And Then There Were Seventeen
Jim Gilmore enters the race.
Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore has entered the race for the 2016 Republican nomination.
Now before you throw yourself off the nearest building, hear me out. This guy has serious credentials.
Gilmore was chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for five years, he’s an Army Intelligence veteran and he was the governor of Virginia on 9/11. In some ways, Gilmore is more qualified than many of the candidates who are already running.
Last night on Special Report, Gilmore had an opportunity to make the case for his candidacy.
Bret Baier’s introduction was pretty humorous. Check out the video below:
If you want to learn a lot more about Gilmore, here’s his official campaign announcement video which is almost eleven minutes long.
I’ve watched the whole thing and didn’t disagree with anything he said. He has genuine foreign policy chops and he really takes the fight to Obama and Clinton:
Featured image via YouTube.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Impressive videos. I don’t know anything about this guy. Nothing he said dissappointed me. However, he was conspicuously silent (unless I missed something) on the topic of the genocide typically referred to as illegal immigration.
Trump got squishy on illegal immigration recently, and I suspect that will affect his polling. If so, and if Gilmore is as pro-American when it comes to endorcing immigration laws as he is on national defense and the economy, he may see an opening materialize soon.
My take:
He was a good VA governor, but is a dyed-in-the-wool establishment Republican. This is a “tell” meaning….:
This is another player in the Republican Party’s strategic plan – they are FLOODING THE ZONE so they can get their guy in – Jeb!(tm), Rubo, or Walker (their top 3 favored candidates, IMHO). Think about it…… Peeling off votes from a Ted Cruz or Bobby Jindal or a Ben Carson – or a Donald Trump – makes the vote for Jeb!(tm) high by default – and many will vote for him because of name recognition only (The Donald is the only other one with high name recognition to a LIV).
This is a TACTIC; many states have a “majority of votes” primary, not a MAJORITY OF ALL VOTES CAST, i.e. >=50%. In other words, a candidate wouldn’t face a runoff with the 2nd place voter’s choice – they could win the state’s primary with, say….20% of the vote.
So many nominees waters down the number of votes required…..and they know it!
It won’t necessarily help in states with a runoff process…..but think about it – Iowa, NH, SC, FL…..do they hold runoffs?
I saw a story a couple days ago that Jeb! was in the Hamptons at a fundraiser sponsored by Democrat moneyman Ken Lipper smoozing a bunch of millionaire hedge fund guys. According to Lipper’s own account half the people in attendance were Democrats and the only ‘person’ who did not write Jeb! a check was a deer on the edge of the property.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-27/jeb-bush-snares-a-democratic-moneyman-on-hamptons-tour
It reminded me of a segment I saw on CNBC a couple of months ago shortly after Jeb! announced his candidacy. Barry Sternlicht was the guest. CNBC is a business channel. You’d expect Sternlicht to talk about how business was going or the economy. Instead, the very first thing he talked about was the fundraiser he attended in Greenwich the night before for Jeb!. He was almost giddy talking about it. Sternlicht supported Obama in ’08. He flipped and supported Romney in ’12, so he’s not a hard core partisan Democrat. But it is clear Jeb! is wooing Democrat millionaires as part of his “Fck the conservative base to win the general” strategy.
Whether you like Cruz or someone else, he is right about the Washington Cartel. There is no longer a nickel’s worth of difference between the establishment of both parties. They both cater to the corporate lobbyists and to Wall Street. The only difference I can see is that Democrats also at least give lip service to public employee unions. Everything McConnell has pushed through as majority leader Harry Reid would have pushed through. It doesn’t really matter if Jeb! or Hillary wins. One is a Democrat and the other is a lifelong Republican who is raising money from Democrats so you can assume he will govern like a Democrat. You’re going to get Obama’s third term either way.
Who is Gilmore? and Why is this unknown running for President? did surprising well on Special Report/Center Seat – with a refreshingly straightforward debut surpassing many of the jokers already in the clown car.
He came off as experienced, articulate, and thoughtful. At the very least, he could run rings around Jeb!.
I have to say, he DID make me sit up and take notice. I wonder if he will make the pre-debate on Fox next week? I would like to hear more of what he has to say. How many of the candidates can we say THAT about!
As a long time Virginian, I was here when Gilmore was Governor, and have memories of the Gilmore administration. After campaigning for a repeal of the “car tax” (local personal property taxes,) he settled for a rather convoluted scheme where the localities collecting the tax were instead paid out of the general fund. What’s more, he caved to Dems in out state legislature, and allowed part of the hated tax to remain.
As a result, every subsequent Democratic Governor has tried to get the tax re-instated. In short RINO alert.
A stint as RNC chairman? To me, that says he’s probably eager to sell out citizens while expecting them to subsidize slave labor for the big donors.
I’m beginning to think the national party is encouraging a big field so their favorite person without principles lands at the top of their ticket. Apparently they enjoy losing party members and elections.
Be$t analy$i$ of the ‘big field’ (euphemism for overstocked clown car):
” . . . As New York Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman points out, the 2016 GOP may seem like “less of a political party and more like a talent agency for the conservative media industry.” Each declaration of a presidential run may prove less a push for power and more an audition for celebrity status.
Each candidate receives free hours of TV, radio, and internet attention, with the likely promise of bigger things to come. “Even if you lose, you exponentially increase your marketability,” a GOP consultant told Sherman. “Right now, let’s say you’re giving speeches for $20 grand. You run and it becomes $40,000. If you do well, maybe there’s a Fox show. Then you write a book about how to save the party.”
This provides a strong economic incentive to declare those five magic words — “I am running for president!” . . .”
http://pjmedia.com/blog/hidden-motives-behind-the-huge-gop-primary/?singlepage=true
who?
Would it be mean of me to note that…if this guy were at all serious…I should have heard from him now…???
…BEFORE now…
Exactly. And who is this Virginia chick?
I know, right?
And “Army intelligence”…???
Dude! I was IN the Army.
I found it odd that he claimed to have been an Army intel agent — I had to listen twice. Agent makes it sound like he was a covert field operative, like Valerie Plame.