EDITORIAL: Eric Greitens, you're much better than this
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/op...b2307f447.html
http://christian-identity.netforum/s...4906#post14906
http://whitenationalist.org/forum/sh...4906#post14906
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Jul 19, 2016
He’s tough. Battle-tested. Does push-ups and wraps his fists in tape. If Missourians need a governor who can blow things up and make punching bags cower in fear, Eric Greitens is our man.
But if the state is looking for someone to answer just a few serious questions, look elsewhere. Eric Greitens is in full retreat.
This editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch invited the four Republican gubernatorial candidates for individual interviews to help guide our endorsement ahead of the Aug. 2 primary.
The goal is to separate the candidates from the rehearsed phrases and performance pressures of a broadcast debate and dig deeper into where each stands on major issues. Three — Catherine Hanaway, Peter Kinder and John Brunner — are participating.
Greitens’ campaign initially accepted last month then canceled without explanation.
“Thanks for reaching out. We aren’t interested in a meeting with the Ed board at this time,” spokesman Austin Chambers wrote in a July 7 email.
That’s a shame because Greitens might well be the smartest person in the pack. Before he was a Navy SEAL officer, he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University. Only 32 college students from across America qualify each year. That puts Greitens in an intellectually elite category that none of his opponents can match.
But try to get a sense of that intellectual side from his campaign videos. His misguided campaign directors seem to think that Missouri Republicans are too one-dimensional to embrace a candidate with deeper ideas.
So they dumbed down his message. Instead of offering well-researched solutions to education, they present a video of Greitens shooting his assault rifle. When the other candidates talk about bringing jobs to the state, his campaign offers push-ups, punching bags and “ISIS hunting permits.”
Hanaway has her own video brandishing a shotgun. Brunner has attached the word “Marine” to every billboard, video and bumper sticker as if his name had been legally changed. Kinder touts his National Rifle Association A-plus rating like a mantra.
All very predictable, as if they’re ticking off items on a conservative checklist. But at least they are willing to engage in a give-and-take on more substantive issues that directly indicate how they propose to lead.
Greitens treats depth and substance like Kryptonite. Don’t take our word for it. Visit the “I Believe” section of his campaign website, where he offers two- and three-sentence snapshots of his ideas, as if that’s all it takes to solve the highly complex problems affecting the state.
We firmly believe there’s more to Greitens than the Rambo character his handlers are presenting to Republican voters. We also believe those voters deserve more respect than he offers with militaristic, jingoistic ads that have no bearing on governing Missouri. Eric Greitens, you’re better than this.
Copyright St. Louis Post-Dispatch.