There are so many good reasons for Conservatives to laugh off the prospect of Kevin O’Leary as their leader.
He does not appear to be terribly conservative, other than on some fiscal matters. His knowledge of how this country’s government works appears rudimentary at best. He has been the only candidate to duck debates in which he might have to attempt both official languages. His commitment to their party is so minimal, he has not bothered to move back to Canada full-time while running for its leadership, and not committed to seek a seat in Parliament if he wins.
.. If anything, he seems the sort of candidate – from outside the party’s mainstream culture, contemptuous of other politicians and liable to quarrel with caucus – to which a party might turn if it’s fallen on such hard times that it’s ready to blow things up. But the Conservatives have lost one election, not in terribly devastating fashion, after holding power nearly a decade.
.. They think he’ll beat (or at least beat up) Justin Trudeau
The most common explanation for Mr. O’Leary’s appeal revolves around antipathy toward the current Prime Minister so great among some Conservatives that it outweighs any policy-related priorities for their own party.
.. Loud and brash, he’s fashioned himself a tough guy spoiling for a fight with a rival he portrays – and many Conservatives see – as soft and ineffectual.
.. To some Conservatives, there has been too much politeness toward Mr. Trudeau from their side of the aisle – and Mr. O’Leary’s caricaturing of the PM as an air-headed “surfer dude” who serves as a front for his nefarious best friend Gerald Butts suggests he’d at least kick Mr. Trudeau in the teeth the way they’d like to do themselves.
.. Canadians used to buy tickets to see Mr. O’Leary, famous for judging business pitches on the reality shows Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank, work the speaking circuit.
.. Even more helpful is a social-media following, including more than 600,000 Twitter users, that allowed him to enter the race with an usually large list of targets.
.. a rival campaign organizer pointed to Mr. O’Leary portraying himself as the sort of success story – a self-made, risk-taking millionaire – that plays especially well with fiscal conservatives.
.. And again, comparisons with Mr. Trudeau enter play, with some Conservatives believing the best way to counter a celebrity Prime Minister is with a celebrity of their own – and with his campaign casting him as someone able to break through with millennials the way other Tories can’t.
.. He’s able to cut through the drone
In a leadership campaign with an unprecedented number of candidates, standing out from the pack is a bigger challenge than usual.
.. Even without opening his mouth, he’s so different in image and experience as to be easily distinguishable. And when he does talk, Mr. O’Leary’s television skills – his confident, concise, catchphrase-heavy manner of presenting himself – pierces the noise.
Hillary Clinton’s Toughness
Some of the comments made during the focus group sessions indicated thatthe Benghazi Committee created by House Republicans in May 2014 to damage Clinton’s presidential prospects had backfired. Referring in part to Clinton’s performance during an 11 hour interrogation by the committee, a participant identified as Thomas noted:
Her ability to walk through what she’s had thrown at her just in the last six months should give you an idea that the woman has definitely got some strength. She’s there. I don’t necessarily agree with where she’s coming from, but still, you cannot knock what that woman is like.
.. Respondents trusted Clinton more to handle terrorism than they did any of the Republican candidates by an average of 7 percentage points.
.. Ronald Reagan’s campaign capitalized on perceptions of Democrats as weak in their dealings with Russia, notably in the now-classic “Bear in the Woods” commercial:
There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don’t see it at all. Some people say the bear is tame. Others say it’s vicious and dangerous,” the narrator says as the camera follows a large bear wandering in the wood. With no reference to Walter Mondale or to Russia, the narrator continued: “Since no one can really be sure who’s right, isn’t it smart to be as strong as the bear? If there is a bear.
Clinton is determined to insulate herself from such attacks. She has taken steps to create some distance between herself and the president, staking out a more aggressive stance on ISIS than Obama.
The Trump Balloon
(When challenged that a report he cited concerned immigrants who had been raped, he said, “Somebody’s doing the raping!”)
.. William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard and an ideologist of the neoconservatives, is quick to say that he does not support Trump, but counsels the Republican Party to learn from his blunt political themes: pro-toughness, pro-winning, anti-Obamacare, etc. Kristol’s goal is to avoid the nomination of a mumbly centrist who refuses to attack head on the Obama legacy and, presumably, Hillary Clinton. If the Party fails to find an aggressively conservative candidate, he believes, Trump or someone like him might play the role of Ross Perot, siphoning away right-wing populist voters from the G.O.P.
.. Chris Christie distanced himself from Trump’s rant, too, but he was quick to add, “I like Donald. He’s a good guy.”