Posted on 01/25/2014 11:24:20 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
PICK YOUR POISONS …
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, the “Republican” Party is coming apart at the seams as factions of increasingly divergent political ideologies battle for a shrinking pool of the electorate.
And the camps are getting increasingly belligerent …
In one corner we have big government “neoconservatives” – fiscal liberals who are wholly owned subsidiaries of America’s military industrial complex. These “Republicans” want no changes to the status quo in Washington, D.C. – with the exception of perpetual funding increases for the bloated U.S. military.
In another corner we have big government Bible Thumpers – fiscal liberals who are wholly owned subsidiaries of the religious right. These “Republicans” want no changes to the status quo in Washington, D.C. – with the exception of federal funding for abstinence education and a host of other socially conservative government programs.
Finally, we have the so-called “whack-a-doodles” – fiscally conservative, pro-free market, pro-liberty voters who for the most part have aligned themselves with the Tea Party movement, which cropped up in 2009 in response to the initial overreaches of the administration of Barack Obama. This is the fastest-growing wing of the party, although it is every bit as splintered as the GOP itself.
Against this backdrop of division and declining relevancy, the Republican Party is doing a straw poll of the thirty-two politicians it believes are legitimate contenders for the 2016 presidential nomination.
In alphabetical order, they are: U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire), former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former pizza mogul and 2012 presidential candidate Herman Cain, neurosurgeon and author Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, U.S. Rep. Peter King (New York), New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky), former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio), former Secretary of State Condi Rice, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida), Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), U.S. Sen. John Thune (S.D.), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former U.S. Rep. Allen West (Florida).
Phew … right?
Right …
The straw poll asks Republican voters to choose their three favorite names from the list … and provides a write-in section in the event you’d like to vote for someone who didn’t make the party’s list.
And yes, to actually cast your vote you have to surrender your email address to the GOP …
Anyway, here’s the link …
http://www.gop.com/act/presidential-straw-poll
All three of the categories are described in terms that are totally dishonest.
I say this is dumb as hell. Condi Rice? Mitch Daniels? TPaw? The retired Ron Paul? Gingrich again?! Why not have me and Bob McDonnell on the freakin’ list? RNC sucks as usual.
Narrow it down to people who are actually going to run instead of people who’ve already declared retirement and those who’ve left the political circuit altogether.
Here is a shortened list of actual candidates.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
Neurosurgeon and author Ben Carson
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)
S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (God, please no... no!)
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
Ohio Gov. John Kasich
U.S. Rep. Peter King (New York)
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky)
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida)
U.S. Sen. John Thune (S.D.)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
And as much as I hate to say it...
Businessman Donald Trump
Granted, some of these are awful, but at least they are actually possibly going to run. Rob Portman? Give me a freakin’ break. The guy is going to be lucky if he wins reelection next time around.
On this list you have 7 governors, 4 senators, 1 crappy representative, and 2 outsider candidates.
Now obviously we can’t have a field of 14 candidates, so this will be whittled down, but its out of these people who ends up on the debate stage.
It’s from FITSnews, a leftist SC publication. Its association with senate candidate Nancy Mace has made me sour on her.
Susana Martinez..Excellent choice!!!
Carson, Cruz, Haley, Paul, Martinez, and Trump. The rest are RINOs and milquetoasts.
I like your work in whittling down the GOP list to a more realistic list. But why did yo not include sen.Ted Cruz?
Bingo!
Fourth one down ;) And he is the head of the pack for me.
I say Ron Paul and Ted Cruz are the only two on the list that looked good to me.
Oops, didn’t see Carson; he’s good too.
Gov. Sarah Palin is a RINO and milquetoast?
Christie and Cruz are the only two who can fight as nasty, hard and dirty as will be necessary, IMHO.
I supported Cain last time, and Walker has shown pretty good political skills and organizational ability, but if anyone thought the Obama machine could fight hard and nasty they ain’t seen nothin compared to Clinton 2.0
Yeah, I hope I’m wrong, too.
This guy is an idiot, and he doesn’t know that most tea party fiscal conservatives, are also “bible thumpers”.
He doesn’t know the makeup of who is conservative, the non-religious are mostly liberals, so they makeup a much smaller portion of the right, and that of course applies to the tea party as well.
Of course he’s an idiot. He writes for FITS news.
He refers to a very small branch of the party, the Huckabee Akin wing who aren’t fiscally conservative in the least. They’re tiny though, and wield little influence.
The base today is committed to God, the Constitution, and Fiscal sanity.
Haley and Cruz are too liberal for me, I don’t yet trust Paul, outside of his Senate seat.
I don’t think that Huckabee has much influence anywhere, some, but nothing big, it was him and Michelle Bachmann that pushed Akin onto us, against the efforts of Palin and the tea party.
Haley Barbour...the governor who pardoned wife killers!
This is a joke that he is relevant, right??
Ted Cruz of course.
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