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.
– Sen. Marco Rubio is a no and Rice is a hell no.
What’s Pence been up to? I liked him when he was in the house and assumed he went for governor planning to eventually run for president. Haven’t seen his name much in the news, don’t know if that’s good or bad.
Cruz/Palin!
From the list, I’d go with :
Yes -Ted, Rand, Palin, West, Walker.
Portman (RINO), Rice, Bolton, Rubio (RINO) are Establishment Bush wingers… I put them in NO NO NO category.
Carson would be a good cabinet member, weak on #2A
Slit my wrist category: Jeb Bush
Major Disappointment category: Paul Ryan, and Marco Rubio
Too old category: Newt
Too fat and too RINO category: Huckabee, Christie.
Tries too hard, comes across fake category: Santorum
I’m considerably more picky, but I’d be completely happy with Santorum if he’d take me on as an adviser. (And listened.) I’d work for free, and earn every penny of it.
Scott Walker is a yes.
The other “yes” candidates are mostly okay if they actually won, but I doubt some of them are viable in a general election campaign. In a tight race you need a candidate who can bring in libertarians, conservatives, establishment Republicans, and independents and the only one I see on your list who could conceivably do that is Walker (although some of the others could surprise me in that regard).
And Rick Santorum? I mean seriously, lets face facts that Rick Santorum is a waste of time at this point. I understand he was the only choice, other than Mittens, when Herman Cain imploded in the last election but can he just say out of the way.
Santorum needs to stay home or figure out who he can help get elected (hint, it aint him).
I like Ted, Rand, Sarah and Allen West, but they will not be the nominee (nor should they, because it is not likely they could win). Walker is the guy who is viable.
It would be great if possible…but no.
He was on a roll last time, and could have gained the nomination had he not screwed-up the Arizona debate. Had he taken advice from me instead of his wife, that wouldn’t have happened.
The idea you would consider Herman a choice at all simply indicates that high intelligence isn’t among your requirements. Really! He’s slower off the blocks than Rick Perry.
Palin/Cruz?
I mostly agree with the list as stated; though I’d move Condi from maybe to yes, Santorum from yes to no, and I’m less negative on Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich than most.
Oh, and we shouldn’t really be bothering with this in general until Wednesday November 5 at the earliest.
Santorum would have made Barry Goldwater look like Ronald Reagan in the general election.
Eff That. I’m going to vote for it anyways, and if people don’t like it, they can suck on R.S. McCain’s toes! 😀
Not sure I’m able to interpret your Delphic comment, and only hope we’re in agreement on general principles.
Bobby Jindal – President (He has the executive experience Cruz needs to learn, and his history recovering LA from Katrina and DNC leadership could be useful)
Ted Cruz – VP (As a former Senator, place him as President of the Senate and have him learn from Jindal then run in his own right later)
John Bolton – State (Maybe not as POTUS, but the man is an expert in international relations)
Ben Carson – HHS (What, you don’t want to place an actual doctor in charge of HHS for the first time ever?)
Rand Paul – Treasury (Make his dad Deputy Secretary and have him clean house at the IRS and the Tax Office)
Sarah Palin – Energy (Drill baby drill, nuke baby nuke)
Rick Perry – Commerce (Commerce is in charge of trying to help grow the domestic economy, and Perry has done great work in Texas)
Scott Walker – Labor (If for no other reason that to make lib heads explode)
Alan West – Defense (He would do well here. All SECDEF should be retired officers)
Rob Portman – US Trade Representative (He did well here, and firmly recognizes the pricipal of comparative advantage in international commerce)
Tim Huelskamp – Agriculture (The only man in Congress with a degree in Agricultural Sciences and a Kansas native from the rural areas. Has field cred.)
Prof. Jacobson (Legal Insurrection) – Attorney General (Skilled legal mind)
Robert Stacy McCain – Ambassador to Vanuatu
A lot of the maybes are people I wouldn’t want as President but who would be great in a Cabinet position which best fits the area they are usually right on. Put them there, and you can turn an otherwise useless person into an invaluable part of the reconstruction of the United States.
