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As this venerable blog chugs toward March 3, we will no doubt eventually announce our Presidential endorsements, with Vern and me and Ryan and whoever else comes along presenting our own choices, eventually to be glommed together into a package. But I’ve heard and seen enough to issue one of mine right now, so here we go.
For Republican Voters: Joe Walsh for President!
(I should explain that we sometimes issue one endorsement for Republicans and one for Democrats, which is especially appropriate for an election, like this one, where the parties have their own separate ballots.)
Not the singer, not the shouter, just the Trump-rejecting flouter.
I should say, Walsh is not my preference among Republican candidates. That would be former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld. But this is not a recommendation of whom I would vote for as a Republican (the equivalent of a Republican telling me that I should vote for John Delaney. No!) It’s my saying who I think Republicans with good heads and hearts should support among their options.)
Now, if you are a Tom Tait style good government/noblesse oblige Republican, and think that you can win an argument within the Republican party about either corruption or caring for the disadvantaged (which you can’t), then go ahead and vote for former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld. But most of you aren’t — you like what Impresident Trump is doing but can’t stand the man’s low character, non-existent morals, and degradation of your party — so your best choice is Joe Walsh.
And, from the Republican perspective, Walsh is a good pick. His major problem is that he keeps getting mixed up with other people: Weld, this year, but also Republican Joe Wilson (the one who yelled “You Lied!” to President Obama at his Sept. 2009 Speech to a joint session of Congress), and with the “Life’s Been Good” singer who was a late-arriving member of The Eagles. But these sorts of problems can be resolved.
Walsh is pro-wall, pro-gun, and pro-Netanyahu, but has recanted his former anti-climate change and birther positions, and has always been anti-Putin and in favor of the Constitution. In other words, a vote for Walsh lets you be the non-Bill Weld Republicans we know that most of you (outside of Newport Beach) really are and still vote against Donald Trump, who desperately needs a good voting-against.
I’d love for you die-hard Republicans to vote for one of the candidates whom I favor in the election, but I understand your not wanting to do so. Anyway your vote for Walsh really means more than your “lesser evil” vote for any Democrat. Trump is not going to measure himself against Democrats — he will obviously be the person to get the most votes in California, and all the more so in OC — but he will measure his votes against the two “W”s opposing him. It’s the latter that will gall him.
While OC may have lost its national Republican cachet after its purging of Congressional ranks in 2018, ideologically its wealth and education keep it a national opinion leader. If Walsh somehow got 80% as many votes as Trump did within OC, it might (not giving odds here) actually pry open the painted-shut window protecting Trump against a challenge.
(Headlines such as “Walsh Gives Trump a Good Fight in Orange County” would surely abound — and Trump would throw a highly entertaining post-Super Tuesday fit. Placer County may now be more conservative, but it would not get those kinds of headlines.)
At a minimum, such as result might reclaim some of the dignity of the Republican Party. Having now seen the alternative, this Democrat would really like to see that happen.
I remember him, back when he was a Congressman, coming onto MSNBC a lot during the Bush and Obama years. Especially Olbermann’s show. He always seemed like a tea-partying nutjob, but unfortunately the endless deterioration of the GOP makes him seem relatively reasonable now. Plus you get a point or two for being a good sport and going onto the opposition’s TV network.
Well, so much for Greg’s favorite Republican Presidential candidate:
“I Would Rather Have A Socialist in the White House than President Trump,” Says Republican Joe Walsh.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/republican-joe-walsh-drops-out-of-the-presidential-race-calls-gop-a-cult-and-trump-its-cult-leader-2020-02-07/
“One of President Trump’s few Republican challengers in the 2020 presidential race has dropped out — but not without a few parting shots.
“Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) ended his presidential bid on CNN Friday morning, and said he would be throwing all of his support toward the eventual Democratic candidate, as “any Democrat would be better than Trump in the White House.”
“He added that, “I would rather have … a socialist in the White House than a dictator, than a king, than Donald Trump.”
“Walsh also wrote in a post on Twitter TWTR, -2.89% that, “I’m suspending my campaign, but our fight against the Cult of Trump is just getting started.”
“He claimed that the GOP as it stands today is “not my party,” writing on his campaign page that “It’s incumbent on us as a country — and as citizens — to reject the current direction of the Republican Party and work to elect Democrats who are closest to our values.”
Walsh revealed in an op-ed for the Washington Post published late Thursday afternoon that getting booed at the Republican caucus in Iowa was the final slap in the face that convinced him to drop out. Trump won about 97% of the vote in the Republican Party’s Iowa caucuses earlier this week. Walsh and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld each claimed about 1%.
“But leaving the caucus that night, I realized once and for all that nobody can beat Trump in a Republican primary. Not just because it’s become his party, but because it has become a cult, and he’s a cult leader. He doesn’t have supporters; he has followers. And in their eyes, he can do no wrong.”
He detailed becoming increasing disillusioned by the “mis and disinformation I’d heard” in calls with potential Republican caucus-goers in the run-up to the primary, such as people believing that hundreds of miles of the new wall between the U.S. and Mexico had been built, and that Mexico was paying for the wall.
And he blamed conservative media — and Fox News political commentator Sean Hannity in particular — for spreading “B.S.” He also accused right-wing journalists of denying him airtime, and said that his party had made it harder for him to run against Trump by canceling Republican primaries in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona and Kansas.
“They’re [voters] being spoon-fed a daily dose of B.S. from ‘conservative’ media. They don’t know what the truth is and — more importantly — they don’t care. There’s nothing that any Republican challenger can do to break them out of this spell. (Thanks, Hannity.)”
“Supporters thanked Walsh for “fighting the good fight” and standing against the current administration in the comments under his original Twitter post. Still others snarked, “Who’s Joe Walsh?” or expressed disappointment that they would miss seeing him “booed in all 50 states.”
Well, this may be the wrong Joe Walsh, but that certainly sounds like “the Rocky Mountain Way!” to me!
A Republican one could argue with constructively! Sorry to see him go. Well, now you’re stuck with Bill Weld, Republicans, so make sure he wins California!