Surely if they forgave Mitt Romney for everything he said and did (Abortion, gay rights, Romenycare etc) before he decided to run for president they’ll have forgiven Christie by 4 years from now.
Sure, Rubio’s Hispanic, sorta. He’s Cuban, and a whole lot of Hispanic Americans resent Cubans for their special treatment. Now, its not their fault they were given special passes so the US could stick a thumb in Castro’s eye. But Republicans who think that Rubio will automatically appeal to Hispanic American voters are el wrong-o!
Whether he wants it or not, eh? He’s sat out the last four election cycles completely, has repeatedly denied any interest in running for office again, and one of his few media appearances this year was to complain about how today’s Republicans are a bunch of lockstep extremists who wouldn’t accept Ronald Reagan or GHW Bush as one of their own if they were running today.
I really don’t know much about Jeb Bush, but it seems like he’s a smart enough guy to not get himself mixed up in the craziness that is the modern-day GOP.
And what he says is absolutely true.
I agree with this. The Republican party, at this point, is doing EVERYTHING wrong except fundraising.
You see comments about how Romney alienated the hispanic vote with his hard stance on immigration, but if you step back and think about it, you might realize that:
A) Immigration PROBABLY isn’t the ONLY thing hispanic voters care about
B) Demographics are not exclusive. Hispanic voters may also fall into some other categories that might have made them disinclined to vote Republican - such as being poor.
When they can’t even figure out WHY they lost, I think there’s a serious problem with the party.
Should they change? Should they compromise their principles to get elected? Because that was the big criticism of Mitt.
Only if they want to win. If they’re OK with losing, by all means they should keep doing what they’re doing. To the extent Romney had principles, he compromised them to win the nomination, not the presidency. In the end it looked like he was doing both at once, which worked better for him than I thought it would. Anyway, yes, the party does need to make some concessions to the changing electorate and society if they want to win in 2016 and afterward.
He has said numerous times he’s not interested, and his family has had some well documented troubles that he may not wish re-opened. So it’s quite possible that’s he sincere. However, I have seen him several times during this cycle playing the elder statesman kind of role, and this is a thread about who will lead. In this sense it would certainly be an indirect kind of leadership.
That said, he is a smart dude, and it could be that he’s just putting enough air between himself and his brother, or could be enticed back in if the GOP were to trend back to a pre-Tea Party style. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “Draft Jeb” movement at some point in the 2016 cycle.
They have already changed, compared to their (pre-Nixon?) glory days.
Rush Limbaugh.
/s
There has to be …Bush fatigue… out there. That last Bush has to have poisoned the well for future Bush pols.
Re the next leader/party nominee for '16? The Republic Party rarely has competitive primaries. The nominee is chosen by the party bosses. There’ll be some Republic governor making public statements and sounding all…statesmen like in the next few months. He’ll likely be their guy.
Rice? Is she still doing politics? Rice would be nice.