America's Maverick Part 2: Madame President

[BigVic]

What will Harris be doing now

[OSR stands with Israel]

What will Harris be doing now

Probably getting a lucrative position at a pretty major law firm or joining the faculty of a law school in California.

[2016]

Indeed, this is the end of Kamala Harris Political Career at least what this TL is concerned.

Rougly 2 1/2 Months to the Iowa Caucuses now!

[OSR stands with Israel]

2012 Republican Primary Preview:

National Poll:

New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 28%
Representative Ron Paul 23%
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 20%
Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 18%
Virginia Senator George Allen 8%
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2%
Former White House Advisor John Bolton 1%

Iowa Caucus Poll:

Representative Ron Paul 26%
Senator Bobby Jindal 23%
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 20%
Virginia Senator George Allen 16%
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 9%
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 5%
Former White House Advisor John Bolton 1%

New Hampshire Poll:

New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 30%
Representative Ron Paul 28%
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 25%
Senator Bobby Jindal 9%
Virginia Senator George Allen 5%
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2%
Former White House Advisor John Bolton 1%

Blitzer : So John how is Ron Paul doing as well as he is

King : Well I’d say the reasoning is pretty simple and that is that the Republican Party has always had not only an anti government sentiment but an anti foreign intervention sentiment and he’s really the only candidate who has tapped into that and as a result he is doing as well as he is .

The question for Ron Paul is can he expand his support past say a third of the overall gop base cause the fact is the field will eventually become a two man race and when it does that amount of support wont be enough.

Blitzer: Thanks John, now with us is NY Times columnist and a weekly conservative commentator on the PBS Newshour, David Brooks. So David how do you think of the field so far.

Brooks: Fundamentally, I am not confident at all that we can win the next election given the field we have.

Blitzer: Why is that

Brooks: Well if you look at the big 4 you can see major problems with each one. First lets start with Rudy Giuliani who does not seem to be able to articulate what he actually would do as President. Yes past experience is important and on paper due to that he should be a fantastic candidate, but you have to give voters a reason to vote out an incumbent president and he really never actually brings up what he'd do substantively different than President Clinton and that is a recipe for defeat.

Now lets go to Bobby Jindal who while he does have a policy plan , the issue is his entire campaign seems to be about pleasing one conservative interest group after the other and while yes that can get you to 200 electoral votes, you have to do more than that to get to 270. Just giving out standard conservative stump speeches is not enough to win an election especially given he has no record of actually achieving success on those issues. People bring up Ronald Reagan all the time but he was Governor of California for 8 years and could point to that in his 1980 campaign, and the fact is its much harder for a senator to make that same argument.

As for Ron Paul while yes he has a lot of energized supporters and yes does have a vision, he frankly is an extremist and if we nominate him we will go down to our worst defeat since 1964.

Blitzer: Would you vote for Ron Paul if we were the nominee

Brooks: Absolutely not given his economic plans would be disastrous for the country as well as his foreign policy plans would be a disaster for both our nation and our world. Id argue in this case that Hillary Clinton would be more similar to traditional Republican policies than Ron Paul would so if we nominate him , wed rightfully get crushed.

As for Mitt Romney, I will say he is a bit of a wild card. He is someone who best could unite right of center voters behind his campaign and his business experience could help him make an economic argument. The problem is he could easily be painted as out of touch and with his history of flip flopping it could result in him not being trusted by swing voters. So really I am not optimistic at all that we will win in 2012.

Blitzer: Thanks David, we will take a break and be back in a minute


Are Republicans in Danger of losing the House in 2012:

Blitzer: With recent generic ballot polls showing Democrats ahead, many are wondering whether the Republicans could be in real danger of losing the House in 2012. With us is now is former OMB Director and Former Budget Chair along with potential candidate for the senate John Kasich. So Director Kasich why is it that Republicans are struggling right now

Kasich: Well it is cause Republicans right now really have fallen into a the trap of acting like a minority party and let me explain you why. You have one wing of the party who wants to just oppose the President and the Democrats on everything and while yes that can help create contrasts, being the party of no does not help. On the other hand you have another wing that more or less acts as a yes but approach to the President where they basically agree on a similar agenda but just have some differences on the approach and frankly that’s not really a good way to convince voters why you are different. Then there is a third wing whose answer is basically to do what we did last time in power and the problem is that voters aren’t looking for going back to the past but are looking for solutions to today's problems.

For all the criticism people have levied against my friend Newt Gingrich , the fact is those congresses did not show those 3 traits . We had a clearly defined agenda that we were gonna pursue and when in power we did persue it and got much of it enacted into law and became the first republican congress to be re-elected since before FDR. Now of course we had to compromise with President Bill Clinton on a lot to help govern the nation, but the fact is we were able to force the former President to compromise with us on a lot too which is in my opinion we ended up being reelected despite the fact we lost big in the presidential race.

Blitzer: How much blame do you put on Speaker John Boehner then

Kasich: While Speaker Boehner deserves some of the blame as the fact is as a leader if your party isnt doing well then of course you will be responsible for some of the blame, but the overall problem is not with one person, it is more the party has forgotten what it is like to be an effective opposition party and they need to relearn it soon otherwise 2012 wont be a good election for house republicans. I think if you take this into account Speaker Boehner has done a good job and my hope is that we do keep our majorities in 2012.

Blitzer: Last question, do you plan to run for the senate in 2012

Kasich: I am considering running for the Senate Wolf, but haven't decided yet.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Bipartisan Economic Commission Concludes US just missed out on Financial Crises and suggests reforms be made to prevent one from happening in the future

Cooper: The Bipartisan Economic Commission did conclude that our economy just missed out on a financial crises in a few years back thanks to a federal reserve induced recession. They also believe that we are at significant risk of such a crises in the near future and prosper a few reforms to head off these reforms

Proposed Financial Reforms:

- Put in place stricter qualified mortgage rules to prevent defaults of home mortgages

- Put in place stricter capital and liquidity requirements for the banks

- Put stricter regulation on ability for commercial banks to engage in speculative activity

- Put in place stricter rules on derivative trading

Cooper : In response to this the President proposed that Congress immediately pass the recommendations into law . Speaker Boehner is with us , so Mr. Speaker should these recommendations become law

Boehner : Anderson it is my belief that on important manners such as this , we do not rush to pass a bill . What is gonna happen is the House Finance committee will do the work necessary to ensure that we get the best possible bill and to do that will require hearings , markups and debate . Once that is complete , then the full house will debate the proposal but until then we will let the committee do the work needed to ensure we get the best possible bill

