November 1, 2019

"Good. Beto O'Rourke was abysmal in the debates. It seemed like he wasn't thinking through what he was saying about issues like gun bans and tax exemptions for churches."

"Once the consequences of his statements were pointed out to him, he seemed weak and confused. Beto will join Scott Walker, the Republican former governor of Wisconsin, in showing that a politician who makes a big splash in their own state can't necessarily transplant their local star power onto the national stage."

My son John reacts to Beto O'Rourke's dropping out of the presidential race.

Did Beto make a big splash in his home state? He never held statewide office. The most you can say is he lost a Senate race by a narrower margin than in other recent Texas Senate races. Scott Walker was a 2-term governor who made huge changes and set off an immense protest (and a recall election). And Scott Walker dropped out of the presidential race — I think! — because Jeb Bush dominated the fundraising. Walker started out making a big impression, and if he'd had access to money, he might have had a chance. Also, Walker had to outshine Trump to look like a star on that stage. Who did Beto have to outshine? The Democratic candidates are all pretty dull compared to Trump.

84 comments:

Bay Area Guy said...

The analogy of Beto to Walker is poor and superficial. Walker was hugely important in Wisconsin, signed many laws and really helped turned the state Red (at least for 1 critical election).

Beto was a media creation, a poseur who accomplished nothing in Congress or in Texas, but made a few ditzy 45-year old Democrat women swoon.

Beasts of England said...

Which Democrat gets his furry followers - that’s the important question.

tim in vermont said...

Just a gigolo,
Everywhere I go,
People know the part, I'm playing
Paid for every dance,
Selling each romance,
Ooh what they saying
There will come a day
When youth will pass away,
Then what will they say about me
When the end comes I know,
They'll say just a gigolo,
As life goes on without me

Yancey Ward said...

The other candidates need Beto to stay in the race- he helps make them all look like rocket scientists by comparison.

mockturtle said...

Full Moon cites a CNN poll showed that Beto actually beat Cruz among 'native Texans'. The poll criteria are a little vague...;-D

Drago said...

AA: "Walker started out making a big impression, and if he'd had access to money, he might have had a chance."

Walker started out making a big impression by what he did in Wisconsin and there were hopes on the part of many that he would carry that philosophy onto the national stage. Had he done that he would have been a significant challenger to Trump.

Instead, Walker hired the DC/Inside the Beltway insiders and Walker immediately began trimming his sails and backing away from his own message and becoming precisely the weak kneed dishwater-tasting generic republican that the GOPe class loves loves loves......up until that candidate craters and loses.

Think about John McCain, hater of the first order of all republican voters, and who he had leading his effort: Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace.......

.....and that's all you'll ever need to understand about John McCain.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Part of the reason it was so close was that Ted Cruz made a promise to a whole lot of Texans, including directly to my face, that he would not run for President.

Was he lying, or speaking what he believed at the time he was running for the Senate? When it came time to vote for him again, too many Texans thought he had lied. Simple as that.

From what I can tell down here, he has since redeemed himself.

Drago said...

Gee, it seems like only yesterday that I*** and ARM and the rest of the lefty/LLR-lefty braintrust were telling us how afraid we should be of fake hispanic Robert Francis O-Rourke.

It seems like only yesterday....

Yancey Ward said...

Honestly, I think Beto probably spent most of the last 20-25 years smoking pot every day. He reminds me of a good friend of mine who has basically wasted his life doing exactly that.

gilbar said...

Our Beloved Professor Althouse said...
because Jeb Bush dominated the fundraising.


Yes; Jeb Bush sucked the life out of the Republican Party.
If you are a Never Trumper; your TRUE HATED should be reserved for Jeb Bush
Jeb is the one responsible; Jeb is the one that destroyed the Party
Jeb is the one that gave us President Donald Trump

Thanx Jeb! we owe you one! You miserable excuse for a human douchebag

The Bergall said...

Pity the fools who contributed....................may as well burn your dollars.

Michael K said...

Walker was a serious candidate and my first favorite. I suspect he quit when the Koch brothers would not support him if he adopted Trump's border policies, which were the voters #1 or #2 issues.

rcocean said...

Robert Francis O'Rourke. Or should i say Robert "Fucking" Francis O'Rourke. Or should I say Me llamo Beto O'Rourke. Anyway, adios you fake anti-American millionaire mick. Suggest you move to Massachusetts, you'll be a Senator for life there, assuming you can leave a girl to die and gain 50 lbs.

Hasta la vista, motherfucker.

narciso said...

well if you go further back, john avlon and rick Wilson was running guiliani's campaign, yes that was a rolling dumpster fire,

tim in vermont said...

