Tuesday, July 5, 2016

The Short List

So, TCKTers, who do you favor for the VP slot? Assuming, of course, that Trump is not waylaid by bandits at the convention, or worse.


Even though he's a party insider, I'm thinking that Newt would be a stellar VP. He has tons of experience to bring to the table, and he's a skilled negotiator. I also think he would bring in lots of folks who aren't too sure about Trump's abilities to lead, but who trust Newt.

Christie would make a good Attorney General, but honestly I'd rather see Ted Cruz in that spot. He's a bulldog. I'm sure Trump will find a good fit for Christie; he seems to rely on him for advice, and will probably want him on his cabinet.

10 comments:

  1. Jazz Shaw disagrees with me about Newt, and has some good points.

    However, I want to WIN. I don't think we can do that with Ernst. What do you all think?

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  2. I'm thinking Newt, but I haven't thought about it too much.

    When Newt was Speaker he lead the Contract for America. While they did not pass everything on the list, they did bring it up for discussion. That is more than can be said about most other RINO's.

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  3. I don't think Cruz would accept the VP slot, and even so, was still born in Canada with truly iffy citizenship, here.
    I like him for the Supreme Court but he already nixed that.

    There is a wealth of talent for AG. Christie, Guilianni(sp?) etc.

    Don't know enough about Ernst to see her as any more than a PC choice to lower the "War on Women" claims that will continue to be made.

    I do like Newt, but he has a lot of baggage from his time as Speaker, that the DemMedia would delight in re-visiting.

    Once upon a time, Scott Walker would have sounded good to me, but now..?

    All I pray is that whoever he chooses, they are ready to come out of the gate at a gallop, because it looks to me like Donald is in a rut, and NEEDS something to start happening.

    Maybe a good VP candidate will also be able to get it through to him that It Is TIME To Start a REAL campaign.

    He needs TV ads, there are dozens of well-done pro-Trump and/or anti-Hillary videos on Twitter, that I am sure the makers would be thrilled for him to use.

    He also needs a super-PAC to run the sharper, meaner ads with plausible deniability for his campaign.

    Even with Manafort in place, it seems as though nothing is going on except Trumps rallies. He does great at those, but he can't carry it all on his shoulders any more. The General Election is the big leagues, and it takes more than an Ace pitcher to make a winning team.

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    1. I was at a party in the mid 90's. I heard someone say "The media is really going after Gingrich, as well they should."

      So the reason this person thought the media should go after Gingrich is because of all the bad things this person heard about Gingrich as reported by the media who was really going after Gingrich.

      Frankly, at this point I think all the "baggage" of Gingrich should be seen as a badge of honor. When the Democratic Presidential candidate (who managed to get more delegates in races where she came in second than did the person who came in first) is deemed to be qualified to be President because she committed acts of gross negligence rather than felonies, then Houston, we not only have a problem -- we are downright fucked.

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    2. And yes, most of his baggage was media-created, but the same media that created it will drag it all back out, joyfully

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    3. Yes they can drag it all out again. The point is, fewer and fewer people really give a flying rip about what the media says anymore.

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  4. Ernst and Corker withdrew themselves from consideration. Pretty much nobody wants to be associated with Trump. So far, the confirmed speakers at the convention are all his family members. Mike Ditka, Tom Brady and Mike Tyson (yes, Mike Tyson) turned down speaking invitations. The donors are not contributing to Trump, they are putting their money on the down ballot.

    So far, Gingrich and Christie - who have long been called GOPe, RINOs and far worse by many - are the only two who may still be in the running. How ironic. Trump is toxic but now, barring a convention revolt (and some delegates are suing, others are being threatened by their state party people to sign a pledge to support Trump or lose their delegate status), we're all stuck with him.

    What does Trump do about yesterday's FBI announcement? I think this comment is spot on:

    Comey did expose Clinton as an incompetent unfit for office. He threw Trump a low hanging curve ball that a third grader could it out of the park. Trump swung and missed. He was too busy talking about himself, how the system is rigged, how unfair it all is, meandering back and forth between juvenile comments of no consequence.

    He tweets inanities and talks about himself, praises Saddam Hussein as a "good" dictator. This would all be funny if it wasn't so dire.

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  5. Trump is speaking now and here is what he just said while on a rant about CNN "treating him unfairly" and I quote:

    "If people treat you unfairly, just turn your back...or knock them on their ass."

    5 minutes later and he's still rambling on about CNN and how unfair they are. This is the guy who is going to solve all our problems?

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    1. Trump is not the "perfect" candidate. He doesn't speak in measured tones like Romney (who lost), and he doesn't have the military experience, political experience, and savvy of McCain (who lost).

      At this point many people don't care that he's babbling. We just want a win, and we want to send the GOP another message (I guess they didn't get the hint with Cantor) that we're sick of their proggy candidates and their lukewarm campaigns.

      I know that the GOPe will do everything in their power, hook or crook, to tar and feather Trump at the convention and run him out on a rail.

      They can do that. They can insert their *own* hand-picked candidate, basically telling the voters to eff off.

      They will lose another election, and be faced with the probability of a mass defection and the formation of 3rd party.

      That's how I see it. We disagree on this, but I hear your concerns, and I know that they're legitimate. You're a great analyst, and I hope you'll keep sharing your insights with us. *smooch*

      And I freely admit that you could very well be right about this, and I could be wrong.

      I think we'll all be on the edge of our seats for the convention.

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    2. I understand your concerns too, lady red, and am also frustrated with the state of US politics. I don't believe Donald Trump is the answer to those problems.

      The "GOPe" won't decide who is the nominee, the delegates will. I am willing to gamble that the almost 3,000 delegates aren't all "GOPe". Many people do care that Trump is a babbling, thin-skinned, inexperienced (sound familiar?) reality-show host. Many people who don't like Trump want to see a Republican win as well. Nate Silver over at 538 sets the odds of a Trump victory at 22.4%. HRC's negatives are only beaten by Trump's and he's lagging (sometimes very badly) in nearly every demographic. That doesn't sound to me like a pathway to victory.

      The "message" sent to the GOP is another lost election. We had 16 far better candidates but a plurality of republicans, democrats and independents chose Trump. Now - barring a miracle - we're stuck with him.

      I hope you'll keep sharing your insight too, lady red. I'm not going to pretend I feel another way, I have looked forward to this election since 2012 and - along with millions of other people - are terribly disappointed that this guy is the best we could come up with. More than disappointed.

      By the way, did anyone else listen to Trump's "speech" yesterday? I rest my case.

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