Cooper: Would you whip against this bill or in support

Boehner: Its way to early to say Anderson

Cooper: Thanks Speaker Boehner for coming on

Boehner: Anytime

Hillary Clinton's approvals drop below 67% for first time since end of the war but still remains in strong position:

Blitzer: President Clinton's Approvals peaked in August at 80% but since then her approvals have dropped though she still remains in strong position as her approvals are still more than twice her disapprovals as you can see

Hillary Clinton's Approval:

Approve: 66%(-3)
Disapprove: 29%(+4)

She also holds giant leads against every possible Republican as we can see her leads against them

vs Giuliani : +14
vs Romney : +16
vs Jindal : +18
vs Paul : +25

So John with these numbers, would you say its much of a surprise that the many Republican strategists still believe they can win this race

King: Well the reason is 3 fold and that is one everyone remembers 1991 when then President Bush after a win in the gulf war raced out to even a bigger lead and was even more popular which forced all the top democratic contenders out of the race but he ended up losing pretty decisively to then Governor Bill Clinton so things can change . Number 2 is that while the President leads by such huge margins, other than against Ron Paul she does not get more than 55% in the polls which is a sign her lead may not be as dominant as it is . Number 3 is and most importantly is that a majority of Americans are pessimistic about the state of the economy due to the fact that yes energy prices have gone up since the war began , and the report about a potential financial crises does not help make people more optimistic about the economy.

This means that despite the fact she is in better polling position than her husband was in December of 1995, the fact is far more Americans are pessimistic about the state of the economy then they were back then which is something an opposition party will try to tap into.

 

[2016]

House Speaker John A. Boehner is playing a dangerous Game here. If he doesn't pass the Recommendations into Law and the Economy starts to tank, possibly getting into a Recession then it's going to be blamed on Republicans and not Hillary Clinton.

I think Hillary is still in a very strong position to be Re-Election because unlike George W. Bush Republicans haven't found a Candidate to appeal to Minorities. That's precisely the reason the 2008 Election was so close.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Republicans hit by Earthquake as Ron Paul Shocks the World with wins in Iowa and New Hampshire:



Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/08/21/159594780/romney-and-gop-strike-deal-with-ron-paul-loyalists-before-convention

Blitzer: The story of the primary so far is overwhelmingly the fact that Ron Paul has utterly shocked the world and won in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Here are the results

Iowa:

Representative Ron Paul 28% 8 Delegates
Senator Bobby Jindal 25% 7 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 18% 5 Delegates 
Virginia Senator George Allen 15% 4 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 9% 3 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 4% 2 Delegates
Former White House Advisor John Bolton 1%

New Hampshire Primary:
Representative Ron Paul 34% 5 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 26% 4 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 25% 3 Delegates
Senator Bobby Jindal 9%
Virginia Senator George Allen 4%
Former White House Advisor John Bolton 1%

Blitzer: His wins here have completely upended the race and the question really is why

Borger: This is especially true if you look at New Hampshire where the polls had it tied and he ended up winning it by 8 points. I would say the most concerning thing for the GOP establishment is the fact they still have nobody to choose which is great news for the Ron Paul camp.

Blitzer: David how surprised are you by these wins

Gergen: I am pretty surprised but I really should not because the fact is the Republican party has always had this paleoconservative wing that should up once every few decades and threatens to shake things up. You had Robert Taft in the late 1940s and early 1950s, then it sort of went dormant for 40 years as the more conservative wing of the party took upon the hawkish mantale , then you had Pat Buchanan in the 1990s and now Ron Paul now. An interesting thing about that is that these figures rise usually when the hawkish mantle is being taken by the moderate wing and that has happened . On the flip side paleocons tend to decline when its solid conservatives such as Goldwater and Reagan taking the mantle of the hawk and that is a fact I do find interesting.

Gingrich : Listen I think the Foreign policy ideas espoused by Congressman Paul are reckless and dangerous and it’s hard for me to believe that’s why he’s getting this much support. Where I think he is getting support from is the fact he has been the main Republican over the past 4 years speaking out against this March towards bigger and bigger government and many conservatives are going towards the only candidate who has done so . Also I want to point out that from February to August  , he was the only Republican in the race and due to that was able to spread his message unabated as no one else was in the race to challenge his ideas which for the life of me I am not able to understand why no one else declared .

I understand the fact that they wanted to send a message to the world that were are United in times of war but you can do that by making it clear on the campaign trail that we are with the president when it comes to defending  freedom from attack by the Syrians and Iranians but you can still criticize her on economic and social policy which they failed to do and that gave Congressman Paul an opening. I will end on this and that is if we nominate him , we will suffer our worst defeat since 1964 and the consequences for our party downballot will be truly horrible.

Sanders : I would like to point out to That if him being against quote on quote big government is why he is doing so well then why not back other more mainstream republican candidates who are also running on that such as Senators Jindal or Allen . The fact is there are many voters out there who do question whether or not our middle east policies in the past decade have worked or not and so far only Congressman Paul has been the only candidate that questions our role there. Polls may show a majority of Americans backed our intervention against Iran and Syria yes but the question is why did we get into this situation in the first place and nobody but Ron Paul talks about that. Second Ron Paul like his policies or not is the only candidate in the race who openly embraces being not liked by special interests and many young voters in the country like that which is why he does so well among young voters.

I also disagree with the idea he is the most unelectable candidate despite the polls because the fact is if he is the nominee, he will benefit from the fact that he is a change candidate while the rest of the Republicans who arent change candidates will struggle with that face given polling on the issues show President Clinton's positions on the issues are more popular then their positions. So if you have establishment vs establishment , the fact that she is an incumbent and the fact her positions on the issues are more popular would give her a huge advantage while Ron Paul would truly be a wildcard and could win it all.

Blitzer: Thanks Speaker Gingrich and Senator Senators , and we would also like to point out that two candidates have dropped out of the race due to these results, them being former Governor Tim Pawlenty and Mr. John Bolton.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Excerpts of President Clinton's 2012 State of the Union Address



Souce: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/app/uploads/2019/02/RTX6LFXE-1024x683-e1549455385158.jpg

Speaker Boehner: Ladies and Gentleman , its my high honor to welcome to you , the President of the United States!!(Standing Ovation)

Clinton: Speaker Boehner, Vice President Rockefeller , members of Congress , distinguished guests and my fellow Americans: last year when I addressed this chamber our nation was at war in the defense of freedom , while today thanks to their efforts I can proudly say that freedom was successfully defended (Standing Ovation). Sadly the cost of this effort war not cheap given the amount of life that was lost of this war but the families of the dead Iraqi, NATO and our own troops can know that their death was not in vain because thanks to them , millions of Iraqis remain free(Applause) and have sent the message to other rogue nations that we will not tolerate their aggression(Standing Ovation).  Thanks to the efforts of our troops we showed the world that we are still the ultimate beacon of freedom and as another President once said, a shining city on a hill(Standing Ovation). It is now our job to maintain that and to do that we need to ensure a strong economy(Applause).

