Posted on 07/14/2015 7:31:30 AM PDT by luke1825
Well...I recall Sen. Cruz standing in the well of the US Senate for nearly 24 hours trying to stop the funding of Obamacare.
I recall Gov. Scott Walker standing up to the entrenched unions in his deep blue state and surviving a concerted recall effort. Today WI is RTW state thanks to him.
I recall Gov. Bobby Jindal successfully managing a major hurricane and oil spill in his state, working with the oil companies (instead of vilifying them) to clean up the mess.
I recall Gov. Rick Perry successfully managing his state for the most part for over 12 years making it one of the most attractive places in the country for business and by far the biggest job creation state in the country.
Are all of these candidates perfect? Of course not. I’m sure you can find imperfections among each. But they are considerably and consistently more conservative than Trump and they have a track of record experience to judge. Trump was born into a wealthy family and he has filed for bankruptcy.
A response that usually targets their weakness
Green eggs and ham. How did that resonate with the American people or his Senate colleagues? There have been so many symbolic votes to repeal Obamacare, but when the rubber meets the road, the GOP avoids any confrontation. They could have defunded Obamacare a number of times and did not. How much courage did it take for Cruz to get up and do a one man filibuster? And what effect did it have save giving the nighttime comics some fodder to ridicule him. Cruz voted for TPA. He supported the Iran arrangement that will allow Obama to get his deal with just 34 votes. Tom Cotton was the only one to vote no. Cruz supports legalization of the lawbreakers and wants to increase guest worker programs fivefold at a time when we have the lowest labor participation rates in 38 years and fewer native born Americans working now than in 2000.
I recall Gov. Scott Walker standing up to the entrenched unions in his deep blue state and surviving a concerted recall effort. Today WI is RTW state thanks to him.I give him full credit for that. I will not give him full credit for WI being a RTW state.
In 2012 Walker told reporters at the state Republican Party convention that right-to-work legislation "It's not going to get to my desk ... I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it isn't there because my focal point (is) private sector unions have overwhelmingly come to the table to be my partner in economic development." While campaigning for re-election in 2014, Walker again said he had no plans to pursue right-to-work legislation focused on private unions.
Once the legislation was initiated in the state legislature, Walker stated: "I haven't changed my position on it, it just wasn't a priority for me. But should they pass it within the next two weeks, which is their target, I plan on signing it." On March 9, 2015, Walker signed legislation making Wisconsin a right-to-work state.[154] The law applied to private employee unions as well as public.[155] Once signed, Walker claimed partial credit for the right-to-work law. Politifact.com rated Walker's position on right-to-work as a "major reversal of position".
I will give Walker for changing his position on immigration and illegal aliens. He and Santorum are the only ones talking about reducing legal immigration, a far bigger problem than illegal aliens.
I recall Gov. Bobby Jindal successfully managing a major hurricane and oil spill in his state, working with the oil companies (instead of vilifying them) to clean up the mess.
I would expect nothing less. The oil companies have a major impact on the economy of LA and will have long after the oil spill is a distant memory. It was a pragmatic position.
I recall Gov. Rick Perry successfully managing his state for the most part for over 12 years making it one of the most attractive places in the country for business and by far the biggest job creation state in the country.
It also has the second largest number of illegal aliens and most of the jobs created were low wage. Any GOP governor of Texas would have achieved similar results given the political circumstances in the state. Perry supports giving in-state tuition to illegals.
Are all of these candidates perfect? Of course not. I’m sure you can find imperfections among each. But they are considerably and consistently more conservative than Trump and they have a track of record experience to judge. Trump was born into a wealthy family and he has filed for bankruptcy.
They have mixed track records. Yes, they are more conservative than Trump, but are they more competent? You diminish Trump's business success as though he just inherited the money and cruised on it. The fact is that he expanded his wealth. Bankruptcy is just another tool in our capitalist system that helps businesses survive. We will see how successful Trump has been when he releases his financial statement this week.
I am not a Trump supporter, but I recognize that he has touched a chord in the voting public that goes across partisan lines. Immigration can be a winning issue for the GOP if they knew how to use it. They could cut into traditional Dem constituencies and expand their appeal to the non-Hispanic white vote. Where has the passion and outrage been for any of these candidates when it comes to the destruction caused by illegal aliens who have committed crimes against millions of Americans and the deaths of tens of thousands since 9/11 alone? Instead we portray the lawbreakers in a sympathetic light and hide what they have done. Sanctuary cities have been around for decades, yet the GOP is just now getting around to dealing with it. Again, very little passion or outrage.
