February 26, 2014

"Rand Paul Is the GOP’s Early Presidential Front-Runner."

"While the establishment hopes for a governor to emerge, he is quietly putting together a formidable operation."

That's an Instapundit post. There are 29 comments there right now, many of which bring up what is — at least to my ear — the obvious name: Scott Walker.

I like Rand Paul. He's got youthful vigor and a libertarian spirit. He can speak, and by speak, I mean he doesn't merely stay on message with excellent talking points. He seems to be speaking from a real and lively mind. He needs to convince us that it's a normal, nonweird mind.

219 comments:

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Drago said...

Simon: "Drago, do you mean personally? Or just from listening to Marketplace?"

Personally.

Though I would not want for a moment to suggest that Kai is anything less than a substantive guy with a great head on his shoulders.

Drago said...

Michael K: "Crack, you are a clown. I stopped reading your links. Too bad but you are off the deep end. Why not worry about the education of black children and stop tilting at slavery windmills ?"

Crack cannot "worry about the education of black children".

He's gone full 'whitey is the root of all evil'.

If he spends even a moment worrying about the education of black children it will destroy his message of 'blacks are as oppressed today as they were 400 years ago' and 'blacks have no opportunity to succeed 'cuz "whitey"' and will minimize his opportunity "ta git paid, yo".

Whites are devils. Ice people.
Blacks are angels. Especially 'yutes' who are banging white hispanic democrat heads into the sidewalk. You know, sun people.

No other message allowed.

Simon said...

Hmm. That's somewhat disappointing to hear, on some level.

On the other hand, I hope that I present as a better person than I am.

Phil 314 said...

I'm sooo tired of speechifying; that's why I'd recommend our Governor, Jan Brewer.

She not afraid of saying nothing.


(And she has the looks too!)

Drago said...

Simon: "Hmm. That's somewhat disappointing to hear, on some level."

To be even more fair, that was some time back (though we were all adults) but Kai, like we all, has probably become seasoned and has a heckuva lot more life experience now.

That stuff changes people to some extent.

Drago said...

Phil, you're killing me.

J Lee said...

Paul is the front-runner in this situation for no other reason more than the fact he has no election battle to fight between now and 2016 (when he can either run for president or a second term as Senator from Kentucky).

Walker's presidential hopes until November have to be predicated with a caveat, not only that he win re-election, but that he do it with larger margins than both his 2010 and his victory in the recall vote. That's why Chris Christie was doing everything in his power to create a landslide in New Jersey this past November (and at the very least had aides punishing those seen as an impediment to that goal) and why George W. Bush became the frontrunner in 2000, after he took an eight-point win over Ann Richards in 1994 and turned it into a 49-point win over Garry Mauro in 1998.

Walker doesn't need to win by 49 points, but he does need to show his policies in Wisconsin have increased, not decreased, his voter support, which in turn would show the ability to win over swing voters as a 2016 candidate. If he can get a win near or in double-digits, that will be a huge boost in his 2016 hopes.

Kirk Parker said...

Michael K.,

"I didn't think Gore was that bad but he seemed to go crazy after 2000."

I thought the same, until someone reminded me that Earth in the Balance dated from before 2000.

The Crack Emcee said...

Michael K,

"Crack, you are a clown. I stopped reading your links."

Like I care what a racist does.

"Too bad but you are off the deep end."

Too bad you'll never win another election.

"Why not worry about the education of black children and stop tilting at slavery windmills ?"

Why not worry about winning elections and not being an asshole?

The Crack Emcee said...

"Why not worry about the education of black children and stop tilting at slavery windmills ?"

Because you're the only idiot who doesn't think they're related:

"12 Years A Slave" To Be Taught In American Schools

chickelit said...

"12 Years A Slave" To Be Taught In American Schools

Yeah, yeah -- Spielberg push his puff piece "Lincoln" onto public schools and guess what? Kids ended up hating it.

Fen said...

What "perception of weakness" are you talking about?

As covered upthread, its basic poker strategy - when the Russians, Chineese, Iranians etc see we are short-stacked, they bet more aggresively.

And we get consequences like World War II and the Cold War.

Douglas B. Levene said...

FWIW, I'm leaning towards Walker, if only because he best exemplifies the executive spirit that we need in a GOP candidate, a candidate whose survival in the face of his enemies is inspiring: "To crush your enemies -- See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!" That's what I'm looking for.

But Sen. Paul is interesting and I have not ruled him out.

Revenant said...

As covered upthread, its basic poker strategy - when the Russians, Chineese, Iranians etc see we are short-stacked, they bet more aggresively.

Iran? Bitch, please. Iran couldn't even beat Iraq, and we curb-stomped Iraq in two weeks. You could slash the military by 95% and we'd still be able to easily kick the shit out of Iran if we had to -- which we won't.

As for Russia and China, you might notice that over the last 80 years we've done approximately fuck-all to prevent them from waging war against smaller countries. Are they going to wage war on us if our military was a lot smaller than it is now? Nope!

And we get consequences like World War II and the Cold War.

And when you maintain a massive army you can't afford out of a paranoid fear that someone, somewhere might hurt you if you don't, you get consequences like the collapse of the USSR. :)

You hawks are a bigger threat to American survival than every remaining commie and Islamofascist on the planet put together.

Revenant said...

"12 Years A Slave" To Be Taught In American Schools

I've always thought it important that students study ancient history.

Lyle said...

Why does he have to convince us that his mind isn't weird? Is that something Obama had to do to?

Rusty said...

Revenant said...@12:22
Defense is one of the few things our government is constitutionally obligated to do. It would be illegal for them to not do it. Healthcare? Not so much.
From a strategic point of view you want a military larger than the largest military that will be arrayed against you. Right now that's China. China is actively building a military as if it will be going to war against the United States.
From a political point of view you have treaty obligations That must be met.
You want the most modern up to date weapons systems available. You want your potential adversaries playing catch up to your technology. Force him to spend his treasure. Like Reagan did to the former Soviet Union.
You may disagree as to the degree of defense, but whether we should.
Weakness invites conflict.

Rusty said...

Blogger The Crack Emcee said...
"Why not worry about the education of black children and stop tilting at slavery windmills ?"

Because you're the only idiot who doesn't think they're related:

And this?
This is on you.


“In Mississippi, 72% of the Babies Aborted Are Black” - See more at: http://proteinwisdom.com/#sthash.h69I8r9F.dpuf

Big Mike said...

@Revenant, the risk of a small conventional force is that we may find ourselves obligated to rely more strongly on our nuclear forces. That concerns me.

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