The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week's Watcher's Council match up.
"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." - President Ronald Reagan
"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right." - H.L. Mencken
""The last man nearly ruined this place, he didn't know what to do with it/If you think this country's bad off now,just wait 'til I get through with it!"-Groucho Marx as Rufus T. Firefly in "Duck Soup" 1933
"We have given you a republic - if you can keep it."
-Benjamin Franklin describing the new American government to his fellow citizen Mrs. Powel after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, 1787
This week's winning essay by a nose,Joshuapundit's -A Change In The Weather - Looking At The Current GOP Field is the first of two articles (the next one will examine the Democrats) on the current presidential aspirants, their strengths and weaknesses as I see them and how they stack up. I limited it to those whom gave either announced or whom are obviously gearing up to do so. Here's a slice:
It's early days, and a few people who will likely be running haven't formally announced yet. But I think it's worth looking at Republican contenders for the White House and giving you my initial impressions. I'll be looking at Democrats in a subsequent article.
Senator Ted Cruz was the first to announce, and of course caught an initial blast from the Left's media hacks. We certainly can't dignify them with the term 'journalist since so many of them are simply Leftist activists with access to a microphone or a byline. Expect them to ignore blatant violations of law by the likes of Mrs. Clinton while examining in great detail any occasion where one of the Republican candidates borrowed five bucks from someone ten years ago and forgot to pay it back.
In a sense though, Senator Cruz was either exhibiting great courage, a certain amount of naivete or a mixture of the two by choosing the venue and the speech he did for his announcement. And I say that as someone whom admires him a great deal. By speaking at a Christian college at a time when Christians are under vicious attack by the Left and indeed, by the Obama Administration, he showed exactly what a brave man of principle he is. And make no mistake, Ted Cruz is a man of principle.
He is also a dynamic speaker, scary smart and a superb debater who has argued cases before the Supreme Court.
The one false note he's hit so far didn't particularly jar me, but I think it might have bothered others...his emphasis in his speech on his profession of Christian faith.
Ronald Reagan too was a man of rock solid faith, but when he voiced it, he took great care to phrase it in ways that were deliberately inclusive. Ted Cruz did not. For many people, this was their first opportunity to actually hear and see Ted Cruz speak. He's already been painted by the usual suspects as a fanatic rather than the articulate and accomplished man he is, and I have no doubt that some of them felt somewhat uncomfortable, although Cruz's audience obviously went wild over it. I look on it as an unforced error (and by no means a major one) by someone not quite used to campaigning with an eye towards a nationwide audience. And it pales when you look at how dynamically he came across, with no podium and no teleprompter, moving all over the stage to a crowd of wildly cheering students.
Ted Cruz will only get better as he goes along.
It's interesting to compare Ted Cruz with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. While Ted Cruz says the right things and articulates them with great skill and aplomb, Scott Walker simply does things and talks about them in ordinary, everyman style. It's Governor Scott Walker who took on some of most vicious public employee unions in the country and won, Scott Walker who balanced Wisconsin's budget, lowered taxes, oversaw the creation of thousands of jobs,and passed a badly needed voter ID law. And he did it while facing two election campaigns and one recall that were financed by millions of out of state dollars as well as death threats aimed at him and his family. The Left wanted Scott Walker's head badly,even to the extent of judge shopping to try and embroil him in bogus charges of campaign financing misdeeds. But he defeated them because he inherently understood that these people need to be challenged and fought, not accommodated and appeased. And because his performance, not his rhetoric spoke for itself. That experience is going to help him a great deal in the current campaign, as evidenced by his embarrassing the media over a dollar sweater and his superb push back to President Barack Obama's condescending horse manure about 'boning up' on foreign policy vis a vis Iran.
Yeah, Scott Walker has already faced the full force of the Left and survived quite nicely, thanks.And he puts up with zero static from the Left. That combination could take him a long way.
Profiles of Senator Rand Paul and others at the link
In our non-Council category, the winner was The one and only Mark Steyn's wonderful Treason and Corruption submitted by The Noisy Room. All I'll say is that if you've never read Mark Steyn before, you're in for a treat.
Here are this week’s full results. Only The RightPlanet was unable tovote tis week, but was not subject to the 2/3 vote penalty for not voting :
Council Winners
- *First place with 2 2/3 votes!–A Change In The Weather - Looking At The Current GOP Field
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes –The Noisy Room – Obama Strangles the Monroe Doctrine and Embraces Latin Dictatorships, Communists and Fascists
- Third place with 2 votes –Don Surber – Chelsea Called Secret Service Pigs?
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –The Independent Sentinel – U.N.-Led EPA Condemns Congress for Interfering With Their Fiats
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –The Right Planet – RFRA Madness!
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote –Bookworm Room – Are members of our military the most romantic people in America?
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote –Ask Marion – GOP Has Great Hopefuls...Needs Strategy
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote –The Glittering Eye -Our Lousy Tax System
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote –Nice Deb – Daaaang: Dems and Repubs Strike Deal to Ensure Congressional Role in Iran Deal
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote –VA Right! - If Presidential Candidates were Hairstyles Hillary Would Be a Mullet
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote –The Razor – Gay Married Couples Subject to the Marriage Penalty
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote –Rhymes With Right – Effort To Censor Pro-Military, Pro-American Film Nearly Succeeds At Michigan
Non-Council Winners
- First place with 2 1/3 votes! –Mark Steyn –Treason and Corruption submitted by The Noisy Room
- Second place with 2 votes –Powerline – The Crusades Haven't Been In The News Lately submitted by The Watcher
- Third place with 1 1/3 votes – Alan Caruba/Warning Signs – Only Fools Trust Obama or the Iranians submitted by The Right Planet
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –The National Review Editors – Marco Rubio Has the Right Ideas, and More submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –Andrew McCarthy – Obama’s Iran ‘Framework’ Is a Chimera submitted by Joshuapundit
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –Judicial Watch – SIS Camp a Few Miles from Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirmsubmitted byVA Right!
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –Austin Bay – Obama's Iran Understanding: The Verifiable Facts submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –Maureen Mullarkey/First Things – RFRA And My Wedding Ring submitted by Rhymes with Right
- Fifth place with 2/3 vote –Mitch Ginsburg/Times of Israel-How I learned to stop loving Obama and worry about the bomb submitted by Bookworm Room
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote –Andrew Malcolm – Rubio: 'We must change the decisions we are making by changing the people making them' submitted by Don Surber
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote –Brett Stephens/WSJ – Hillary and the Liberal Way of Lying submitted by The Watcher
See you next week!
Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. and every Tuesday morning, when we reveal the weeks' nominees for Weasel of the Week!
And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.
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