32 GOP Presidential Choices? Nuts!

Posted on | January 16, 2014 | 146 Comments

by Smitty

Via the Examiner comes the news of 32 possibilities in a GOP.com straw poll.
(a) The next election is in 9 1/2 months, dudes. It’s both more important to focus on the next election, and to understand that how this November goes will inform what happens in 2016 in a major way.

(b) 32 names? Let’s bin them.

Yes:
– Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas
– Nikki Haley, South Carolina governor
– Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor
– Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor
– Mike Pence, Indiana governor
– Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky
– Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor
– Former Rep. Allen West, of Florida
– Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator

Maybe:
– John Bolton, former ambassador to the United Nations
– Ben Carson, author and neurosurgeon
– Rick Perry, Texas governor
– Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state
– Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida
– Sen. Rob Portman, of Ohio
– Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina

No:
– Sen. Kelly Ayotte, of New Hampshire
– Haley Barbour, former Mississippi governor
– Chris Christie, New Jersey governor
– Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor
– Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor
– Susana Martinez, New Mexico governor
– John Kasich, Ohio governor
– Former Rep. Ron Paul, of Texas
– Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor
– Brian Sandoval, Nevada governor
– Sen. John Thune, of South Dakota

I will vote Libertarian:
– Jeb Bush, former Florida governor
– Rep. Peter King, of New York

Special mentions:
– Herman Cain, a radio host–Health concerns
– Newt Gingrich, former House speaker–Be an advisor, sir.
– Rep. Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin–You soiled yourself on the budget deal.

Category: GOP

Comments

146 Responses to “32 GOP Presidential Choices? Nuts!”

Shawny1
January 17th, 2014 @ 3:07 am

Unfortunately many who share that concern aren’t Democrats and neither am I. She may be most effective in promoting conservative values and candidates where she is.
joshpainter
January 17th, 2014 @ 3:36 am

Paring down the Yeses and Maybes. Ruling out first-term Senators (That’s what Obama was). Besides, we need them in the Senate. Badly.

The Yeses:

Sen. Ted Cruz – No freshman Senators

Nikki Haley – Jumped on the Romney bandwagon WAY too soon.

Bobby Jindal – Best resume, and we know he really wants the job.

Sarah Palin – She’s not gonna run. She’s already chosen her family over elective office, and God bless her for it. Would be great SECINT, but I don’t think she would want to move to D.C.

Mike Pence – Question is, does he want the job?

Rand Paul – No freshman Senators

Scott Walker – Passed recall test with flying colors. In a blue state, yet.

Allen West – SECDEF

Rick Santorum – Big govt. conservative who couldn’t get reelected in his home state. Make him SECED. Would drive the left right up the wall.

The Maybes:

John Bolton – SECSTATE

Ben Carson – SECHHS

Rick Perry – Can he reinvent himself as a presidential candidate? Uphill climb, but doable. If not, make him commerce secretary.

Condoleezza Rice – “Mildly pro-choice” is too pro-choice for the conservative base.

Marco Rubio – Immigration reform FAIL.

Rob Portman – Step aside Paul Ryan, Portman is the real budgetmeister.

Tim Scott – No freshman Senators

That leaves Jindal, Pence, Walker, Perry, and Portman, All successful governors. Wasn’t too fond of Perry or Portman last time, but after 8 years of Obama….
Shawny1
January 17th, 2014 @ 3:38 am

Kinda flies in the face of …”Don’t switch Dicks in the middle of a screw”…….. But I’ll start making the buttons and T-Shirts.
Shawny1
January 17th, 2014 @ 4:08 am

Personally, I think they’re just pissed about being dragged into Socialism/Communism with lies and under the Democrat brand. Tired of being insulted by the running line of bullshit and big words. They do recognize the devastation this president and those policies have delivered.
I do have a big problem with his color but it’s the RED, not the black.
rmnixondeceased
January 17th, 2014 @ 7:19 am

🙂 Overthrowing conventional wisdom through unconventional actions.
rmnixondeceased
January 17th, 2014 @ 7:32 am

