Sort of like the twelve disciples, Fox is looking at a group of potential candidates for President on the Republican side. I'm not sure how they picked these twelve exactly, but it's an interesting list.
Just for grins, here's my ranking of the 12 as of today.
1. Mitch Daniels - He's what we need. A no-nonsense CEO of America. Plus he's a Hoosier.
2. Mike Pence - I really like Mike. He's a decent guy and has Reagan's quality of an ability to disagree without being disagreeable. He also is an unabashed Christian, which will earn him vilification by the media if he becomes the nominee.
3. Mike Huckabee - Tough call, but again I think he's genuine and honest. Not sure he has the foreign policy chops, but he'd still be better than the guy sitting in the Oval Office today.
4. Newt Gingerich - Smart guy, you should find a way to catch a policy speech from this guy. Way too much personal baggage, and the press hates him.
5. Mitt Romney - I actually have serious issues with him being too moderate. But he might have the best chance to win in the general election, so we have to consider him.
6. Sarah Palin - She's in my top half partly to tweak all the Palin haters out there. I like the lady, and find it weird that she's hated so viscerally by the Left. I'd prefer someone higher on the list, but again, she's still way better than the current guy.
7. John Thune - From here on down I don't see much difference. The little bit of exposure I've had with him is positive, so I decided to give him the first pick in the second half.
8. Tim Pawlenty - He's got good reviews for his job as Minnesota Gov.
9. Chris Christie - Come on, he's from New Jersey. I can't help but wonder if he's being overrated.
10. Bobby Jindal - Another governor who seems like a decent guy.
11. Haley Barbour - Another southern governor I must admit I know very little about.
12. Jim DeMint - Seems like a great guy for energizing the conservative base, but I have trouble picturing him in the top spot.
Maybe I'll come back in 6 months and resequence the list after we start learning more about all these folks. I admit to putting our Indiana guys first, partly because I know them best and partly because I'm being loyal to fellow Hoosiers.
It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Somehow I hope we can avoid the stupid process of last time, when the party cooked the process to make sure we didn't get to choose anybody but McCain.
2 comments:
I like Mitch, mostly... I really doubt Huckabee has much chance; he's too polarizing. Between Huckabee and Mike Pence, Pence's stance on Christianity is by far the healthier, and more likely to sit well with moderates.
Gingrich clearly has no respect whatsoever for the institution of marriage, which makes his anti-gay campaigning hilariously hypocritical. Smart guy, perhaps, but definitely an a-hole. He also says ridiculous things like "Obama is the most radical president in history." Really? A president who has compromised on every single thing he's done is the *most radical in history?* It's smart because a lot of the Republican base actually believes this alternate-reality stuff, but it's damaging to the country.
Mitt Romney is probably dead in the nomination water thanks to his counter-party legislative moves... which is too bad, since he represents the kind of person who could actually slow down some of the insane animosity between the parties.
Palin would be a home-run nomination for the Democrats. Easiest victory in history. You shouldn't find it that weird that she's hated by the left. She's a liar, she's a manipulator, she stands proud for ignorance and jingoism, and she clearly knows *nothing*. Her views seem to be based in a warped version of pseudo-reality. It's telling that she refuses to be interviewed by anyone unfriendly to her... she can't stand up under any kind of scrutiny at all.
My hope is that Gary Johnson gets some attention. At this point, that looks pretty unlikely, but that's the kind of candidate I want to have as an option. He's truly a self-made man, a legitimate pragmatist, actually believes in low-tax, low-spend - unlike the overwhelming majority of his party, who seem to think that saving pennies is going to buy us a yacht - and is able to offer realistic ideas on how to get the country out of debt.
I'm surprised you seem to have caught the Sarah-hating virus. Your statement about her is strangely hateful and unfounded. She's not my choice for sure, but I still don't understand why you hate her. Do I sense a bit of sexism?
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