Clearly, the hottest Republican in the country today is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. After a well received speech to Congressman Steve King’s Freedom Summit, Walker has earned media attention and skyrocketed in the polls. Currently, he is in second place in New Hampshire and is leading in Iowa, while he is gaining ground on Florida Governor Jeb Bush nationally.
With the rise of Walker come the very predictable attacks from the liberal media. This week, the Washington Post decided to investigate Walker’s college years at Marquette University. The supposed scandal is that Walker did not graduate from college and left his senior year to take a job with the Red Cross. He eventually married and started winning elections and was not able to return to complete his courses and earn his degree. However, this is no scandal for it places Walker in line with the 69% of Americans who do not have a four year college degree. If elected, Walker would follow in the footsteps of Harry Truman, who also did not have a college degree, but was a successful President.
Clearly, it is much more important for a President to have Walker’s conservative values, strong work ethic, and common sense than advanced academic degrees. The nation has been suffering through six years of Barack Obama, who has an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and a law degree from Harvard University.
Obama is a well educated man, who has been a disaster as President. Unfortunately, Obama, has precious little private sector experience, but was a “community organizer” who was influenced by an array of radicals such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and communist Frank Marshall Davis. In contrast, the role model for the supposedly under-educated Scott Walker was Ronald Reagan, one of the most influential Presidents in our nation’s history.
It is no surprise why liberals view Scott Walker with extreme trepidation. He has succeeded in a Democratic state and won three statewide elections in the last few years. He defeated the unions, survived a recall election and espouses strong conservative views. If selected as the GOP nominee, Walker would have a real chance of expanding the Republican coalition and attracting blue collar voters. These are voters known as “Reagan Democrats” who do not identify with traditional establishment GOP nominees like Mitt Romney. These voters can connect with Scott Walker who was not born to wealth, but became successful through hard work, perseverance as well as an adherence to traditional conservative values.
Because of his potential appeal, Walker should expect continuing attacks from the liberals in the Democratic Party and the media who will disparage his educational background. For example, on MSNBC, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean claimed “the issue is how well educated is this guy? And, that’s a problem.” Of course, it is only a problem for liberals trying to sabotage Walker’s presidential campaign.
To show how biased the media is on the issue, just look at their complete disinterest in the academic career of Barack Obama. Americans have never been able to view Obama’s college transcripts, so who knows whether did well or not.
In fact, his college years are full of mystery. Did he apply as a foreign student? Was he admitted due to affirmative action? Did he actually attend class? His former classmate at Columbia University, Wayne Allyn Root, claims that he never met Obama, even though they both studied political science. He also notes that he knows of no one at Columbia who ever attended classes with Obama or saw him on campus.
Obama could be the true Manchurian candidate, but the liberal media does not have time to investigate for they are too busy hounding Scott Walker.
The sports media has been in a tizzy covering the scandal known as “deflate gate.” After it was discovered that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots in their playoff game against the Colts were deflated, the media speculation has been intense about whether the Patriots altered the footballs to gain an advantage. It is amazing that with our immense problems, the media is fixated on such a trivial issue. Instead, a related topic is more important, why do Republican Party leaders suffer from deflated balls, politically speaking? The GOP won a landslide mid-term election, but they have been acting ever since like they lost to the Democrats.
Right after the election, Republican leaders in Congress passed the 1774 page “cromnibus” bill which cost $1.1 trillion and funded the President’s executive amnesty for 5 million illegal aliens and the unpopular Obamacare legislation. This was in direct opposition to the wishes of voters who gave Republicans control of both houses of Congress. The anger was so intense that conservatives swamped congressional offices with demands that John Boehner be replaced as Speaker of the House. Again, due to a lack of courage, only 25 House Republicans voted against Boehner. It seems GOP congressmen do not have the appetite for real change either within their party or throughout the nation.
While the President has been aggressively building his liberal legacy and acting like he won the November election, the real winners have been acting like losers and capitulating to Obama.
