Posted on 06/02/2015 9:15:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Koch brothers say they’ll spend over $900 million to make sure at least one of their five likely favorites gets across the finish line in the Republican primaries. Why not a billion dollars?
Maybe they worry about the optics of spending that much money; it’s almost insulting to the candidates that they need that much outside help.
Polls show Republicans are happy with their growing field of candidates, with the diversity and quality of the entrants.
There are governors and ex-governors, four sitting senators and one ex-senator, a former neurosurgeon and a businesswoman, most with hefty resumes, yet nobody breaks 20 percent in the polls. If Republican voters had to select their standard-bearer today, whom would they choose? Drum roll please: nobody. There is no consensus in a field so fractioned.
The Koch brothers’ top scorers are likely Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Each has had more than their share of news coverage, yet aside from the familiar Bush name, the voters don’t know much about any of them.
It’s early, and the voters should be forgiven for not tuning in until maybe August, when the first debate is scheduled. For now, there are multiple reasons why each one of them is likely to fail. Yet someone will succeed, perhaps even someone from the back of the pack, like Rick Santorum, who was a distant runner-up to Mitt Romney in 2012, or former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is re-inventing himself with new glasses and supposedly more in-depth knowledge of the issues than last time when he had his famous “oops” moment, forgetting the third Cabinet department he would eliminate as president.
Among the front of the pack, former Florida Governor and heir to the dynasty, Jeb Bush, has been a real dud. He’s not much of a campaigner and his more moderate views on immigration are not in tune with activist Republican voters. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been trying to moderate some of his harder core positions in anticipation of getting the nomination. He says he shouldn’t be faulted for changing his positions on key issues because he hasn’t voted on these issues. Running on words don’t matter, only votes count, isn’t a winning platform.
Rand Paul revived his flagging campaign with his 10 and a half hour speech railing against the Patriot Act but national security hawks still dominate the Republican primaries, and Paul has taken too many positions that can be characterized as liberal to win the nomination.
Marco Rubio is touted as the Republican whom Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee has the most to fear. He’s young and handsome and is fashioning himself as the GOP’s Jack Kennedy. He would offer a sharp contrast to Clinton, and his backers think he could capture the public’s imagination in much the way Barack Obama did in 2008.
Like Obama, Rubio is a freshman senator with a lot of ambition, but the Obama comparison may not work in 2016. Doubters look at Rubio and see someone who’s too young (43), seems immature, and changes his position too much to make conservatives who dominate the primary process comfortable with him.
Then there is Ted Cruz, Texas senator, another first termer, who has the opposite problem from Rubio. Cruz never backs off any of his hard-line positions no matter whom he offends. He’s a crowd pleaser among conservatives, but even the staunchest Republicans question whether Cruz could win a national election.
His supporters are passionate, but his detractors are many. In the unlikely event that Cruz emerges from the field in the primaries, Democrats should make the Koch Brothers spend every penny they’re allotted. They might be able to get him to the Convention, but they’ll never get him to the White House.
Blah blah blah they hate all republicans blah blah blah.
Well, something Walker is doing is a winning platform. He's won two generals and one recall...all while taking it to the unions and Generation.com college jackwagons in one of the most Leftist states in the nation. Works for me.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I missed the snark alert.
The GOP needs to secure money from every
source possible because the “objective”
MSM will sabotage them at every opportunity.
From the state that gave us Snarlin Arlen, they’re saying who we will nominate and elect? RIGHT!
On Facebook, they bleat about the Koch brothers repeatedly.
The Koch brothers are pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-taxes, pro-big government. So why are they supporting Republicans?
How do you figure? As I recall, Her Enormous Crusty Ass Cheeks was BRAGGING about spending a billion? Was that embarrassing too? If it takes a billion to fight the forces of tyranny, it's embarrassing if you spend it???
yes, it's George Orwell's "two minutes hate" prediction become reality. the left is without shame.
don’t forget that King Barry I of Kenya pledged to limit the amount he’d spend based on federal matching fund limitations back in 2008... that is until he and his cabal of co-conspirators discovered that they could get untold thousands (or millions?) of illegal small foreign donations to his campaign via paypal and online credit card transactions without anyone in the MSM of government caring. he then quickly reneged on his pledge and his campaign spending ballooned to previously unimaginable levels.
Cruz....They might be able to get him to the Convention, but they’ll never get him to the White House.
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Oh really? They said the same thing in 1980 about that guy from California..... that Class-B movie actor who didn’t have a chance to win the White House...... what the heck was his name?
Because they have figured out how to rig the system to insure they make even more money and they’ve figured out how to get Republican (and Democrat) pol’s to do their bidding.
:::shrug::: Same as it ever was.
It’s just the way some of the super rich operate. IMO a lot of these super rich folks do not identify as Americans ... they’re ‘global citizens’. Blech.
Hey ... I’m all about making money. But I’m never going to be ‘rich’ ... let alone super rich. So my chances of buying access ... buying a politician is slim. But why people think the Koch’s are anything but super rich selfish jack rabbits is beyond me. But it’s America ... land of the purchased politician.
And if anyone actually thinks the Koch’s are worried about or care about the average American ... as they say ... got a bridge you can buy.
Rubio just told Fox News outnumbered girls that he is a big rap fan... Sorry we dont need a Rap fan in the WH
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