Posted on 04/26/2011 12:34:27 PM PDT by Signalman
Charles Krauthammer is the columnist I respect the most for his values, insights, and political sense. So lets use his column Handicapping the 2012 Presidential Odds as a starting point for my own assessment of the current field.
Charles begins by dissing Donald Trump and dismissing Michele Bachmann. Sorry Charles but wrong and wronger. Trump will run as a Republican with a damn good chance of winning the nomination. He appeals more to moderates and Independents than to stalwart Republicans but he captures the hearts and minds of the outside-of-the-beltway crowd with his blunt outspokenness and a raft of experience deep enough to show up a former community organizer.
Bachmann is also a front tier contender. She wows them on the stump, has a lead in fund raising, appeals to the Tea Party folks, and stood up and voted against the phony Boehner-Reid-Obama budget deal. Shes the real deal.
He correctly dismisses Mitt Romney because of Romneycare in Massachusetts. He wont win New Hampshire. Last time he didnt win New Hampshire and hes got to win New Hampshire.
Newt Gingrich is also in Krauthammers front tier. Hes improved a lot lately. Likely most Republicans (including me) believe it would be great if this articulate, brilliant man could be our nominee. So lets all hope he overcomes the negatives.
But Krauthammers main mistake is flatly saying that Mike Huckabee wont run. Then what is he doing crisscrossing the country going to all the primary states? Think he likes the fishing in New Hampshire? My bet is he runs and that hes got a great chance to be the nominee .and the next president.
Then Charles, his view obscured by Washington DCs buildings, says Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, and Tim Pawlenty are first tier candidates. Barbour cant run if Huckabee does. He wont beat him in a single southern state. In the rest of the nation, his lobbyist record kills him. Pawlenty would be good but, as Governor of Minnesota, his Housing Finance Agency set up a Shariah compliant lending fund to enable Muslims to buy homes without paying interest (the state paid it and they paid the state back through a lease-purchase deal). After eighteen months, he ended the program. He claims he didnt know about it. Didnt know? There were protests at every Agency meeting. Eileen and I wrote about it in Catastrophe which sold 300,000 copies! If he didnt know, hes a bad Governor. If he knew, hed be a bad president.
Mitch Daniels would be great. Hes done wonders in Indiana, most recently passing the best school choice program in America. Mitch walks the walk! But I dont think hes running. He sure didnt seem like a candidate to me when we met a few weeks ago. But, he would be great.
So, the betting here is that the first tier is Huckabee, Gingrich, Romney, Trump, and Bachmann. I dont think Palin can run if Bachmann and Huckabee do. I think Huck wins Iowa. Somebody beats Romney in NH and then Gingrich, Huckabee, Trump and Bachmann duke it out down the stretch.
Charles got it mainly right but a bit wrong. Thats why hes my favorite.
Bachmann Palin Overdrive.
Dick Morris excels - at promoting himself.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I like Ms. Bachmann very much, but her voice is a problem for me. Perhaps it’s the regionalism?
Smart lady and has a backbone.
krauthammer is part of the washington establishment.
jealous of outsiders.
Trump bachmann
I desperately want to rid America of the Marxists now in control. I will vote for ANYBODY who can defeat the evil force destroying our nation. Without a Republican victory in 2012, all else is moot.
So ... Dick Morris doesn’t have enough sense to mention Sarah Palin ... a wildly popular American woman swinging out daily against the pure evil we now have running America.
Popular? You bet! Take a look at her Los Angeles welcome in October 2008 ... at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuWuUWgs_WY
Caution ... Turn your sound down.
“then Gingrich, Huckabee, Trump and Bachmann duke it out down the stretch. “
Normally I would semi agree with Dick but I don’t think Huck can afford to give up the TV show. He is building a multi million dollar house in Fla. He needs the money. I also believe that if Trump gets in he will suck all the air out of the room and nobody will be listening to anyone else besides Trump. It will be hard for Bachmann (who I really like) and Newt to compete for air time with Donald. They simply will not stick their necks out and say what they think. They are politicians.
Just my opinion I could be wrong.
Dick Morris: toe-sucking whoremonger/self promoter.
Charles Krauthammer: arrogant beltway insider who once wrote speeches for Mondale.
I'm not wild about Trump either and agree with your comparison of him with McCain.
However I would vote for the devil himself over Obama. I'm getting real tired of holding my nose and voting for a liberal or moderate Republican, but I will vote for whoever is running against our current president.
What do you mean “our nominee”, Mr. Morris?
Is it anything like the times Bill Clinton was “our nominee”?
Dick Morris’ predictions are awful.
How’s Condi versus Hillary selling these days?
That means if Trump became potus and the economy improved, he would push for a plan like RomneyCare and ObamaCare. Call it, TrumpCare. And Trump would push for more taxes too.
Trump proves one more time. at his core beliefs, he is a political liberal. Maybe even a bleeding heart liberal.
I lost it for Morris when he said, “Hillary will win the nomination and she will win the Presidential election.”
Bachmann Trump Overdrive......;)
there is only one person that will be President, and Sarah is her name.
Let's just stick with Charles' opinions, hmm?
Dick's never right.
Isn’t it insensitive for Morris to use the word “handicapping” when referring to Krauthammer? If “targetting” is banned....
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