McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Just up on the website of the Wall Street Journal, the latest column by Ricochet's own Bill McGurn. Excerpts:
Today the press corps is having fun writing off the Republican contenders as uninspiring second-raters….That's an opportunity for a Republican willing to take it.
Taking advantage of this opportunity requires two things. First, a Republican will need to believe that his party has the right approach to these issues….[A] Republican who hopes to inspire Americans needs to draw distinctions between his party's approach and Mr. Obama's….
More vital still is something every politician says he has but only few really do: trust that the American people can handle the truth.
In the search for a "new Reagan," alas, even many Republicans enter primaries with a candidate they hope will be anointed without too much fuss. Many forget that Ronald Reagan was never anointed. In 1976, he challenged a sitting Republican president and lost, only to come back in 1980 and defeat a GOP party establishment that was still against him….
So the next time one of these Republican candidates asks if he or she has your vote, the answer should be: "I'm waiting for you to earn it."
Beautiful.
And to add a note of my own, I'd have to say the fight in Tim Pawlenty has surprised me. At any given moment he appears relaxed, laid back, and altogether too easy-going for a presidential candidate. But just look at the last week or ten days. In Iowa, he roundly attacked the Obama record and called for an end to ethanol subsidies. Then, on "This Week" (see the post below), he declared himself unambiguously opposed to raising the debt ceiling--at least without deep, deep cuts in spending. Watch this guy. He can throw a punch while smiling.
Who else is passing the McGurn test--that is, showing real fight?
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Apr '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Peter Robinson:
One thing to note about Reagan. He was the runner-up in 1976, and had run in 1968. None of the rest of the field had run before, aside from Harold Stassen, who was not a serious candidate at that point. It was thus "his turn", so to speak.
Dec '10
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Where's the podcast??
Jul '10
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
I think that's right, but it begs the question: can we?
It's easier to handle the truth when you've just won the lottery than it is when told that your phony free-ride is bankrupt and that ponying-up in one way or another is necessary. Even if a likely loser, it's probably worth it as a matter of principle and to set the stage for future disputes.
I wonder if there's an inverse relationship between a pol's willingness to trust and his desire for an office. A Clinton-type who seemingly needs acclaim would never, ever, tell a tough truth to a constituency he might lose as a result.
Feb '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Who else is passing the McGurn test--that is, showing real fight? ·
I have two contenders who I see as passing the this two-part "McGurn test."
the many strengths of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) is that he not only knows these issues inside-out, he has a gift for explaining them in everyday language. That's going to be important in 2012, because Mr. Obama and his supporters are going to force the issues, and do it on terms they hope will make Republicans least comfortable.
Feb '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
However, I must assert a caveat; neither of these men have declared an intention to run for the Presidency, they merely have not ruled it out as an impossibility, so there is not cause for jubilation quite yet, because as we have seen recently with Ricochet's own Mitch Daniels, there is no guarantee they will run.
Apr '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
There isn't one this week. Technical difficulties.
Edited on May 30, 2011 at 6:26pmOct '10
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
I find all of this concentration on “Who shall be president?” unseemly in a self-governing republic. It's only a skip and a hop from “Who shall be president?” to “Who shall rule?” and there is no recovery from that.
This concentration on presidential politics, to the exclusion of electing officials who interact on a day-to-day basis with citizens such as school board members, sheriffs, justices of the peace, and county commissioners, not to mention local party officials, seems to me an unseemly Cæsarism.
I wrote the above-linked article in February 2008, but I fear the malady is more advanced today than then.
May '10
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Haven't paid much attention to anyone in particular at this point - only enough to note the mainstream media's prononcement that the GOP has got nobody.
I'm hoping the GOP will go after Obama and his gang with hammer and tong. There is such a rich harvest of failure and mendacity to be reaped and brought to the attention of the American public anew.
I have my doubts that the GOP has the stomach to be as mean and nasty as the Democrats are. If they nominate another "my friends" John McCain type who only promises that he'll manage the catastrophe better than the other guy we're cooked as far as the White House is concerned, and we deserve to be.
