« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

The Watercooler ~ RedState’s Daily Open Thread

By: westcoastpatriette (Diary)  |  February 4th, 2013 at 07:49 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Got my dander up this morning as I read Erick’s diary about Karl Rove setting his sights on stopping the Tea Party and conservatives in the next election. The audacity. I had hoped Rove was sufficiently humiliated enough to drop out of sight for good after his attempts to snuff us out in 2012 blew up in his face. But no such luck. He is even more determined to crush us now. The war is on and we all have too much to lose to turn back now. But as Erick said, it is a blessing in disguise because whoever Rove decides to endorse will be the target for conservatives to defeat.

Sure hope we hear from Jim DeMint soon. I feel confident that he will help us with strategies to defeat Rove and the Bush-era establishment Republicans. How much you wanna bet their man for 2016 will be Jeb? Now is the time for conservatives to make major gains in 2014.

Scripture for today comes from Proverbs 14:34:

Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

That one needs little commentary. Contrary to what so many God-haters think, though, it explains America’s exceptional past. It is also key to why social conservatives believe the nation’s success hinges on moral righteousness.

The thread is open.

Tags: , , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • commonsenseobserver

    Will Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio really both run?

    • westcoastpatriette

      Depends on how ambitious Rubio is I suppose. A lot can happen between now and then.

      • commonsenseobserver

        The lot of them are all opportunists.

        It’d be interesting to see, though. The establishment would likely be split around three ways, Rubio, Bush, and Christie, maybe Ryan.

        • westcoastpatriette

          Things could really change by 2016. We have a lot of great Republican governors that I would much rather see in the running. Rubio and Ryan need more experience. Guess I’m partial to preferring those with experience governing a state.

          • commonsenseobserver

            Well, four years is hardly enough for them to gain enough experience, though it depends on what you mean, given that Ryan has spent more than a decade in the House, on key committees, and before that on Congressional staffs and in thinks tanks and all, and yet remains one of the more youthful ones. Meanwhile, of course, Marco Rubio spent time in Tallahassee as Speaker, and would have had a full term of experience as Senator with exposure to a wide range of issues.

            It’s next to impossible for either of them to ever get executive experience, at least by 2016.

            Of course, if Rep. R. wants to get some credibility in terms of real world experience, he could do a lot worse than leave the House in 2014 for an outside-the-Beltway holiday. Just meet ordinary people (especially in his neighboring state of Iowa, or near a certain former Republican presidential nominee’s holiday home), get involved in a small business, write op-eds, go on talk shows, advise Republicans at the federal and state level, come up with proposals and white papers with other wonks, and generally stay in the loop while shedding his image as a goofy insider.

            The thing is, there are few credible Governors running. I don’t know about Kasich or McDonnell, not sure about Walker (whether he will run, that is), but Scott, Haley, Corbett, Brewer, Pawlenty, Snyder, Christie etc. are toxic to one side or another. Sandoval is phony. I don’t think Martinez is inclined to run. Most of the red state Governors are either old, unelectable, or RINO-ish.

    • kipling

      Jeb Bush would be the second coming of Romney. Give me a red meat conservative governor not the junior brother of the person who brought us Karl Rove.

      • plumely

        Karl Rove needs to go into the corner with his Clauswitz and SunTzu’s The Art Of War and play Chess against himself… leave the rest of us alone.

        • kipling

          I will wage good money that he has never really read Clausewitz or Sun Tzu. And, if he did, he most likely took away the wrong lessons.

          • plumely

            Probably has the Cliff Notes versions of those two books…what he doesn’t understand about politics is that you don’t win by trying to win at all costs… giving up your core beliefs to pick off voters is recipe for failure and at the most a Pyrrhic Victory.

      • californiasquish

        If the idea is to win, we could do a lot worse than Jeb Bush.

        • commonsenseobserver

          Because Bushes are so popular.

          • californiasquish

            Look, I’m making no claims of personal endorsement. What I’m saying is four years out, he has a better shot than most. Conservatives like him, moderates like him, and he ran a state well. Those are three claims McCain and Romney can’t make. Haha.

            Also, fwiw, I never thought McCain or Romney were going to win. I personally thought Huntsman had a shot, but people never rallied behind him in the primary. I still gave Romney money and made phone calls, but anyone with their eyes open could see that Romney was a second string candidate.

          • commonsenseobserver

            Conservatives like him??!!!

            I like Mitt a lot, to be honest, and I really think he made a wise decision by picking Paul Ryan and not Jeb Bush or his little pal.

