Posted on 10/13/2014 4:09:32 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
If he’s serious, the Republicans of New Hampshire and elsewhere are in for an interesting time. George Pataki is heading north from New York, where he retired as an undefeated three-term Republican Governor in 2006.
Do not underestimate him. There’s a sort of aw-shucks persona he puts out there. He’s smart. He’s not encumbered by previous entanglements with the nutty Republican infrastructure. He beat a Democratic liberal icon, Mario Cuomo. He is/is not conservative enough. The big money boys like him.
I worked with him and against him for 12 years. He’s got genuine human qualities that are admirable. He’s a stone-cold political killer (His big move was defeating the Republican Senator who gave him his start, and he was Al D’Amato’s protégé). Unlike a lot of Republicans he surrounded himself with competent people who could think strategically as well as manage day-to-day stuff.
But is he conservative enough? Depends. Conventional wisdom is that the Republican primary electorate is interested only in red-meat, take-no-prisoners, Tea Party reaction. Even though he knows better, Pataki is capable of providing aid and comfort to the hard right, without the baggage of crazy (like a fox) Ted Cruz or Rand Paul. But when push comes to shove Pataki will have to make a few existential choices. He’s not rabidly anti-choice. His environmental record on land preservation is pretty good. He dealt well with the Latino community. He negotiated agreements with Democrats when he had to. What he will want to do is blur the lines enough to keep everybody happy. He could become America’s version of Czechoslovakia’s Alexander Dubcek, who proclaimed “Socialism With A Human Face” except substitute “Reactionary Republicans” for “Socialism.”
That may not fly in today’s Republican Party....
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.lse.ac.uk ...
While for many commentators, the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election has already been sewn up by Hillary Clinton, the Republican field remains wide open. Richard Brodsky argues that the field is crying out for a shakeup, one that may be on the way in the form of a presidential bid from the former Governor of New York, George Pataki. As a skilled strategic thinker, Pataki may be able to blur the lines between the GOP’s establishment wing and the Tea Party, thus pulling it back from its current reactionary turn.
About the author
Richard Brodsky – Demos & NYU Wagner Richard Brodsky served 14 terms as a New York State Assemblyman, retiring in 2010. He is currently a Senior Fellow at Demos, a progressive think tank in New York City, and a Senior Fellow at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Administration. His years of public service focused on government reform, environmental protection and economic policy. He is also a lawyer and a journalist.
I doubt Pataki has the guts to call out the Democrats on the crap that they put into the White House, especially the ebola crisis and not terminating the CDC Director for doing anything but lead and actually say something sensical. He sounds like Giuliani 2.0 to me.
I will pass on Pataki. He gave away the store while governor. No real reforms. No real spending cuts. Just a RINO at heart. Thanks, but no thanks.
And Brodsky is a putz.
No! Absolutely not!
aka compassionate conservatism.
Anything else gets them second place in a two person race.
They’re all frauds today, I mean look at the midterms coming up: We are neck and neck with the Treason party for the Senate. HOW is that possible with all the massive F ups by this administration? We should be destroying them in the polls. But nooo, because the RINO party is completely full of BS. They are all mollycoddling pussies. I mean try to imagine what’s going to happen if the Treason party not only holds the Senate but takes the House as well with Obama going into overdrive as he comes into the last stretch of his Presidency. They are going to pull out all the stops, go full out in the destruction of this country.
Pataki is not worth spit
I never followed him much. I certainly have no preconceived notions and see if he can put himself above the fray. Governors make the best presidents.
What this piece is really saying, northeasterner Pataki is not red meat conservative enough for the rest of the country, especially the south and midwest, but he has this great quality about him, he’s a good liar. He can lie real good to the conservative base, while at the same time playing up to the RINO’s.
Please, that’s the last thing we need now, another lying politician in the mold of Clinton, Obama, and the rest of the lying Dems.
I’d have to be whacky to go for Pataki.
I absolutely loved Pataki’s very first act aafter being sworn in as governor.
There was this convicted criminal who was serving a 25year to life sentence in New York. He somehow escaped and went to I think Missouri or Mississippi. While there he murdered a corrections officer, was tried and sentenced to death. Mario Cuomo, Andrew’s dad, had the vermin extradited to New York to serve the rest of his New York sentence.
A couple years later Cuomo lost to Pataki.
First thing Pataki did as governor was pardon the killer of his New York crimes.
The other state stepped in, extradited him, and the scum was executed 3 or 4 weeks later.
After the GOP nomination) - "Once again the Republicans have nominated a far-right wing wacko who will cut funding for seniors and minorities. There's also some skeletons in his closet. He's just too far to the right."
LOL!!! Funny and true!
:)
I like that story.
This guy couldn’t win a precinct in my state. TED CRUZ— ONLY!!
A friend advised me that Pataki supported and signed into law COBIS, whereby most handguns that were purchased had to have a test round fired and the shell cashing kept on file with the New York State Police. Cost millions of dollars - did not catch one criminal in the process. Thankfully COBIS died, but the follow-on gun legislation in New York looks pretty onerous.
I doubt Pataki has any chance.
Nope.
The GOP doesn’t have what I am looking for.
That much is painfully obvious.
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