After the Boehner revolt, the House finally passed a bill to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from funding executive amnesty, but the bill is now headed to the Senate where it faces an “uncertain” future. Senate leaders say they will “try” to pass the bill but no conservative should ever trust Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In the official response to the President’s State of the Union address, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) did not mention executive amnesty, even though the majority of Americans strongly disapprove.
Lack of Republican courage as was also evident in a border security bill that Republican House leaders were advocating. Fortunately, a revolt by conservatives postponed a vote on the inadequate measure. The initial bill did not contain enough border security measures to please the newly formed House Freedom Caucus, composed of nine courageous conservatives.
According to U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the bill is flawed for a variety of reasons including the fact that it “…it does not cut-off access to federal welfare; and it does not require completion of the border fence.” While congrats are due to the conservatives who killed the bill, the episode highlighted how GOP leadership is more comfortable tinkering with a problem than solving it. They want to pursue half measures instead of forceful action.
While Americans overwhelmingly support enhanced border security with more border patrol agents and additional fencing, GOP leaders lack the “cojones” to pass a tough bill. They are afraid of criticism from the media, Hispanic groups and Democratic colleagues. They are scared of being called racists, so, as a result, they are unwilling to pass meaningful legislation.
In the meantime, the 2016 presidential race is starting and conservative Republicans are desperately looking for a nominee who is courageous and will not be intimidated by the media or special interest groups. They want a nominee who is unafraid of criticism and a confident conservative who will move this country in the right direction. Such leaders are in short supply and they stand in stunning contrast to what has been displayed by the GOP’s dynamic duo of deflation: John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.
With 21 months until the 2016 presidential race, the GOP field of candidates is large and impressive. Approximately two dozen prominent Republicans have expressed an interest in running for President. Most of the candidates are strong conservatives with solid credentials. Unfortunately, the field also includes two well known moderates, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who both have the ability to raise large sums of money and become a major factor in the upcoming election.
The most serious establishment candidate is former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who is the odds on favorite to secure the presidential nomination. Bush is actually leading in the polls with the most name recognition. With a brother and father who served as President, Jeb Bush will be difficult to beat.
In recent weeks, he has been aggressively working to lock up big donors and key activists. His campaign organization has been growing so steadily that it forced former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to exit the race. In early January, Romney announced to a small gathering of donors that he was interested in running for President a third time. However, when he started trying to build a campaign network across the country, Romney realized that Jeb Bush has already signed up many of the top GOP contributors and consultants. Romney soon came to the realization that he could not raise enough money to seriously challenge Bush for the nomination. Thus, three weeks after floating a trial balloon expressing interest, Romney officially decided not to run for President.
Bush is a good man from a good family, but he is wrong on an array of issues such as taxes, immigration and common core. He made the ludicrous comment that Romney lost in 2012 because he ran too far to the right. The country does not want or need another person with the last name of Bush as President. Even Barbara Bush admitted as much in an interview last year. Unfortunately, too many big Bush donors do not realize this fact, showing how seriously out of touch they are with real Americans.
For those moderates who are not enamored with Bush, they have a viable alternative: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is currently in Europe trying to burnish his foreign policy credentials. Christie met with Romney last week, as the former Massachusetts Governor left the race. Christie is considered a moderate on social issues, such as gay marriage. He is soft on immigration and has supported the Dream Act. In addition, Christie is a strong supporter of strict gun laws, which may be popular in New Jersey, but is likely to be very unpopular in the South. Sadly, like Bush, Christie is just wrong on too many issues.
The moderate wing of the Republican Party, otherwise known as the establishment, has controlled the GOP nomination process since the Reagan years. This wing of the party is usually at odds with the more conservative or grassroots wing of the party, which is often associated with the Tea Party movement. Most moderates view the Tea Party activists with disdain and will work tirelessly to prevent a conservative from achieving the nomination in 2016.
