Add Governor Pataki to the Republican presidential primary list
Welcome to the race, Governor?
If it seems like we’re writing at least one “so and so formally announces they’re running for president in 2016” post each day, that’s probably not far from accurate.
Waiting with baited breath for the Republican presidential candidate who can serve up the pro-abortion, anti-gun vote? Wait no more! Your endurance has proved fruitful. New York’s former Governor George Pataki announced his presidential candidacy today.
“My vision wasn’t a partisan vision, it was about people, about what we can accomplish together,” Pataki says in his first campaign video which was also released this morning. “If we are to flourish as a people, we have to fall in love with America again,” he concludes.
The video is 4 minutes long and has underlined words. That’s pretty much all I’ll say about it. But it’s here to sate your curiosity:
In his announcement, Pataki took a swipe at Hillary Clinton and railed against the IRS and Obamacare. He also dropped some gratitude in Spanish.
One has to wonder what possessed Pataki to join the packed primary. Despite the crowded heat, most candidate’s reasons for running are clear, and some are even delusional enough to believe they could be the next White House occupant. Hot Air‘s Jazz Shaw has a few theories:
Three theories for why he’d run. One: Boredom. He misses being in the political arena and wants to have some fun at the very margins of the big stage. In which case, okay, but wasn’t he bored in 2012 too? He would have gotten (somewhat) more attention back then as a centrist foil to Romney than he will once he’s lost in the crowd of more impressive candidates this year. Two: He feels obliged. New York has elected only three Republican governors over the last 90 years: Thomas Dewey, Nelson Rockefeller, and this guy. The first two ran for president and were credible candidates. Maybe Pataki’s talked himself into believing that even the modern GOP can’t resist taking a hard look at a centrist Republican who was capable of winning New York. Imagine his surprise when he finds out the truth. Three: He’s an establishment catspaw being nudged into the race to make Jeb Bush and Christie look more conservative by comparison. Surely, though, the donor class could have found someone with more currency than Pataki to fill that role if that’s the plan here. As it is, he’s unlikely to make the debates. How effective can a foil be if he barely registers in the public’s consciousness?
So, um, welcome to the race, Governor?
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Comments
“Add Governor Pataki to the Republican presidential primary list”
Errmm…no. I won’t.
Again, nice noises with which I agree. I just don’t believe him.
This one is really a mystery. I mean, WHY?
Goober Pa…WHO???
Why? My guess is that he found a few bucks in an old campaign account somewhere and had to be a candidate to get at it. Just a guess.
At this rate, the primary winner will take the nomination with a 10% plurality.
What’s to stop the trolls of the left from voting in different states Repub primaries as they’ve been shown to do previously?
Don’t you know that is exactly what they do?
It’s done by both sides, especially if there isn’t a real contest within their own party. I know conservatives who voted for Jesse Jackson just to mess up the Democrats.
The thinking on open primaries seems to run along these lines. The number of trolls is quite small compared to the number of independents that can be identified as leaning Republican and placed on the get out the vote mailing and call lists. Remember that the information as to what primary ballot an individual voter took is public record in most states.
Another line of argument is that since the ability to attract independent support is crucial to general election success so shouldn’t it be encouraged in the primary process?
Finally in many areas dominated by urban Democrat machines Republicans often register as Independents to prevent local retaliation in the form of nondelivery of local services.
Open primaries aren’t all bad. That’s how Georgia got rid of Cynthia McKinney.
I don’t understand the bright idea behind open primaries. Why should non-members of a political party have a say in who the parties’ candidate is?
OK, NC Mountain Girl, that helps me understand it. It may indeed make sense in some places.
oh! let my heart be still!
cue the snoring sound effect
Hey, I agree with him that government has become too big, too expensive, and too unaccountable. He’s right. So… how did things pan out in NY during his 3 terms as governor? Which agencies were cut, which budgets were cut, who was held accountable for wrongdoing? Anyone? Bueller?
He is invoking his white privilege on the national level, but this invokes a cognitively dissonant microaggression of the fact that his last name appears when printed as vaguely non-white. In the end, his candidacy will be swallowed whole by the resultant PC vortex.
“Pataki” — isn’t that the sound you make when you spit out something bitter?
Shame on you! You’ve been eaves dropping on Obama
I’m pretty sure its Klingon for coward
You have won the internet for May 29, 2015.
That makes three former politicians who have been out of office for at least nine years.
Let’s clear out the attic and knock on all the woodwork. Anyone left in there?