Thoughtful post mortem of Walker’s campaign. It’s worth reading the whole thing.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Walker is another mild-mannered Midwesterner. He is a TPaw with more conservatism but less principle.
And what about Perry?
Nothing new here.
Ping to me for later.
State Governors are USUALLY more successful because they have experience dealing with a hostile press and real opponents, whereas the Senate seems to be a chummy country-club that constantly produces “get-along wimps” (for example, Dole, McCain, Graham) - and anybody that doesn’t play by those chummy rules is ostracized (Cruz).
Trump got his experience with hostile press and political opponents in the business world, but that doesn’t make it any less useful now. New York City is a good boot camp!
“To be an outsider, at the present moment, you really need to come from the outside. The presidency is becoming an entry-level job. God help us.”
Given that the lucre and power that comes from holding office draws charlatans and criminals like dung draws flies, we would probably be better off with random lotteries for leaders than these periodic popularity contests for the most convincing sociopath. It is a good thing the “professionals” are so generally despised at long last.
FFS, John Kaisch isn’t “fascinating” to ANYONE but GOPe types and northern OH Republicans. Wow.
“The presidency is becoming an entry-level job. God help us.”
You know, because all of these “experienced” people have done so well?
He wasn’t on the sde of the citizens and the rule of law.
He proved that when he spouted Cheap Labor Express talking points on his exit.
One year ago, if asked I would have said Walker or Perry were the best two possible candidates on the horizon. Good God Almighty, was I wrong!
It is amazing what a few speeches, two debates and most important, the information available via the internet can do to help one make a decision.
We still have a long way to go, but I really wonder what next September will be like.
I was not aware that 2008 was the first time you had a sitting senator vs. a sitting senator.
Governors-as-Presidents have been a mixed bag: Carter was a failure, Reagan a success, Bush 43 and Clinton somewhere in the middle.
Moreover, there have been those for whom the Presidency was their first political position, but they had previous executive experience, such as Grant and Eisenhower being generals.
Georgie Will could never get him over the hump. Maybe the experts are all wrong?
Pray America is waking
One of the reasons that Republican governors could win in the past was that the party more or less represented the interests of their base.
The problem with governors, overall, is that they are elected to RUN A STATE, no small task. It’s not easy to find 4 to 6 hours a day to read FreeRepublic while you’re doing that. So they rely on others (i.e., party insiders) to tell them what the country wants - and sometimes (or usually, actually) those people have their own agendas. It was CLEAR AS DAYLIGHT with Walker, who never had a chance to try to understand immigration while up there in Wisconsin...so he got rolled by Ms. Dayspring and Mrs. Will, and it was OBVIOUS to us.
Good piece, but Podhoretz gets the premise incorrect when it comes to Walker.
Walker stabbed his campaign’s focus on his governorship’s fights versus the results. Every aspect of the campaign was a contradiction. The focus on Iowa gave it away, but I still yelled “you’re doing it wrong!” at my screen.
Thank you Governor Walker.