I'm hoping Sarah Palin doesn't run, but makes loud noises about the flaws of the administration - thereby taking the heat off the eventual nominee and letting him or her appear to remain above the fray.
Hey, I just discovered the "edit" feature. Pretty neat! So, let me add here that I also want the eventual nominee to attack Obama mecilessly as well.
Edited on May 30, 2011 at 9:47pmOct '10
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Everybody (RINOs, TPartiers, GOP) needs to show some fight. They lost NY-26 and almost lost the Wisconsin referendum.
Jan '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
John,
You've inspired me to take Gene Healy's The Cult of the Presidency off the shelf and finally read it.
Edited on May 30, 2011 at 8:27pmNov '10
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Peter Robinson:
Who else is passing the McGurn test--that is, showing real fight? ·
Sarah Palin
Michelle Bachmann
Paul Ryan
Rick Perry
It has to be one of these four or Tim Pawlenty. The rest are toast. But if one of the toast gets the nomination, then we are toast.
Jul '10
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Unseemly? Maybe so.
All the Catos in the world -screaming at the top of their lungs- won't change the fact that Barry rammed a massive new diktat through Congress. It will impact the day to day lives of all citizens, unless it's repealed. Almost certainly, there will not be a veto-proof majority in favor of repeal. Local/State government will be largely helpless to curb this monstrosity.
Consequently, the Presidency is a necessary element to dumping this intrusion.
...it seems to me that this obsession with the person at the top of the pyramid is not just unseemly but dangerous—it's corrosive of republican virtue in favour of worship of authority, and that always ends badly.
I'd note that it's foolish to fail to recognize where authority is actually vested. Pretending that state reps will confound Federal legislation strikes me as Pollyannaish.
Edited on May 30, 2011 at 8:08pmJan '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Well, Peter, I guess it all depends on knowing how to earn the votes of Americans, and what it means to throw a punch, to actually take the fight to Obama and the Democrats. I wonder who does.
For instance, who of the current crop knows that Americans are waiting to support a candidate willing to hang the Afghan War around Mr. Obama's neck, and say that it's past time for America to leave what Mark Steyn just called "the ne plus ultra of a fool's errand"?
Which candidate has the cojones to state the truth and declare that the recession will end in the US when it begins in the Beltway, and that he's ready to bring the pink slips and the new locks to Washington DC?
Which candidate will proclaim in Detroit and Camden that this is exactly what the Democrats have in store for the nation - dependency, corruption, broken families and bankruptcy?
Who will suggest targeted tax increases aimed at Democrat constituencies, like childless heads of households?
Or will everyone spout the nostrums of "root-canal Republicanism" and offer smiley-face ten-point plans to maintain and prolong bankrupt Democrat social programs?
Edited on May 30, 2011 at 8:16pmApr '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Tim Pawlenty was full of fight with a smile on C. Amanpour's interview. Watch it! I liked the midwest phrases..."ticked off"..."doufus"...pinhead! Remember, at this time in Obma's campaign he was not well known. Pawlenty has more real world and decision making experience than Obama had when he became president. The only weakness the many Republican candidates have is the ability to stand up to the press...the group that anointed Obama.
Mar '11
Re: McGurn to GOP Candidates: Show Some Fight
Hasn't anybody noticed that Palin has been on the attack for 18 months? This is the last place I thought I'd find a bunch of Kool-Aid drinkers.
She can't win! She can't win! She can't win! They scream after the latest arrow finds its mark. I remember, in real time, the newspaper headlines in 1948 in re a Mr. Dewey and Mr. Truman. Up until about noon (West Coast) on election day, 1980, they were talking about Reagan's surprising comeback that looked to be too little, too late. Forty four states and a 9% margin was too little and too late.
If you'd quit paying attention to the media and actually examine what she did in Alaska you would find an extraordinary story of political leadership. She had an 80% approval rating until she faced a savage attack that rivaled or exceeded the one on Joe McCarthy.
The Republican establishment is as scared of her as the Democrats. It's ruling class vs. country class.