Posted on 02/03/2015 11:52:20 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor in America, not because it is the best (that would be coffee) but because it is the least objectionable. Put another way, vanilla is the most acceptable to the most people; it's not many people's favorite, but nobody hates it..
And that's why Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is the vanilla candidate.
A new Des Moines Register poll has Walker in first place — narrowly — among likely Republican caucus-goers. With Mitt Romney included in the poll, he was the respondents' first choice with 15 percentage points. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was second with 14 percentage points and Romney with 13. With Romney out, Walker's lead rose to 16 percentage points and Paul's to 15. First place in a tightly packed field is better than any of the alternatives, but it's not that big a deal this far out.
The big deal is the vanilla factor. According to Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register, 51% of caucus-goers want an “anti-establishment candidate without a lot of ties to Washington or Wall Street who would change the way things are done and challenge conventional thinking.” Meanwhile, 43% prefer a more establishment figure “with executive experience who understands business and how to execute ideas.”
Walker is in the golden spot. He can, like Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day” listening to Andie MacDowell explain the perfect man, reply “that's me” to almost everything Republicans want....
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
In this article the shortcomings occupy center stage. In the movie Groundhog Day Bill Murray professed to be all the things she wanted, but he was lying. Walker makes a plausible case.
Perhaps his time at NR Rinoland has made him a cynic.
Walker is anything but “unobjectionable”.
The reason he’s a popular candidate is because
HE FIGHTS BACK AGAINST THE LEFT.
If Walker is elected president does he do what RIchard NixOn and George W. Bush did, manufacture some fake diversionary conservatism while advancing liberalism???????
THE REAL FIGHT AS I SEE IT IS BETWEEN TEA PARTY TED CRUZ AND GOP ESTABLISHMENT JEB BUSH WITH WALKER INSERTED TO SPLIT CONSERVATIVE VOTES SO BUSH WINS......
I love Ted Cruz, and would be ecstatic to back him as the conservative candidate.
I’m listening to Walker.
OK, how about the CFR's own web site listing Heidi Cruz as a member of the "Building a North American Community" task force?:
HEIDI S. CRUZ is an energy investment banker with Merrill Lynch in Houston, Texas. She served in the Bush White House under Dr. Condoleezza Rice as the Economic Director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council, as the Director of the Latin America Office at the U.S. Treasury Department, and as Special Assistant to Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick, U.S. Trade Representative. Prior to government service, Ms. Cruz was an investment banker with J.P. Morgan in New York City.
Wisconsin is the home of the LaFollette’s who were liberal (progressive) Republican icons.
Robert LaFollette Sr. was the presidential candidate of the Progressive Party in 1924 who carried Wisconsin and got 17 percent of the national vote.
Robert LaFollette Jr. lost the 1946 Republican Senate primary to some guy named Joseph McCarthy.
I don't think so. He's taken on the universities now.
Decent consolation prize, but we can do better.
WALKER INSERTED TO SPLIT CONSERVATIVE VOTES SO BUSH WINS......
You cannot possibly believe that. Walker is the most successful Governor in America. He is Ronald Reagan completely at such a young age too. He has a ton of results and doesn’t just give a good speech. I am sick of talkers. We have had enough of that for 8 years.
Compared to what? What conservative politician is exempt? Why is this different for Cruz than anyone else?
The LSM will attempt to put any conservative on defense. That's why Job 1 is a willingness to take them on.
Do you have anything to offer?
Are we going to make her president? Do you think that a “President Cruz” will let his wife be “co-president” like FDR, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have done? If not, what difference does her career make? Now if you’d told me that Senator Cruz worked at the CFR, I’d scratch my head. As to Goldman and JP Morgan, are they organizations that operate legally or do you equate them with drug cartels, the mafia or the Hell’s Angels?
Its funny. In this season you start to see the most irrational attacks on candidates, and the most irrational defenses.
Some of the more irrational attacks and defenses show the writer to be a troll in my view. You see names you haven’t seen before, or seldom, trying to strike what they imagine is a conservative tone attacking or promoting something.
In Jonah’s case, I like him. He alternates between juvenile and insightful, and when he is good he is good. In this case, though, he is right for the wrong reasons.
I find myself defending Walker and I’m not really for him for the top job. Walker is catching on, not because he is vanilla (though in terms of personality, he is charisma-impaired). He is catching on because he fights. He is not the flavor of the month, GOPe didn’t want to know him back when it counted. They are only embracing him now as a wedge against Cruz.
There are very few natural fighters in the GOP, and very few natural leaders. I don’t know if Walker is a natural fighter but when pushed to the wall he has proven himself a fighter, and fearless. Now that he has dealt with the unions, he is going after the universities. Wow.
So, while others are trying to knock down Cruz on behalf of Walker, or Walker on behalf of Cruz, or bother of them on behalf of Jeb, my hope is to see them together on the ballot. Cruz/Walker. Both fighters, both fearless. Both willing to fight and beat the left.
Walker/Cruz?
Huh? The leading state in this country is Texas, not Wisconsin. Practically all the job growth and positive economic activity in this country for the last 7 years occurred in Texas.
So, come to find out, Mrs. Cruz is actually accomplished on her own behalf, actually knows something about governance, and economics, and foreign policy, and has actually worked in those areas...
No, somehow that doesn’t detract anything from Ted Cruz. His resume is stellar, and hers is pretty impressive too.
OK, so you've gone from sneering disbelief (#42: "Has she piloted a black helicopter or done interrogations in a FEMA concentration camp?"), to attacking the credibility of a source (#80). Then when shown a source that could not be dismissed, you adopt a "It's not important anyway" stance.
Personally, I don't think her CFR membership makes a big difference. But don't try to deny that some conservatives WILL make a big deal about it down the road. And while I don't think it's a BIG deal, I do not discount the influence that a wife can have over her husband.
And if Cruz had spent the last 6 years being governor of Texas, then he could take a lot of credit for that. But he wasn't. This doesn't mean I don't like Cruz, or wouldn't like to see a Cruz/Walker or Walker/Cruz ticket.
I’ve worked for several flag officers, in and out of uniform, including the late General Al Haig, who were CFR and in some cases in other, less well-known groups. Does that taint me?
HA! Me too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.