Posted on 09/17/2010 9:40:18 AM PDT by rightistight
Point, by Aurelius of Pundit Press:
Sarah Palin- Yes, the bane of the Dmocratic Party and liberals in general is one of the top contenders for the Presidency come 2012. With clear political pull (just look at her endorsements for congress) and her presence in the American media, Mrs. Palin has both clout and name recognition. Add to that the fact that she could be the first female Commander-in-Chief and you've got someone who is poised to strike at the presidency.
David Petraeus- One of the greatest and most repsected military minds of our age, David Petraeus is one of my favorite candidates. Not only does he have cadence and quick wit, but he has incredible foreign policy experience. On top of that is his honorable and exceedingly successful military leadership. Petraeus deserves respect and has earned it.
Jeb Bush- That's right, another Bush. Jeb Bush successfully led Florida as its governor for two terms and has the conservative values that Republicans are looking for. With discontent with President Obama rising, by 2012 many voters will have a much brighter view of the George W. Bush years than during the 2008 election. Jeb Bush's last name could very well boost his candidacy.
Chris Christie- Although he's been in office for just a short time, Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey has been nothing short of excellent. Though some doubts about this conservative-ness abound, his actions so far leading NJ show a conservative who is also pragmatic and good at what he does. On top of it all, he has shown he knows how to run a campaign and win.
Mitt Romney- The most important thing going for Mitt Romney is name recognition. Coming just short of the Republican nomination for President in 2008, Romney has been in the public's ey for over two years now. Some questions still about about his stances, but he is widely considered conservative.
Dark Horse- Glenn Beck: One of the nation's most influential political commentators, he has spearheaded a gigantic rally in Washington as well as the Tea Party and 9.12 Project. He'll have no problem with name recognition and is extremely conservative to boot. Though he's said that he won't run, some of his actions say otherwise.
Counter-Point, by RR
Sarah Palin
+ Natural political talent, huge charisma, tough, principled conservative, a real fighter, building a lot of support with her winning touch in the primaries
- Too good-looking by half, slightly silly accent, establishment GOP/MSM/entire Left out to destroy the poor gal... and Levi Johnston needs to get a job on a rig in Siberia
Intrade: 18.6
Sum: Hard to hold this one down... just like the powerful grassroots movement she's so closely allied with
Mitt Romney
+ Highly competent manager, economic expert, previous runner-up, looks and acts presidential
- Too good-looking by half, dull on the stump, hiding/laying low while waiting his turn, mostly absent from today's battle for the future of the nation... disappointing, where's some courage and sense of urgency here? The tipping-point is now, not two years too late...
Intrade: 31.2
Sum: apparent front-runner to this point, and the establishment's dream candidate. For the rest of us, the father of RomneyCare has got some 'splainin to do... and we haven't heard a peep yet.
Tim Pawlenty
+ social conservative, respected governor, no apparent skeletons
- Lacks charisma and national political base, has been tepid in support of TEA Party movement... 'Cuda left him in the dust
Intrade: 12.8
Sum: already running, basically
Bobby Jindal
+ Wiz-kid Reaganite with a resume/record of success that puts most others to shame, impressive manager in most ways, novel background
- still not 40 yrs old, pretty-much choked in his big national TV debut
Intrade: 4.6
Sum: I really like Bobby Jindal... for 2016-2020, though.
John Bolton
+ Great strategic mind, true conservative -and patriot- all the way
- Pugnacious nature, honest to a fault, lack of campaign experience, distaste for for inside-the-Beltway DC political games
Intrade: n/a
Sum: Love the man... but I dunno if he's serious about recent hints, and came as quite a surprise to most.
Runners-up: Barbour, Daniels, or maybe Newt- although he's a non-starter for me personally due to heavy, heavy baggage and a number of poor choices from working with race-hustler Al Sharpton to total loser moves in NY-23... Scozzafava really made fool of him.
As a defense hawk, I don't stand take Ron Paul serious... at all.
Sure like Petraeus, would like to hear more from him on some key issues. But the good General seems fairly resolute about not entering politics anyway, and if the politically inexperienced Petraeus did go that way, perhaps a better fit as a VP alongside -say- a Sarah Palin...
So, who do you think is best?
There is still a lot of ground to cover in the next two years.
.
re: “Let’s not kid ourselves. Palin.
There can be nobody else. She’s got more balls than the rest of that group combined.”
*************
Until recently I did not see Palin as POTUS — but I do now and for the reason you cited — we only have two years to play with this and she will be ready then — no one else comes close those there are some good VP candidates out there — I like, in no particular order:
DeMint
Santorum
Thune
Christie
Jindal
Pawlenty
Palin and Sheriff Joe ,forget Petraeus he will have us kiss Qurans so we do not hurt anyone’s feelings.