I’m up for Walker/West. Covers all my bases, experienced, strong debaters, leadership skills, military command background, common sense and character……do what the hell they say they’re going to do. Love Ted Cruz. He should be the first selected cabinet member but he will be found ineligible.. They will make his Canadian citizenship an issue no one has the time or money to counter.
Dude, what’s wrong with the New Mexico governor? I thought she is a home run. No?
Outside of those many who see him as union buster central, he is the only one of the 4 who hasn’t been branded an extremist yet and they haven’t been able to tarnish him. Besides, I love the strong, silent type. He just moves forward and gets it done without a bunch of fanfare. How he would do on a national level is a big question mark though.
A list of crackpots, corporatists completely owned by ALEC or Koch industries, and charlatans. The GOP will never win a national election again even though the DNC stinks and Obamacare is a disaster.
But the races to kick into high gear first are here in the NO RINO zone. Get the hell involved. If we can pick up the momentum and enough wins to demoralize the opposition here, we’ll have a much better shot at the big one.
http://www.senateconservatives.com/site/races
On a side note. Having a person of color on the ticket will lessen the “racist” rhetoric they’ve used so successfully against any criticism of this lame excuse for a president. And I’m just going to say this out loud. America is weakened and faltering, not only in the eyes of Americans but in the eyes of an unstable world. The next leader must appear stronger and more competent than any in the past in order to instill hope, confidence and trust that Obama has damaged so much. That will not be accomplished by some slick politician, effeminate male or a woman this time.
Do we even know if Walker is willing to run? I haven’t heard but I hope so. Palin quit. We absolutely must know that whoever we support can take the heat they’re going to get and keep fighting.
You just hold on to that nice warm, fuzzy thought there. You underestimate how many Democrats recognize this president isn’t a Democrat and how many Democrats (like so many American allies) who recognize the underside of this administrations bus. If the DNC runs Hillary, my mailman could run on the GOP ticket and win.
Elliot Spitzer is a toe sucking freak!
Herman Cain is an intellectual compared to most of the Democrats. You know RSM and Smitty were big supporters of him and frankly I liked Cain over Romney, Gingrich and Santorum. What did Herman in is an absolutely horrendous campaign that just was not ready for prime time and several workplace sexual scandals that while not proved had some legs.
I liked Herman, but it became obvious early on that he avoided answering hard questions. Mainly due, I thought, to a lack of well-settled principles, but perhaps also due also to a lack of intellectual capacity.
Ideally you should have someone with background as an executive, some experience in a consequential federal position, some exposure to Congress, some measure of accomplishment ‘ere entering politics, a stint in the military, an orderly domestic life, and some miles on the odometer.
Then you conjoin these to a set of well articulated political principles which guide you.
None of those named fills the bill in toto. Govs. Walker Jindal, and Haley are the most appealing on your ‘yes’ list, but they need extra seasoning. Gov. Kasich had a very truncated pre-political career and is too old to remedy that. I am not sure what your issue is with Gov. Martinez and Gov. Pawlenty. Gov. Perry or Gov. Daniels passes muster (with some anxiety on the issues of immigration for the first and social policy for the second). Gov. Huckabee would be the optimal candidate.
Again, the portfolio of experienced public executives is such that a recourse to Sens. Cruz or Santorum or Paul is unnecessary.
Ayotte, Rubio, and Portman are unfit for the offices they currently hold.
I think Col. West is rather like Adm. Stockdale in 1992. However accomplished, not ready for prime time as a politician. Different skill set and modes of thought.
Onanism is a vice, Sucker.
[…] 32 GOP Presidential Choices? Nuts! […]
Move to No: Rick Santorum (too focused on social issues), Condi Rice (not the right temperament), Marco Rubio (soiled himself on amnesty).
