Posted on 02/12/2015 2:35:12 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
For those of us who are sort of fascinated by the rise of Scott Walker as a Republican presidential contender, here's an interesting chart from Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University. It shows the relative conservative-ness of GOP presidential nominees in the past six contested elections, and it demonstrates what an outlier Walker would be if he won next year's primary: he'd be the first candidate since Ronald Reagan who's more conservative than the average of the Republican field.
And by McDaniel's measure, he'd actually be the most conservative recent nominee, period—even more right-wing than Reagan:
Walker is well to the right end of the conservative spectrum, residing in the ideological neighborhood of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul....It is not a stretch to argue that if nominated, Walker would be the most conservative Republican nominee since Barry Goldwater in 1964.
....In contrast, Jeb Bush’s ideological position closely resembles previous Republican nominees. Bush most closely resembles John McCain in 2008....In Scott Walker versus Jeb Bush, party elites and primary voters are presented with clearly contrasting visions of the future direction of the Republican party....If the recent history of Republican nomination contests is any guide, the party is likely to decide that Scott Walker is too ideologically extreme to be the Republican nominee in 2016.
Of course, the fact that this chart seems surprising is one of Walker's big strengths. He may be as conservative as, say, Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, but he doesn't seem as conservative. He doesn't have Cruz's bombast and he doesn't go around hinting that we should go back to the gold standard, like Rand Paul. In practice, that may put him closer to the center of the field than his actual positions warrant.
Still, McDaniel's data is worth taking note of. If Walker remains hardnosed in his views, it may be hard to hide this from the voters. Eventually he's going to say something that will cause the Jeb Bushes and Chris Christies to pounce, and that might expose him as too much of an ideologue to win the mainstream Republican vote. It all depends on how well he learns to dog whistle and tap dance at the same time. But then, that's true of everyone running for president, isn't it?
The link mentioned amnesty by using the word. It did not however define amnesty.
I’m interested in precisely what do conservatives mean by amnesty and putting aside tight control of the border that isn’t going to happen under the treacherous tyrant, how does that differ from several of the Republican proposals
Load of Crap! Another feeble attempt by the Dems and the GOP Establishment to derail Walker, because he can win and he is conservative. Saying he is more Conservative than Reagan is just BS
I'm thinking our best candidates are Cruz AND Walker, that our best hope to beat the left is a ticket of both of them together (demographics, geography, talents). It's also the best chance to perhaps roll back some of the bs that has happened since Reagan.
Your logic is amazing. Go sit in your control tower.
Walker clearly changed his mind and he said so. He does not support amnesty now. For your INFO you need to read the Immigration Reform Act as Ted Kennedy changed who could come here in the mid 80’s. He is the clown who shut off western Europeans coming here in favor of people like the Muslims.
Sitting up in that tower has affected your brain.
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