I ain't got nobody
Nobody loves me
Nobody

wildswan said...

Scott Walker had policies that brought a balanced budget and prosperity to Wisconsin. For that Madison hated him. Beto had the opposite policies and would have impoverished us all. For that Madison loved him.

But now he can join Greta Thunberg as she roams about trying to find a way to cross the Atlantic without a plane. She's sort of like the Pilgrims. The last days of the Pilgrims on the sailing ship Mayflower were November 1-11, 1620 and they were stormy. After the Pilgrims landed they had to build wood shelters in November / December and wait till the next May to plant and the next August to harvest. As a man, Beto could help with the work. Or maybe not. Or she could get on Skype. They both could.

robother said...

Jeez, Mom. Cruel neutrality needn't apply to your kids! (But you're right about Beto's piddling Texas "splash" vs. Walker's wave in WI.)

Drago said...

It is unsurprising that Fake Hispanic finds himself on the outs with the other candidates like Fake Indian Li'l Tomahawk Warren after some of the "cats" Robert Francis O-Rourke let out of the democratics bag.

In fact, it is my understanding that the dem Powers That Be told Robert Francis that the only way he was going to get into the next debate would be by shooting his way in!

Not to worry dems. Many of Robert Francis O'Rourkes "Greatest Debate Moments of Democrat Honesty" will be finding their way into many many many campaign commercials in the coming year.

In that sense, it will seem as if Robert Francis never left the campaign at all!!

rcocean said...

walker dropped out because Yeb! had the boring moderate Republican lane sown up.

Drago said...

wildswan: "She's sort of like the Pilgrims. The last days of the Pilgrims on the sailing ship Mayflower were November 1-11, 1620 and they were stormy. After the Pilgrims landed they had to build wood shelters in November / December and wait till the next May to plant and the next August to harvest. As a man, Beto could help with the work."

Perhaps Li'l Tomahawk Warren could meet the boats carrying Little Greta Stalin and Robert Francis and teach them how to plant corn!

narciso said...

it's much like the tories that offered up hague, Duncan smith, they won slightly with Cameron, who was basically romney, mckinsey, instead of bain, may was cut from the same cloth, boris is the only one that really even has a personality,

Bay Area Guy said...

So Beto has now lost a high profile Senate race and lost a Presidential primary race.

Maybe he should go back to skateboarding.

narciso said...

oh he also had George will's wife as part of the staff, if he had stuck with his original team, he might have fared better, but he was wounded by Chisholm's lawfare,

hawkeyedjb said...

By-ku:

Beto thought he had
Your AR15 in hand
Then it slipped away

gadfly said...

Among the synonyms for "dull" is stupid and there is not no candidate in this presidential election or among 2016 candidates as stupid as Donald J. Trump.

Lets get that Colorado border wall built, Mr. President!

William said...

If all you had to go on were looks and a few sound bites, he would look like an attractive candidate. He shouldn't have made so many appearances, especially during the debates. He should have stayed home and just issued a few tweets and photos. Those campaign appearances subverted his whole campaign.....If you're truly vapid, the good looks enhance rather than diminish your vapidity.

Dave Begley said...

I saw Beto in Carroll, Iowa.

I was mean to him and asked him a tough question about drunk driving illegal aliens killing Iowa young people in car accidents. He handled it okay, but he is really ridiculous. His shirt was nearly soaked through after the event. I'd like to see him argue a death penalty case or try a jury trial for big bucks. Loser.

tim in vermont said...

PBS says that nobody is showing up to the Trump rally. Twitter video from people who are there say there are thousands outside.

What to believe????

Friendo said...

Beto, a fake name

Come and take it, sissy boy

Such a total tool

Michael K said...

PBS says nobody but it looks like a lot to me.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Adios, amoeba!

Bay Area Guy said...

@Hawkeyedjb,

By-ku:

Beto thought he had
Your AR15 in hand
Then it slipped away


I like this! Well done!

May I give it try for the next flame out?

Kammy met a Mayor
A bit aged he was no doubt
Alone, she was small

traditionalguy said...

Beto the Irish-Mexican was the least authentic politician ever seen. His positions changed as fast as the weather in Montana. If you did not like them, wait for an hour or two and they would change. All packaged in a young and sincere smiling boy act.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

I did not know Scott Walker personally, although I watched and admired him, and was disappointed he did not find traction in 2016.

But I can say this: BETO, YOU ARE NO SCOTT WALKER!

Earnest Prole said...

I believe Beto is Texas German-Mexican slang for the German word Backpfeifengesicht: “face desperately in need of a fist.”

