big surprise considering the drama around it. We'll probably see the same thing after the DNC for Hillary. Though, really, the path for Trump to win the national electorate is pretty bleak.

Let's just say that Trump wouldn't win... Clinton would lose.

It's been a never stopping, deeply penetrating train of cynicism for me this Election 2016, this whole show makes me almost miss the 2008 Obama-McCain times (pre-Sarah Palin). At least I could pretend times might get better. Pure fear and loathing now.

I guess the question du jour is, between The Two, who would do the least amount of damage?

Honestly it could be a positive sign, American politics have been **** for decades. Kind of always but whatever. At least the status of political elections is clear to all Americans now. There can be no more doubt about how leaders are picked.

I really don't like this notion of picking the lessor of two evils. The choice should be between who is actually going to fix things or who is going to f* things bad enough that we actually do something about it. Choosing the lukewarm candidate is like being waterboarded.

But Hillary's selling point is "I'm not Trump", if you take away the lesser of two evils mentality, she has no platform

She does have a "platform", even if she hasn't based her campaign on a single, narrow issue, in the way that Bernie Sanders did.

You can expect that under a Clinton administration, America will continue to become a more inclusive society, just as it did under Obama. However, Clinton's foreign policy will be more robust, and more aggressive, than Obama's.

It is quite cynical, I think, to refer to Clinton as merely the lesser of two evils -- especially when it comes to policy. It's one thing if you think that both candidates are deceitful. But on some basic principles, the differences are stark.

If you think the three million Muslims living in the US should be catalogued, and those who try to come here should be prevented from doing so, vote for Trump. If, instead, you think America has a responsibility to absorb some number of Syrian refugees, and that American resources should be deployed to vet them, vote for Clinton.

If you think that the 11 million illegal immigrants who currently live here should be deported, vote for Trump. If you think there should be some path for them to obtain citizenship, vote for Hillary.

If you think healthcare should be taken away from the 20 to 25 million people who were able to receive it for the first time after the Affordable Care Act was passed, vote for Trump. Otherwise, vote for Hillary.

In short, Hillary's selling point isn't that she isn't Trump; it's that the country has improved since Obama took office. If you think the country should continue to move in that direction, you should vote for her. If, instead, you disapprove of the country's current trajectory, and would prefer it to be set on new course, directed by an unpredictable, xenophobic braggart who's willing to play fast and loose with our nuclear arsenal, you should vote for Trump.

I already launched a defense of Clinton in another thread, so large strokes I agree with you, it's a little better to vote Democrat and if it's Clinton vs. Trump people should vote Clinton.

Apparently people still think platforms mean anything.

Oh well.

See, nobody really likes Trump or Sanders or Ron Paul. The whole point of that game is to send a message to the political insiders and the economic elites that the public deems them unworthy, and are ready to tear down the whole system. And now here's Hillary Clinton, who is shown as immune from prosecution, whose own party is shown ready to subvert democracy in order to coronate her. Do you really think anybody who feels strongly about this election cares at all what Clinton promises to do? Do you really think that is the point?

You might think that Clinton will be a great president. You might even be right. But the way she won the nomination has tainted her and everything she accomplishes from now on. What she did is wrong, what the DNC did is wrong, and regardless of their good intentions, they are eventually going to have to pay that debt.

Jon's exactly right, the point is that American politics is horribly unfair, and this is so ingrained in the system. Sure, Clinton will be better, but it just perpetuates the defunct political system. A large majority of Americans are actively barred from having a real voice in politics and Hillary is part of this rot.

So, what I'm saying is that, yes, we can make direct comparisons, but the long term game should be to fix politics, which means we don't play by their games. I hope, if it comes down to it, Clinton wins over Trump, and I hope every last bit of damage can be done to the political establishment as well. These are not mutually exclusive sentiments.

Hillary Clinton doesn't think the Arabs should be shoveled into furnaces, which is super awesome. That's a big step up from Donald Trump for sure.

But if you think the economy is a uuge problem, if you think economic inequality and out of control economic rents are a problem, Hillary Clinton is not going to do anything about it. Insider trading? Nuh-uh. If you think IP law is out of control, Hillary Clinton is not going to do anything about it. If you think the government should soften its stance on whistleblowers, Hillary Clinton absolutely will not help. It doesn't really matter how she campaigns today; she has made her opinions on these subjects very clear in the recent past.

Depending on your personal priorities, it is quite credible that someone would not consider Hillary Clinton a significantly better option than Donald Trump, let alone a good option. For many people she really is just a vote against Trump - the rich New Yorker who hates Muslims, vs the rich New Yorker who is the candidate mostly because the DNC decided she is "due".

Edit: but hey, she has a cool party trick. I heard she teaches people how to commit suicide by shooting themselves twice in the back of their own head. It was all the rage in the 90s.

And the fact that the media keeps trying to deflect the story onto Russia is repugnant. Those ****ing crooks - the emails showed they were all complicit in this.

