A Taxonomy of Republican Hopefuls

[DonViejo]

POLITICS

Meet the truth teller, the compassionate conservative, the coalition whisperer, and the doer. These are the GOP’s new, would-be leaders.

By John Dickerson

Posted Thursday, Dec 13, 2012, at 12:15 AM ET

Mitt Romney has gone from being the face of the Republican Party to being just another face in the crowd—at the gas station, at the pizza joint, and ringside at a boxing match. The party is looking for somebody new, and the tryouts are already well under way.

The Republican National Committee announced this week that it has put together a committee to investigate the lessons of 2012 and help chart a new course for the future. GOP stars like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Rep. Paul Ryan, and Sen. Marco Rubio appear to have already reached their own conclusions. As they and others come forward, we can see the rough outlines of a classification scheme of potential GOP party leaders begin to emerge. So far, we have the truth teller, the compassionate conservative, the coalition whisperer, and the doer.

Jindal was in Washington playing the role of the truth teller on Tuesday, and he hoped he would get noticed. “Maybe I should say some things that are not allowed to be said in public. Maybe I should say some things that folks think about but are afraid to say in polite company,” he told a Brookings Institution audience. “It is completely dishonest to pretend today that America provides equal opportunity in education. We do not. And if you say that we do, you are lying.”

Not too many people think there is equal opportunity in education—so “truth teller” is a more apt label—but by trying to be ...

-snip-

To continue reading, click here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/12/bobby_jindal_marco_rubio_paul_ryan_and_chris_christie_are_among_the_rising.html?wpisrc=newsletter_rubric