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“Scott Walker 2016 begins today.” WI Governor crushes #FreedomSummit

“Scott Walker 2016 begins today.” WI Governor crushes #FreedomSummit

It just got real

Just minutes ago at the Iowa Freedom Summit, one of 2016’s dark horses catapulted himself out of the murky waters of presidential speculation and into the spotlight.

That person was Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

Even before Walker took the stage attendees knew that something big was about to happen:

Once he took the stage, it was all over; and by “all over,” I mean, “he blew the crowd away.”

Do you agree with Twitter? Do you think Governor Walker is a prime contender for the top spot in 2016? Watch his speech below, then tell us in the comments.

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Comments

I would like to see a Walker/Cruz ticket.
It would generate maximum contributions from me and my wife, and I would devote full time to it.

    rabid wombat in reply to Rick. | January 24, 2015 at 5:31 pm

    How about Walker / Perry (or Perry / Walker) with Cruz for the Supreme Court?

    Grand Old Partier in reply to Rick. | January 27, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    I’ve been touting Walker/Cruz (the VP nominee is always the attack dog and he would be great) for a couple of years to anyone who would listen. But then I would always have to explain who Walker is and why he’s my first round pick.

It’s on… and I’m on board.

Glad to see my favorite presidential candidate for the past couple of years made a good showing.

Or we could stick with proven losers like Romney.

In response, Romney released a statement claiming Nancy Pelosi was the greatest Speaker of the House in American history.

Well…he hasn’t said it yet. But he will.

The only hope the GOP has of getting my vote is with a Governor. No Senator or Congressman will get it. (And not any Governor…Christie, for example.)

    Governor is relevant experience for President, as long as the change in scale and proximity is remembered in political, economic, and social decisions. At least one reason that Democrats are preferred for national offices is that everyone: conservative, liberal, progressive, etc., is actually fiscally conservative (i.e. prefer to keep the product of their labor), but policy decisions at a national level imply the effects of redistributive schemes are diluted and so a perception of “good will” is easy to realize. In the most extreme case, people will even sacrifice (i.e. abort) their children to enjoy a material return and promises of dissociation of risk for causes of pleasure and leisure — the secular opiates.

Walker/Martinez in 2016.

That is about as good as it could get!

Walker is definitely one of the few Republicans that I would support. Actually, there probably are a lot of republicans that I could vote for, but I doubt that the so-called ‘leadership’ will do anything to encourage them favoring the proven losers of the past.

If the RINOs don’t put up multiple candidates and dilute their vote, we will need to unite behind 1 or 2 candidates to not get squashed by the “establishment”/RINO vote. I could get behind Walker if he walks the walk. So far, he talks a good game.

    tarheelkate in reply to Fiftycaltx. | January 25, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    He’s been walking the walk in Wisconsin for several years.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Fiftycaltx. | January 25, 2015 at 2:36 pm

    Where ya’ been? The only two governor candidates in the forefront right now to have fought the good fight to the end and won are Walker and Perry. Walker has strangled the unions (business killers) of their commie funding from the workers in WI and is the only governor in United States history to survive a recall election (in his case, brought by the unions). He has brought business back to Wisconsin and the state is running a surplus. And he’s done that in just four years. Walk the walk? Hell yeah. Does it softly while carrying a big stick? Hell yeah.

Henry Hawkins | January 24, 2015 at 7:09 pm

If ‘the media’ has considered Walker a darkhorse up till now (the entire, whole, complete media? Wow!), then ‘the media’ is an idiot.

While some in media apparently didn’t see Walker as more than a darkhorse, folks who know politics have been pitching this guy since he won reelection. For many, Walker’s been the frontrunner all along.

At some point we’re going to need an adult in the White House, someone who understands the tough cuts that must be made and will not shy away over political fears, like the current establishment GOP folks. This guy does not kcik cans down the road. Walker took a state with massive debt and not only returned it to solvency, he took it into surplus black ink and gave the taxpayers their money back in the form of tax cuts. He busted the public unions, which also cut a primary source of campaign and corruption cash for the Democrats. He won the governorship, won a recall, and won reelection as a conservative in a deep blue state. Every inch of the way he fought off not only Wisconsin Dems and libs, but the national Democrat Party and all of its big money donors and buddies. And he did all this in 4 years. He’s golden on 2A. He’s golden on abortion. He’s been vetted (constantly over 4 years) by the best the Democrats and liberal media can muster and they found nothing.

Imagine 2016 campaign ads listing the respective candidate’s successes and achievements. Recall how neither her supporters nor Hillary Clinton herself were able to articulate any achievements in her time as US Senator or Secretary of State. Now imagine an ad listing Walker’s achievements in comparison. Walker has no Romneycare-type baggage. Walker doesn’t have to kiss off large sections of the GOP like Jeb Bush has already done to conservatives, let alone sell Common Cause and amnesty to GOP voters.

Walker can beat anyone the Democrats care to nominate, and he has the best chance of winning the supprt of both the conservative and moderate wings of the GOP.

And $5 says the GOP will now try to ruin him.

    If ‘the media’ has considered Walker a darkhorse up till now (the entire, whole, complete media? Wow!), then ‘the media’ is an idiot. […] For many, Walker’s been the frontrunner all along.

    Hear, hear.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Henry Hawkins. | January 25, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    And I’ll give you 10:1 they fail, epically, like the candy-assed, spineless losers they are.

    Just because the big donors have already paid Jeb doesn’t mean they won’t fork over more when they realize Jeb isn’t going to be the bride.