They care more about the American people than the DNC does.

Even if it's just a move to help Donald "what's-NATO" Trump in an attempt to win some ground due to his diplomatic ineptitude, we deserve to have this corruption laid bare, and Hillary deserves to eat ****.

I honestly just don't care anymore, but if I did, I'd be super pissed. You can't overthrow oligarchy by voting. Sorry. I'll do it anyway, like I usually do, but it sure as hell won't be for any democrats or republicans. The reason I bother voting at all is as a "**** you" to whatever bean counter analyzes the actual election results while the voting machines fudge the numbers.

It bothers me too that people believe racism doesn't extend past US borders, it's as if the prolonged assault on Islamic Arab and African nations, drone strikes, the overthrow of leaders (Gaddafi being the leader Hillary pushed to have killed, despite recommendations of the Pentagon and directly leading to ISIL) isn't racist.

And Jon is right, Google is not the "don't be evil" company of 2005, they are leaders of technocratic liberalism, which is incredibly dangerous and aspires for world domination, and Hillary is their candidate.

Does anyone know if Trump is for or against foreign intervention?

RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA

Dear media,

When a foreign power shines light on your government corruption, the appropriate response is to thank them.

...for doing your job.

Despite the fact that that foreign government is acting out of its own self-interest, and its interests conflicts with American interests?

So... You'd rather have a president who subverts democracy, than a president another country might prefer?

and let's not forget that Russia's poor relationship with the US is at least partly Clinton's fault. It was her job to fix it, after all.

I don't know why Putin would disrupt the Clinton campaign, anyway. Seems like Hillary and Russia pretty good friends IRL: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html

That's neither here nor there. The principle that a country should not interfere in another's domestic affairs has been enshrined as a standard of international politics since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The media is right to treat this incident as a massive story. Because it is.

Um. The US government does that constantly.

I guess it's a story when it's *not* the US doing it, then?

It's a story when the US does it. Just one example:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/02/12/israel-election-us-consultants-donors/23237871/

Are you saying we should ignore the emails? Or why should we still vote for Hillary after everything that has now been confirmed about her. I say confirmed, because most of us already knew it.

??? There's no evidence it was Russia? Why is this even relevant to the discussion? Why let your imagination run when the DNC admitted the legitimacy of the emails and they're actually visible?

If anything, you should be scared that the war establishment is beating the war drum with Russia.

This! At this point there is no remaining reason left to vote for Hillary. She won't do anything that she says she will. She's dishonest, corrupt, immune from prosecution, in bed with big corporate interests, and let's be honest, not everything in the last 8 years has been great. National debt it over 19 trillion (versus 10 trillion). Plenty of people were screwed over by ACA, and the costs of ACA are raising in some states. Some people just cannot afford it. Also Hillary's Middle East and Asian foreign policy disasters have led the world to a far worse place than it was 8 years ago. Thank's Hillary, but I think I'll pass. None of what she truly has to offer is worth setting the precedent of "FIRST FEMALE AMERICAN PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!! 1 TRILLION FREEDOMS!!!!".

Ah, American presidential elections.

The choice between a double-shotgun blast to the chest or gonorrhea-syphilis.

Forever and always.

Complaining about the DNC being biased is silly. They are a private entity, and I see no reason that they should support a candidate in their own primary against, an outsider who has said he only signed up because it he couldn't get traction otherwise.

Trump's foreign policy remarks are basically Vladimir Putin's list of long term strategic goals. So there's that.

It seems like it matters relatively little at this point. Hillary is an incompetent short sighted version of Obama, and I feel like she'd be loosing hard against someone like Romney right now.

Trump is Trump. There isn't anything left to say here.

Amusingly, this is the first scenario I can remember where the media actually has displayed a liberal bias.

Maybe because they promised impartiality?

Bernie and his supporters' suspicions of the DNC -- both before and after the leak -- exceeded what the emails actually confirm by a significant margin.

This.

lol. Everybody knows email is a discovery risk; you never discuss anything embarrassing in email. The bits and pieces in there are the new people ****ing up the SOP, it's the proverbial tip of the iceberg. You see the same sort of thing any time a company's emails are subpoenaed or any time there is a more substantive leak implication criminal activity. It's always 1-2 emails suggesting a bigger problem which exists offline or on the phones.

Re: Clinton campaign embezzling money out of a DNC fund, the reply was basically "you should know better than to email this, take it to phone".

I just don't understand how Clinton supporters can read her open letter to DWS, thanking her for all of her help securing the nomination and offering her a new job on the campaign, and not think that is just the stinkiest thing since Watergate.

Voter suppression is not okay. Media censorship is not okay. This stuff is wrong when it's the Republicans doing it, and it's still wrong when it's your favorite candidate. If your vote doesn't count and your voice is silenced, it doesn't matter that the outcome is what you would have chosen anyway. Luck is not a substitute for democracy.

Y'all on crack.