Author Topic: Buzz builds around Walker  (Read 3119 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline mystery-ak

  • Owner
  • Administrator
  • ******
  • Posts: 381,821
  • Gender: Female
  • Let's Go Brandon!
Buzz builds around Walker
« on: January 29, 2015, 01:29:54 pm »
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/231101-everyones-talkin-about-scott-walker

By Cameron Joseph - 01/29/15 06:00 AM EST
The Beltway is abuzz over Scott Walker.

The Wisconsin governor is the talk of Washington Republicans following his much-heralded speech in Iowa last weekend during the state’s first 2016 candidate cattle call.

Walker’s strong showing in the Hawkeye State is reverberating back in D.C., where donors, kingmakers and lawmakers in both houses of Congress are talking about him as a top-tier candidate in the crowded GOP field.

“He should feel pretty good about this past weekend,” said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who organized the Iowa Freedom Summit. “So far, this week has been pretty good for Scott Walker.”
The governor has been making moves toward a White House run, hiring some top GOP staffers and launching a new fundraising organization on Tuesday. He’ll be in Washington on Friday to deliver a high-profile speech to a leading conservative organization, his first public speech in D.C. since his 2014 reelection win.

Walker has long drawn praise from disparate parts of his party, though questions have lingered about his charisma.

Hard-line conservatives love his high-profile battles with Wisconsin’s unions and successful push for legislation on a number of their priorities, including lower taxes, tightened restrictions on abortions and loosened ones on guns.

“He seems like a great guy, and he gave a tremendous speech,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a leading Tea Party conservative who also spoke at the Iowa confab.

Establishment-leaning Republicans love that he’s shown how to govern and win three elections in four years in a state that usually leans Democratic.

“He’s got a great record in Wisconsin, and I think he’s great,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of Senate GOP leadership. “It sounds like he had a good showing in Iowa at the Freedom Summit and getting a lot of good feedback from that. If he can continue to get his story out there, he’s got a lot of room to expand his support.”

A handful of Republicans said that members of the Wisconsin

congressional delegation, including Rep. Paul Ryan (R) have long talked up Walker and his accomplishments.

The 2012 vice presidential nominee could have a tough time deciding who to back if his onetime running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, throws his hat back in the ring.

“I think very highly of Congressman Ryan, who thinks very highly of him, and [Rep.] Sean Duffy [R-Wis.],” said Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who said he hasn’t met Walker but hears good things. “If you can win in a state like Wisconsin three times in a course of a handful of years, you’re certainly worth listening to.”

While no one’s ready to endorse this early in the process, GOP power players are gushing about Walker.

King, a favorite of movement conservatives, said he’s heard the most about Walker from other House members since he returned to D.C., especially from Midwestern Republicans. He said there’s “no doubt” that the governor generated a lot of buzz with his speech.

“He rolled up his sleeves, went out there and delivered. And that was a very positive presence for him; it worked out to be a very favorable stop,” he said.

Even some of Walker’s biggest proponents were surprised by how well he did in Iowa last weekend.

“I always assumed that many Republicans would take a hard look at Walker based on his accomplishments  as governor. I was surprised that he’s getting such rave reviews on his presentation and speech in Iowa, which is not where I thought he’d shine,” said Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who said he’d stay neutral in the primary.

The governor’s new fundraising group, Our American Revival, rolled out an introductory video on Wednesday, implicitly making the case for his candidacy.

“To reclaim our destiny, we must turn to bold, fresh and new ideas from those incubators of reform: the states,” the video says after attacking Washington politicians and showing photos of President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The video then touts Walker’s record of “bold, conservative reform and new ideas, ideas that empower people and spark innovation, that turn around troubled economies.”

Walker’s well-received Iowa speech is only the first step in a marathon toward the nomination, and the drawn-out primary process often means candidates fade after a few good weeks.

But the speech helped undercut GOP doubters’ biggest criticism — that he lacks charisma and fire. Leaders from both wings of the party say Walker could be the man best positioned to unite the GOP.

“Americans have heard a lot more about him the last few weeks. He’s gone from a conservative hero to a well-known leading candidate. … There was interest before Iowa, but it’s peaked now,” said Fred Malek, a top Washington-based GOP donor who worked closely with Walker as finance chairman for the Republican Governors Association.

Walker will be in D.C. on Friday to address Malek’s group, the American Action Forum, and Malek plans to introduce the governor around the city.

Though he emphasized that he plans to stay neutral in the GOP primary, Malek said Walker is very popular with parts of the Republican donor class, pointing to the huge fundraising figures the governor posted for his recall election and subsequent reelection in the fall.