            Of course, the smear campaign is already on against all the different candidates, including Gov. Bush.

            Ryan: dork, heartless, insider, corrupt, extreme, hypocritical immature, not empathetic, dishonest (#LyinRyan)

            Rubio: stupid, corrupt, dishonest, extreme, callow

            Bush: Booosh!!!

            And then there are the rest.

        • kipling

          Where have I heard that before? …
          If the idea is to win, we could do a lot worse than McCain.
          If the idea is to win, we could do a lot worse than Romney.

  • gawken

    Does anyone know what type of financial disclosure forms American Crossroads is required to file? They’ve raised, and spent gazillions these last several election cycles (with almost nothing to show for it) but somebody, indeed lots of somebodies, are making big bucks. Who are they?

    Follow the money. I’d like to know “cui bono” here.

    • californiasquish

      Citizens United means they never have to disclose squat. That one cuts both ways across the aisle.

  • funwithknives

    If this feature is one of those improvements I have been hoping for , it is a welcome sight.
    If it has been around for a while , then I need some enhanced looking abilities, ’cause it does not look familiar.
    Similar to ‘wcp’, just where did Jim Demint get to?
    Hope springs eternal James, but show us a little sumthin’, willya?

    • westcoastpatriette

      Yes, fwk, click on (Diary) after my name under the title of this diary and you can see my trial open thread diary three days ago and how the name evolved. I got tired of waiting and hoping someone would give us back an open thread, so with the okay from Bill. S, I went ahead and started one.

    • kipling

      I think Demint is busy getting settled in at The Heritage Foundation and gearing things up there. Right now I believe he is touring around the country visiting with the grassroots. I expect we will here from him soon.

  • Wubbies

    I know that one person of interest I am watching is Bobby Jindal. I am not sure if he will run for President but he has started making stops in Iowa. Well, one stop that I know of already. I am genuinely hoping he runs.

    If Jeb Bush runs it will be just another John McCain/Mitt Romney candidate doomed to lose again.

    I know at Freedom Works there was a lot of drama right after the election that did not impress me. I wonder if they are even still viable as a Conservative PAC anymore. I haven’t heard anything since that whole mess, other that the one person who is very wealthy and is funding them and calling the shots and Matt Kibby using the organization to line his own pockets. So, now I wonder. What other big PAC’s for Conservatives is left?

    • lineholder

      Wubbies, I’m hoping for Jindal as well. He’s proven to be bolder than others in pursuing policy positions that favor Conservatism.

      • westcoastpatriette

        I like Jindal a lot. Walker as well — he’s done such a fabulous job dealing with the unions and simply would not cave to their pressure and demands. We need courageous leaders like both of them.

        • Joe Cor

          Something that bothers me about Walker: His policies were extremely unpopular at first because he neglected to explain them. And he never took the unions to task for their thuggery. He actually credited everyone for their civility. Now he didn’t back down, and things ended happily because his reforms started to be seen as successful before the recall vote, but that type of non-communication is all-too Republican. Is there evidence that he really has learned his lesson about communicating? Good policies, even a firm backbone, need a strong message to back them up. And the left needs to be exposed, not coddled.

          • westcoastpatriette

            I understand what you’re saying. That is my pet peeve about so many Republicans — poor communication skills. That must have been frustrating watching Walker communicate poorly. OTOH, maybe it was shrewd on his part to not attack the left for acting like such a**es and just let the drama play out while not budging on his position. With the left, we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t so I was just happy that Walker never wavered.

  • CJB68

    One of those things which always has me just a little worried is how the Establishment Republicans are so dead-set against us at the grassroots level. Having just come out of the defeat of 2012, I’m thinking that we need to engage, not retreat. Putting up the same bland candidate and not putting up a fight against the Media-Political Complex of the Left is going to guarantee a perpetual regime of the same mess that we’re pesently in.
    My father puts it this way: if your opponent calls you a “racist” or whatever is their word of the moment for conservatives, you answer with “You can call me whatever you want to, but”… and continue making the point you were getting at.
    The fact that the ERs are still in shell shock means that the work of replacing the leadership at the top is still not finished. We need a Reagan. While it’s not possible to resurrect Ronal Reagan, there has to be someone who can step above the mire to rally the troops and reach those whose minds are still open enough to cross the aisle, while there are still enough of them who feel proud enough to be Americans not to want to end up like the moochers and leeches who’ve glomped onto the Obama-Pelosi-Reid welfare wagon.