Bill Weld was in my class at law school, and I was pretty familiar with him as governor. There was a time when he might have been a serious candidate. No more. Now heāll be at best a token.
Bill Weld is one of only two Rās Iāve ever voted for (Ed Brooke being the other). I fell for his good governance shtick. Highly unlikely it will happen again, but, thanks for playing, Governor.
Weld ran against John Silber, president of Boston University, who was a psychopath. I voted for him, too. Classic case of lesser of two evils.
Isnāt he one of those Third Way types who manage to mess elections up?
The tell, is there has been a buzz about this for a couple of days - and not a single demeaning tweet from Trump.
Even when he is distracted - he always finds time for demeaning tweets for anything/anyone he sees as a threat or as drawing attention away from himself.
Heās not a real threat, but he opens the door.
Weldās 15 minutes expired long ago. He has tried to play encores several times ā¦ but he is over nowā¦
Hopefully Weldās candidacy will provide a rhetorical handhold on Trump that will allow other attacks on Trump to find purchase. Coming from a serious person from within their party, itās harder to write his criticisms off as regular partisan rancor.
Another observation: the GOP may be a failed state, but this country depends on a healthy political system, which weāve all learned is pretty easily overturned when all the leaders of one of the two parties act in bad faith in concert. The conventional wisdom is that liberals have a better shot at winning the election if their opponent is an unhinged nutjob, but 2016 serves as an object lesson that there is incredible danger in having an extremist in the running ā because the extremist can win.
I donāt know Weld, so I donāt mean to suggest this guy represents some kind of glimmer of sanity in the GOP. But there are really only two ways things can play out that donāt lead to the end of the US: (1) the GOP dies, or (2) the GOP becomes healthy again. I doubt the GOP will die fast enough, because of the many structural elements of our modern politics that double as life-support for an otherwise complete failure. So, I welcome any sign that the GOP might come around ā and challenging Trump is by definition a sign like that. (Unless the ticket is Koch/Adelson.)
I donāt think teaming up with Gary Johnson helped his reputation at all. If there were more Republicans like Weld and current governor Baker weād be in much better shape as a country. Not that Iād vote for them, but at least I wouldnāt be scared of what they would do in officeā¦
Weld was reportedly a libertarian vice presidential candidate in 2016, but has since switched back to the Republican Party.
ummmmm
Weld was reportedly a libertarian vice presidential candidate in 2016
As in, thereās a rumor about it but nobody is sure? I guess they didnāt make much of an impression on journalists for all the votes they gotā¦
Charles Koch, more than the other oligarchs, has hollowed out the GOP and inserted his own brand of libertarian extremism. Thus: the GOP is now de facto libertarian.
So, I canāt say Iām surprised to hear that Weld is a libertarian with a flimsy cover identity as a āconservative.ā
Though I should have highlighted one particular word, I find it odd that the TPM article states Weld was āreportedlyā on the ballot, when 2016 articles say that he was.
Do you mean āseriousā in the sense of taken seriously by GOP primary voters?
'Cause if you meant it in the sense of gravitas and such, I would have to suggest you observe what is occupying the Oval Office and and edit accordingly.
I know, it does seem odd. But, yes, serous in the sense of the voters taking him seriously.
Iād respect them more if he were taken seriously. Heās got some record of public integrity thatās quite rare in the GOP today.