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Gov. Nikki Haley Was a Great VP Candidate, Until…
… until she gave that divisive speech after Tuesday’s state of the union. Yes, divisive. Who says divisive must be between Republican and Democrat, black and white, poor and rich? It was divisive between establishment loyalists and conservative malcontents. And it was gratuitous.
In 2008, Sen. John McCain — war hero, senator-for-life, and self-appointed Republican strategist — sought to balance his ticket by selecting a governor and hard-core conservative woman as his running mate. It energized the base and the media, though in different ways. It turned out to be a blunder, one of many, that McCain made in his campaign, largely because Sarah Palin was not ready for prime-time and they should have known that.
Haley is a governor, a woman, a somewhat-conservative, and likely to be on the short list for vice-presidential candidates this cycle. But everything changed on Tuesday night. Unlike Palin, Haley is ready for prime time in terms of polish and preparation, but she won’t see it again for a while. Not this cycle anyway.
There are two separate disputes raging between the establishment and the alienated ex-Republicans who feel forced to vote against Democrats each cycle. The first is ideological, and the second is about our approach to strategy and tactics. I contend that this latter dispute is equally intense and important as the ideological debate. And while Haley may be acceptable on the ideology, she’s not with conservatives on strategy and tactics. That matters.
Conservatives are long past the fiction that a Republican candidate has to talk moderate in order to govern conservative. If anything, it’s become the opposite: They tack right in the primaries and govern as moderates and appeasers. In contrast, Democrats, generally talk centrist (wink, wink) and govern as socialists and tribalists.
Republican establishment types have bemoaned this dynamic publicly, to the point where Jeb Bush announced his newfound strategy of “losing the primary to win the general,” thus avoiding the problem of having to pivot on issues when confronted by the media with previous quotes.
Many of us are at our wits end, and near apoplectic at the tendency of our elected officials and candidates to undermine what we see as the winning narrative or — at the very least — a much better one. By conceding the Democrats’ story, our party hands them the argument.
If either Bush, Gov. Chris Christie, or Sen. Marco Rubio get the nomination, he will need to select a running mate who can unify the party and energize the base (good luck with that). Haley has just disqualified herself from that role and, thus, the job.
Published in Politics
I’m not your buddy. And you have a very selective moral compass. You may want to work on that.
I took nothing out of context. Here’s what he said:
“When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they’re killing us economically.
The US has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. It’s true, and these are the best and the finest.
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. ”
Sure, he was not talking about all Mexicans, but a fair reading is that he was talking about most Mexicans. And this is a pretty indiscriminate statement. The context is in a discussion about illegal immigration, but the statement itself comes across general in nature, and it will be used that way.
This isn’t a gotcha moment; it’s a thoughtless statement. It isn’t a matter of being PC, it’s a question of being insulting. If I am a US citizen of Mexican origin, why should it be unreasonable to think he wasn’t talking about me?
First of all, let’s just be clear. We are throwing away the Muslim vote as indiscriminately as an earlier generation of Republicans threw away the Jewish vote. For which we neither gain security nor advance our cause.
Second , for the guys who really want to come here and cause problems, they will find a way around our Muslim-detection capabilities. This reminds me of the joke from Good Morning Vietnam, with the mock interview with Army Intelligence. “How do you fight Charlie?” “We ask people we meet if their name is Charlie. If they say ‘yes’, we shoot them.”
And I’m still not sure why it doesn’t fairly fall under the category of xenophobia. Again, this is thoughtless and insulting, and you don’t have to be a Progressive, bed wetting at every micro-aggression to think that way.
There is no one in the line up of GOP candidates that won’t support better and more effective screening. So it’s not that I have to accept this option or nothing at all.
The OP is quite laughable. Nikki Haley is accused of being “divisive”…the insult king Donald Trump apparently not divisive of Republicans at all. Oh, my sides.
From the Washington Times.
Here is some more.
Well, we agree on something.
Just one more and this one is really good for you “we need amnesty to win” folks.
I was wondering if everyone had forgotten Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in 2008. It was, quite simply, the greatest and most electrifying performance by a Republican nominee ever!
Ricochetti, pray to God that whomever we nominate as President or Veep in 2016 does half the job of rallying every segment of the Republican faithful as Palin did on that glorious night.
