Politics & Current Events
BlueBirdMB
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Thoughts so far
@MommyLiberty5013 I've been super impressed with Carson lately. He's at the top of my list of candidates to meet, but he hasn't been in NH much and has no future appearances planned. He's probably the only candidate that I haven't heard anything I disagree with. I also think he speaks clearly and directly, but without being rude or crass *cough Trump cough*.
My thoughts so far about people I've met (not as many as I would have liked, but it's still a long time until February).
Kasich: Might be electable, but he just was... more of the same. I didn't hear anything from him that hasn't been done before. He was also extremely long winded and off topic in his stump speech, so much that it left very little time for speaking to voters.
Christie: Don't agree with everything he says- maybe not even most of it- but he is lovable damn it. He's WONDERFUL one on one. If he could individually speak to every single candidate, he'd win in a landslide. He also has a very specific plan, regardless of whether you like it or not. He can come off a little harsh on camera, but in person, he's so warm and you can't help but like him.
Fiorina: Loved her. She is on her A game and has her facts in line more than most of the candidates. She's strong, concise, and has a way of speaking where you just have to listen to her and remember every word. She has her shit together. She might end up getting my vote- we'll see.
Walker: What a gigantic disappointment. Two days before I was suppose to meet him, I heard a from the head of a local republican chapter that Walker had permanently gotten the local republican party throw out of a venue because he and his people were so rude and demanding to the staff. He was 45 minutes late to the event where I saw him. Such a diva. I hate that. I liked the little I heard of him, but he is SO BORING, that I couldn't keep myself focused enough to listen. I also don't like much about his health care plan (although at least he has one) because I think it's more government bureaucracy, just in a different way.
Still on my list to see: Carson, Rubio, Cruz, Jindal.
Where is everyone else at? Thoughts so far, Republicans?
Re: Thoughts so far
@BlueBirdMB, thanks for sharing some of your personal experiences with some of the candidates. Out of curiosity, how have you gotten to meet so many?
Although I have not met him personally, I live in Louisiana and can give you some background on Jindal (governor of LA). Certainly some of this is personal opinion. He has one of the worst approval ratings of any governor in the U.S. (fact). They asked him about this in the secondary debate and his response was something about when you do unpopular things, even if they are good for the people, this happens (rolling eyes). This is especially horrifying when one realizes that Louisiana is one of the reddest states in the country. It's normally just a matter of course that we love our governor...as long as he/she is a Republican.
He has gutted higher education and medical services (opinion, but widely held opinion). He has spent his last four years as governor social climbing and getting ready for his current Presidential bid. He doesn't even pretend to care about serving in the office he was actually elected for (opinion).
Last, but not least, earlier this year he made an official visit to England. This was before he announced his candidacy, but was DEFINITELY a set up to show his "foreign policy skills"...disguised as a visit to encourage companies to set up offices in Louisiana (opinion). While there, he had the opportunity to address Parliament and proceeded to cause an international incident by criticizing the supposed "no go" zones in London. Even Fox News had a "WTF?!?" reaction to his speech. Prime Minister Cameron literally said something to the effect of he "choked on his oatmeal" as he was listening to the preposterous things Gov. Jindal was saying.
To summarize, goes to a foreign country that is one of our longest and strongest allies and proceeds to insult their PM and governing body. Lovely (sarcasm).
If by some crazy and horrible miracle he actually became the Repubican candidate...I doubt he could even carry his own super red state. That is how bad he is.
That's awesome to hear you get out there and make a point to meet as many candidates as possible! I'm sure that gives you a lot more insight. It's always different to meet some one in person and get a feel for them than only ever see what they have scripted and planned out.
Jindal drastically cut funding for state colleges and jr. colleges. To the point where some colleges might be closing and remaining ones are dropping programs they offer, and thereby those entire departments.
He refused the Federal government's Medicaid expansion...even though it would have been free for the state for two years and only a 10% cost after that. It left 242,000 of some of our poorest residents in a "no man's land" where they make too much money to go on traditional Medicaid, but don't make enough money to qualify for a subsidy. I believe we were one of the only states to do that, despite the fact that Louisiana historically ranks at the bottom for people's health and we have one of the highest percentages of people without any health care. I found this attitude especially surprising considering his background is hospital administration.
He was also a strongly against the Common Core, ranted against it, and fought against the Federal Government even after it had been decided. Which, on the surface, may not sound like a bad thing. And I might have even been fully behind him if we lived in a state with an awesome and functional primary educational system.
But we don't. He's spending time and money fighting against windmills to defend a public school system (Orleans) that is one of the worst in the country. Even if Common Core is not a great system, in our case, anything different could only be an improvement. I would have been a lot more impressed if he had at the beginning of his governorship been worried about improving the abysmal school system. However, schools were never a part of his rhetoric until recently. When he could grab media attention by being the naysayer about Common Core.
Obviously I don't like him and am wholly unimpressed with him...so definitely take that with a grain of salt
. But he's just such a stereotypical talking puppet politician. He rants about what's bad about this program and that program...but has no solutions himself.
"Cut the Medicaid Expansion! Cut the Common Core!"..."Great, Gov. Jindal! There are definitely problems with those programs...So what are your ideas to replace them and help the uninsured and the terrible public school systems?" And...cue the crickets.
I follow Carson's campaign very closely. He is spending A LOT of time and effort in Iowa right now. He actually leads Hillary there.
Carson has had an immense grassroots ground swell of support from both sides of the aisle. He has peoples' attention.
My ILs got to meet him in Iowa. They both said he is very kind-hearted. And that he has great ideas and a lot of gumption as well as an ability to make people work as a team.
A great way to keep up on any candidate and what they're up to is to "Friend" them on FB. Then you get important announcements. I also love reading peoples' commentary on the Carson page.