All GOP candidates should be forced to read Jeff Sessions' article, Becoming the Party of Work--How the GOP can help struggling Americans, and itself. An excerpt:
When Americans went to the polls in 2012, the following was true: Work-force participation had sunk to its lowest level in 35 years, wages had fallen below 1999 levels, and 47 million Americans were on food stamps. Yet Mitt Romney, the challenger to the incumbent president, lost lower- and middle-income voters by an astonishing margin. Among voters earning $30,000 to $50,000, he trailed by 15 points, and among voters earning under $30,000 he trailed by 28 points.
And what did the GOP’s brilliant consultant class conclude from this resounding defeat? They declared that the GOP must embrace amnesty. The Republican National Committee dutifully issued a report calling for a “comprehensive immigration reform” that would inevitably increase the flow of low-skilled immigration, reducing the wages and living standards of the very voters whose trust the GOP had lost.
Over the past four decades, as factories were shuttered and blue-collar jobs were outsourced or automated, net immigration quadrupled. Yet the corporate-consultant class has pronounced that an insufficient level of immigration is the problem. A more colossal misreading of the political moment has rarely occurred.
Perhaps the most important political development now unfolding in the U.S. is the public’s growing loss of faith in our political and financial elites of both parties. To open the ears of disaffected voters, the GOP must break publicly from the elite immigration consensus of Wall Street and Davos. Republicans have a clear path to building a conservative majority if they free themselves from the corporate consultants and demonstrate to the American public that the GOP is the only party aligned with the core interests, concerns, and beliefs of everyday hardworking citizens.
Thanks for your detailed response.
I simply see history repeating itself.
Another loose cannon billionaire runs for POTUS as an independent.
Another Clinton ends up getting elected POTUS as a result.
That’s how I am breaking all of this down.
“The Dems can have nasty cat fights in their primaries, but once they settle on a nominee, they close ranks and circle the wagons. They always do.”
Yes. For dems any leftist is an acceptable and good leftist, even a leftist lite. In our case, a leftist lite is unacceptable.
Trump is just doing the job our elected representatives won’t do. He’s fully qualified to be President of the United States and will if elected likely do more to effect change than anyone since Ronald Reagan.
For me personally, it has been my experience in 33 years of voting and never missing a single election, the worst Republican is always better than the best Democrat. There are no Larry McDonald-type Democrats here in CA. They are all Marxists. Period. No exceptions. It has also been my experience that a vote for a third party candidate is effectively a vote for the Democrats.
It is too easy to blame Trump. You ignore the rapidly changing demography of this country. In 1970 one in 21 was foreign born; today it is one in 8, the highest in 90 years, and within a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest in our history. We bring in 1.1 million LEGAL PERMANENT IMMIGRANTS a year, 87% of whom are minorities as defined by the USG. Many are poor and unskilled. They use our welfare system to a greater extent than the native born. We have a surplus of labor. If we didn't, wages would be going up, not down.
In addition, we bring in 640,000 guest workers annually. At any one time, there are two million guest workers in this country. And then there are the illegal aliens numbering anywhere from 12 to 20 million. Immigrants and their children account for 80% of our population growth.
This country is not same one that existed in 1992 or 1996. Since 1990 over 30 million LEGAL PERMANENT IMMIGRANTS have entered the country. Does anyone not think that this doesn't impact our economy, jobs, the wealth gap, and electoral politics--legal immigrants vote more than two to one Democrat. Read this study by Phyllis Schalfly, How Mass (Legal) Immigration Dooms a Conservative Republican Party
Are you happy with the GOP Congressional leadership and what they have done with the historic victory of 2014? I bet not. Do you think that might have contributed to Trump's ability to connect with the voters?
A few years ago I had a one on one briefing with Eric Cantor on immigration for about an hour. I provided him with all the data replete with charts and graphs. At the end, I asked him this question, "If all of these immigrants were voting predominantly for the Republicans, do you think that the Democrats would support their current immigration policies? He laughed and said of course not. They wouldn't stand for it. So I responded, "So why are the Repbulicans allowing it? No response.
When do you think CA will once again be a Red state? Don't bother responding, we both know the answer.
Nothing in life is perfect, least of all politics. Some have compared the legislative process to the making of sausage. Others, including RR, have called politics the world’s second oldest profession with much in common with the world’s oldest profession. All true, of course.
I work with what I have, and try to make the best choices. Not a fan of the Bushes, but will support them over the Clintons if that’s what it comes down to. The primaries will probably be decided we before I get to vote, CA’s primary is among the last in June. I try to learn from past mistakes. Trump has so many red flags, he is not under my consideration. The four candidates I listed above I would say are my top favorites among those who have tossed their hat in the ring at this point.
