Month: February 2016

Carson Favors ‘Truth Serum’ Over Waterboarding

Buck Banks

I believe there are a number of ways to extract information. An average person might understand it as ‘truth serum’ — there are ways where you decrease a person’s conscious defenses, and they might be much more willing to give up information.

— Ben Carson, telling CNN he would use “medical ways” to put terrorists in a “less-than-conscious state” if he became president.

Trump Ahead of Kasich in Ohio

Buck Banks

31%

Donald Trump’s lead in the GOP primary race in Ohio, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 26%, Ted Cruz at 21%, Marco Rubio at 13% and Ben Carson at 5%, according to a new Quinnipiac poll in Ohio. Said pollster Peter Brown: “A Kasich Ohio win is crucial to the Republicans trying to stop the New York businessman’s nomination. If Trump can defeat Kasich in his home state, that would be an impressive demonstration of his strength in a state that is just now getting attention.” On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders, 55% to 40%.

The Almost Inevitability of Trump

Buck Banks

As long as this is a multi-candidate race and Trump keeps getting 35%, he’s going to pick up delegates. That’s just a fact of life. If he gets 35% and the other 65% is split among three or four candidates, then he gets the majority of delegates. Until this is a two-person race, he has the inside track, but I’m not sure it becomes a two-person race in time for anyone to beat Trump.

— Former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), in an interview with WMUR.

Jeb Bush Spent $130 Million and Didn’t Win Anything

Buck Banks

$130 million

Amount Jeb Bush spent on his failed presidential bid. “When Jeb Bush formally entered the presidential campaign in June, there was already more money behind him than every other Republican candidate combined. When he suspended his campaign on Saturday night in South Carolina, Mr. Bush had burned through the vast majority of that cash without winning a single state. It may go down as one of the least successful campaign spending binges in history.” — New York Times

Scalia Wasn’t So Great

Buck Banks

Antonin Scalia, who died this month, after nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy. Fortunately, he mostly failed. Belligerent with his colleagues, dismissive of his critics, nostalgic for a world where outsiders knew their place and stayed there, Scalia represents a perfect model for everything that President Obama should avoid in a successor.

— Jeffrey Toobin, the New Yorker