Forum:Who Do You Think Will Be On The Tickets In 2016?

Every week on Monday, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Who Do You Think Will Be On The Tickets In 2016?

Don Surber : Clinton/Castro and Trump/Gingrich -- only because Ivanka wants a fourth kid, otherwise Trump/Kushner.

The Right Planet:Really horrible people. It will be Hitler, Mussolini, Castro, Kim Jong Un, George Wallace, Josef Stalin, Huey Long, (Harvard comma) and David Duke ... all rolled up into one ... according to political "pundits." The earth will cease to rotate on its axis ... and the sun will shut down its "fusion magic." All is lost. We hate everybody now. Welcome to planet Earth. Back out quiet.

Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason :If there is any justice in the universe Hillary Clinton will be forced to deal with her many scandals and unquestionably illegal activities and have to drop out of the race. The Democrats will not permit Bernie Sanders to be the nominee so Joe Biden will be pulled in to be the Democrat nominee and I expect if this happens he will choose Elizabeth Warren to be his vice presidential running mate. Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee, not because the RNC likes it as much as the people have made their voices heard. I would like to see him choose Newt Gingrich as his vice presidential running mate. He has the experience and knowledge that Trump lacks. Hopefully this will make enough Republican voters come out and vote for Trump/Gingrich and not sit this one out. We will not survive a third term with a Democrat in the White House.

Having voted in every election since 1976, it always seems we are left to choose the lesser of two evils. And that electing the lesser of two evils has just brought us progressively more evil.

JoshuaPundit: Well, first let's look at the Republican ticket. It appears that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee and will have over the 1237 delegates needed, but I would not put it past the GOP establishment to pull some shenanigans at the convention to disqualify Trump's delegates.Suicidal as that would be,it's exactly what the ultra Left McGovernites did in 1972, disqualifying whole delegations and literally throwing them out of the building.

But assuming Trump is the nominee, there are various things to consider. First of all, a lot of potential Veep candidates whom hold political office have either been warned off by the establishment the same way potential campaign staff were, with threats of their careers being over. There are also those who simply wouldn't be an asset to the ticket for various reasons.

Newt Gingrich is being touted as a potential running mate, and there are some real plusses and minuses. Newt knows government inside out, he's smart, actually oversaw a balanced budget and is a superb debater. His minuses include a rather checkered past, an unpleasant divorce and a reputation as a political insider. That last quality could either alienate the people Trump appeals to or reassure them that there's an experienced hand on the ticket.

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas is a decorated combat vet, a superb speaker and a man of rare common sense.He has a great voting record and was the only U.S. Senator to vote against the despicable Corker amendment which allowed President Obama to shove his Iran deal through. I think he'd be a great choice.

The fact that Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin are both advising Trump is a real plus to me. Both of them are experienced in getting an agenda through government and both are expert problem solvers. And both would have made excellent presidents, in 2008 or 2012. I'm sorry neither is probably a viable vice-president because of our poisonous media culture. A nation doesn't flush leadership talent like that without a cost.

Democrat Jim Webb is another interesting choice. A scary brave decorated Marine vet (reading his Navy Cross citation is hair -raising) he also served during the Reagan Administration as the nation's first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs from 1984-87. In 1987, he served as Secretary of the Navy and later served as a US Senator from Virginia. He endorsed Donald Trump fairly early. which makes sense as they have similar views on VA affairs foreign policy and rebuilding America's military. Webb is one of those conservative Jacksonian Democrats no longer in favor with his party, and if not as VP, I'd love to see him as SecDef.

For the Democrats, It's obvious to me that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee. While she may be indicted at some point, any actual prosecution will be done so ineptly as to allow her to wiggle out from under with a slap on the wrist and a modest fine at worst. It won't stop her from running. She can't be prosecuted by the Obama Justice department because she knows where too many bodies are buried and any sign of real prosecution that might mean jail time would have her lawyers dealing for immunity in exchange for her testimony on a number of juicy matters she was privy to.

I doubt she will pick Elizabeth Warren or that Warren would accept, because it would wreck both her street cred with hard core 'progressives' and a decent chance of being senate majority leader.

The Democrats lost the white vote years ago, and Hillary will have to campaign to the left to have a shot at winning Bernie's people as well as find a way to gin up racial grievance and the black and/or Latino turnout. Her obvious choices are HUD director Julián Castro and former governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick.

Patrick, an Obama protege' is a fiery speaker more than capable of appealing to the #blacklivesmatter crowd and is perhaps even farther to the left that the president in a number of matters. Castro, aside from being pro-amnesty is equally radical. I'd see either one of them as Mrs. Clinton's picks, especially since either would guarantee President Obama's enthusiastic support. My money would be on Deval Patrick.

The Glittering Eye : I think that Hillary Clinton will select Julián Castro. She's a serial bungler so it's a miscalculation.

On the Republican side I have no idea whom Trump will pick. Gingrich is pretty clearly running for the job but I don't see how he fits in with Trump's outsider persona. I don't think he can pick any regular Republican who will enhance the ticket and put more states in reach.

I'd speculate it will be someone from out of left field. Someone with strong name recognition but not a politician. Think Kanye West or someone of the sort.

GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD: GOP has several excellent choices. Newt Gingrich, Condoleezza Rice are two I'd like to see. Also, Congresslady Mia Love may be perfect. Aside from the catchy "Trump - Love 2016" slogan, that choice would totally disarm any counter fire about race and gender.


Stately McDaniel Manor:The way things are going, I’m not sure Trump will be on the ticket. He’s just the kind of guy that might decide he really doesn’t want to be President--he would have been great, just yuuuuuge!--and he’s made his point and had his say, which changes from day to day. He’s probably going to realize, if he already has not, that being President will badly crimp his style. On the other hand, the trappings of the office will be a major ego boost--a bigger plane at least--but with Trump, who knows? Not Trump. He will probably be the nominee, but this political season is so weird…

As to his VP pick, it would make sense to pick someone well versed in everything Trump is not, but it’s unlikely a man with his ego would do that. Ted Cruz? I’d rather have him on the Supreme Court. Trump is so inexperienced and unconventional, anyone I suggest will almost certainly be wrong.

But what if someone makes a credible third party run, particularly if it’s against Bernie Sanders, or someone the Dems drop in at the last moment? That might send an already bizarre election into the Twilight Zone. The Cookie Monster and Big Bird? Pen and Teller? A couple of “undocumented Aliens,” or “justice involved individuals?” Who knows?

I liked Mitt Romney, thought him a decent kind of guy, but good grief Mitt, will you just shut up already? Listen to your wife. She has her head on straight.

Will Hillary be the nominee? Highly likely. I doubt the Obamites would ever prosecute her. Obama has no love for the Clintons, but he has less for the Constitution and the rule of law.

If it’s Hillary, she won’t pick Elizabeth Warren. It would have to be somebody like a Joe Biden, someone lackluster, someone willing to stay in the background, nodding like a bobblehead on a washboard road to everything she said at a State of the Union address. Obama did not want anyone to upstage him; Hillary has learned at least that much from his example. She might go for a Tom Perez, a totally unscrupulous Marxist and racist, but again, she might think him too likely to upstage her.

I suspect that the VP picks by whoever the nominees are will be surprising, even dumbfounding, and absolutely not the sort of people rational Americans would want a heartbeat from the Presidency. No matter what happens in November, America is going to scare the hell out of the rest of the world. Americans? We’re just numb…


Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y'know?