Seeing Red said...

He thought thru what he was saying, He knew. He just didn’t expect pushback.

How do I know this? All one has to do is listen. He’s not the first. The DemocRATS grabbed guns after The Civil War. They haven’t changed.

Ken B said...

Skylark finds the perfect epitaph.

BAG is right. Walker was a real force in Wisconsin, Beto was a sink for out of state donations.

Dan in Philly said...

Your last line makes me certain Trump will win the next election. It would be so boring if he weren't president.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

He was a media(D) creation.

traditionalguy said...

Actually it was the GOP guys who grabbed our guns under military occupation after the War of the Southern Rebellion. Those were the same Guys who impeached President Johnson.Good old Thaddeus Stevens.

Bobb said...

Big splash 1: Wendy Davis

But splash 2: Beto O'Rourke

To be a Democrat big splash in Texas you just need to run and lose against someone the left hates and a hook the media (and millions of out-of-state dollars) can build on.

Ken B said...

Traditional guy
You spelt “Southern aggression” wrong.

Nichevo said...

From what I can tell down here, he has since redeemed himself.

11/1/19, 5:46 PM

Annie, I'm happy that you're happy, but from outside Texas, Cruz appears to have become the Invisible Man.

FullMoon said...

mockturtle said...

Full Moon cites a CNN poll showed that Beto actually beat Cruz among 'native Texans'. The poll criteria are a little vague...;-D

11/1/19, 5:45 PM


https://www.fox4news.com/news/exit-poll-more-native-texans-voted-for-beto-orourke-than-ted-cruz

mockturtle said...

Exit polls showed Hillary won the Presidency, too, right?

Chris Lopes said...

@Full Moon

The criteria is still vague. The point is that more registered (in Texas) voters voted for Cruz than the Celtic Ken doll. You can spin it any way you like, but it still adds up to Cruz as a US Senator and Beto as unemployed.

Paul said...

Ops there goes another rubber tree plant!

tough nuts Beto!

Unknown said...

Demoncrats lie about the end goal and settle for incrementalism.

They did not want Obamacare, they wanted Socialized Medicine.

They don't want a fairer society, they want Power from identity groups.

They really want to ban guns.

Beto was the Punk Rock Dem - he tossed the incrementalism to give the base what they wanted.

Quaestor said...

...he seemed weak and confused.

Seemed?

Unknown said...

I lived in Houston, and visited during Senate election.

Houston was full of Beto whattaburger signs.

The TX cities are full of liberals.

It was the small towns, Waco and down, which saved TX from idiot Beto

After his Pres run, I don't see now he can win statewide office there.

FullMoon said...

It is your young people turning red states blue, not us newcomer Californicators :


"With its economic troubles, California has been losing people in droves. The plurality of those migrants have moved to Texas, as many as 70,000 in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012. Given this influx of new residents, we are fortunate to have at times asked our respondents whether they have moved to Texas from California, and though the actual number of these people is but a small subsample of our surveys, we have enough respondents to make two broad conclusions. First, these newcomers, on average, tend to be conservative. Pooling data from the May 2012 and February 2013 UT/Tribune surveys, we found that 57 percent of these California transplants consider themselves to be conservative, while only 27 percent consider themselves to be liberal (a fair guess as to the margin of error is somewhere around +/- 7 percentage points). Second, these new Texans aren’t rushing to find homes in the state’s urban centers: 55 percent are heading to the suburbs, the rest evenly dividing themselves between rural and urban locations.

https://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/11/polling-center-californias-conservative-migration/

Quaestor said...

gadfly writes: Among the synonyms for "dull" is stupid and there is not no candidate in this presidential election or among 2016 candidates as stupid as Donald J. Trump.

When projecting a jejune insult at someone it's tactically uncool to exhibit one's own stupidity in the very same sentence.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

All the genius TrueConservatives made sure Jeb! sucked all the money away from every other candidate and helped deliver Trump. Big brain GOP elites, so impressive.

Lazarus said...

The way the poll is reported it sounds like Texas old-timers favored O'Rourke, but my guess is that Beto did better with the young, who were more likely to be born in Texas than their parents, and this tipped the native Texan vote to him.

In any case, the story that it's newcomers who make red states blue is exaggerated. People "fleeing" California or Illinois or Massachusetts know what they're fleeing and many don't want to import it to their new homes.