To have a strong economy we must have a strong and stable financial system and the results from the bipartisan commission that said we just missed out on a few years back and are at risk of another one in the near future is something we just cannot wait and sit back to let happen which is why I believe congress should pass all the recommendations made by the commission into law(Applause). It should not take a recession to save us from a financial crises like it did the last time and we also cannot take the risk of one taking place as many economists believe an financial crises would have the potential of causing another Great Depression and it is something we absolutely must avoid(Applause). Now many will argue making such reforms will slow down the potential of financial innovation or may make it harder for some people to get loans but I also want to ask whether the damage that would do the economy would come anywhere near a financial crises and the answer is no(Applause). It is why we must pass these reforms as soon as possible and I do have hope that we will(Applause).

Another aspect Americans are worried about the economy is due to higher and higher energy costs which is why I have put in place policies to increase oil production(Applause) but we must realize that it is only a short term solution and not a long term solution(Applause). In the long run we must continue to invest in alternate energy such as solar, wind , hydropower and other alternate energy to put our nation not only on a more environmentally friendly and sustainable path but also means we wont be so prone to changes in geopolitics causing hikes in energy prices(Applause). We also must strengthen our cap and trade system to make this transition more smoother and as I believe it is a transition we must make for both our environment and our economy.

Lastly we must continue to strengthen trade relationships with nations across the world and one area where we do not yet have a trade deal is with nations in the pacific . The pacific is increasingly a crucial area of the global economy which we do not have a trade deal with and that is something that must change(Applause). Trade deals as our history shows also helps us improve relations with the countries we are trading with and having good relations with nations across the pacific will be crucial in solving the problems we will be facing in the upcoming decades(Applause) . They may not be easy challenges to overcome but I believe we will like we have overcome so many challenges throughout our history.

Thank You, May God Bless You and May God Bless America

[BigVic]

A tricky re-election for Hillary despite the rally-around-the-flag effect over the Iran war

[OSR stands with Israel]

Jindal Bounces back with strong wins in South Carolina and Florida seemingly make the GOP primary a 2 man race between Jindal and Paul.



Source: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2015/06/26/race-2016-jindal-court-rulings

Blitzer: After it seemed like Congressman Ron Paul had become the frontrunner with wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, Senator Bobby Jindal struck back with 2 decisive wins in South Carolina and Florida and thanks to how the delegates are allocated in those states, won all 75 delegates that are allocated in both states

South Carolina

Senator Bobby Jindal 44% 25 Delegates
Former Governor Mitt Romney 21%
Representative Ron Paul 18%
Governor Rudy Giuliani 10%
Senator George Allen 7%


Florida :

Senator Bobby Jindal 46% 50 Delegates
Former Governor Mitt Romney 24%
Representative Ron Paul 19%
Governor Rudy Giuliani 11%

Total Delegates So Far:

Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 82 Delegates
Representative Ron Paul 13 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 8 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 7 Delegates
Virginia Senator George Allen 4 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2 Delegates



Blitzer: So SE what are your thoughts on these results so far

Cupp: Listen while I wanted Governor Romney to win, I much prefer Senator Jindal to be our nominee than Congressman Paul so I am happy about these results. Now are there some things I am worried about with a Jindal candidacy yes, but I am not worried that he would lead our party to destruction like a Paul candidacy would. Senator Jindal not only would not sacrifice our core foreign policy and national security principles like Congressman Paul would, he would expand upon them while Ron Paul on the other hand would utterly shred them and take us back to where we were in the 1920s and 1930s on foreign policy which was wrong.

So I am content with these results, and my hope is that Senator Jindal as the campaign goes on is really able to start to articulate our agenda in better ways as to win in November he will have to do a better job at that.

Blitzer: So John if you assume Senator Jindal is the nominee how would a winning map for him look like

King: I would say this, he does have a conceivable path even though it is very narrow. For example the type of campaign he is running is not really good fit for the North East, Upper Midwest, or West Coast and due to that you probably could assume he unlike Bush would not carry Oregon, New Hampshire, that Maine District and probably New Mexico too given hed be weaker with Hispanics than George Bush was.

So those states add up to 17 electoral votes and if you take them off the Bush total which would be 277 by 2012 allocation instead of 269, hed be down to 260 10 away from winning. So how does he win, well the first thing he can do is flip Missouri and if he does that he would get to exactly 270 votes but as I talked about his path is narrow as the only two other Clinton 08 states I could see him flipping are Arkansas and West Virginia which would mean if he ran the table hed only get up to 281 votes. That is a very narrow path to victory so I would say Senator Jindal has his work cut out for him if he wants to expand his map .

Blitzer: Thanks John

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking News: Electoral Reform Amendment Ratified by enough states to officially become the 28th amendment

Cooper: Enough States have ratified the electoral reform amendment that passed last year making electoral reform a reality. As a reminder here are some key changes

Key Changes:

1. Binds The Electors to the candidate they are pledged to vote for

2. The National Popular Vote Winner will receive 15 Electoral Votes

- This provision will not go into effect until the 2016 Election

3. Any state where the margin between the top two candidates are within half a percentage point will be required to conduct a state-wide recount to determine who won the state

4. A Candidate who wins the popular vote of an individual state shall be awarded all the states electoral votes .

- This provision will not go into effect until the 2016 Election

5. Congress Shall have the Power to reject any changes made to election laws that take place within a year of the presidential year.

- The rejection of such changes shall be only applicable to the presidential race
- This provision will not go unto effect until November 8th, 2015

6. If no candidate still wins a majority of the EV the election is thrown to the House of Representatives where each representative gets One Vote for President and Each Senator Gets a vote for Vice President between the top 2 candidates.


Cooper: Also as a reminder , only provisions 1, 3 and 6 will be applicable for the 2012 election so we will still be mainly using our current system for this November's election. Now let's go to former John McCain who worked behind the scenes to help this pass. So President McCain how happy are you this passed

McCain: I think this amendment is an important reform that prevents the type of potential crises we faced after the 2008 election and could have have faced after elections such as the 1968 and 1992 election so I am happy that this reform has been ratified. I can tell you it was not easy but the fact is we all agreed there needed to be some reform and I am glad we all came together to pass a ratify this.

