Discussion for article #235550
If you are basing your prospects on myth and clichés you probably have already lost.
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They are bad governors because they reflect the core GOP philosophy that government is bad. Curiously enough that philosophy is also the central tenet of most billionaires.
A coincidence to be sure.
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They say That Scott walker is the Koch brothers choice to run for POTUS,do they really want to put him one on one with Hillary ? I think not.This will be IMHO the most entertaining presidential race in years especially on the Republican side.
The clown car could not be anymore aptly named,and with the new self driving technology couldnât ask for a better gift.This way the performers can just do their thing.
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The motivation behind the idea that governors are better is that the jobs of governor and president are both about executive âleadershipâ (whatever âleadershipâ, nobody can define the effin word.)
But these days, being a governor is largely being a glorified civil service employee, implement your states share of federal programs.(So maybe they get bored and start a side business taking bribes, e.g. CC.) Most state legislatures work part time (well the federal one seems part time too, though they have a full time workload and the states donât.)
Candidates with federal experience are more likely to grasp the issues handled by the federal government well. (I know, Rand Paul proves me wrong, but I said âmore likelyâ. Also, it applies to candidates who are running because they have done well in their current job, not because they are delusional buffoons.) Here Bill Clinton is an exception, even as a backwoods governor he understood federal issues better than almost anyone.
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âMcCain was a war hero with an unquestioned reputation for integrity.â
Huh? Unquestioned reputation for integrity?
âThe Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators â Alan Cranston (Democrat of California), Dennis DeConcini (Democrat of Arizona), John Glenn (Democrat of Ohio), John McCain (Republican of Arizona), and Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (Democrat of Michigan) â were accused of improperly intervening in 1987 on behalf of Charles H. Keating, Jr., Chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of a regulatory investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB). The FHLBB subsequently backed off taking action against Lincoln.â
And I also question his war âheroâ status. Yes he was a POW, but heroic? I donât think so. Finally, Palin put the nail in his coffin and his bitter behavior since he lost has hammered it closed.
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Let me really explode this myth,hereâs a governor giving a speech on âFOREIGN POLICYâ yesterday.
"WASHINGTON â Gov. Chris
Christie called for a stronger relationship between the U.S. and its
neighbors, saying it would enhance their clout throughout the rest of
the world.
Christie, whose comments on foreign policy came as he eyes a run for
the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, said the U.S., Canada, and
Mexico share common values, including a commitment to democracy, and too
often the lack of conflict among the three countries leads to those
relations being placed on the backburner."
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A lot of those GOP governors Kasich,Christie,Walker have completely trashed their state budgets by giving huge tax breaks to corporations and the one percent using another myth trickle down economics as the reasoning. None of it has worked. Not a great thing to have on your resume.
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Thank you. These miserable excuses for human beings suck at being Governor because they are Rethugs. The job of Governor IS a good place to start from in terms of a run for POTUS because if your state is doing well, thereâs a direct correlation as to how your ideas can be put in place for the entire country.
See: Dayton, Mark (D-MN). Minnesota is currently eating Wisconsinâs lunch mostly due to Daytonâs recognizing what can work and what - to paraphrase former Gov. OâMalley - is just bullsht. GOP bullsht.
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Never understood why McCain had an unquestioned reputation for integrity
Never. And I donât understand why itâs being repeated as fact.
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And, of course, there is the issue of many Republican governors and GOPig presidential wannabeesâ sterling characters and slavish devotion to the public good! ~snicker!~
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Rubio is reportedly setting up a superPAC to be lavishly funded by a billionaire who is still angry about a 2004 Bush veto of an appropriation to benefit a cancer research project set up in his sister-in-lawâs name.
I remember a world where an individual billionaireâs personal pique didnât determine whether a candidate was viable through the primaries. We really need to get back to feeling a sense of urgency about this. Since Citizens United, weâve turned into the proverbial frog that doesnât jump out of the pot because the temperature has been turned up too slowly.
Christieâs facing a huge field featuring some candidates that are too big (financially) to fail before the votingâs well underway.
. . . nah. Too easy.
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Indeed the idea that being a governor makes for a good president is just a bullshit talking point myth. I notice many Repubicanâs throw that point around when itâs their guy running. You didnât hear it so much when McCain was running.
Just as you wonât hear the GOP talk about a short time someone has been in the Senate prior to running (like they said with Obama) if Cruz or Paul miraculously win the GOP nod.
Itâs simply something to say to silence critics but in the real world if you have good ideas, a strong presence and people like you, chances are you will win.
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Bobby Jindal said his approval ratings were because Louisiana hates his agenda, but he also bragged that he won election and re-election because he ran as a conservative and people wanted conservative solutions. He actually revealed more about conservative governing and their voters than he meant to. They like the IDEA of conservative government in the abstract (especially when itâs talking about sacrifices from other people) but the actual government? No thanks. Weâll just find a way to blame that on Democrats.
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I donât disagree, but McCainâs reputation was largely unquestioned. I donât know a single person who isnât either an internet political junkie or a political academic that can name McCain drama save for Palin.
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My dream GOP Presidential candidate is Sam Brownback. His policies in Kansas are the logical, real-world culmination of the last 40+ years of Republican ideology: a seething hatred of government at all levels, a contempt for anybody who isnât white, Christian, and wealthy, and a fanatical belief that tax cuts always pay for themselves that is indistinguishable from religious dogma.
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Yeah, if George W. Bush didnât explode the governor savior myth then itâs shatterproof.
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Iâd be too scared of the chance heâd win to even risk running him. Itâs a very small chance, but I donât want to play russian roulette.
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The myth doesnât hold because of the nature of modern republican governance and republican primary voters. For a governor to successfully govern a state and to make it work well, it requires a degree of moderation, compromise, and flexibility. All of these are poison to the modern republican base and primary electorate. Recognizing this, ambitious republican governors have taken to pushing ideological agendas rather than governing, and since itâs hard from them to hide from the damage that they do, theyâre generally really unpopular since outside of the republican base, voters donât reward dysfunction.
Modern republican congresscritters donât have that problem since itâs hard to pin dysfunction on any individual critter. So, they can be ideologically pure, regardless of how damaging that might be, and since the modern press will just lay the blame of dysfunction equally at the feet of both parties, thereâs little cost for the critter.
So, in a world where, for a republican, compromise is poison and their actual policies are terrible in practice, being a congresscritter is likely a better place to be running from.
That doesnât hold for the Democratic side. OâMalley isnât faring poorly because he was a governor, heâs fairing poorly because heâs a mediocre candidate without much of a coherent platform, running against a very, very strong frontrunner.
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The msm loves a GOP inspired narrative no matter if itâs
true or not. Believing nonsense is much
easier than engaging in real journalism
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