When will CA be a red state?
Probably not soon. I am not optimistic about it. GOP registration has been in a steady state of decline for years in CA. Demographic changes continue to benefit the Democrats especially now as Hispanics out number whites in our state. Asians IMHO should be voting overwhelming GOP, but they voted heavily for BHO in the last presidential election. The state GOP in CA is hopelessly inept and underfunded compared to the well oiled Dem machine.
Over the long run, if Hispanics succeed melting into our culture, intermarrying with other groups (my wife is Hispanic-—parents both born in Mexico and later became US citizens) joining the middle class and becoming homeowners, business owners, and taxpayers, they may come to see the value of Republicanism and conservatism. Will I live to see that day? Not optimistic about that, but we can always hope and pray.
I won't. I have been voting for 50 years. This is the last time I will hold my nose and vote for the GOPe candidate. Bush is worse than Clinton. He will kill the GOP finishing what Bush 41 and 43 did. Both parties have abandoned the American worker.
CA is so solid Dem that it won't matter whom you vote for, primary or the general election. Hillary will win CA easily. No contest.
Agreed, the Dem presidential nominee will easily carry CA.
But in the GOP primary, my vote may still matter.
But since CA’s primary is so late, in June, contest could very well be settled long before I vote in the primary.
Did you actually READ what I wrote?
I said I was pessimistic about CA ever being a red state again in my life time. I also went into a detailed discussion of decline GOP registration in the state and our incompetent and underfunded state GOP.
Hispanics are obviously a big factor here in CA, although according what I recently read in Breitbart.com, they only constituted about 15% of the electorate in the last election 2014.
I read what you wrote. I provided you with a graph showing that Hispanics support Big Government even thru the third generation and beyond. You seem to hold out some hope that
Over the long run, if Hispanics succeed melting into our culture, intermarrying with other groups (my wife is Hispanic-—parents both born in Mexico and later became US citizens) joining the middle class and becoming homeowners, business owners, and taxpayers, they may come to see the value of Republicanism and conservatism. Will I live to see that day? Not optimistic about that, but we can always hope and pray.
I provided you some data to confirm your pessimism. As CA becomes more Hispanic, it will become more Dem. I expect the dwindling GOP portion of the CA Congressional delegation to get even smaller.
It is not only Hispanics that vote Dem more to two to one. So do Asians and blacks. Nationally, by 2019 half of the children 18 and under will be minorities and by 2043 half of the country will be. Each cohort that turns 18 annually will be more Dem than the previous one. It is simply a matter of numbers. I provided you with the link to Phyllis Schafly's study, which I am sure you didn't read.
You seem to think that voting for Jeb Bush is still better than voting for a Third Party or not voting at all for President. If Jeb Bush is elected, he will provide amnesty to the 12 to 20 million, increase the number of guest workers, and like his father, increase legal permanent immigration even further. The result will be the destruction of the country. So why would any conservative vote for him or any candidate with similar views? A candidate's views or positions on other issues is just rearranging the deck years on the Titanic.
Thanks for all of that. But you really don’t need to supply me with data to confirm my pessimism.
I live in L.A. A once great city with a once great police department, with a once great economic engine turned into a Third World hellhole. The lunatics and their union allies are running the place into the ground with their anti-business policies, sanctuary city laws, high taxes, misguided water policies, anti-energy policies, anti-drilling, anti refining, and then they wonder why we have the highest gas prices in the country. And why our city attracts illegal aliens like a magnet. Trust me, you don’t need supply with any statistics on my state’s descent into hell. I see it every day and I am NOT optimistic about it. It’s precisely what happens when you put the Dems in charge of everything.
I lived two years in San Diego in the mid sixties. I agree that it is a shame that this once great state has descended into a cesspool from which it will never return.
I am not wild about Jeb at all. I would not vote for him in the primary. As a matter of fact, I would vote for Trump over Jeb in the primary as a protest vote.
That all said, given the choice between the Clintons and the Bushes in November 2016, I would come down on the side of the Bushes. Say whatever you like about GWB, but I regard him as a true saint compared to what we’re stuck with now. Did I agree with all of GWB’s policies? No. And I feel no need to defend everything he did in office. But he was vastly superior to both his predecessor and his successor IMHO.
You seem to think that voting for Jeb Bush is still better than voting for a Third Party or not voting at all for President. If Jeb Bush is elected, he will provide amnesty to the 12 to 20 million, increase the number of guest workers, and like his father, increase legal permanent immigration even further. The result will be the destruction of the country. So why would any conservative vote for him or any candidate with similar views? A candidate’s views or positions on other issues is just rearranging the deck years on the Titanic.
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