Cooper: Thanks President McCain and congrats on your effort. President Clinton also released a statement and this is what it said

Clinton: The ratification of the electoral reform will help guarantee our nation does not fall into a crises over an close election dispute and also guarantees that the voters choices in each state will be how the electors vote as well. I want to thank the efforts of members of both parties in helping pass and ratify this amendment and especially than former President John McCain for his effort in helping get this amendment pass.

Both RNC and DNC to be held in battleground Missouri



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI77W2PjyKI

Blitzer: An interesting fact to remind everyone is that both conventions this year will be held in the battleground state of Missouri. The Republican one will be held in Kansas City at the same venue where they held their last convention back in 1976 and the Democrats will be holding their in the other side of the state in St Louis.

King: Now that you brought up 1976, it was also the last time we went into a convention with the nomination truly being up for grabs and then President Ford did end up beating then Governor Reagan by a pretty narrow margin to get the nomination and many also credit the concession speech Ronald Reagan gave as setting up his 1980 bid. So does that foreshadow anything, we will have to see.

2012 Republican Convention

Dates : August 27th- August 30th
Host : Kansas City , Missouri
Venue: Kemper Arena

2012 Democratic convention :

Dates : September 3rd- September 6th
Host : St Louis, Missouri
Venue : Scotttrade Center

[2016]

This Electoral Reform is fantastic!

That being said what will be done if the margin is 0,25 %, a Quarter of a 1 %. Manual Recount I would suggest!

Since you brought up 1976 maybe Clinton wins by a narrow Carter-like margin, then becomes Jimmy Carter 2.0 between 2013-2016 resulting in massive GOP Wins.

I still think FL Governor Rubio will run in 2016 once he has rattled home Accomplishments in the Sunshine State.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Paul Wins 4 of 5 States on Mini Tuesday and Romney drops out of the race :



Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/05/14/152686294/ron-paul-will-stop-campaigning-but-will-continue-delegate-hunt

Blitzer: Congressman Ron Paul had a pretty good Mini Tuesday with wins in 4 out of 5 contests tonight and lets now look at a summary of those contests

Contests won by Ron Paul:

Nevada: Paul 37% 11 Delegates Romney 35% 10 Delegates Jindal 28% 7 Delegates

Colorado: Paul 41% 15 Delegates Jindal 34% 12 Delegates Romney 25% 9 Delegates

Maine: Paul 54% 11 Delegates Romney 25% 5 Delegates Jindal 21% 4 Delegates

Minnesota: Paul 47% 19 Delegates Jindal 38% 15 Delegates Romney 15% 6 Delegates

Contests won by Bobby Jindal:

Missouri: Jindal 61% 32 Delegates Paul 20% 10 Delegates Romney 19% 10 Delegates

Total Delegates So Far:

Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 153 Delegates
Representative Ron Paul 79 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 48 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 7 Delegates
Virginia Senator George Allen 4 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2 Delegates




Blitzer: Despite those wins , it seems like Senator Jindal has slightly increased his lead

King: Yes Wolf and that is because of a landslide win in Missouri which was the largest state up tonight. I will say the bigger news for though is that Governor Mitt Romney has dropped out of the race and has endorsed Senator Jindal. So tonight very well may be the high watermark for Congressman Paul becuase from this point forward he will have to be getting over 50% of the vote in primaries to win them.

Borger: I will also add that many reports are saying that Governor George W Bush is set to endorse Senator Jindal as well, and that Former President McCain is set to work behind the scenes in favor of Senator Jindal. Really the fact is Congressman Paul did take huge advantage of a favorable set of contests up today and will get some momentum but the question now is can he start consistently getting over 50% of the vote now given it is a two man race now and do so with the entire Republican establishment ready to rally around Senator Jindal .

Gergen : Yes the fact is that while yes Congressman Paul will get to claim victory tonight despite Jindal exceeding his lead, the fact is him winning Nevada might have ironically be the beginning of his downfall as if Governor Romney won that, it is very possible that the Governor stays in till Super Tuesday but since he lost it he had no choice but to drop out. This means it will be easier for the anti Paul Forces to consolidate the vote behind Senator Jindal so this night isnt as good for the Paul camp as they think as it forces a 1 on 1 race, earlier than they would have liked.

Blitzer: Ok thanks David

[Mister Mets]

This has been interesting.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Jindal and Paul meet for debate 1 week before Critical Super Tuesday



Source : https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/chris-wallaces-simple-question-churns-post-debate-chatter

Important Moment 1:

Wallace: Senator Jindal you have criticized the President's actions in the lead up to the War and since the end of the war so if you were commander in chief what would you have done differently and if elected what policy towards Iran and Syria would you change.

Jindal: Chris, the reason I have criticized this is because we waited until the Iranians and Syrians invaded Iraq to send in all our available troops when the fact is we should have sent them to Iraq when the Iranians and Syrians signed that treaty in the Summer of 2010. If we had done that , it would have deterrence against both regimes  and if they still invaded we would have been able to stop them at the beginning of the invasion instead of having to fight our deadliest war since Vietnam and a war that had the highest per year American casualties since World War 2. It would have also prevented the deaths of countless Iraqis and it is proof why appeasement doesnt work and what we did in the lead up to the war was appeasement.

Now what I have done differently at the end of the war, is I would not have agreed to this ceasefire agreement unless the Iranians and Syrians agreed to remove Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bashar Al Assad from power and hand them over to proper authorities for them to face trial for the various war crimes they created. The fact is we let them get away with war crimes and that was a bad message and I can tell you as President, I will ramp up sanctions against both nations to make it clear that their will be severe consequences for the war we just started.

Paul: The statement gave by the senator is another example of the reckless foreign policy he and his neoconservative team support. If we wanted to capture the leaders of Iran and Syria that would require us to commit to a full regime scale war in two different nations which according to many experts would require us to reinstate the draft for us to occupy both nations. The fact is we need to learn from this war and that is a huge reason for this is is the Iranians and Syrians wanted the Iraqis to remain neutral and instead of negotiating we kept fanning the flames which led to this terrible war. The fact is if we never decided to permanently occupy Iraq then maybe the war could have been avoided to begin with.