The problem with this scenario is that the moderates are very successful at winning the Republican Party nomination, but horrible at winning the presidential election. As evidence, we can view the failed presidential campaigns of George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney. The last true conservative, who won the Republican nomination, Ronald Reagan, won a 49 state electoral landslide.
If the Republican Party wants to win the White House again, a conservative needs to be nominated for President. This should be a foregone conclusion, but it is a subject of much debate within the GOP. The establishment wing of the party believes that only candidates like Bush and Christie can reach the Independent voters who are in play for every presidential election. In contrast, only a conservative nominee can reach the blue collar Reagan Democrats who are not typically Republican voters and unite the various groups within the party such as libertarians and evangelicals. Only a conservative presidential nominee will be able to draw a sharp distinction with a liberal Democrat candidate, such as Hillary Clinton, on the critical fiscal, social and foreign policy issues that will be addressed in the campaign.
In 2016, it will take a strong conservative to win the White House for the GOP and defeat the Democrats. By the next election, our country will have suffered through eight years of a dangerously liberal President. It will be essential for a true conservative to become our next President and rebuild our economy and bolster our national security.
Conservatism works as a framework for both governing and winning elections. Hopefully, a majority of Republican Party voters will come to this realization in time to save their party and, more importantly, save their country.
After six difficult years under Barack Obama, the country is ready for a change in the White House. The President has delivered a continual dose of no compromise liberalism that has divided the races and polarized the political climate.
This has led the presidential campaign to start earlier than ever. Among Republicans there are at least a dozen serious hopefuls who may vie for the nomination. It is a perfect opportunity for the Republican Party to take back the White House and implement conservative policies that will undue the disastrous Obama agenda.
The first step, however, is to win the presidency in 2016 and that is no easy task. Despite his limited experience and very liberal philosophy, Barack Obama was elected President in 2008. He retained the office four years later even though his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, was incredibly unpopular.
One of the major reasons for his success was his unimpressive opposition. The Republican presidential nominees, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in 2008 and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in 2012, were uninspiring moderates who were unwilling to aggressively defend the party’s platform and attack the Democrats on the issues.
These defeats continued the losing streak for the moderate, establishment, wing of the Republican Party. History shows that the moderate GOP presidential nominees lose in the general election to the Democrats as it occurred in the presidential races of 1976, 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012.
With this horrific track record, it would seem that party honchos would be desperate to find a good conservative to win the presidential nomination in 2016. On the contrary, GOP party bosses are moving Heaven and earth to help the upcoming presidential candidacies of the three major moderate candidates: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Romney. This is an embarrassment of riches for party’s elites who usually have only one presidential candidate to support in a particular election year.
Last week, Bush indicated his interest in running by releasing thousands of emails, resigning from boards and launching an exploratory committee. This week, Mitt Romney tried to forestall a defection of major donors to Bush by telling donors he is running for the White House a third time. This will be Mitt 3.0, but, unfortunately, this candidate edition will be just as unimpressive as the two previous editions. Finally, Christie is back in New Jersey giving his “State of the State” speech after touring the country raising money and following the Dallas Cowboys football team.
As history shows, none of these moderate candidates can win the presidency. If, sadly, any of them receive the nomination in 2016, they will lose to presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The reasons for this predictable result are simple. A moderate presidential candidate will not excite the conservative base of Republican voters who are the party’s backbone. These activists are the chronic voters, who number in the millions. They run the organizations and volunteer their time on behalf of the candidates.
The conservatives are tired of being overlooked and ignored by the establishment wing of the Republican Party. The grassroots cannot match the money of the establishment, but they certainly have more passion and energy and are a needed component for any GOP presidential candidate to win the White House.
It worked for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984. He won 44 states in the first election and 49 states in his re-election, in other words, massive landslides. According to so-called political experts he was too conservative, a wild eyed cowboy who was too threatening to the American people.
Instead of losing, he trounced his liberal opponents by offering a clear contrast to the Democratic Party. He stood on conservative principles and did not waver. This type of statesmanship appealed to not only Republicans, but also Independents and “Reagan Democrats,” who were tired of the failed liberal policies of their party.
