Leadership is the art of getting things done. Experience makes it easier. An ideologue might coincidently have leadership ability, but that’s a chance I’m not willing to take. Give me a proven, effective leader whose ideology I can share.
Experience is extremely important, but I don’t recall saying it had to be government experience.
Your argument isn’t applicable.
It is applicable, for this reason. What you want is an ideal outcome: perfect balance of executive experience and ideology.
There are maybe 20 potential republican candidates with a chance to win the nod in 2016.
You’re going to have to find the right balance between those two qualities in the candidates available.
Given that, I’d much prefer an ideologue that might have leadership ability than a candidate with leadership ability that might share my ideological viewpoint. Experience can be hired out. A like minded conservative warrior is worth far more on the sliding scale between those qualities.
This isn’t an abstract concept. Among who can win in 2016, I’ll take an ideologue over a squish any day.
Plus, Sen Cruz is proving that he’s willing to take point on our issues, even when it annoys the establishment. He’s proving that he has leadership ability where it counts: he’s willing to be a shaper of the debate. THAT’S the main leadership quality we need at the moment - someone out in front on our concerns.