'This is now his time for choosing'
Nikki Haley's concession speech was a somewhat meek last stand of Republican resistance against the MAGA takeover of the party. She quoted Thatcher, and alluded to Reagan and 'A Time for Choosing.'
I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee. But on this question, as she did on so many others, Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, ‘Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind.’
Nikki Haley dropped out of the race, quoting Thatcher and no doubt despising Trump, who gloated and peacocked and shoved her nose in the excremental reality that is the Republican Party in 2024.
Haley didn’t endorse Trump, but did wish him well, and says she hopes he’ll win, and although she’s to be admired for the fact that she didn’t just cave to a wannabe fascist who unleashed the fires of hell on the US Capitol on January 6th, she also wouldn’t write this sentence, or anything like it, and she never went all-in like Chris Christie did. His concession speech remains one of the speeches of the year, and, if Trump re-takes the presidency, which is surely at least a 50-50 proposition now, it will be remembered as a final Republican shot against the dying of the light.
Here is Haley’s full speech suspending her presidential campaign:
She finishes:
At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing
The Ronald Reagan ‘A Time for Choosing’ speech endorsing Barry Goldsworthy in 1964, is part of old Republican lore. This is the songbook of what the party used to be.
We have so many people who can't see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one. So they're going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning. Well, now, if government planning and welfare had the answer -- and they've had almost 30 years of it -- shouldn't we expect government to read the score to us once in a while? Shouldn't they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help? The reduction in the need for public housing?
But the reverse is true. Each year the need grows greater; the program grows greater. We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry each night. Well that was probably true. They were all on a diet. But now we're told that 9.3 million families in this country are poverty-stricken on the basis of earning less than 3,000 dollars a year. Welfare spending [is] 10 times greater than in the dark depths of the Depression. We're spending 45 billion dollars on welfare. Now do a little arithmetic, and you'll find that if we divided the 45 billion dollars up equally among those 9 million poor families, we'd be able to give each family 4,600 dollars a year. And this added to their present income should eliminate poverty. Direct aid to the poor, however, is only running only about 600 dollars per family. It would seem that someplace there must be some overhead.
To my ear, it’s flawed ideology. I think we have Trump now because of neoconservatism and the lie of trickle down economics and the chasm Reagan and his successors opened between rich and poor — perfect for a charlatan and a creep to exploit. But there’s no doubting Reagan was a serious public figure, and that he had a genuine vision for a better society, and that he was motivated by public service, and not just his own glories. And for that, Republicans can be nostalgic.
Although there is a man a bit like that in the race.
Best wishes,
Tony
I’ve listened to and read
a lot this year, which has fed my terror and pessimism about how the race is poised. It’s not ‘from the left’ so might be more palatable to people caught in the cult. Highly recommend.If you want to watch or read any of the thousands of speeches I’ve put up on Speakola, just visit the archive. If you’ve got a few dollars a month spare to keep me going, it’d be much appreciated.
Current episode of podcast is about best man speeches, with Jules Schiller.
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Hi Wilson.
Did you see/hear Joe Biden today. Was it wishful thinking on my part or did he lift his game to stratospheric heights ? He was overwhelmingly positive and upbeat, but still rubbed Trump's nose in the shit. Big appeal to women voters - reproductive rights - living examples of two women run through hell because of the fuckwit conservative supreme court overturning Roe V Wade - and Texans shutting down IVF and abortion clinics.
The Congress crowd was on its feet cheering and clapping - except for the rump of republicans sitting there like a pack of dressed down Cranbrook Schoolboys.
Joe got stuck into big pharma and touted his triumph in forcing them to drop a month's supply of insulin down from $400 to $35.
His pitch was clever - he said "The middle class needs to succeed because they drive the rebuilding of America. And the workers are their builders" - and he praised the head of American Auto Workers Union for forcing the car industry to stop closing plants and to rebuild plants producing EVs. More cheering.
He made the Republicans look like a bunch of ignorant pigs for refusing to rubber stamp ams for the Ukraine - saying "History would not be kind to Americans who walked away from their role preserving world peace. (I had to leave so I don't know what he said about Israel, but that was an open sore for him bleeding votes)
It was like Gough's "It's Time" speech - he was radiating hope.
For a moment there I almost wanted to become an American.
Love to hear your thoughts about Biden's performance. FFS - he even quoted Reagan "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall !" and contrasted this with Trump's pally-wally relationship with Putin.
Kind regards,
Mike Jones.
Haven’t seen it yet but look forward to having a watch. Thanks for heads up!