In this election, there is a great opportunity for the Republican Party. Voters are ready to seriously consider an alternative to the failed policies of Obama. However, if the GOP offers only the “pale pastels” of another moderate loser and not the “bold colors” of a conservative, the party will surely lose again.
If Bush, Christie or Romney wins the nomination, millions of conservatives will stay away from the polls or vote third party. The days of holding one’s nose and voting for the Republican candidate as the “lesser of two evils.” are over.
It is time for a conservative victory in 2016, which requires a principled Republican Party presidential nominee. However, if one of the three amigos, devoid of conservative values, wins the presidential nomination, the result will be another loss to the Democrats and the eventual dissolution of the Grand Old Party.
It happened again! Republican Party leaders have told conservatives to “go to hell.” It is just the latest indication that the party is not the right home for principled conservatives. It is the only explanation for the inexplicable vote to re-elect John Boehner as Speaker of the House.
Boehner has been a disaster as Speaker. During his tenure, conservatives have been punished and denied leadership positions, while the establishment wing of the GOP has been given total control. Under Boehner, spending has accelerated and real reform has been minimal. In fact, Boehner has been the Speaker for four of Obama’s six years in which the national debt has increased an astronomical $7.5 trillion.
The final straw was the lame duck session of Congress that occurred after the sweeping GOP victory in the mid-term elections last November. Instead of listening to millions of Americans and voting to de-fund Obamacare and stopping the President’s unconstitutional executive amnesty for five million illegal aliens, Boehner led congressional Republicans in a quest to not only please President Obama, but also give him all the funds he wanted. They fully funded both Obamacare and executive amnesty for the next year.
Boehner is the President’s golfing buddy, not the type of leader who will oppose him. While the American people want the Republicans to stop the President’s dangerously liberal agenda, the House Republicans under Boehner are constantly placating him.
This betrayal enraged conservatives who bombarded Congress with demands that Republicans select a new Speaker of the House. Phone calls overwhelmed the congressional switchboard, while millions of emails were sent to Republican members of Congress telling them to listen to the people and not the Beltway power brokers. The conservative website, World Net Daily, organized a “Dump Boehner” campaign, resulting in almost 600,000 letters being sent to Congress. This anger was not limited to only party activists for a recent national survey of Republicans and Independent voters who lean toward the GOP by respected pollster Pat Caddell showed weak support for Boehner with 60% supporting “someone new” as Speaker.
Despite the legitimate outcry from the millions of conservatives who are the grassroots engine that drives the Republican Party, the members of the GOP congressional delegation ignored their demands and re-elected Boehner to a third term. While there were a historic number of votes against Boehner in his bid for a third term as Speaker, it was not enough to stop his re-election.
This means that once again conservatives have been taken for granted. Boehner was re-elected despite the news uncovered by Dr. Jerome Corsi that the Speaker has a stock portfolio that includes millions of dollars invested in insurance and healthcare companies that are increasing in value due to Obamacare. Thus, he has a financial incentive to disregard the party’s base and continue to implement the President’s plans for socialized medicine.
After this latest betrayal, conservatives should reexamine their allegiance to the Republican Party. It has been many years since the party acted in accordance with conservative principles. While the grassroots keeps electing Republicans to Congress and gave the GOP big victories in 2010 and 2014, the party leadership never acts in accordance with these mandates.
Republicans campaign as conservatives, but govern like liberals. With Boehner elected to another term as Speaker, nothing will change on Capitol Hill. It will be more of the same in the next two years, so Americans can expect deficit spending to continue, Obamacare and executive amnesty to be fully funded and no real change in Washington D.C.
If conservatives are demoralized with this inaction, the Republicans have no prayer of winning the White House in 2016. At this point, especially if the GOP nominates a big government RINO like Jeb Bush for President, it certainly looks like Hillary Clinton can start measuring the curtains for another stay in the White House.