Posted on 06/17/2015 9:45:26 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
The Republican field is crowded, which implies that primary voters have little information about where some of the candidates stand. That is particularly the case this season, with a few relatively unknown contenders who lack legislative experience or a long history of campaign contributions that would allow researchers to precisely identify where they stand on the liberal-to-conservative political dimension.
However, one characteristic all candidates share is that they have active and popular Twitter accounts. And as I showed in an article published earlier this year in the journal Political Analysis now freely available online as an Editors Choice article it is possible to analyze the candidates Twitter networks to compute precise ideological scores and thus identify how conservative or liberal each of them is.
The intuition behind this method is simple: Citizens prefer to follow on Twitter those political accounts that they perceive to be ideologically close to their own positions. Tea party supporters, for example, tend to follow Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, but not Chris Christie. The same occurs on the other side of the spectrum: Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders will have a more liberal set of followers than Hillary Clinton. Relying on this assumption, I developed a statistical model that estimates simultaneously the positions of political actors and voters. And since not only politicians but also media outlets, private companies, and interest groups are active on Twitter the resulting ideological scores are comparable for different sets of accounts.
The figure below displays the ideological scores of all declared and rumored major primary candidates as of June 1
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
And which governor, by actions not words, has been an impressive constitutional conservative? Besides that, there’s the big question mark with governors. The world is a mess. Who has a solution that will end constant wars destroying civilization?
For what it’s worth, Walker’s actions impress me more than the other governors, but none have impressed me to the extent that I would consider them to be ideologically constitutional limited government conservatives. Cruz, Lee, and Paul have done a pretty good job though, based on overall historical voting records alone.
Listening to callers to talk radio the past two days, I sincerely believe that a lot of these "Trump supporters" are really Democrat operatives jamming the phone lines.
Plus, they all have a corny Southern or NYC accent. In other words, they sound really dumb. Plus, similar talking points.
Maybe I'm naïve. But, I smell a "rat".
There’s nothing about TPA or FTA’s that gives Obie more power than he has.
Any trade agreement must be approved by Congress, that has been argued to death.
What makes anyone think Obie won’t try anything he wants to. Nothing and no one has stopped him yet.
There’s only so much he can do by EO, then it’s in Congresses court.
Is there any indication Boehner or McConnell will oppose him?
They would rather crush conservatives.
Conservatives should not give them the wood for the fire.
I was upset about TPA until I started looking at some of the details. I like the fact that it mandates that trade agreements are made public for 60 days before they are voted on. It also requires that Congress be involved throughout negotiations and that the President is restricted in what he can and can’t do.
I truly think that Cruz will oppose TPP for several reasons. With good reason, no one trusts Obama and his reputation as a negotiator is abysmal. This agreement is going to receive a level of scrutiny never before seen for one of these agreements.
Also, the TPP is not likely to be voted on until late 2016. There are so many in Congress up for re election that will not vote for this unpopular bill. We only need a handful of Republicans to vote it down and we will more than have that.
When the dust clears, if TPA is adopted it will be there for the next President, hopefully a Republican. I think this was Cruz’s goal all along, as he knew the Dems would block it if it came up for vote next Congress.
I am being played by knowing what the law says and how it may adversely affect me? Is it not true that once TPA is enacted Obama can make any trade agreement that he gets 51 Senators to approve? My point was not that TPA is unprecedented, my point is that this president and this Senate cannot be trusted with fast track authority that has been granted to previous administrations.
Without TPA it is unlikely that we can pass any new trade agreements. Cruz says this is harmful to America and I agree. Where we differ is that I think the harm done by creating no new trade agreements over the next 18 months is less than the harm Obama and 51 fellow travelers can do with a bad trade agreement.
Yah- you posted you liked Cruz on 6/14. You were "all for" him for 3 days.
He (Cruz) is the only one who has what it takes to win.
He is the only one who sees the "big picture" and understands the magnitude of the damage that has been done to our country, and what problems are before us.
He is the only one who has the ability to rally the American people to save themselves.
I pray that he can get the nomination. We need him.
You know, I don’t believe I am on the Cruz ping list either. I just always comb FR for all the posts. Please add me, kind Sir.
Very good points on the judges. I can see Cruz appointing some first rate Conservative Judges!
If that is messaging ... well ... OK
This one thing I know ..
In the last almost 20 years I've been trying to pay attention, educating myself and talking with others .... not one damned improvement has been made to our lot as Americans, rather ... we are in more trouble now than during the Clinton years.
I don’t know if you noticed this or not, but I always pay close attention to what a candidate says he will do as President. Trumps listed these:
Repeal Obamacare
Build a wall and secure the border
Defeat ISIS
Repeal Common Core
Strike down the Executive Order on Immigration
Strengthen military and services for vets
Restore American Dream by bringing back jobs and manufacturing
If he had also listed Abolishing the IRS, he would sound just like Cruz. The difference is I trust Cruz to do those things.
In addition to the specifics I mentioned in my earlier post to you, the 2015 TPA Bill includes language reinforcing our sovereignty and also includes the Cruz/ Sessions language on immigration.
Comparing it to previous TPA’s, this one is much better.
If it weren’t for them both being from Texas, I think Cruz/ Perry would be good. Usually they try to balance the ticket with someone who can deliver a swing state.
I noted those things that Trump said he would do in post 72.
Very surprising.
He has the money to accomplish all of it
I think the problem is credibility ... do Americans believe / trust him.
I agree. We do not need a woman President. Our enemies must respect our next President, and our enemies hold women in contempt.
Well said. I’m praying with you!
I support Cruz but wish he’d stay out of the inside the beltway thinking. His support of TPP and the idea of increasing H-1B Visas by 500% make me wonder.
Cruz is the only candidate with a 100% Conservative rating. He is also known for keeping his word. He has my trust and my vote.
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