That's not a hard and fast rule. I'd bet that inmigration had a lot to do with turning Vermont, California and Virginia blue, and with North Carolina tending that way, too. But the effect of newcomers can be exaggerated. Internal dynamics can have an effect as well. Yesterday's well-off Republicans had a way of giving birth to progressives and Democrats.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

The Babylon Bee had a great one : Beto Drops Out Of Race To Spend More Time Taking Guns From His Family

Lazarus said...

Beto made more of splash in fundraising circles in New York and California than he did in Texas politics.

But for a moment - before anybody else got in the race - he was the Golden Boy, the lost Kennedy that Democrats had been seeking for decades. Once people got to know him it was "Beto, We Know Ye All too Well" and they dropped him.

The Walker thing reminds me of those governors you hear about and think may be impressive - Daniels, Pawlenty - but then they go nowhere, even though on paper they looked better than the other candidates. Even Tim Kaine must have looked impressive to Hillary Clinton at one point. Walker would have to have been more consequential than Kaine, but it's not always the candidate with the most achievements or ideas who wins.


Bay Area Guy said...

Harris-Lewinsky 2020!

'Cuz there's nowhere to go, if there's no one to blow.

Sebastian said...

"It seemed like he wasn't thinking through what he was saying about issues like gun bans and tax exemptions for churches."

But he was expressing what progs really want. They are just trying to get to the point where "thinking it through" will be irrelevant and they can just impose their will. Not with Beto, maybe with Lizzie.

Zach said...

A nominee for this cycle's "I'd like to try this campaign over again, please" candidate.

I think the timing killed him. He came around when Democrats were desperate for a win. Then he lost, and immediately jumped into a bigger campaign where they're even more desperate for a win. He should have taken some more time off and let people miss him a little. Was he worried that Cory Booker was going to sew up the nomination if he waited six months to launch his campaign?

Then he compounded the problem by running in the very crowded "far left true believer" lane when he had previously sold himself as more of a centrist. Wouldn't a younger, handsomer Joe Biden be a strong candidate right now? Why didn't anybody try for that?

Art said...

Had Walker not hired the expensive and big spending idiot consultants and instead bought a nice motor home and lived in it in Iowa with weekend trips to New Hampshire he would be President of the US today.

As a man without his own fortune once he was on the hook for over $1MM in campaign debt he knew he had to pull the plug.

Greg the class traitor said...

Walker's problem was tthat the money people demanded he be pro-cheap labor for them (i.e. pro immigration, esp illegal immigrants), but that position is crap, and Walker knew it

So he tried to split the difference.

And ended up being to "pro-borders" for the funders, and too "pro-open borders" for the base

It broke my heart, becuse he and Perry were teh only two candidates I really liked. After that, I was "Cruz, or the Party can f off"

Curious George said...

"Drago said...
Gee, it seems like only yesterday that I*** and ARM and the rest of the lefty/LLR-lefty braintrust were telling us how afraid we should be of fake hispanic Robert Francis O-Rourke."

Don't forget to add Althouse to that list: "Beto O'Rourke is in the game, and you are a fool if you underestimate what he is doing with this ad. Right now is the time to take him seriously. I can see the impulse in the comments section is to deny the seriousness of the power of this message. You are losing right now."

Tina Trent said...

What makes these people run?

Why, Pataki?

The debates are that famous Stevie Smith poem:

I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning

tim in vermont said...

"Annie, I'm happy that you're happy, but from outside Texas, Cruz appears to have become the Invisible Man.”

I don’t think that’s true. I really disliked Cruz during the primaries, but now he seems like the only credible heir to Trump.

stevew said...

"https://www.fox4news.com/news/exit-poll-more-native-texans-voted-for-beto-orourke-than-ted-cruz"

And, yet, he lost. Rather like the way Hillary got more votes nationally but lost to Trump in 2016.

Someone might mention to them the rules of the game they've decided to play.

Swede said...

I guess it's back to being plain old Bobby again.

iowan2 said...

Beto's problem is evident. Not much different than a lot of politicians. They try to become what the voters want. Respond to internal polling. They have no core values. They don't believe in anything. Except getting elected.

Free speech. The concept is mind numbingly simple. "congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech" That's it, 10 words. So the question you have to answer, is that your core value?

Beto, got crossed up pandering, and couldn't anticipate counter arguments. Arguments that just happened to be based on the constitution, that anticipated an overreaching controlling centralized govt, intent on suppressing its citizens. Arguments trying to buck constitutional concepts are hard to sustain...without exposing your own idiocy

stevew said...