That is simply an happy side benefit. Dr. Carson (sans his misguided view of the 2nd) would make a very good VP, perhaps even bring back some of the prestige and shine to the office most recently dumbed down and tarnished by the likes of ‘Plugs’ Biden and the Goreacle. It would also season him potentially for a future as #1 after Colonel West has two terms.
As for Allen West, he has my heart and mind behind him. I like him very much in the same way as America liked Ike in ’52. He stands for a strong, united America without all the progressive crap and ‘Critical Theorists’ (actually Cultural Marxists trying to destroy America from within).
I believe that it will take a soldier to trim away governmental bloat much as a soldier trims down their kit prior to a mission, taking only that than carried effectively without danger to the mission.
America has lost it’s mission, there is no ‘leader’ to effectively lead the mission, only a self-indulgent child-man whose is more interested in the shiny trappings of office and venting his (psychotic) hatreds.
YMMV …
Shawny1
January 17th, 2014 @ 8:02 am

But of course. The only candidate who can’t be bought, bribed or threatened….the consummate turf war expert… from the soil side. ; )
Art Deco
January 17th, 2014 @ 8:54 am

Whose-turn has been a fairly consistent pattern for nearly six decades, the two exceptions being 1964 and 2000 (although in some cases as in 1968 or 1996 you could say there were multiple claimants to the ‘turn’). Another pattern that has emerged is as follows: 1 or 2 ambitious pols confront 1 or 2 candidates attempting to rally an extant and abiding constituency. The identity of the constituencies changes over time and the constituency candidates have commonly been publicists rather than working politicians in recent decades.

Now, leaving aside incumbent Presidents, the following were nominated on the ‘whose-turn’ principle:

Richard Nixon (1960, 1968)
Ronald Reagan (1980)
George Bush the Elder (1988)
Robert Dole (1996)
John McCain (2008)
Mitt Romney (2012)

You see the pattern? Three opportunists, two Capitol Hill fixtures, and Ronald Reagan. It does not usually go to someone who is in politics to push his issues.

The runner up last time was Rick Santorum, who may have started out as a Republican lawyer looking for an interesting career change, but he has ended up as a vigorous advocate of his perspectives in the teeth of what pollsters and bien-pensants say. He’s the constituency candidate, and the only one since Reagan who has a background in political deal-making. I don’t think the donor class will be lining up behind him (bar Foster Friess).
Eric D. Mertz
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:06 am

And it has yet to become a liability, but unlike Biden – who is a certified idiot but is protected by the media – West won’t have an organized propaganda group to run cover if he does stick his foot in his mouth. And humans are fallible, even the best among us make mistakes.

Winning an election the media has tried to give to Hillary all wrapped up in a bow is going to make much of that media hostile until the administration is settled in and has proven it can handle the country. While I am not worried about the idiots over at MSNBC, CNN is full of Clinton cheerleaders and staff and would seize on ANYTHING they can spin as a gaffe with a few hours of selected editing in a heartbeat. A man who thinks out loud in front of the cameras – however good his ideas may be – is more likely to make the mistake of wording something in a way they can use to hurt everyone.

The double standard sucks, and is royally unfair, but it is a reality we have to plan for and recognize. I like Allen West, I would love to see him as President, and love that he does think out loud. It allows me to follow his train of thought and know why it is we disagree when it happens. It is great in a debate because it prevents his opponents from putting words in his mouth, and requires them to deal with what he said. But as someone who does the same, I can tell you it makes one vulnerable. When one thinks out loud, one is FAR more likely to use a word with the wrong connotation and then have to backtrack and argue over the more appropriate word. One benefit of giving polished speeches ahead of time.
Ronald J. Ward
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:17 am

Regardless of your loyalty to the Tea Party, which we obviously disagree on, the movement has lost considerable steam since their big uprising just weeks after the Obama inauguration. We see this in poll after poll as well as in recent election months.

That loss of steam is a result of the TP mindset isn’t aligned with main stream or working Americans or those unemployed or underemployed,

Let’s be realistic.If we had a Tea Party super-majority in Washington, we’d likely see an end of the NRLB and all worker bargaining rights, an end of minimum wage as well as mandatory overtime pay, an end of child labor laws, the EPA, FDA, Dept of Ed, OSHA, any ability for a worker to sue the employer, an end to Pell grants, SNAP, and all safety net programs, banking predatory laws as well as any of those pesky “regulations”, the gender pay gap would widen, pay inequality in general would widen, Medicare would turn into a meaningless voucher before taken away, Social Security would be handed over to Wall Street to be distributed among their executives, and we’d likely see the likes of Charles Koch as a Supreme Court Justice. And of course, those now allowed into the health care system would be promptly ousted with no where to turn.