Tune in to the Michael Medved Show. It’ll warm your non-divisive heart.
As far a Republican governor who has enough guts to attack Donald Trump…whatever happened to Rick Perry?
The statement was made at his presidential announcement speech. There is no indication from any reporting that I read to indicate that he was addressing these comments to specific Hispanics in the audience versus addressing these comments to the audience generally. Sorry, you’re adding a gloss to these statements to create a different context for them that I don’t think can be supported.
No, I like to think I am carrying water for conservatives, center-right and independents because I hate Trump. Seriously, he insults my intelligence and wastes my time. I find his fumbling over the nuclear triad and TPP cringe-worthy, just to name a few. As I mentioned in a separate conversation, he falls so far below the threshold for me, that I will not vote for him even if he were to get the nomination. Quite frankly, I do not understand the reason so many are ready to carry the water for someone who is clearly not up to the task and will likely not live up to expectations.
I have no problem with people who misspeak or occasionally speak out of turn. For goodness sake, I voted for W three times (once as governor). I don’t mind someone who cross a line.
But Trump’s statements are thoughtless, not to make a point but to be provocative. This isn’t about being PC, it’s about simply insulting groups of people because you can get away with it. When he insulted Carly Fiorino’s looks, was that an example of bravely challenging the Left’s PC standards, or was he simply being an ass? The statement above can fairly be read in context as insulting to any American of Mexican descent. Most of his “policy” statements are little more than ramblings off the top of his head. I am sick of pretending that this guy is breath of fresh air.
I didn’t say you were my buddy, I just called you ‘buddy’. And I’m so sorry I don’t meet your moral standards. I don’t take advice from strangers, only friends I trust.
Oh, most certainly whoever gets the nod will get the full treatment later this year. Do we have to give them the ammunition to do it with?
I don’t buy the argument that just because Trump makes the most inflammatory statements that he’s the bravest speaker of truth to power. Between these occasional statements that strike a chord, there is a vast wasteland of nonsense coming out of that guy. We have a great line up of candidates who are serious, capable, and won’t insult me by actually preparing for debates. To me, this guy brings nothing to the table and feeds our opponents everything they need to hit us over the head. At least Romney had the courtesy to speak about the 47% behind closed doors, and look at the mileage Barry got off of that.
No, it’s not a fair reading. It may be misused, as you yourself misused it earlier trying to make a point, but it’s time to stop playing this silly game
By the time the muslim vote is significant kiss America goodbye, unless you have some grand strategy to assimilate them and basically convert them to disavow sharia law.
This is a sovereign nation, at least in theory. I don’t see why we have to let anyone in who wants to come. It sounds as if you really care about what the Muslim world thinks of us and that we can change that via our immigration policies. Naive. You aren’t living in the real world.
Perry isn’t dumb enough to pick a fight he knows he’ll lose.
Trump was being an ass about Carly, and I don’t like what he’s doing with Cruz, although that might just pan out. It would have come up sooner or later and sooner is better.
Trump has barely made any actual policy statements, but he does have his policies on a website. I’ll look at them when it becomes relevant. I know that any policy a candidate puts forth now will meet Democrats and like any battle plan crumble at first encounter with the enemy. I like where he’s starting out. We are in the negotiation phase and strong bold statements,, combined with votes, equals a mandate. Of course Trump will have to compromise. But he’s not preemptively surrendering like so many scared Republicans have and do. I like Cruz more than Trump, I also like all those “outsiders” dismiss. We are not going to convince each other here so I’m out. Nice to see one of you guys show some passion though!
I care about what I think of myself as an American patriot, who loves his country and its values, and wants to see it remain a great land with great people that I can pass off to those who come later.
Most of my grandparents came over in time for the first Red Scare that targeted Eastern European immigrants as all being a bunch of radicalized bohemian anarchists and communists, so maybe I am sympathetic to these folks because their real world was really hard. They all stood in line, passed through immigration, and got naturalized. They lived in ethnic communities and spoke their native language as much as they spoke English. They were Catholics in a country that was mostly Protestant. They worked their assess off to get accepted and stake a claim. They raised a generation of patriots.
I’m sick of this whining over this group and that group. Let them all in or keep them all out? We have a ton of options on the table; why do I have to accept the stupid ones?