Point of information: Tom Steyer is running ads regularly here in northeastern MA. I'm not sure if his target audience is MA voters or NH voters, would have to see if these ads are running elsewhere. I find him and his pitch to be on the crazy side.

gilbar said...

stevew said...
Point of information: Tom Steyer is running ads regularly here in northeastern MA

They run, EVERY commercial break here in iowa. They're Really Quite entertaining

Tom says
A) TRUMP IS EVIL!
B) so, we HAVE TO Impeach Trump!
C) so, you should vote for ME! Tom Steyer, for President! because we need to impeach Trump!

His logic is unassailable ('cause you can't attack something that don't exist)

Temujin said...

The only think Beto has in common with Scott Walker is that both are white men. The comparisons end there. Walker accomplished so much, and changed the face of Wisconsin- and national politics. He was lost on national fundraising and that's where he fell off. I don't know that he had that thing you typically need to win nationally, but he definitely could have had the Midwest.

Beto- a kid in a man's body. And a naive kid at that. That the entire Dem national money apparatus got behind him for Senate, and almost pulled it off is scary. Can you imagine Senator Beto for the rest of your lives? Holy shit.

I was in Las Vegas this past week. I saw Tom Steyer ads on TV there. That is one crazy MF. He's scary creepy. Maybe they were Halloween ads.

iowan2 said...

Tom Steyer is running ads regularly here in northeastern MA.

Steyer has been running ads in Iowa, for years. Before Mueller was installed. He is so annoying. My wife would not cross the street to get a $1 million check from him. His delusion, is evidence of his living in his own echo chamber. He has no concept of real people. President Trump knows real people.

tim in vermont said...

I recently drove about 1800 miles, north to south, and the only ads I saw were for Tulsi. Though, when stopped at a light, I did see across the street through a window, it was a T intersection, a life size cutout of Biden in New Hampshire.

When I made a similar drive in 2016, the signs were all Trump, especially in PA. Still Trump signs in PA. The only Hillary bumper sticker was on the DC beltway.

Michael K said...

I find him and his pitch to be on the crazy side.<

Fine tuned for Mass voters and Iowa Democrats who tend to be far left.

tim in vermont said...

The ads are aimed at NH. The primary even affects Vermont TV. And in that case you are talking about a tiny number of Northern NH voters, maybe a low single digits percentage of the audience. Northern Mass TV goes into a far more heavily populated area of the state.

Leland said...

No, Beto never made a splash in Texas. Between the devout Trumpist, who wouldn't forgive Cruz's convention speech, and the Hollywood libs pumping money into the state; Beto was able to narrow the gulf between him and Cruz. But Beto never had a base of followers, which was apparent when he tried to parlay his statewide loss into a Presidential campaign. If he could retain the 4 million votes; he'd been at least 5% in the Democrat contest. Again, that wasn't his base.

walter said...

Dude gotta go.

Tom said...

Beto couldn’t take a senate seat from Ted Cruz. What made him expect he could take our guns?!

mockturtle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
FullMoon said...

Chris Lopes said...

@Full Moon

The criteria is still vague. The point is that more registered (in Texas) voters voted for Cruz than the Celtic Ken doll. You can spin it any way you like, but it still adds up to Cruz as a US Senator and Beto as unemployed.



The original argument is Californicators are turning red states blue.

My counter argument is simply that young native born voters are more responsible for the change.

You can believe that people fleeing California are trying to turn red states blue. I will stick with common sense. Beto and Cruz is an anecdotal example, as is the statistical example in my 9:54 p.m. comment. As someone else mentioned, young voters have little real life experience, which leads them to be influenced by imaginary free stuff for everybody and other utopian promises.

Any legitimate example of young voters leaning conservative will be appreciated.

mockturtle said...

I infer that FM is a Californian.

Jim at said...

Gee. And I was soooo looking forward to him confiscating my guns.

FullMoon said...

I infer that FM is a Californian.

Trump voter,, blue collar, poorly educated, San Francisco born, Californicator, and proud of it.

Looking forward to retiring to red state and turning it blue as required by oft repeated stereotype.

FullMoon said...

Poorly expressed:
"Any legitimate example of young voters leaning conservative will be appreciated."

Any legitimate example of majority of young voters leaning conservative will be appreciated.

Nichevo said...

Skylark said...
"Annie, I'm happy that you're happy, but from outside Texas, Cruz appears to have become the Invisible Man.”

I don’t think that’s true. I really disliked Cruz during the primaries, but now he seems like the only credible heir to Trump.

11/2/19, 5:37 AM


Without getting into Ted Cruz's deficiencies, which may or may not be remedied with time and effort, when I say Invisible Man, I mean that I don't see or hear him or about him. What is he doing? I have no idea. Is his name on any legislation? Has he made any motions? Has he promoted any good or stopped any evil?