It is clear to me that the GOP is out to wreak the primary system by overloading it with

[CK_John]

candidates. With each having a function to minimize the office of President.

Trump is the most dangerous because his function is to let the electorate know that it is ok to be stupid and a bigot like himself.

[still_one]

1. Actually, I don't think the RNC is too pleased about this circus

[jberryhill]

2. It's seems more like a Russian campaign strategy

Fund a bunch of people who will split similar votes, so that the desired turd floats to the top.

That's how they got Romney through the primaries last time.

[CK_John]

4. IMO, it all a ploy to put in Pataki.

[BillZBubb]

5. The big money and defense industry guys want bush.

Pataki isn't a player.

[brooklynite]

7. Except that Bush isn't rising to the top.

[jberryhill]

8. Here's what I mean

Among those that go to the actual GOP primary polls (and not the nonsense media polls), you have maybe 75% unadulterated nutjobs, and 25% of what used to be relatively normal Republicans.

The nutjobs split into religious ones, libertarian ones, and people who play with their own poop.

So you get the religious nutjobs breaking among Huckabee, Santorum, Carson; you get the libertarians breaking among Paul, Cruz, and Perry; and you get the people who play with their own poop voting for Trump.

The objective is to make sure that nobody else's sliver of that group is larger than yours, even though ideologically any two combined would beat you.

[TheKentuckian]

16. That is correct!

[LordGlenconner]

3. As if their electorate needs to be reminded of that

They know it's okay for them to be stupid and bigoted because it's who they are. It's the reality they live everyday.

[upaloopa]

6. Seems it is a contest between donors

Each billionaire has their own sock puppet.

[djean111]

9. I will be really surprised if the winner is not Scott Walker.

GOP voters don't care about his record, are bound to be quite pleased by the havoc he has wreaked in his home state, and he looks GOP-safe. Bland. Pasty. And the Kochs will get what they want.

[CK_John]

10. I put him in the VP slot along with Carly F, depending on who is our candidate.

Bernie gets Scott, Hillary gets Carly.

[djean111]

11. Carly is just so creepy and shrill and awful. Oh, yeah, well, sure, she fits in -

but ugh. I cannot think of one thing positive about her. And I am a woman.
Walker - pasty, bland, doughy, horrible. Willing to hurt unions and the poor. Practically perfect for the GOP.

[Fumesucker]

12. It's mostly about grift, being a Republican candidate can result in a nice long term cash flow

That's the main reason they are all trying to make more outrageous statements than any other, get noticed and the cash rolls in.

And if they do happen to get elected, man that's the grifting mother lode.

[Snobblevitch]

13. There is no way the RNC is behind all of

these camdidates joining the ra e for the Republican nomination. They would not be able to coerice candidates to participate. These jokers are all doing this on their own. Not everything in politics is a conspriracy.

[CK_John]

14. I believe all politics is crafted and all the player play a part. It's just that some

player don't know there lines.

[Snobblevitch]

15. You're giving somebody way too much credit

in the areas of planning, ideas, and manipulation. I don't know who.

There is no way anyone can get 20+ GOP presidential candidates to do what you posted.

[CK_John]

18. I go back to the Truman/Dewey days and do not know of 20 plus candidates

400 days before the conventions.

[Snobblevitch]

19. There are currently 23 Republican candidates for president for the

2016 election. There of course are others who have not yet declared their intentions to run.

[CK_John]

21. There has not been 20+ candidates in my life time, also there was plenty

of pre convention competition between ward bosses and county bosses to assign people to go to convention as dedicated to a candidate for the first vote.

IMO, 20+ candidate this early has to be planned.

[Snobblevitch]

22. The same list for Democrats for the 2008

election had 22 names on it. You didn't hear of most of them because they dropped out before the primaries just like most of the republicans will in this race.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_candidates,_2008

[former9thward]

20. In the Truman/Dewey days party bosses chose the candidate.

Our modern primary system was unheard of.

[PeaceNikki]

17. They're all stupid bigots.

Not just The Donald.