The Nerd Pride Ticket: 2020

[Kyle]

I cracked the code, y'all. #FinnHulk2020

[Mike]

Perfect choice.

[Kyle]

I'm pretty pleased. It's the perfect blend of "affable/nonthreatening" choice for Pres with an attack dog VP.

[Phoebe]

Jeff Flake.

[Iantha]

[Kyle]

[mimekiller]

I always like when people explain folks like Flake are these LEADERS in a republican party and I've NEVER HEARD OF THEM, Decades being a milquetoast todie, fuck em.

[mimekiller]

[Mike]

I agree with Iantha and Kyle, but the discussion misses the larger point that the Nerd Pride 2020 ticket is not seeking nominations.

Human/Banner for a more sane America!

[Phoebe]

No really, Flake would be my Republican pick, because I think better ones like Snowe can't out-primary Trump, and so you need someone who is bad enough to be able to do that, but good enough to be a palatable opponent if the Democrats field a lousy candidate.

Flake has taken many, many bad votes I disagree with, but so has most everyone else, and he did not just all of a suddenly speak out against Trump. He wrote a book in August about this stuff, opposed things like the travel ban, and he has been an advocate of immigration reform for a while (gang-of-eight, and see recent op-ed: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/o ... skill.html).

He's basically a libertarianish Mormon, better than Romney on several points and also kind of a cool guy. He lived alone on an island for a week just because. People like that interest me. He was a missionary in Africa for some time, which can be a problem, but he also shows some freaking awareness that other countries exist and have unique complex issues, and so on.

His libertarianism is good when it comes to privacy issues like the government snooping on us (his resistance to that brought him to my attention), but is bad when it comes to businesses controlling the internet, which he's all for. But I'll take that over the alternatives. This is pragmatism, not perfection.

His pro-life strikes me as sincere, which does matter to me, and he has supported gay rights. I prefer a sincere pro-lifer. But he also has a Mormon influenced commitment to other ethics issues that puts him at odds with Trump and other Republicans. He seems to be genuine about bipartisanship.

[Tahlvin]

[Phoebe]

Whoever it may be, we need candidates on the right capable of defending the common values of truth and civic unity. Otherwise whoever it is will simply be at the mercy of the right wing media. There is literally nothing so crazy that their base voters won't believe it, just as long as they think a liberal somewhere is harmed by it. They're no longer interested in playing the truth game or the rationality game.

[Mike]

[Iantha]

[Phoebe]

He looks like the kind of guy who just grabs women and kisses them. See how he's posed there? We have already had more than one of those. Enough!

[Mike]

[Mike]

[Iantha]

[mimekiller]

[Ronster]