I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more RINO!
The LMSM and its operatives will try to ensure that the candidates most threatening to them drop out before the primary.
Sad when the leftist press gets a lot of this. Two months ago I said that Walker, while so successful as a governor, just doesn’t have “it.” They put it that he doesn’t “flicker.”
Does the views of an extreme leftist site like Slate really mean anything?
Flop Walker and his democrat handler George Will needs to just go away.
Well, this will make a lot of FReepers happy. Though he’s the most battle-tested and accomplishment-laden of all 17 candidates, he’s not going to thrill anyone... and charisma counts.
It’s pretty easy to explain. Walker is run by the CoC and the GOPe. That works in Wi when you are busting unions, but not anywhere else.
In addition to his CoC and GOPe ties.....look who he has surrounded himself with...Dayspring, Ed Gillespie, former Romney advisors.....is there any doubt as to why he is losing?
I thought Tim Pawlenty made a terrible mistake dropping out of the 2012 race when he did.
Sure he was stuck at 3% in the polls, but what does that matter? He was a credible alternative to Mitt Romney and a credible candidate for the general election. Romney was the Front Runner with about 30% in the polls, with a bunch of guys beating their brains out trying to move their numbers up from 7% to 8%.
The way to win in that situation is to stay on the stage. In 2012, the Republican primary vote could be thought of as 30% Romney and 70% Not Romney. When it all shakes out, and all of the Not Romneys but one drop out, sure Romney would have picked up a few of the Not Romneys, but most of them would have fallen to the Credible Alternative. Tim Pawlenty is the very embodiment of the Credible Alternative.
Scott Walker is not ideal for this role. He is not simply a Credible Alternative. He is a polarizing figure in his own right. Not all of the Not Trump voters will necessarily like Scott Walker. And if he keeps yelping every time his major donors tug on his leash, like he did on Birthright Citizenship, he is going to lose a lot of his credibility.
Right now, I would say that John Kasich is better positioned to be the Credible Alternative to Donald Trump. If I were Kasich, I would simply stop reading the polls, stay on message, and stay on the stage. I would not spend one thin dime on advertising buys to try to move my number from 4% to 4.5%. The only poll that matters is the one that happens in a voting booth.
Kasich (or Walker, perhaps) has to play for the day when Donald Trump falters. Then he wants to be standing there, having done nothing to embarrass himself, as the calm, sober figure that appeals to core Republican voters. Kasich should be working on correcting his positions and aligning himself with the base, and setting himself up for that day.
And that day may never come. If Trump never falters, then it is all a moot point. But the only plausible path that leads to a Kasich (or Walker, perhaps) victory, is to play for Trump to stumble, and for all of the other Not Trumps to drop out.
This same pattern plays itself out every four years. But it is doubly so in 2015, when the Silly Season has been way sillier than usual.
I have said it before, Walker was my horse in this race until he started campaigning. Then in his first or second speech, he metaphorically stepped in a gopher hole and broke both front legs. As presidential material, he is a pretty good governor.
Yep—though TPaw has more integrity.
I expected Walker to do better. I started out earlier this year thinking Walker was my choice. He hasn’t done so well I the campaign so far, and he’s come way down in my estimation.
When you peel away all of the Walker Wisconsin hype, what remains is a battle royale between hard core leftists and special interest Chamber of Commerce republicans using Walker as their lightning rod to advance their agendas. He’s now being sold by the GOPe as some sort of National Champion of Conservatism, when in fact he’s merely a lackey Governor who survived a couple of statewide train wrecks brought on by both groups.