Former Vice President Mike Pence ends campaign for the White House after struggling to gain traction

HockeyDad for Prezzie?

 

Pence never had a chance to begin with. Going by the Republican nomination polls, 60% want Trump and no one else.


https://www.realclearpolitics.com/e..._republican_presidential_nomination-7548.html


Heck, Trump has a 40-point lead over his next rival, DeSantis. So what are all these single digit candidates hanging around for? Perhaps hoping that one of the four upcoming trials will throw Trump in jail. That would be the only way I see it that anyone other than Trump could win the nomination. But even in jail, republicans would still vote for and make Trump their nominee. They worship the 7-time party switcher who’s totally devoid of any political philosophy of his own. The 7-time party switcher has always adopted the political ideology of the party he belonged to at the time. Trump is the number one, true RINO when it comes to political ideology or conservatism.

 

Pence has a political history and a set of talents like Joe Biden. He would have never been considered for the presidency had he not become vice president. I wish that we could turn the page on this idea that having been vice president makes one “presidential timber.” Unfortunately vice presidential candidates have been selected other reasons then, are they qualified to be president? Many have fallen short.

I wish that more of the low polling candidates would leave the race. It might be the only way to stop Trump.

 

We have the same understanding of where the power resides in Republican politics; the difference is in our interpretation of what Yabberefugee had meant by the term "establishment." IMO, he had meant the same thing, as you, above, refer to as RINO. However, while theoretically, these could be called the same, in reality, you overgeneralize. As long as the establishment people are playing ball with the MAGAs, they're not typically called RINOs; it's when they go against Trump or the MAGA agenda, that they get that moniker.

Again, I took Yabber to mean more traditional Republicans, as opposed to Trump's true believers. Though Haley did serve under Trump, she was twice elected before that as South Carolina governor. In that role, she was a "mainstream," establishment Republican. While she has adroitly made concessions to the MAGA crowd, she has clearly not gone "all in," with them. For example, she has not proposed her own national abortion restrictions (Rep. Scott, OTOH, who is considered "establishment," but who I had placed in between the two, has expressed his willingness to enact any limitations that can get through Congress, though he steers clear of commenting, as to any specifics).

So we are merely using different terminology. You are dividing Rs as either "establishment," or RINOs; I am calling those same groups MAGA/Trumpists, and "establishment." While either is valid, I think the poster to whom I'd been responding, was using "establishment," in this latter way. That is, the way that would term Mitch McConnell as "establishment"-- though he can also be thought of, by MAGAs, as a RINO (which we both know, is a turning of history, on its head).

 

I disagree. Haley could surge as an attractive alternative to the maga lapdogs and to trump.
At least, she would be a fairly sane conservative if she won the election.
Even I might vote for her.

 

This would be nice Joe, but, it's a pipe dream IMHO....

Crooked Donnie's rigged the game, he'll destroy the party if Haley is the nominee...

 

So, the 'maga', republicans who are unrecognizable from the conservative Republicans from the days of Reagan insist that they are the only true republicans, and if you are not like them (populist), then you are RINO. In other words when hijacked the word.

So, the MAGAs are for banning abortion? In that case, Trump can't be MAGA since he flipped to being pro-abortion. But of course MAGA is whatever Trump say it is. That's the name of the game.

 

Haley is currently at 8%, her high-water mark. She trails Trump by close to 42 points. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Although I do think Haley would be a much better general election candidate than Trump. Haley is much more an attractive candidate than Trump to independents, the general election deciders. Since both major party candidates, Trump and Biden are disliked and unwanted by most Americans, I don’t think winning the general election is a priority to either major party. Making a statement is regardless of the outcome of the general election.

 

The historic pattern of the center-right in American politics is for one organization to fail and be replaced by another.
Thus: Federalists -> Whigs -> Free Soilers -> Republicans -> ?

 

It seems that if anyone can grab the party back from trump, it’s her.
We all know trump will try to destroy whoever the repubs pick if they don’t pick him, but there is a lot of trump fatigue among repubs and the realization that he is damaged goods might convince them to coalesce around a candidate who can attract women and independents and even some democrats who are worried about Biden’s age while promoting conservative values to attract repubs and some maga.

 

The problem is that maga isn’t a polítical movement but a personality cult.
It has no political philosophy beyond irrationally pandering to trump.
It’s not sustainable.

 

And thus even more evanescent.

 

Pence is a giant human loogie, but even so, in the logical world of the days of yore, he would have at least been running 2nd and the last person to drop out...

 

I am just timed of them broadcasting their mental illness, think of the children.

 

I don’t have a god unlike your orange one

What gives me the right to ridicule someone’s delusion? First amendment I guess. And science / logic. Take your pick

 

So they are either admitting their god is made up or it’s wrong occasionally.

 

No downside to make that request/demand and Pence will likely do it in a few weeks... if he wants to live his post political years in relative safety and peace...

 

Yeah but we first have to get past the cult of personality and the cult leader to stop his direct social media disinformation daily campaigns. His s.m. campaign outreach knows his core support better than they know themselves.

 

You gotta post that full statement

SNIP
He thought God was calling him to, now, be vice president and function as a president-in-waiting.”
ENDSNIP

He was President-in-waiting, and the waiting turned into....nevergonnahappen.....

 

, seriously.

 

We shall see.

 

I agree. As a former VP Pence should be leading the pack if one was going by your term, the days of yore. But going up against a former president is in unchartered territory historical wise. The only historical precedence was Grover Cleveland who lost his 1888 bid for reelection. But ran again in 1992 and won. This was decades prior to our modern primary system which began in 1976. The nomination was decided in smoke filled rooms by the Democratic Party leadership.

 

Of course, MAGAs have appropriated the term, "conservative," so that it is now more about social issues, and has stricter litmus tests, tolerates less variation. "Conservative" can still mean being for a balanced budget-- though only, for sure, while Biden is still in the White House. But, then again, Reagan Republicans didn't balance the budget, either (though they were a lot more fiscally responsible, than was Trump). Still, I would disagree with your assessment, that conservatives from the Reagan era, are indistinguishable from today's MAGA. For one thing, rather than being isolationist-- weren't they very committed to restraining the Soviet Union/Russia? That is something that today's "conservatives," are much less dogmatic about.

Now you've got it.

 

In the running for headline of the weekend

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mike-pence-calls-quits-presidential-200436274.html

Mike Pence calls it quits on presidential campaign due to no one really caring about him

 

....but would you VOTE for him???