Maybe it is just naïve to think that the real world isn’t defined by straw men. Aren’t these silly arguments supposed to be one of the things we can’t stand about Obama?
I’m so glad we got that cleared up. You may of course, refuse any advice hurled at you from any corner of the universe, but at the same token don’t try to impress me that the one who bribes is somehow morally superior to those he bribes or without guilt which even defies any legal standard. This sentiment of course is in line with most of the apologias for The Donald, who can of course insult the physically disabled, infer that a woman journalist who asked him a tough question must be menstruating and any number of other vulgarities.
Those Trump supporters so offended by those of us who ridicule Trump have no leg to stand on. Trump’s insults have been applauded and emulated by his supporters here on Ricochet, so let’s not play this game that all of a sudden there are those who are now suddenly offended that this or the passing supposed “divisive” comment of Nikki Haley’s is something that should offend all of us in some universal way.
Take your hypocrisy elsewhere like Breitbart.com where it will be embraced more readily.
You’ve forgotten the early primary process. Perry was dumb enough and he did lose.
Brian Watt,
Check my comment #37 about divisiveness. I welcome it, I’m trying to point out that it is usually used against Republicans by Democrats and that divisiveness itself is part of the political world. When we disagree with Democrat plans and verbalize it, it’s divisive. When they disagree with us, they are “passionately opposed”. I hope you can see that at least.
For someone so moral, I’d check your mind about assuming that Trump was referring to menstruation. He’s not that clever, that’s not his style. His style is more…did you see her face? Nothing subtle about that. But think what you wish. I’m not here to defend Trump, but I will argue against silly memes and false charges.
I’m not at all offended by you or what you say. You don’t know me. We are not friends. How can I be offended, especially when you are wrong? I just laugh.
I don’t need to identify with, or look up to my Presidents. I certainly don’t look up to Obama nor did I look up to Clinton. I liked Bush but not a big admirer either. In fact, he was too dignified for me when he allowed himself to be attacked mercilessly by the left. He can turn his cheek, but not mine ..
I believe our wonderful country is going to helenahandbasket, and I want something done. Fast. Now. No more BS from politicians.
A palate cleanser is needed here:
https://youtu.be/ZU67cMWAtK0?list=PLwpjcMmHeSZOi72j_js_L7NiW7e62MruF
Klavan nailed Haley for the same thing. He said that with Obama sneering at those he disagreed with you have one shot to respond. We needed a fighter going after him instead of someone spouting platitudes.
A little Clairification goes a long way, no?
Let’s clear something up: there is nothing illegitimate about Nikki Haley picking sides in the Republican primary/civil war. There is nothing illegitimate about her attacking Trump. This is policitics and it’s a rough game. That is, there is nothing illegitimate it if she’s acting as Nikki Haley.
The trouble comes when she does these things while acting as the representative of the Republican Party, when she uses this opportunity given to the opposition to attack her own side instead.
What would we think if Cruz were giving this speech and he referred to the appeasing and ineffectual voices in Congress? I might agree with his assessment, but I would also think it a blow against his own team when he should be going after the other team. And I would criticize him for it.
Given that Trump is admittedly attacking the party, something his supporters shout to the rafters, isn’t the party justified in defending itself?
A reminder: This was a response to the State of the Union address. Or so I am told.
The party can defend itself any other time against Trump. The SOTU response is supposed to be a response to the SOTU (shocking I know). Using it instead to flog their own side instead of going after the President is a manifestation of Trump Derangement Syndrome. If you’re focused on combating Obama’s ideas and actions, you don’t waste your chance to address the nation on Trump.
Is Trump attacking the party? I thought he was attacking other candidates as is usually done in the context of a campaign. I agree than many of his attacks are out of place and over the top – he could make legitimate attacks without losing style points or effectiveness.
Otherwise, no I don’t think the party (when acting as a party through one of its representatives) should be attacking particular teammates. we have a sanctioned context for such back and forth and the SOTU response is not it.
‘Tune in to the Michael Medved Show. It’ll warm your non-divisive heart.’
LOL, I stopped listening for exactly that reason , all fights are to be put off until another time, this is not the time , this will never be the time.
I’m sure Medved is a nice man but he doesn’t have a fighting bone in his body. He’s been described as a notorious squish with a consultant’s mentality.