If we put up a charismatic, principled, confident, articulate, American loving patriot with great conservative credentials as the nominee for President of the United States from the great Republican party of Reagan and Lincoln I guarantee you that he will have instant name recognition throughout the nation and throughout the world.
"Unfortunately, men like that may come once in a lifetime, or even less."
Oh ye of little faith. Men like this come in every battle, every war, every crisis, from nearly any walk of life. It's the way of great nations, great men and great heroes.
"Between them, we find the most electable."
Most electable gave us Dole....
"The fact that a quarterback can't match up to a Dan Marino or a Joe Montana doesn't mean that he can't win games."
Great heroes happen in sports as well.
Keep the faith.
Okay, what have we got...
Charismatic: No Hunter, Keyes on fire & brimstone
Principled: Hunter, no Keyes (too much fraud-like issues)
Confident: maybe Hunter, Keyes too conceited
Articulate: Keyes, too preachy for a leader
The left will have a field day, but, hey! At least Hunter or Keyes won't be a loser like Bob Dole!
Oh, wait.
Reagan had the name recognition thing long before he got the Conservative chops, and I don't know that there is enough time between now and election to elevate any individual who is not already recognized to that level of recognition.
What I think we COULD do, is elevate that individual by using another one during the next few years.
Let's use Duncan Hunter as an example.
Impressive, but very little is known about him; I'm better informed than most, and I've just started leaning about him.
Is he all those things that you say he is?
I don't know, and neither do the overwhelming majority of the voters.
What's the best plan for him?
In my mind, he should be on the ticket as VP if he fails to get the nomination, and give him exposure that way.
"Oh ye of little faith. Men like this come in every battle, every war, every crisis, from nearly any walk of life. It's the way of great nations, great men and great heroes."
I like that...very poetic, and you know what a sucker I am for the emotional stuff.
Yet...I've been looking for a whole lifetime, and I've only found one Ronald Wilson Reagan, and no one who's even come close before or since him.
"Most electable gave us Dole."
Babe Ruth held two records...the most home runs, and the most strike outs.
It happens.