The best way to stop conflicts is to one figure out how were contributing to them and then get out of those places and that is what I will do as the next commander in chief. I will bring our troops home from Iraq, Afghanistan, and from all across the world back home as that is the first step in the direction to no longer fanning the flames of conflict.

Jindal: What the Congressman said is just not true, and the fact is we have seen all through history that appeasement does not lead to peace but more war .  This was shown to be true in WW2 , at many times during the Cold War and now in the lead up to the Iranian and Syrian invasion of Iraq  and it is imperative we do not return to that failed policy. The fact is American strength has been the best defender of liberty all throughout our history : from destroying fascism in WW2 , to defeating communism in the Cold War , to ending the tyranny of the Tailban  and Saddam Hussain  , and just recently in defending the freedom of Iraqis and I as president intend to uphold that tradition

Paul : The problem with the senator assertion is that he doesn’t understand that these conflicts didn’t arise out of no where . The Nazis and Soviet Union rose out of the ashes of WW1 which was arguably the most unnecessary war in history and one we helped prolong first through military aid and then by directly intervening ourselves , 9/11 was a result of us funding the Mujadeeen in Afghanistan which later became al-Qaeda, the current Iranian regime came into power due to blowback of a coup we committed there in 1953 and Saddam Hussain became as powerful as we did because we backed him in his invasion of Iran .

The question to ask is what we can do to prevent the next conflict because roots of future conflicts take place years before they happen, and my goal is to prevent those roots from being planted to begin with. People call me an isolationist but the fact is that is not true because I have always been in favor of free trade and peace negotiations so that point is just not true.

Jindal : Of course as President you want to take actions to help prevent conflict but  one of the ways we do that is by the principle of peace through strength and that’s what I will uphold as your next president.

Important Moment 2:

Bair : According to a recent Fox News poll a majority of Americans are pessimistic about the future of the economy and many believe that we will be in a recession potentially over the next couple of years . What will either of you do as president to prevent such a recession and if it’s to late , what will either of you do to help the economy grow faster . Congressman Paul , You first

Paul : the first thing we need to do is end our current monetary policy which is effectively based on creating bubbles , devaluing our dollar which is a huge reason for many of the recessions we face. One way we can do that is by returning to the gold standard which is something I will push as President. Number two we must drastically cut spending across the board and yes that means we must significantly cut the military budget, give young people the ability to opt out of entitlement programs they will never receive, and get rid of 5 cabinet level departments such as : Education, Interior, Commerce, Energy, Housing and Urban Development . Doing this will allow us to actually not bring our budget into balance but start paying down our debt as well as well as significantly reduce taxes for Americans.

Jindal: I would follow the model set by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s which is to significantly cut taxes to help stimulate the economy , take an axe at the overburdensome regulatory state that stifle growth and yes to prevent a financial crises, I do believe some sort of financial reform is needed which is why I working to help pass a bill that would get us reform. We also need to work on getting a free trade deal passed with nations across the pacific and one that also does not undermine our sovereignty and as President I would appoint my Trade Representative to do exactly that. Lastly we must unleash the beast of our energy sector and I believe that a full push towards energy independence would do that and I can tell you having energy independence will help one prevent us from being so reliant on other nations for oil and also would help create many jobs.

Paul: This is the problem again with Republicans and that is you also believe the government should play a role in fixing a problem it created. The fact is the reason we are at risk of a financial crises is because of terrible monetary policy that helps create bubbles, inflates financial assets and as President I would put a change to that.

Bair: Congressman Paul to follow up on that who would you name to chair the federal reserve

Paul: I believe the Federal Reseve system should be phased out but if we are unable to do that we need someone to chair the federal reserve, to be someone who believes in going back to the gold standard and thats the type of person I would nominate .

Bair: What about you Senator Jindal

Jindal: I would nominate someone to head the Fed to be someone who would 1. Keep bubbles from forming by not enabling asset inflation, 2. someone who is willing to be transparant and 3. someone who has the competency for the posiiton

Bair: Moving on


Important Moment 3:

Bream: One question on the minds of Super Tuesday voters according to multiple polls is which one of you would give the Republicans a better chance of winning back the White House in November. So why would each one of you give the party a better chance of winning than the other

Jindal: Well I would say to look at the figures and that is since 1980 and the Reagan Revoultion our party has mainly relied on what many people call the conservative 3 legged stool: someone who stands strong on foreign policy issues, someone who believes in less government interference in our economy and someone who stands strong for traditional family values and the results for our party have been great. We have won 5 of the 8 presidential elections since then, and something most people dont know is the Democrats have not won over 50% of the national vote in any election in that period too so the fact is that coalition has done well for us and I clearly am the person who represents that 3 legged stool better.

The fact is our party cannot afford to give up any one of those legs if we intend to put together the coalition we need to win and nominating Congressman Paul would do exactly that. His nomination would hand the issue of standing for a strong foreign policy to the Democrats which is something that has never been the case in my lifetime and we would lose big if that is the case.

Paul: First of all I would obviously argue against the idea that a strong foreign and national security policy means an very militaristic and interventionist foreign policy and I believe I could make that case to the voters so regardless what conventional wisdom  says, I dont believe nominating me would hand that issue to the Democrats. The main reason though why I think I give the party a better chance of winning is that I am the only candidate who will actually offer substantive change and I believe we can get a lot of voters who usually sit out of elections to vote for us if we offer that change as well as get many apathetic democrats over to our side because many of them want change too.

I want people to keep this fact too and that is in the past 100 years, only 1 incumbent Democratic President has gone down to defeat and that was Jimmy Carter in 1980 and our nominee that year, Ronald Reagan, campaigned strongly for change and not only for Democrats but the way the Republicans had governed over the prior decades too. The fact is if we dont campaign on change , we will lose because you wont be giving the voters a reason to vote the incumbent out then.

Jindal: Who says I won’t be campaigning on change because the fact is the economic , social and even many foreign policies I will campaign on will mark a change from President Clinton . What is true is I am not a change from republicans over the past few decades and my question is why should we change the direction of our party . The principles we have pushed for last 3 decades under President Reagan in the 1980s , under Speaker Gingrich and the Contract with America in the 1990s and under President McCain in the 2000s helped grow our economy, give individual Americans more control over their economic destiny , and helped spread freedom across the world and in places which never had freedom before .

So no congressman Paul we do not need to run away from our record , we need to embrace it and stand boldly on our principles and that’s what I will do if I’m our party’s nominee in the Fall . Yes taking down an incumbent won’t be easy but it can be done if we stand boldly on our record and our principles and not run away from it .