Your statement carries a lot of weight. The same is true for me. As much as I like Inhofe, Coburn, DeMint, Bachmann, and in the future Allen West, among others, we need people from OUTSIDE the beltway.
If they do some cabinet level work, then go back to flyover country, and then want to run, OK. Straight from congress to the White House...no, I can't support that.
Open Border no drill Jeb Bush? NO friggin way talk about a loser.
I’m for thune and Sarah.
Don’t be too quick to dismiss Daniels. While certainly not glamorous he has a brilliant mind and has proven to be tough as hell on spending and government unions here in Indiana. And, when he says he’s going to do something, by god he does it! An honest politician is hard to come by these days.
When he says it’s time for a truce on certain issues he’s not surrendering, it’s merely a cease fire while the field is cleared of dead bodies (i.e. the economy) and fresh ammo and troops are brought up. My guess is that if the other side were to violate “the truce” Daniels would relish kicking the *ss.
Like I said, don’t give up on the guy just yet.
My top three:
Herman Cain
Gov. Palin
Jim DeMint
This isn’t out of context. A candidate’s stance on abortion “ain’t going to change anybody’s vote this year,” he said.
“I think what Mitch said is very similar to what I have responded to today,” Barbour said. “The voters have on their mind the economy, jobs, spending, debt and taxes and good campaigns are about the issues that are on the people’s minds.”
“Any issue that takes people’s eye off of unemployment, job creation, economic growth, taxes, spending, deficits, debts is taking your eye off the ball,” Barbour said
““They’re not running for anything,” Barbour said of Palin and Beck. “I don’t know what all they’re talking about. They draw huge crowds, and enthusiastic crowds, but what somebody is talking about that is not directly related to campaigns, then I’m sort of not paying a lot of attention.”
“But if somebody goes to campaign for governor candidate x, I would hope that somebody would stay focused on the issues that matter to the campaign: jobs, the economy, taxes, spending, debt, deficits,” Barbour continued. “You run down rabbit trails, you’re wasting— you’re using up valuable resources that could be used to talk to people about what they care about.”
When asked about comments by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, that said the GOP should call a “truce on the so-called social issues” to focus on fiscal matters, Barbour said he supported the sentiment.
A candidate’s stance on abortion “ain’t going to change anybody’s vote this year,” he said.
“But, if Barbour begins telling pro-life voters they need to take a back seat and that the issue of abortion won’t determine how they vote, his potential campaign may be dead before it begins.” http://www.lifenews.com/nat6683.html
The point being that 4 of the top 5 are still flying below the radar right now.
Hard to win belle of the Ball while not being part of Ball society. I know where you are coming from, but it sounds kind of like when people criticize the “outsider” politician they like making moves that would make possible any sort of electoral majority as being antithetical to their “outsider” status.
To win the game you have to play the game.
I sense a theme here...Palin...and then some other choice for VP.
I think Condi for VP would give the demonrats catatonic fits. They’d start having heart attacks left and lefter like when Dirty Harry confronts the mob boss at his daughter’s wedding reception in DH#3. The entertainment value alone would be worth it.
Oh...and she’d make a great VP too!
To paraphrase Dennis Miller, I like them because they tick off all the right people.
Jim Demint (best quality: courage)
Chris Christie (best quality: fearlessness)
Mike Pence (best quality: intellect)
Sarah Palin (best quality: intuition)
Michelle Bachmann (best quality: communication skills)
Daniels called for a surrender, a unilateral surrender, a unilateral "truce" with nothing, not even a word from the enemy, do you think that he negotiated something with the left?
Mitch Daniels doubled down on that statement (see post 18), now Daniels is winning other establishment, Mitt Romney types to help him sell the idea, Romney had already mentioned his dropping of social issues, and now Haley Barbour is joining Mitch Daniels in the push to take them off the table. (see post 50)
BTW, while y’all were arguing about Daniels and Barbour, we elected Sarah Palin.
See you in 2016!
Palin, Christie, Keyes, Arpaio, ummmmm... I dunno, Ditka!
Petraeus? The same guy who came out against the koran burning? That guy? I don’t think so. DeMint, yes!!
With Palin at RNC or Energy, Petraeus at State or Defense, Romney at Treasury and Ron Paul as UN Amabassador.
I like that hard-hat contractor who’s campaigning against the Ground Zero mosque. I think his name (unfortunately) is Andrew Sullivan. I’ll call him, Andy.
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