“He’s one of the few political leaders who has the respect to unite the party, who has trust and respect on the right for his many previous accomplishments in Wisconsin, and yet he doesn’t offend in any way the moderates and comes across to them as a sensible pragmatic person,” Malek continued. “He can bring it all together and he’ll be a really credible candidate.”
Proud Supporter of Tunnel to Towers
Support the USO
Democrat Party...the Party of Infanticide

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
-Matthew 6:34

Offline Bigun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51,331
  • Gender: Male
  • Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
    • The FairTax Plan
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2015, 02:30:42 pm »
Scott Walker is definitely on my short list!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline alicewonders

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13,021
  • Gender: Female
  • Live life-it's too short to butt heads w buttheads
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2015, 02:33:49 pm »
I like Scott Walker.  I'm glad he did well in Iowa, I could easily vote for him.

Don't tread on me.   8888madkitty

We told you Trump would win - bigly!

Online DCPatriot

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,793
  • Gender: Male
  • "...and the winning number is...not yours!
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2015, 02:55:49 pm »
Walker-Rubio......or Walker-Perry.

And I don't give a rat's patooie about Rubio's pedigree in the eyes of some social conservatives.  He's NOT a Leftist and he's keeping his eye on the 'brass ring'.  5-10 Million potential voters.

Informing Hispanics that Republicans are their path to the American Dream is no different than teaching the general public that pitbulls are loveable and trustworthy.

But it could be done.    :laugh:
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline GourmetDan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,277
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2015, 03:11:11 pm »
Walker-Rubio......or Walker-Perry.

The Left must really fear Perry, given their indictment and that he will have to go to trial.

The media will destroy Perry with that.

Too bad.  He seems like a good man...


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan

Offline Free Vulcan

  • Technical
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,683
  • Gender: Male
  • Ah, the air is so much fresher here...
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2015, 03:26:25 pm »
Walker, Perry, Jindal 1st tier, (in terms of viability). Carson, Christie, Fiorina, maybe Santorum, 2nd tier. Romney, Jeb, Huckabee, Rand, etc...fuggettaboudit. And others showing interest will not announce.

As of today. Tomorrow may change, but the cream is rising to the top.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 04:23:40 pm by Free Vulcan »
The Republic is lost.

Offline aligncare

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25,916
  • Gender: Male
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2015, 03:37:31 pm »
Walker's got me interested. Needs to stoke his fire-in-the-belly rhetoric, however. After all, this is the age of the charismatic demagogue. Must fight fire with fire to win over LIVs.

Let's face it. With celebrity-crazed voters, even Harry Truman wouldn't stand a chance in 2016.

Offline Lando Lincoln

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,473
  • Gender: Male
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2015, 03:39:08 pm »
As most of you know, I am a Wisconsin boy at heart.  Born and raised there and called it home for 34 years.  I still own a fair amount of property there and I go "home" as often as possible.  Very large family... a real Cheesehead I am. (A little silliness: I tell the Illinois folks I raised the average IQ of both states by moving here.)

The Left there fears this guy beyond measure which manifests itself in loathing unlike anything I have ever seen.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen heads explode over this guy, including my brother.  I mean, off the chart explosions.  Yet, Walker doesn't blink and is absolutely unflappable.  On point, on message, all the time.  And this with the liberal media of Milwaukee and Madison undermining him at every turn.  Extraordinary. 

It will be fascinating to see how his brand of politics translates to the big, BIG stage.  The Rachel Maddows and Chrissy Matthews of the world will eviscerate him at every opportunity.  He stands for fiscal restraint first and foremost.  He believes in the individual - in doing their fair share while having the freedom to benefit from that "doing".  He doesn't believe that others are entitled to those fruits and that the individual can prosper without the big Union umbrella protecting him/her.  Radical indeed for Wisconsin.

And, he never completed a college degree.

Should be fascinating.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2015, 04:13:47 pm by Lando Lincoln »
There are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.
John Steinbeck

Offline aligncare

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25,916
  • Gender: Male
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2015, 03:45:13 pm »
As most of you know, I am a Wisconsin boy at heart.  Born and raised there and called it home for 34 years.  I still own a fair amount of property there and I go "home" as often as possible.  Very large family... a real Cheesehead I am. (A little silliness: I tell the Illinois folks I raised the average IQ of both states by moving here.)

The Left there fears this guy beyond measure which manifests itself in loathing unlike anything I have ever seen.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen heads explode over this guy, including my brother.  I mean, off the chart explosions.  He doesn't blink and is absolutely unflappable.  On point, on message, all the time.  And this with the liberal media of Milwaukee and Madison undermining him at every turn.  Extraordinary. 