Paul : Were their successes by our party over the past few decades , the answer is yes and we should defend it but that doesn’t mean there were things we failed at . For example not a single Republican president since Eisenhower has balanced the budget , not a single Republican president in my lifetime has stood up and really defended individual liberty and we can see these examples from the failed war on drugs and giving our agencies the ability to spy on Americans , and not a single Republican president has stood by and followed the words of our founders to not get entangled in all these overseas conflicts . By the way President Hillary Clinton has continued the policies of prior republican presidents in these areas so if you really want to run on change we need to mark a change in these areas .

[OSR stands with Israel]

House Passes Financial Reform Bill:


Cooper: The House earlier today passed a financial reform bill which had these provisions

Details of the Reform:

- Put in place stricter qualified mortgage rules to prevent defaults of home mortgages

- Largest Financial Institutions will not be allowed to have leverage ratios at any greater than 20:1 by 2016

- Largest Financial Institutions will be required to hold at least 8% of their assets in liquid capital

- Put stricter regulation on ability for commercial banks to engage in proprietary trading and investing in hedge funds/private equity

- This law will only apply to financial institutions with total consolidated assets of 250 billion or more

Cooper: This bill passed with most Democrats voting for it and a third of Republicans voting for it. President Clinton called the bill a good bill but also hopes the Senate can make it better but if it cant, she would be willing to sign this bill into law.

Senator Jindal praised some of the legislation but called for some parts to be improved while Congressman Paul calls it a bad regulation that does reform the wrong way.

Jindal wins Arizona and Michigan in lead up to Super Tuesday

Blitzer: With Super Tuesday just 48 hours away, heres an updated look how the delegate count looks so far and remember since Mini Tuesday both Michigan and Arizona have voted and both voted for Senator Jindal and despite both states losing half their delegates for holding their primary before Super Tuesday, Senator Jindal benefited from winner take all rules to run up his delegate count.

Michigan: Jindal 60% 24 Delegates Paul 40% 6 Delegates
Arizona: Jindal 67% 29 Delegates Paul 33%

Total Delegates So Far:

Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 206 Delegates
Representative Ron Paul 85 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 48 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 7 Delegates
Virginia Senator George Allen 4 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2 Delegates



Blitzer: So John Senator Jindal goes into Super Tuesday with a lot of momentum

King: Yes, he does and with Governors Romney and Giuliani campaigning for him in the New England and Governor Bush campaigning with him in the South, former Senate Majority Leader Slade Gorton in Washington , the establishment is going all in to ensure that he wins the nomination. In fact out of the Dozen contests that are up tomorrow this is what we believe

Likely to go to Jindal: GA , TN , VA, OH , OK

Likely to go to Paul : VT, AK

Battleground: MA , ND , ID, WY , WA

King: As you can see the problem with the Paul strategy is that even if he sweeps the battlegrounds, Jindal wins the bigger states and given delegate allocation, he likely will come out with the advantage . So right now Senator Jindal is well situated for Super Tuesday.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Here's the actual Dodd-Frank: https://fin.plaid.com/articles/major-provisions-of-the-wall-street-reform-and-consumer/

[2016]

Jindal is likely going to be the Republican Nominee for President but he's also likely to lose to President Hillary Clinton in the General Election.

Clinton probably wins Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida because of the Hispanic Vote. Florida alone which has 29 Electoral Votes in 2012 would end the Race effectivly. Governor Rubio & Senator Bush have to campaign hard there for Senator Jindal.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Jindal takes firm control of GOP race after winning 8 of 12 contests on Super Tuesday



Source: https://www.cfr.org/blog/campaign-2016-bobby-jindal-gop-presidential-candidate

Blitzer : Senator Bobby Jindal had a big night winning 8 of the 12 contests up tonight including winning most of the battleground contests too. Lets now look at the contests won by each candidate and look at the overall delegate count

Contests Won by Bobby Jindal:

Georgia: Jindal 74% 56 Delegates Paul 25% 20 Delegates
Virginia: Jindal 63% 49 Delegates Paul 36%
Ohio: Jindal 64% 54 Delegates Paul 35% 12 Delegates
Massachusetts: Jindal 52% 22 Delegates Paul 47% 19 Delegates
Oklahoma: Jindal 70% 30 Delegates Paul 29% 13 Delegates
Tennessee: Jindal 76% 44 Delegates Paul 23% 14 Delegates
North Dakota: Jindal 50% 14 Delegates Paul 49% 14 Delegates
Washington: Jindal 54% 23 Delegates Paul 45% 20 Delegates

Contests Won by Ron Paul:

Vermont: Paul 68% 13 Delegates Jindal 31% 4 Delegates
Wyoming: Paul 53% 16 Delegates Jindal 46% 13 Delegates
Idaho: Paul 51% 32 Delegates Jindal 48%
Alaska: Paul 60% 16 Delegates Jindal 39% 11 Delegates

Total Delegates So Far:

Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 526 Delegates
Representative Ron Paul 274 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 48 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 7 Delegates
Virginia Senator George Allen 4 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2 Delegates



Blitzer: So John, how does the remaining Delegate math look

King: As we have mentioned many times, to win the nomination on the first ballot you need 1,144 delegates and as we can see Senator Jindal is almost half way there already and we still have 33 contests to go as remember while we have 50 states , DC and 5 territories play a part in the nominating process and out of those 33 contests, 5 of them are in the 6 largest states so while that may give the Paul camp hope, that also means Jindal hasnt had the ability to run up the totals in those states yet.

Now as for the delegate math, Senator Jindal only needs around 43.3% of the rest of the delegates to win the nomination while Congressman Paul needs 61.1% so as you can see Jindal is starting to get a pretty big advantage. This is further exacerbated by the fact that Senator Jindal has won 61.1% of the delegates so far so Congressman Paul needs a huge turnout if he wants any chance of winning.

Blitzer: Thanks John, now lets go over to our panel. So Pat , many have compared the Ron Paul candidacy so far to your candidacies in 1992 and 1996 so what do you think of his night so far.

Buchanan: Wolf, I would not say our candidacies are the same given our differences on many social issues but the fact is his core message of having a non interventionist foreign policy and being opposed to these big government programs is resonating so much because he is the only candidate from either party these past two decades to even talk about both these issues. While yes he may not be winning, I want to point out he is doing better than I ever did and the important part is he is laying the groundwork for a movement than can start gaining influence in the GOP.

So while it is unlikely he will win the nomination, the fact is he is showing that there is an appetite for his message in so many congressional districts and even states across the country which means someone with his ideology could win many house and senate seats and then start to influence policy.