Now, you may agree that much of that would be the right move for the country. But that agenda will not fly with the electorate, particularly at a time when so many are struggling and are either unemployed or underemployed with their wages and benefits already losing ground.

Consider the Ryan budget which was promptly rejected by the electorate. The GOP and Tea Party refuse to change the intent of their agenda and simply try to reword it.

The TP agenda will energize a faction but it will not pass in the general election.
Ronald J. Ward
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:19 am

Far be it from me to attempt to challenge someone of such superior debating skills.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:20 am

Yeah, but all of that is basic, “so what?” territory. I have no idea why you’re pushing it, since it doesn’t apply to West, Cruz, Lee, or several great speakers we have right now.

If I want someone scripted, I’ll go dig up some old, ineffective Romney speeches.

The reason West and Cruz both give great speeches is because they have studied the classic method of drafting them, and memorizing them. They rarely need notes. They don’t trip over their tongues, and they aren’t thrown off their game by interruptions.

In terms of strictly stage presentation, West beats them all, because he knows how to modulate his voice properly, and how to use his ability to “sing” it out. Cruz, on the other hand is better at crafting the sorts of responses that are truly Reaganesque in style and scope. We have no better speakers than those two.
Mike Lee is a close third, but doesn’t have quite as smooth a delivery because he talks too fast.

But bringing up Biden in relation to those guys, or West in particular, is so far off the target as to be outside the stadium entirely.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:24 am

Let me rephrase that: the people who make a big (and incredibly stupid and wrong) deal over it are not voting for anything Conservatives, Libertarians, and Constitutionalists want.

They may not strictly be leftists, but they aren’t allies of any sort, so again, who cares what they think?
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:26 am

That’s it for me, too.

Specifically, I will not be voting for anyone who is pro-amnesty. I’ll write in a candidate if I have to.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:30 am

The “No Freshmen Senators” thing is like wearing a bag over your head. What for?

What matters is their background and overall experience, not whether they sat in a seat in DC for x number of months.

Governors are nice, but not a requirement.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:33 am

Shocking.

Have you checked to see if your Obamaphone is plugged in?
Eric D. Mertz
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:38 am

Nice strawmen there, did you make them yourself?
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:42 am

You should probably read up on his background. He’s got lots of private sector experience and served many years in public positions as well.

Being a Senator is not his first rodeo.

We have had jerk after jerk on the left serving in high office with less than a tenth of Cruz’s experience.
Eric D. Mertz
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:42 am

Fair point with Biden, I am just illustrating the different standard we are going to be held to. Maybe if NBC hadn’t butchered the George Zimmerman Non-911 call into racism I wouldn’t be flinching here, but taking the White House and Senate from the left is going to get the media worked up into a frenzy. And that’s my greatest fear. They will work tirelessly to destroy a candidate they don’t like, and thinking out loud in front of a camera can give them ammunition. I think its a matter of T’s and P’s though, and I respect that we disagree on this point. And its plausible I am wrong on this. West is not a common subject in the blogs I read, so my perception could be colored by the few mentions I do see of him.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:47 am

For most folks, the only black marks on West (black marks are raaaaacist!) are several votes he made supporting things like Pigford.

I don’t have the list handy, though. I rarely get excited over votes taken in Congress unless they form a serious pattern of some sort.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:49 am

Excellent report!
Garym
January 17th, 2014 @ 10:02 am

Written like a true marxist. Do you ever think for yourself?
Socialism has been a proven failure throughout history, but you clowns are the ones you’ve been waiting for. You’re just going to prove it fails once again by destroying this country.
Ronald J. Ward
January 17th, 2014 @ 10:06 am

There’s a consistent pattern of conservative bloggers that once their arguments are scrutinized, they turn condescending.

Another problem I have with the TP is that they are unable to support their very stand. They claim to be for lower taxes but in reality, that only pertains to most wealthy. If that isn’t true, where were they last year when working Americans took a 2% tax hike. Where were they just a few weeks ago when TP Gov Pat McCrory and the state’s GOP controlled legislation increased the tax on 900,000 of the poorest working families in order to pay for the $10,000 tax breaks for those making over$1 million?

You see, this may make good sense and/or is justified to a small faction but it’s going to be a hard sell in the general election.
Ronald J. Ward
January 17th, 2014 @ 10:33 am

“True Marxist, Socialism, destroy the country, don’t think for yourself, you clowns”. Check, check, check, check, and check.

