Posted on 01/23/2014 4:50:23 PM PST by mandaladon
Don't laugh. He has built-in advantages in Iowa and New Hampshire, a party moving in his direction, and formidable fundraising potential. If Chris Christie was ever the frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, he isn’t anymore. All along, the theory behind his candidacy was that he could overcome his lack of conservative bona fides with a combination of personality, competence, electability, and money. Bridgegate undermines all four.
In the minds of many voters, Christie’s personality has morphed from brash to bully. It’s harder to look competent when your top aides egregiously abused power under your nose. Christie’s supposed electability was based partly on polls showing that he was the only potential Republican nominee running even with Hillary Clinton. But Marist and Quinnipiac, whose surveys showed Clinton and Christie virtually tied in December, now show him trailing her by 13 and 8 points, respectively. The electability argument also depended on Christie’s supposed success in bringing New Jerseyans together across party lines, a harder claim now that Democrats in the state legislature are talking impeachment. And as Christie’s electability erodes, so will his vaunted support among GOP moneymen. As a Republican insider recently told BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins, “There are definitely people jumping ship.”
So if Christie is no longer the candidate to beat in the 2016 Republican race, who is? Believe it or not, it’s Rand Paul.
To understand the Kentucky senator’s hidden strength, it’s worth remembering this basic fact about the modern GOP: It almost never nominates first-time candidates. Since 1980, George W. Bush is the only first-timer to win a Republican nomination. And since Bush used the political network his father built, he enjoyed many of the benefits of someone who had run before.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
In fact, if the author would venture out of The Atlantic's territory (Boston is its ancestral home; its readership is heavy in New York and Washington), perhaps he would not be so bemused (and, one suspects, though he doesn't really say it, horrified) by Senator Paul's appeal.
http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=issue&id=12
Immigration
“I do not support amnesty, I support legal immigration and recognize that the country has been enriched by those who seek the freedom to make a life for themselves. However, millions of illegal immigrants are crossing our border without our knowledge and causing a clear threat to our national security. I want to work in the Senate to secure our border immediately. In addition, I support the creation of a border fence and increased border patrol capabilities.
Immigrants should meet the current requirements, which should be enforced and updated. I realize that subsidizing something creates more of it, and do not think the taxpayer should be forced to pay for welfare, medical care and other expenses for illegal immigrants. Once the subsidies for illegal immigration are removed, the problem will likely become far less common.
I support local solutions to illegal immigration as protected by the 10th amendment. I support making English the official language of all documents and contracts.
Millions crossing our border without our knowledge constitutes a clear threat to our nation’s security. Instead of closing military bases at home and renting space in Europe, I am open to the construction of bases to protect our border.”
Bienart is a lefty doosh.
They’re just trying to shape the battle field by selecting the GOP candidate like they did the last two cycles.
Don’t know that it’ll work this time.
Rand Paul must endorse REAL conservatives.
In primaries, such as here in Kentucky. His home state.
Matt Bevin, vs. the bully, Mitch McConnell.
Stop endorsing McConnell, Sen. Paul. Don’t want to lose your base, do you?
http://mattbevin.com/
Well Levin announced the feds are working on Scott Walker. Make a list of whom you think would be a good candidate—watch the regime pick em off!
Don’t laugh …Too late.
Cruz and Scott Walker. Walker has been an extremely successful governor, and Cruz is the Reagan of the 21st century.
Its kind of early. Don’t people have a two week attention span?
Sarah will be thrown in at the last hour.
Let’s not forget Paul’s inconsistency on immigration.
Mike Lee is my second choice after Ted Cruz.
They’ve been after Scott Walker for some time. Paul will be made out to be some nutjob. If they can’t find something, they’ll just make something up at the last minute, right before election day. I read that republicans will have their convention in June next time. That only gives democrat thugs more time to pick away at the candidate. GOP is bent on suicide.
As I have ranted elsewhere on this message board, I will support whatever RINO that Obama guard dog Fx news nominates for Republican candidate.
I know that’s not how presidential nominations are supposed to work, but what can I say?
Try more like 30 million low income illegals (Mexicans mostly).
And how will they vote?
Like their legal low income (mostly Mexican) brethren...for the handout candidates.
They are, as R.L. said, simply unregistered Democrat voters.
Were they mostly Conservative or Republican gonna-be voters, Obaba, Reid, Schummer, Pelosi, Feinstein and all the other Fascists would be fighting tooth and nail to not just kill any amnesty chances, but to deport them all in mass...yesterday.
All Amnesty will do, will be (courtesy the language of the long, will-not-be-read bill) will insure about 50 million new Dem voters over the next 10 to 20 years who will most all be living on the dole.
But to look on the bright side, since Americans have FULL EMPLOYMENT and there are far more job openings than there are unemployed to fill them, the 50 million new Dem voters (and Union members) will start filling today’s URGENT need to fill the ABUNDANT job openings.
/s
I want someone who stands tall on illegal immigration,
Amnesty, as Obama/Dems will write it, will at last turn the USA into a permanent One Party (Police) State.
That will be when the Wall gets built and the Dems use their 2 billion rounds of Military-use-illegal ammo to shoot Americans trying to flee the USSA to freer Countries (China, Russia, etc).
“Mike Lee is my second choice after Ted Cruz.”
Couldn’t have said it any better.
When he endorsed McC, he lost me.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
If the R party has a dozen debates moderated by journ-0-lists, they deserve the thrashing they will get.
I don’t dislike Rand Paul. He’s had a pretty decent record to date, and I do rather enjoy the heartburn he gives the loathesome cretins of the GOP-E, whom I’ve grown to so intensely despise. But I have the idea that were he in the presidential race, and officially making his stances clear, he’d be revealed too libertarian for my tastes. In other words... pro-amnesty, pro-dope, and pro-fag marriage. And at that point, I could not give him my vote.
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