Cupp: I wouldnt get to excited about that because Congressional primaries work very differently than presidential ones do but I will say yes potential is there to potentially reshape parts of the GOP caucus if this campaign really becomes a movement but its hard to say if it will happen or not. Also I am not sure how much of Congressman Paul is because of his policies vs this field not being a relatively weak Republican field and the fact is in 2016 it will not be this weak. Either the GOP will have an incumbent President in Bobby Jindal or if he loses you will see a much stronger GOP field in 2016. Here is a potential field 4 years from now: George W Bush, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Susana Martinez , Paul Ryan, Nikki Haley and I could go on and on really. Hell there are rumors that Congress may pass an amendment allowing non natural born Americans who have been Citizens for 30 years to run for President which would mean potentially Arnold Schwarzenegger too so the fact is I am not really seeing where this Ron Paul Revolution is coming from because who will lead it after him.

Buchanan: You may see it from Ron Paul himself SE and yes people may bring up his age but he has a lot of energy for his age and the same may be true 4 years from now and if the Republicans lose, he will get to run an I told you so campaign and potentially ride that wave for 4 years just like Ronald Reagan did after 1976.  Or you may see someone else leading this movement 4 years from now , but who knows .

Borger : I think really if Congressman Paul is smart he would enthusiastically endorse Senator Jindal if these types of results continue to happen for a month or so in exchange for concessions in the platform . Keep in mind Ronald Reagan did do that in 1976 which created goodwill for him in 1980 and second if Jindal manages to win , getting those promises will mean he’d still have had impact on public policy .

[OSR stands with Israel]

Jindal continues to dominate primaries by sweeping rest of March primaries with the exception of Hawaii


Contests won by Bobby Jindal :

American Samoa Convention: Jindal 9 Delegates
Alabama : Jindal 81% 41 Delegates Paul 18% 9 Delegates
Guam Convention : Jindal 9 Delegates
Kansas : Jindal 66% 32 Delegates Paul 33% 8 Delegates
Illionis: Jindal 63% 52 Delegates Paul 36% 17 Delegates
Louisiana: Jindal 90% 46 Delegates Paul 9%
Mississippi: Jindal 82% 33 Delegates Paul 17% 7 Delegates
Northern Marinara Island: Jindal 77% 7 Delegates Paul 22% 2 Delegates
Puerto Rico : Jindal 75% 23 Delegates Paul 24%
US Virgin Island : Jindal 55% 5 Delegates Paul 44% 4 Delegates

Contests won by Ron Paul:

Hawaii: Paul 53% 11 Delegates Jindal 46% 9 Delegates


Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 792 Delegates
Representative Ron Paul 332 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 48 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 7 Delegates
Virginia Senator George Allen 4 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2 Delegates




Blitzer: So John is Congressman Paul done after a string of defeats

King: Well as usual lets look at the math and as we can see that Senator Jindal only needs 32% of the rest of the delegates to win the nomination while Congressman Paul needs 73.8% so the odds are extremely stacked against him especially given the fact a bunch of winner take all contests are up soon .

So is it over no, but it is very very hard for me to see a path for Congressman Paul to win the nomination at this point.

Blitzer: Now with us is former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Secretary Powell, you have been a critic of both these candidates but now that it looks like Senator Jindal is in very strong position to win the nomination , will you endorse him.

Powell: I am not ready to do so at the moment Wolf and let me tell you why. First he continues to spread the myth that if we sent troops into Iraq in 2010 , it would have prevented the Invasion when every one of our intelligence officers has said if we did , the Iranians and Syrians would have invaded then and the war would be harder to win not easier. Second and more problematic is he keeps saying that we should not have taken the deal when again high ranking officials in the military believe it is good that we did not go all the way to Tehran and Damascus and the deal to end the war was the best case scenario for peace in the region. Now I can tell you this, and that is we have tried the policy of running foreign policy and wars directly through DC and it ended up being disastrous so we should learn from those past mistakes instead of repeating them.

Blitzer: Do you worry then what would have happened if Senator Jindal was in the White House last August and had to make that decision

Powell: Yes I do and frankly let me tell you why going all the way would have been bad. The fact is we would need around half a million troops to occupy Syria and around a million and a half to occupy Iran which would completely spread our military thin and make us weaker to dealing with threats across the world because the fact is once you topple a government, it will take years before you can withdraw. The only way in my opinion to manage to occupy both Syria and Iran and not have our troops spread thin is by either reinstating a draft which should not happen or letting Russia and China have a significant influence in the occupation process which would mean the regime that wed replace the current ones with wouldnt be that much better.

So the fact is yes Senator Jindal is far more of a neoconservative than I am but so was Former President McCain but the difference is President McCain showed he would be willing to listen to the advice of our generals, intelligence agencies if they conflicted with his ideological agenda and Senator Jindal needs to show me that before I can endorse him because at the end of the day foreign policy is not about ideology but about actual facts on the ground.

Blitzer: Ok last question Secretary Powell, what do you say to the Republicans what about the economic and social issues

Powell: The fact is a President while they do have influence over economic and social policy, that at the end of the day is determined by Congress and the States. So if you are voting primary on those issues, I would say what matters the most is making sure the Republicans win both houses of Congress in 2012 and do well in state legislative races that will be up. On the other hand the President has a lot of power over foreign policy and national security policy which is why I vote based on that and why I have been a Republican for so long because our party has clearly had the edge on foreign policy in every election in my adult life with the exception of 1964. So am I open to endorsing Senator Jindal, yes but I am not ready to do so at this moment cause of these concerns.

Blitzer : Thanks for coming on Secretary Powell

Powell : Anytime Wolf

[OSR stands with Israel]

Jindal Sweeps April Primaries

Blitzer: Senator Jindal after a very strong April is now on the verge of the nomination as he is now only 32 delegates away from winning the nomination after sweeping every primary. Here is a summary of the results

Contests won by Bobby Jindal:

DC: Jindal 79% 19 Delegates Paul 20%
Maryland: Jindal 76% 37 Delegates Paul 23%
Wisconsin: Jindal 66% 42 Delegates Paul 33%
Connecticut: Jindal 56% 28 Delegates Paul 43%
Delaware : Jindal 61% 17 Delegates Paul 38%
New York: Jindal 70% 95 Delegates Paul 29%
Pennsylvania: Jindal 73% 72 Delegates Paul 26%
Rhode Island: Jindal 54% 10 Delegates Paul 45% 9 Delegates

Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 1112 Delegates
Representative Ron Paul 341 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 48 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 7 Delegates
Virginia Senator George Allen 4 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2 Delegates




Blitzer: So John, Senator Jindal had a dominanting performance this month

King: Yes and at the end of the day momentum is very very important in primaries and Senator Jindal had the momentum entering the primary and rode that to a sweep . Keep in mind every one of these contests except Rhode Island was winner take all so that really allowed Senator Jindal to rack up the numbers so it is fair to say it is all over at this point.

