Bluegrassrivals

Your thoughts?

Safe choice. Resonates with conservative base. Should improve polling performance with GOP (Currently at 80%, needs to be 90%). With this VP selection and Trumps recent polling results, the #NeverTrumpers need to be dealt with severely and totally marginalized if they contest the nomination.

I'm mixed on it, had Pence not caved on the RFRA bill last year I would be a lot more comfortable with it. He would back down on a big issue, but this is still way better than Chris Christie. Had Trump chosen Christie, there would be zero chance I vote for Trump. I didn't see Trump choosing someone like Christie, Gingrich, or even Cotton, of whom are quite vocal and would challenge him on several issues. I would expect Trump to choose someone with a "yes man" type personality for the position given how he likes to have full command.

We'll see how this impacts the election, I am shocked he is polling at 80% in his own party right now given everything that has gone on, most polls I see have him in the low 70's. I haven't followed the #NeverTrump movement closely, but IMO it's a very small percentage. That whole thing about a convention blow up is just media hype. I can't fault someone not voting for him, however, given how he conducted himself against other candidates in the primary and chased off key potential allies combined with him being susceptible to shifting his opinion on an issue. I know you have to be tough, you have to be aggressive, you have to attack in the primary but he went overboard on a few things. Whether or not he is able to gain back those supporters, remains to be seen.

I'd say my chances for voting for Trump went up after this, although by only a small margin. I'm going to continue to watching things unfold before I make any big decision on the scenario.

I think this choice had a lot to do with his family. From what i've read they wanted Pence. I think it's a safe choice, it certainly could have been worse. I'm just ready to get the convention started, and get on to Hillary afterward. I will say, i like some of the speakers they've lined up, i'm anxious to see how Paul Ryan is going to handle his speech, he's writing it himself so who knows what to expect from him.

I fully expect Paul Ryan to fully insert his foot in his mouth. Pence is a good solid choice, I still say he should have selected Huckabee.

WideRight05 Wrote:I'm mixed on it, had Pence not caved on the RFRA bill last year I would be a lot more comfortable with it. He would back down on a big issue, but this is still way better than Chris Christie. Had Trump chosen Christie, there would be zero chance I vote for Trump. I didn't see Trump choosing someone like Christie, Gingrich, or even Cotton, of whom are quite vocal and would challenge him on several issues. I would expect Trump to choose someone with a "yes man" type personality for the position given how he likes to have full command.

We'll see how this impacts the election, I am shocked he is polling at 80% in his own party right now given everything that has gone on, most polls I see have him in the low 70's. I haven't followed the #NeverTrump movement closely, but IMO it's a very small percentage. That whole thing about a convention blow up is just media hype. I can't fault someone not voting for him, however, given how he conducted himself against other candidates in the primary and chased off key potential allies combined with him being susceptible to shifting his opinion on an issue. I know you have to be tough, you have to be aggressive, you have to attack in the primary but he went overboard on a few things. Whether or not he is able to gain back those supporters, remains to be seen.

I'd say my chances for voting for Trump went up after this, although by only a small margin. I'm going to continue to watching things unfold before I make any big decision on the scenario.

I know what they've been saying about Trump selecting Christie but I don't think he was ever going to, he'll be the Attorney General. I don't see Pence as being near the statesman and communicator Mike Huckabee is, JMO but, people can never see the forest for the trees it seems. I doubt Huckabee would have ever caved on religious freedom for example, but remember, Pence caved before Trump showed the GOP that having a set was okay again.

But you're right, Trump has gone too far with several things and it took Manafort to straighten him out. New York brass is fine, but you can't be all brass and no tact. Especially after John Q Public has been taught to expect government to be there to hand so many things to them for the asking. And like I have been saying, people who think the resistance will not be fierce against any reinstatement of conservative principle are kidding themselves. Now that they've been taught how to do it, protests will be oft and ugly. Dems will stage congressional sit-ins and walk-outs, they will kick and scream and lie and filibuster until and if Trump secures reelection.

Only by that time will the US have managed to pull out of the liberally inspired nose dive, and the second 4 years we can start to make some hay. It will take that long to rescind the regs and cleanse the liberally rife offices, halls, and mixed bathrooms of the various agencies and bureaus of all the rabid chipmunks.

TheRealThing Wrote:I know what they've been saying about Trump selecting Christie but I don't think he was ever going to, he'll be the Attorney General. I don't see Pence as being near the statesman and communicator Mike Huckabee is, JMO but, people can never see the forest for the trees it seems. I doubt Huckabee would have ever caved on religious freedom for example, but remember, Pence caved before Trump showed the GOP that having a set was okay again.

But you're right, Trump has gone too far with several things and it took Manafort to straighten him out. New York brass is fine, but you can't be all brass and no tact. Especially after John Q Public has been taught to expect government to be there to hand so many things to them for the asking. And like I have been saying, people who think the resistance will not be fierce against any reinstatement of conservative principle are kidding themselves. Now that they've been taught how to do it, protests will be oft and ugly. Dems will stage congressional sit-ins and walk-outs, they will kick and scream and lie and filibuster until and if Trump secures reelection.

Only by that time will the US have managed to pull out of the liberally inspired nose dive, and the second 4 years we can start to make some hay. It will take that long to rescind the regs and cleanse the liberally rife offices, halls, and mixed bathrooms of the various agencies and bureaus of all the rabid chipmunks.

Regarding Christie, didn’t Trump offer Trey Gowdy the Attorney General position? I thought I read a while back that he planned on offering Gowdy. It seems like Christie will be handling more the organizational aspects of campaign. I could be wrong. I do hope Gowdy gets the nod for that position. I don't trust Christie, and if I were Donald Trump I wouldn't either.

I agree that Huckabee would have been preferred, he definitely wouldn’t have caved on religious freedom considering that’s one of his core issues. Even though that wasn’t one of Pence’s core issues, he still was known to be a staunch social conservative. Pence could be not just the VP, he could have a few votes. The makeup of the Senate right now is 54 Republicans, 44 Democrats and 2 Independents that caucus with the Democrats. Given that the Republicans are defending so many seats this time, it’s likely they will lose seats. If they have 52 or even 50 seats, conservatives will be a minority due to the likes of Republican Senators Susan Collins, Mark Kirk, and the occasional RINO that will back down. If a 50-50 vote comes about, Pence will be a deciding factor on a few issues.

If Trump does do a good thing, it will be toughening up the party a bit. I wish though, he would show that toughness on issues other than immigration. He’s pretty strong when it comes to the immigration and sometimes economic issues, but tends to soften up a lot when it comes to other issues. Even with that, Pence is Pence and we can only hope he has learned from his experience with the RFRA bill.

I’d like to think this will take four years, unless God intervenes it feels like it’s going to take a heck of a lot longer. The Republicans have made their bed, so they can only hope that Donald Trump takes a stand for this conservative platform that the GOP has adopted and fights of charges from the Log Cabin Republicans at the convention. Even then, the likely loss of Senate seats where the liberals already have a couple of seats in the Republican Party with Collins and Kirk (although Kirk could lose re-election chances) will make the Senate a tough out.