Trump Supporters

[Gaybutton]

Of course the public has a right to know pretty much everything there is to know.

I disagree with that. There are aspects of people's lives, even politicians, that is nobody's business but their own. I disagree with the notion that people should not run for office unless everything there is to know about them is publicly revealed.

However, I do see one very good reason why someone in the closet who wants to run for office should come out of the closet and reveal it. In this day and age privacy and keeping secrets about one's self is a thing of the past. If the news media wants to dig into it, and who but politicians are going to have their lives dissected under a microscope more than anyone else? If they are in the closet, they might as well assume sooner or later it is going to be discovered and will be publicly revealed. It's much more palatable to the public if they reveal it themselves rather than being "outed" later.

Besides, I don't want politicians representing me to be squeaky clean. I don't want to elect a robot. I prefer someone who is a human being, just like everyone else, with his own set flaws and foibles.

Some of you may remember Gary Hart, who ran for president in 1988. He seemed like a shoe-in for the Democrat nomination and probably the presidency. Unfortunately for him, he was accused of being a womanizer. Instead of admitting it, he denied it and challenged the media to prove it. The media did prove it. End of campaign. Few have heard anything about him ever since, and I'll bet most reading this post had entirely forgotten him until he was mentioned here.

The Democrats ended up with Michael Dukakis who lost by a landslide to George H.W. Bush. Bush got 426 electoral votes. Dukakis got 111. And that was probably only because Gary Hart tried to hide his flaws - and got caught.

There was an excellent movie in 1964 called "The Best Man" involving a presidential candidate who almost had to drop out of the race due to a past homosexual encounter. If you get a chance, see it.

So, yes - whether it's any of the public's business or not, I believe a gay politician should be open about it - not necessarily for honesty and the public's right to know, but for expediency.

[Captain Kirk]

We're talking about someone running for public office in 2016. Of course the public has a right to know pretty much everything there is to know. If you don't like that, don't run for public office, would be my advice. Tax returns, birth certificates, sex partners, where to draw the line? There is none, anymore.

A "closet homosexual" is living a lie. There might be good reasons for that, but I'd prefer someone in that precarious position not to represent me as my president or congressman. For those in the closet who don't run for public office, I only feel pity, I don't have any problem with them.

See there's the real problem. It's folk who vote for people based on peripheral pish like gay/straight, God freak/atheist, black/white rather than real issues like sane/lunatic who really cause the problems.

[Alex]

Since the electorate and the media won't change anytime soon (or ever?), I think the best a candidate can do is to be "as teflon as possible". No shady business deals, no questionable loyalties, nothing in their personal life that offers vast potential for speculation.

If you had a friend who's in the closet, doesn't want to change that and contemplates running for public office, I think you would have to tell him that's a foolish idea. For his sake, because he values his privacy and needs to uphold the shield between his personal life and his public one. For the public's sake, because he's someone deeply troubled and vulnerable to any threat to reveal his secret.

[Up2u]

People are commenting about a clear and deliberate "smear" against Mr McMullen by a Trump supporter without basis. Mr McMullen has properly not dignified these remarks by commenting. If I were he, I would stick to the real issues in his campaign.

[travelerjim]

... and a Senate which blocked any House passed legislation from reaching the Senate floor... thanks to Senator Harry Reid... Blocker in Chief for President Obama.

[lvdkeyes]

That's rich. The GOP are the blockers, obstructionists.

[Up2u]

... and a Senate which blocked any House passed legislation from reaching the Senate floor... thanks to Senator Harry Reid... Blocker in Chief for President Obama.

Gee, I thought you meant Senate Republicans not doing their constitutional job of advise and consent regarding Merrick Garland's nomination or blocking future Clinton SCOTUS nominations (assuming she wins).

[Gaybutton]

Just a word of caution, gents, before any trouble starts. Everyone is entitled to his opinion, whether it agrees with yours or not, and is entitled to post here without being subjected to personal attacks, put downs, or insults. Now that we're nearing the end of the campaign, let's please not have the posts get personal or heated. Stick to the issues and there will be no problem.

If you start getting heated
Your post gets deleted

Poetry by GB. Pulitzer Prize pending . . .

[Gaybutton]

The New York Times give Hillary Clinton an 86% chance of winning. See: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016 ... ecast.html
___________________________________________________________

Hillary Clinton Still Leads a Tighter Race, Times/CBS News Poll Shows

by MEGAN THEE-BRENAN
NOV3, 2016

Heading into the final days of the presidential campaign, the race has settled back into a tight contest, with Hillary Clinton holding an edge over Donald J. Trump after a month of tumult. Most voters say their minds are made up and late revelations about both candidates made no significant difference to them, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll released Thursday.

Five days before Election Day, the margin between the candidates is narrow, with 45 percent of likely voters supporting Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic candidate, to 42 percent for Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee. The difference is within the poll’s margin of sampling error. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, has the support of 5 percent of likely voters, and the Green Party nominee, Jill Stein, takes 4 percent.

More than 22 million Americans have already cast their ballots, and roughly one in five likely voters who participated in the Times/CBS poll said they had already voted.

National polling averages showed a growing lead for Mrs. Clinton in mid-October after the release of the “Access Hollywood” recording from 2005 in which Mr. Trump speaks crudely about women. As women from Mr. Trump’s past came out over the next weeks to report that he had sexually harassed them, his poll numbers dipped.

Yet after a rough few weeks, enthusiasm among Mr. Trump’s supporters has rebounded, and 52 percent now say they are very enthusiastic about voting. Enthusiasm among Mrs. Clinton’s supporters has remained flat since September, with 47 percent saying they are very enthusiastic to vote.

Mrs. Clinton holds a 14-point advantage over her opponent among women while Mr. Trump leads among men by 11 points. White women, who have supported Republican candidates in the last three presidential elections, are evenly split in the current poll.

Last Friday, when the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, sent a letter to Congress about a new inquiry into Mrs. Clinton’s emails, Mr. Trump seized on the opportunity to shift the tenor of the campaign and focus on the controversy surrounding her handling of emails when she was secretary of state.

The Times/CBS poll began hours after Mr. Comey’s letter became public, and most voters contacted said they had heard about the development. Even more voters said they were aware of charges that Mr. Trump had made unwanted sexual advances toward a number of women.

Yet, about six in 10 voters over all said that the 11th-hour disclosures about each candidate would make no real difference in their vote, but they were more likely to be negatively affected by the revelations about Mr. Trump than by those about Mrs. Clinton. Four in 10 likely voters said Mr. Trump’s behavior toward women made them less likely to support him while fewer, one-third, said the newest development in the F.B.I. investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails had that effect.

Mrs. Clinton’s support among African-Americans, women, whites holding a college degree and younger voters remains strong. Mr. Trump is holding onto his core supporters as well, with more whites, men, whites without a college degree, white evangelicals, white Roman Catholics and older voters backing him.

Fewer than one in 10 likely voters say they may still change their minds about whom they will support on Tuesday, and both candidates have about equal support among their party’s voters. Political independents, who backed President Obama in 2008 and Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, in 2012, are currently split.

At this point in the 2012 campaign, Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney were deadlocked in polling averages, and Mr. Obama went on to win the election by a four-point margin.

More results of the Times/CBS poll will be released at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted with 1,333 registered voters from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 on cellphones and landlines. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for all voters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/us/po ... .html?_r=0

[Alex]

His Excellency Hun Sen has joined the ranks of Trump Supporters.

Hun Sen comes out as Trump supporter http://bit.ly/2e4kBmJ #BangkokPost

As I usually trust his judgement, I might have to doubt the wisdom of my prediction that Hillary will win.