The main stream media is desperate to determine who will be the Republican Candidate for President.  This includes the fine folks at Fox News.  However it is important to remember that the main stream media is ALWAYS biased for folks just like them.  That means they always choose the candidate who performs the best on television.  That is why they love the Presidential Debates.  It showcases the ability of the candidates to be smooth and relaxed in that kind of environment.  Everyone on television has this type of ability.  That is why they are there.  They are all good at talking to the camera and making good points in 30 seconds or less.  But the problem is that this has absolutely nothing to do with being a President of the United States.  Presidents rarely give press conferences and never participate in debates, other than during an election.  They give speeches from prepared remarks.  In Obama’s case, he almost always uses a TelePrompter.  Most important, the Presidency is an executive position that requires someone with executive experience.  We don’t need an actor who can play the role of President, we need a President.  That should be really obvious.

Note:  If Obama had to participate in debates this year, similar to those endured by the Republican candidates, he would have been shredded.  Obama only participated in debates where he faced no tough questions because moderators were terrified of being called racist.  During the election itself he only debated John McCain and actually didn’t do that well.  He was behind in the polls, until the financial markets collapsed and McCain self-destructed.  We do not know how well Obama would do in a debate, because he has NEVER been in a real debate. 

A far better way for us to choose a candidate is to base it on the following criteria:

1.        Who has the right kind of experience?

We are already paying a terrible price for electing someone with zero executive experience as President.  That is why Obama is panned as a leader by both the left and the right. 

The best experience for handling the job as President is to be Governor of a large state.  That is why so many of our Presidents were former Governors.  That is where people learn how to govern.  Only two Presidents have gone directly from the Senate to the White House; John Kennedy and Barack Obama.  In most cases Senators run for President, but Governors are elected President. 

2.        Who has a conservative record as Governor?

The best way to tell how a candidate will govern as President is to evaluate how they governed as Governor.  Do you like the way Mitt Romney governed in Massachusetts, Jon Huntsman governed in Utah or Rick Perry governed in Texas?

3.       Who has actually won highly contested national or statewide elections?

The pundits always tell us who is or is not electable.  But, in my opinion, the best way to determine who is electable is to consider who actually got elected.  Two of the candidates, Newt Gingrich and Michelle Bachmann, never won a state wide election for any office.  Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, but he was stripped of his Speakership due to a rebellion in his own party.   He has been running for President, and losing, for decades.  Rick Santorum lost his bid for re-election to the Senate by 18%.  Mitt Romney did not run for re-election as Governor in Massachusetts at least partially because he was behind in the polls.  Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry both won re-election by large margins.

Even the New York Times noticed this, as shown in the following article:

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/the-governors-advantage-in-presidential-races-is-bigger-than-you-thought/

If you have a better way to choose a winning candidate, please let me know.  Remember the political establishment experts gave us Gerald Ford, Bob Dole and John McCain, none of them Governors, because they were “most electable.”  As of now the media is heavily promoting Rick Santorum as the alternative to Romney and Gingrich.  Really?   I like Rick Santorum, but I absolutely shudder at the thought of someone who got trounced in his last election leading our ticket during a tough campaign.  There is a reason Santorum got trounced in Pennsylvania. 

Obama will lose the next election unless the Republicans choose the wrong candidate.  Sadly, with the help of our main stream media experts, we may do exactly that.  The best way to beat an incompetent and naïve radical is to run a candidate with solid experience at governing effectively.  I really don’t think Obama can beat Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman or Rick Perry.  The reason is that all have good records as governors.  Unlike Obama, they have all demonstrated the ability to do the job.  But Gingrich, Bachmann and Santorum are all capable of losing to Obama.  .  If Republicans are really this dumb, perhaps they deserve to lose.  But this time, if the Republicans lose, the damage to the country may be irreparable. 

TDM