Skip to main content
My Thoughts on the 2012 GOP Presidential Field
First, the list: Palin, Jindal, Pawlenty, Barbour, Huckabee. I think only Huckabee has no shot, sorry to say. He's hated by vast portions of the electorate, and even the GOP primary electorate. No way he gets the fiscal wing or the "South Park Republicans." Bobby Jindal: Has a great shot, because he's positioned himself well against both the Democrats and the Bush Republicans. Weaknesses: He's Southern. The danger that we will become, or are a regional party is a real one. Obama will play on this for all it's worth. Ethnic bonus: Take the 'racist' card from Obama and the Dems. 'Historic' bonus as well. Palin: Beloved by the base, able to get moderate women/Clintonites, credible independent stance. It's hard for me to say a bad word about her. The legacy media's ability to slime her will further diminish, and the fact that they will try will only help her. Weaknesses: She needs to downplay the anti-intellectual air about her, and be far more prepared for the big stage. Pawlenty: Almost unknown to the general public, Pawlenty is a likable, able speaker who held his own against the Democrats in the People's Republic of Minnesota as governor. Strategically, he makes the most sense to A) avoid the Southernist charge and B) put the upper midwest back in play. His only weakness, his anonymity, is also a strength. Pawlenty-Jindal or Jindal-Pawlenty (or any Palin combination) just makes a frightening amount of sense. Barbour: Respected governor with executive and fundraising experience. Weakness: Southern and unknown to the wider public.One other comment: Jindal and Palin would be a superstar ticket, but the celebrity factor would be a minus here: no one here to be the understated one when one gets annoying/overexposed.Palin-Jindal Pawlenty, with maybe someone random like Frist or Romney thrown in. (I'll do the Dems later.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Thoughts On The Harrison Butker Commencement Speech

Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dear Alyse

 Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

 I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...
Post a Comment
Read more