Once again as you obviously don’t understand the argument, you may very well justify your talking points with all your heart and sole but they simply aren’t consistent with main stream Americans and those soundbites aren’t enough for the American voters to support the Social Darwinism and Plutocratic agenda being sold by the right.
Garym
January 17th, 2014 @ 11:16 am

I rest my case. I’ve read your line of spew all over the net. A big, gigantic, centralized government is your solution to all problems.
Ronald J. Ward
January 17th, 2014 @ 11:26 am

You once again run from the argument why the Tea Party agenda is too out of touch to win the presidency so you redirect the argument, as yours fails to stand up to scrutiny.

Using your very own words, I rest my case.
Garym
January 17th, 2014 @ 12:46 pm

Excuse me for about 10 hours, I need to go pay for your government funded services.

I hear the first lady just turned 50. You must have missed the memo from ABC “News”:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/01/50-ways-to-celebrate-michelle-obamas-birthday/
Views You Can Use 01.17.2014 | Dead Republican Party (DeRP)
January 17th, 2014 @ 4:20 pm

[…] 32 GOP Presidential Choices? Nuts! […]
Shawny1
January 17th, 2014 @ 4:28 pm

I want this man on the list.
http://pjmedia.com/?s=afterburner&search_sortby=date&submit.x=9&submit.y=10
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 6:40 pm

Portman – not just no but h3ll no!
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 6:42 pm

The one good thing about this past debacle is there is no person with “his turn” cred. It’s wide open.
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 6:48 pm

It is self evident that you have not an inkling of what the TP is about if you truly believe the nonsense you posted.
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 6:53 pm

McCrory is not a TP Governor anywhere except you fevered imagination.

We don’t turn condescending with someone when our views get “scrutinized.” That doesn’t bother us. We do start mocking those, like yourself, that starts telling us what we are thinking when they haven’t the slightest idea what we are think much less what motivates us. The laundry list you posted of things that would probably be ended if a TP super majority existed is a good example of the nonsense your ilk posts when you troll sites we frequent.

If you don’t like being mocked, then don’t come around posting the sort of idiocy you posted above.
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 6:56 pm

His weakness, and it is a politically fatal weakness, is an inability to deal with the press.
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 6:58 pm

Kasich has strayed into left wing territory with his recent behavior. He’s in trouble for some blatantly illegal acts in his attempted end run around the General Assembly to expand Medicaid.
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 6:59 pm

The GOP establishment stabbed West in the back. They’re just that kind of people.
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 7:03 pm

What do you have against Vanuatu?
Quartermaster
January 17th, 2014 @ 7:10 pm

Is Chuck down there with you? I thought he was too nice a guy to get anything except a nonstop ticket to the rainbow bridge.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 7:21 pm

Especially Florida, which has to be a Bushie playground.

(Remember that GHWB used to vacation there, and go bonefishing?)

Dang. Now I’m hungry.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 7:25 pm

Exactly. I like almost everything about the man, but his total inability to deal with loaded questions.

It’s like a superpower or something.
Media: "Hey, Rick, what about gay Mexican undocumented workers? *pant, pant, puff, puff*"
Santorum: "What, oh, well you know..."

I don’t get it. How thick can someone be?
Art Deco
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:47 pm

If there is one thing the last five years demonstrates, it is that relying on on-air talent is a bad idea. You want a president who has run a public bureaucracy (and, one hopes, gave up a serious career to enter politics and adheres to some fixed standards about public policy).
Art Deco
January 17th, 2014 @ 9:49 pm

Agreed. Portman revealed himself to be a professional-managerial bourgeois careerist who has not a serious thought in his blow dried head. What sort of 55 year old man truckles to his adolescent son? A 55 year old man you do not want to delegate any decisions of consequence.
rmnixondeceased
January 17th, 2014 @ 10:36 pm

Well, some youthful indiscretions do have a penalty …
K-Bob
January 18th, 2014 @ 1:31 am

What does any of that have to do with Cruz or Paul?

And no, I don’t really care if someone has run a public bureaucracy. I want someone who is not an idealogue, nor a puppet. Someone who has demonstrated competence not filled a vacancy.

We’ve had far too much of the “filled a vacancy” kind of politician.
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January 19th, 2014 @ 6:17 pm

[…] 32 GOP Presidential Choices? Nuts! […]