It will be fascinating to see how his brand of politics translates to the big, BIG stage.  The Rachel Maddows and Chrissy Matthews of the world will eviscerate him at every opportunity.  He stands for fiscal restraint first and foremost.  He believes in the individual - in doing their fair share while having the freedom to benefit from that "doing".  He doesn't believe that others are entitled to your fruits and that the individual can prosper without the big Union umbrella protecting him/her.  Radical, indeed, for Wisconsin.

And, he never completed a college degree.

Should be fascinating.


 :thumbsup:

Thanks for the local perspective.

Offline massadvj

  • Editorial Advisor
  • *****
  • Posts: 13,327
  • Gender: Male
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2015, 03:47:06 pm »
Rush all but endorsed him the other day.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/01/26/scott_walker_wows_em_in_iowa

He seems the obvious choice as a "unity" candidate.  I don't know anyone who DOESN'T like Scott Walker, although he may not be at the top of everyone's list.

Offline Lando Lincoln

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15,473
  • Gender: Male
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2015, 07:58:47 pm »
Brand-new two-minute Scott Walker ad...

http://www.ouramericanrevival.com/

There are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.
John Steinbeck

Offline alicewonders

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13,021
  • Gender: Female
  • Live life-it's too short to butt heads w buttheads
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2015, 08:01:13 pm »
Rush all but endorsed him the other day.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/01/26/scott_walker_wows_em_in_iowa

He seems the obvious choice as a "unity" candidate.  I don't know anyone who DOESN'T like Scott Walker, although he may not be at the top of everyone's list.

Excellent point, he does unite all factions of the party and has credentials too.  He is definitely a contender!

Don't tread on me.   8888madkitty

We told you Trump would win - bigly!

Offline aligncare

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25,916
  • Gender: Male
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2015, 09:15:29 pm »
Excellent point, he does unite all factions of the party and has credentials too.  He is definitely a contender!


It was okay in 2012 to consider Romney. The other candidates seemed to be just as flat as he was—except perhaps for Gingrich.

But it's 2015 and an excellent GOP field is developing, with many more qualified governors to consider for the top of the ticket and some excellent senators capable of filling the number two spot.

Offline alicewonders

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13,021
  • Gender: Female
  • Live life-it's too short to butt heads w buttheads
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2015, 10:16:37 pm »
It was okay in 2012 to consider Romney. The other candidates seemed to be just as flat as he was—except perhaps for Gingrich.

But it's 2015 and an excellent GOP field is developing, with many more qualified governors to consider for the top of the ticket and some excellent senators capable of filling the number two spot.

I agree.

Don't tread on me.   8888madkitty

We told you Trump would win - bigly!

Online DCPatriot

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,793
  • Gender: Male
  • "...and the winning number is...not yours!
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2015, 01:06:34 am »
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline Formerly Once-Ler

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 0
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #15 on: January 30, 2015, 03:21:20 am »
And I don't give a rat's patooie about Rubio's pedigree in the eyes of some social conservatives.  He's NOT a Leftist...

It is ridiculous that this needs to be said.  Rubio is a conservative.

Offline Free Vulcan

  • Technical
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,683
  • Gender: Male
  • Ah, the air is so much fresher here...
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2015, 03:31:46 am »
It was okay in 2012 to consider Romney. The other candidates seemed to be just as flat as he was—except perhaps for Gingrich.

But it's 2015 and an excellent GOP field is developing, with many more qualified governors to consider for the top of the ticket and some excellent senators capable of filling the number two spot.

One of the things I remarked to another activist who was at the Iowa Freedom Summit is how deep our bench is. We have at least a half dozen names or more who are or could be viable to win. Romney and all the other retreads need to stay home this time.
The Republic is lost.

Offline Fishrrman

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 35,355
  • Gender: Male
  • Dumbest member of the forum
Re: Buzz builds around Walker
« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2015, 04:06:19 am »
Lando wrote above:
[[ The Left there fears this guy beyond measure which manifests itself in loathing unlike anything I have ever seen.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen heads explode over this guy, including my brother.  I mean, off the chart explosions. ]]

The left hates Walker more than Cruz, because Walker has actually accomplished something. He has achieved real results in a difficult, purple-blue state like Wisconsin, literally turned the state around there.

They're going to aim the guns and slander machine at this guy, even more than they did with Palin. My prediction: Walker will slough it off, just as he did when the heat and pressure were on at the Wisconsin state capital.

I was perhaps the first person in this forum to state that Walker stands head and shoulders over all the other prospective candidates, and most Republican elected officials in general. Few, if any of them could take the full frontal attack that Mr. Walker has, and come out so well.

Most of the Republican candidates are simply B.S. artists, who talk a good talk.
Scott Walker --- he's "Walked the Walk"....

Could that become a campaign theme?
« Last Edit: January 30, 2015, 05:55:02 pm by Fishrrman »