Move to Yes: Rick Perry (other than last cycle’s gaffe, he’s been a good governor)
Can’t argue with the rest of the list.
The man is a capable businessman and trade association executive. He does not have deficits of intellectual capacity.
Nice list of allegations you got there. Any evidence to back it up, or are you just going to throw it up against the wall and see if any stick?
Santorum has some appealing aspects to him, and is unusual in one degree: he started out as a careerist but ended up as someone who would walk the plank.
The trouble is, he just never picked up any executive experience and his private sector work has ranged from common-and-garden law practice to lobbying. Not what you want.
One reason I like Jindal. Catholic, Indian, and the man who cleaned up Louisiana after decades of DNC incompetence. Hell, his push for vouchers saved the New Orleans school districts after Katrina and has led to New Orleans jumping up the ranks in education.
I hear that from lefties too often, “Palin quit.”
She made a (correct) decision that she could have more of a positive impact outside of the system.
A cabinet position might be a better fit. His skills might be more technocratic than political.
Dr. Gingrich is erratic, has no executive experience, and has an appalling marital history. Unsalable goods for a reason.
As for Gov. Bush, the problem is not that he’s ‘not up for the job’. The problem is (as John Derbyshire put it) he’s a ‘Tutsi’ speaking to his fellow ‘Tutsi’s’. The broad working class in this country (Hutus) are just pairs of hands to him and need supplementation and replacement with foreign guest workers he adjudges superior.
Again, Col. West is just not suitable for electoral politics. Gov. Palin has some appealing features but….
She and her husband had incurred $500,000 worth of debts much of which were legal bills to defend herself against nuisance suits for which Alaska law provided a facility. Supporters attempted to set up a legal defense fund for her and that led to another nuisance suit. She had to do some buckraking to pay off her lawyers.
All of this was bloody public at the time and she stated her liabilities in explict dollar values but it seems to have sailed right past her critics.
Al Gore is a former Vice President and remarkably successful businessman. It takes more than credentials.
I would be extremely skeptical of what you read in the press about Gore’s supposed net worth, etc. Not buying it.
There are things I don’t like about Sarah, but I have to agree with you there. She made the smart move in stepping out of the way and letting her Lt. Gov take over as leader. If something has incapacitated you as leader, the right thing to do is to step back and let someone unburdened take over.
Jindal/Cruz. Greater executive experience, less baggage, and we get to keep Cruz in the Senate as he learns the ropes for executive leadership.
He will need a good press agent and the discipline to stay away from the media. He thinks out loud sometimes, and that can be embarrassing.
Two problems with Cruz as VP:
1) He will rarely be available in the Senate to vote.
2) VP acts as a liason to Congress. I’m not sure Cruz is the one to win hearts and minds, or even schmooze over there.
If you did send him as liason, it would send quite a message, though.
I guess it depends on whether you want to get anything practical done.
I’d prefer to see him as Senate Majority Leader.
I agree he is a great executive, but looking back I have to wonder if he wouldn’t be better off in a Cabinet post where he is able to focus on fixing problems instead of having to wrangle congress.
Cruz needs either a stint as a federal bureau chief or cabinet secretary, some time in the Texas state government, some time in a private sector executive position, or all three. He also needs about 15 extra years under his belt. Our more capable presidents tend to be over 60 when they take office.
Perhaps not, but with a majority in the House and Senate (as is typical in a first term President’s first two years) Cruz would have considerably more leeway to act in that regard and try to get things done. We have seen him discuss a willingness to negotiate and work with opponents who are willing to be reasonable in the Senate, so I am sure they could have a great First Hundred Days. The second half of that term would be more difficult when the traditional reversal of the Congress occurs, but I don’t doubt Jindal would be able to get things done if Cruz had difficulties.
The vp is a stupid 5th wheel job. If we had appointive vice presidents who supervised blocs of cabinet departments, that would be sensible. The elective vice presidency is not.