Blitzer: Pat, SE do you agree

Buchanan: Wolf, I would agree that Ron Paul's hopes of becoming the Republican nominee is pretty much done at this point but I do not think it means his campaign is done at this moment. There are multiple reasons someone may continue their campaign, from influencing the party platform and to build the ground work in each state for future election cycles as well so I would say it depends on the type of question you are asking

Cupp: I think it is absolutely over at this point though I understand why CNN Cant officially say that because it is theortically possible for Ron Paul to get 100% of the remaining delegates and force a contested convention but thats not realistically possible so its over in that sense. I also disagree that it would be in the best interests for his movement for him to continue as that creates a perception that he is not a team player while if he drops out now , then he could extract some concessions from Senator Jindal and create the perception he is a team player which would help in building a movement.

Blitzer: That is interesting though according to Congressman Paul, he will not be dropping out tonight so the primary so we wont be declaring the primary over just yet

Cupp: That is a mistake in my opinion

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

RON PAUL REVOLUTION!

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking News: Lousiana Senator Bobby Jindal Becomes the Presumptive Republican Nominee after wins in Indiana , West Virginia and North Carolina



Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/24/416990332/5-things-you-should-know-about-bobby-jindal

Blitzer: Tonight was indeed a historic night as not only did Senator Bobby Jindal win every contest up tonight, he also crossed the delegate threshold meaning he will become the first person nominated from either the Republican or Democratic parties to not only be an Indian-American but the first Minority in general and if he wins he will become the first non white president. Here is a summary of the results tonight what led to this historic moment:


Indiana: Jindal 77% 46 Delegates Paul 22%
North Carolina: Jindal 84% 46 Delegates Paul 15% 9 delegates
West Virginia: Jindal 68% 25 Delegates Paul 31% 6 Delegates

Louisiana Senator Bobby Jindal 1229 Delegates
Representative Ron Paul 356 Delegates
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 48 Delegates
New York Governor Rudy Giuliani 7 Delegates
Virginia Senator George Allen 4 Delegates
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty 2 Delegates




Blitzer: Stand by so we can listen in to Congressman Paul

Ron Paul Suspends Campaign but does not Endorse Jindal at the moment:

Paul : Thank You Thank You . A short while ago , Senator Jindal officially crossed the threshold needed to win the Republican Party nomination and due to that I have to sadly say that I will be suspending my campaign as I no longer have any chance left at winning the nomination. Many are now questioning whether or not I will endorse our party’s presumptive nominee , Senator Bobby Jindal, and my answer to that it is not important whether or not I endorse him or not but whether or not he can convince you to vote for him in November as he will require not only your vote but for you to turn out in large numbers if he is to lead our party to victory . Since I also want to see our party win this November here are some ways I believe Senator Jindal can do so and I fully understand that the both of us do have very big differences in views . Despite our philosophical differences, I do believe there is some common ground we can find with his philosophy, and here they are :

- Senator Jindal  claims to be a strict constructionist when it comes to the constitution so if that’s the case he should have zero issue committing to these policies

1. Ending the practice of warantless wiretapping as that is a clear violation of the 4th amendment and any strict constructionist should agree

2. Believing all military interventions should first have to be approved by Congress which again anyone who is a strict constructionist would agree because the constitution makes it clear that Congress and not the President has the power to declare war or authorize military interventions

3. Truly believing in the 10th amendment of the constitution which means letting states do stuff you may disagree with. Any person who considers themselves a strict constructionist should be able to agree with this

- Senator Jindal Claims to be a strong economic/fiscal conservative which if true he should support these policies

1. He should pledge to nominate someone to the Federal reserve who will ensure a strong dollar and prevent asset inflation like he promised at the debate

2. While we may have differences on foreign policy, everyone should agree that the Pentagon should be audited given how much money we spend on it to ensure that taxpayer money is not being falling into the hands of special interests or wasted.

3. To have a plan on how we can get to a balanced budget within 5 years of taking office.


These policies proposals would show to not only my voters , but to voters all across the nation that our party is serious in a constitutional conservative agenda and help us provide a contrast to the Democrats that is needed to win in November. I want to end by once again thanking all my supporters and letting them know that while we may have lost this election, the fight has just begun, and it is important we sustain the movement we created in this election so we can finally implement the changes our nation needs. Thank You

Blitzer: So Pat and SE what did you think

Buchanan: I think it was smart because the fact is Congressman Paul had two difficult options which was 1. let his base down by immediately endorsing Senator Jindal which would deflate his movement which was the whole point of his campaign or 2. refuse to endorse Senator Jindal which would result in the party establishment accusing him of not being a team player and destroying his movement that way. So I think the route he chose of holding his endorsement for now in exchange for policy promises that both his base and Senator Jindal's base could agree to was smart

Cupp: My guess is it was just an excuse for him to not have to endorse Senator Jindal but I do hope I am wrong here as we do need to unite as a party if we want to win.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Bobby Jindal's Potential Vice Presidential Picks

The Favorites:


Rudy Giuliani:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rudy_Giuliani_(cropped).jpg

Mitt Romney:



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mitt_Romney_by_Gage_Skidmore_6_cropped.jpg

Tim Pawlenty:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Pawlenty_official_photo.jpg

Jon Kyl:



https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Kyl,_official_109th_Congress_photo_(cropped).jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Paul Ryan:



Source : https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Ryan_official_portrait_(cropped_3x4).jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Rob Portman :



https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rob_Portman_portrait_(1).jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Tom Davis:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tom_Davis_headshot.jpg


Potential Wildcards:

Marco Rubio:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcorubio2.jpg

Susana Martinez:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Governor_NewMexico.jpg

Carly Fiorina:



https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carly_Fiorina_NFRW_2015_lighting_corrected.jpg

Gary Johnson:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GJ_Head_Shot_1_(10483995115)_(1).jpg

Gordon Smith:



Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gordon_Smith_official_portrait.jpg

[BigVic]

Republicans nominating an Ethnic as candidate up against the first female president. 2012 is going to be historic either way ITTL.