    It’s time to send Walker some $.

Walker/Cruz would be interesting campaign, but I’d hate to see Cruz buried in the VP’s office. Maybe he could be AG. That would explode some heads.

Walker/Perry would be interesting too. I love my now-former Governor, but for getting things done as President I think Walker has the edge since has been sharpening it on the Dems and the unions in Wisconsin.

    Milhouse in reply to EricIT. | January 24, 2015 at 10:53 pm

    Cruz should stay in the senate for a decade or so, and not look for other work. He decided he wanted to be a senator; what has changed in the interim? Only that now the Rs have a majority, and he will be able to actually achieve positive things in the senate, instead of merely throwing obstacles in the path of disasters. So why now, of all times, should he abandon that work? No, he should stay and become a star senator, and then move on to the Supreme Court.

      JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Milhouse. | January 25, 2015 at 2:55 pm

      I agree. I want Cruz to stay in the senate for now. He can do a lot of great things there. I’d love to see him sit as majority leader if McConnell could be ousted by a conservative president-elect. Cruz is a good guy, but he needs more meat on his political bones before he’s ready for prime time. We know he talks the talk, but he hasn’t governed. A firebrand like Cruz could win, but they need a record to back up the rhetoric and Cruz just isn’t there yet. I’m looking forward to him developing that background. This just isn’t his time yet and he’s a young man.

    Cruz is not eligible for VP.

      riverlife_callie in reply to Aussie. | January 25, 2015 at 3:33 pm

      Yes he is. Please stop this false “Cruz is not eligible” meme.

        I agree that he’s eligible; the reason is that we have somehow changed the meaning of “natural born citizen” so that it no longer means “born of two American citizens.”

        Now that phrase means, “born anywhere in the world to at least one American citizen.” And we ain’t too picky about that, and no questions will be asked about foreign entanglements (that would be raciss, you know.)

        After all, words can mean anything: see “gay” as an example.

Doug Wright Old Grouchy | January 24, 2015 at 10:21 pm

The run-up to the 2016 GOP nomination is going to be interesting, and hopefully, not frustrating. Also, here’s hoping that Romney, JEB, and Christie all fall out of the race early on.

OBTW: Stassen is getting concerned that Romney is trying to out do Stassen’s record for the number of times he ran for president. However, Romney will be no more successful then Stassen was.

Scott Walker doesn’t need to be the front-runner. Arguably it might be better if he’s a bit back in the pack, to avoid being excessively targeted by competitors and, maybe worse, the liberal media machine. The key is that Walker’s uniquely situated to be everyone’s second choice, very much like how Lincoln was situated leading up to the convention in 1860.

Nice recent piece in the NYT by Nate Cohn along these lines, linked here:
http://twitter.com/BadgerPundit/status/555237446334840834.

Here’s how Lincoln put the situation in March 1860, expressing a strategy Scott Walker might well adopt:

“My name is new in the field, and I suppose I am not the first choice of a very great many. Our policy, then, is to give no offense to others — leave them in a mood to come to us if they shall be compelled to give up their first love.”

http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2872:1.lincoln

Some more historical context here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=fVNB3R-XOl4C&pg=PT70&lpg=PT70&dq=I+suppose+I+am+not+the+first+choice+of+a+very+great+many+lincoln&source=bl&ots=unu8qVqunq&sig=9AGkobQUtwcHTQtZb9utXnERpP8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6gO2VNa9KY7luQSShIKABw&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=I%20suppose%20I%20am%20not%20the%20first%20choice%20of%20a%20very%20great%20many%20lincoln&f=false

Romney shot himself in the foot by doubling down on climate change. Bush hasn’t built the kind of support his father and brother earned early in the years they first won the nomination. Perry could be viable, he can raise the money, but after last time he is probably one gaffe away from another early exit.

Given these heavyweights who haven’t demonstrated they can punch effectively, the opening Walker needs is clearly there. He could be in a very good position to win both Iowa and New Hampshire, and that’s a big head start against the candidates with more money and name recognition.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to Estragon. | January 25, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    The folks of both Iowa and NH will love Walker. They are both fickle states electorally, but Walker’s Midwest understated demeanor and “cool” under fire will have huge appeal in both those states.

    That reminds me of something that hasn’t been pointed out here: how cool Walker was when under fire before and during the recall. A question to be asked when his name is raised is who would be cooler, calmer and wiser when that 3am call comes?

Scott Walker embodies my conservative thinking. I have liked him since he beat the teachers union by taking away their government dues withholding. Look over the field and tell me who else has a track record like Governor Walkers.

    JackRussellTerrierist in reply to ilvuszq. | January 25, 2015 at 3:08 pm

    Perry has a great record in TX. I’d be real happy with him in the WH, too. A big, handsome “no bullshit” Texan looks real good to me right now. We need a new sheriff in town to kick some serious butt. Either man would do that job and they both have my full confidence.

Walker is a natural. Real social, economic and foreign policy conservative. Great boot strap man of people bio as the last thing we need is another effete ivy leaguer in the WH. Most importantly Walker is tough as nails and winner. He has crushed the Dems and their union thug cronies three times in four years.

He is the right man at the right time to restore America

Rick Perry’s fans conveniently have forgotten his drunken New Hampshire speech and his 45 seconds of nothing trying to name two federal agencies that he would eliminate. Mr Perry is welcome to retire from politics and return to his calling as Senior Yell Leader at Texas A&M.