Posted on 08/11/2015 4:41:51 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
After their first presidential debates, it is time for Republicans to get serious. Donald Trump won’t be their nominee. Neither will Ben Carson. Nor will any of the men in the 5 p.m. undercard event last week. Despite Carly Fiorina’s strong performance, it is hard to believe that the GOP would turn to someone who was fired as Hewlett-Packard ’s CEO in 2005 after a tenure charitably described as controversial, and whose only run for elective office resulted in a landslide loss in 2010 to Sen. Barbara Boxer in California.
There are only five candidates with a plausible path to the Republican nomination: two sitting senators ( Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz), two sitting governors ( Scott Walker and John Kasich), and a former governor ( Jeb Bush). They represent a choice among very different persons, but also—and more fundamentally—between competing strategies for the future of the Republican Party.
First, the candidates as individuals. Ted Cruz is running as the tea party’s Mr. Conservative—aggressively antigovernment except for national defense, with an explicit appeal to Christian social conservatives. John Kasich is this generation’s compassionate conservative, who cites his faith as justification for expanding Medicaid and extending “unconditional love” to gays and lesbians. Scott Walker is the fighting conservative who fires supporters’ hopes that he will stick it to the liberals in Washington, as he did to public-sector unions in Wisconsin....
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump...odds are you would not win the race as an independent. Of course, if the establishment candidates poll in the 30's, anything is possible, right?
No, Mr. Trump...if you are hosed by the 'Pubs, kick them where they'll hurt. Don't run as an independent, start a third party. Use the principles that brought you support during your campaign, that brought standing ovations. Tnoughtful conservatives know (and you know, because you understand how things work) that in order to defeat the Death Machine of the left, you must defund the machine. Just as Walker did in Wisconsin, take away the fuel that powers the machine. Then, anything is possible. Defund the left. Propose a platform that accomplishes this. Then aim at 2020. You're a relatively young guy, you have another run in you.
That would be quite a legacy, don't you think?
I will not vote for bush under any conditions, none, never.
I do not buy the propaganda that Trump is a plant, and i think he would throw absurd questions back in their face.
Also, I do not buy the meme that he didn’t handle himself well in the debate.
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