To be fair, those who were initially for him despite his unqualified resume, probably don’t really care what he has to say either, because they also have their mind made up..
Yes, his Yale degree was prob before the fake woke came out, but this was an interesting read. The left hates him cause his a Republican and supposedly against same sex marriage. The right hates him cause his a RINO Federal judges boycott Yale law grads, citing free speech concerns
Ironiclly, the exact opposite is more true. To go lockstep with the powers that be in the GOP would have been the easy path and benefited him the most politically....at a minimum just keeping his head down re Trump
That would be a big part of why he is getting out of politics. No place right now for principled conservatives in the current political landscape. I hope he does well as the president at UF.
He’s getting out cause he wasn’t gonna be voted back in. I have mixed feelings about it. The independent in me. It won’t matter much how I feel anyways. I’m sure what’s done is done. I can only hope UF maintains its status.
Exactly. Sad the UF job has become a political appointment for a man who was going to eventually lose his job to another, more radical Republican. People still do not get it though. Bernie Machen was (privately) a conservative. However, he had tremendous experience running a massive university. He had experience being a leader, even and especially when his decisions were not popular. He had experience teaching at North Carolina and Michigan. He understood how to help attract industry to partner with UF and fund research programs. He was everything a university president should be...and his personal politics had little role in that. I will give Sen Sasse credit, he was a heck of an orator. His handlers from the Governor's office prepped him well on the likely questions and exactly how to answer them. Now, we see which pops up first, DeSantis' hand up his ass running the university like the puppet that I still believe him to be, or his own conservative nature gets the best of him and he starts costing UF research money.
He's going to have to prove it. Not sure what he could say to cure the concerns people have about him. Actions will speak louder than words.
Not a bit. They are going by rote like the vapid little automatons they are. Again, Ben Sasse is as temperate and centrist and equable a Republican as any of these goofs will ever hear of in their life - so much so that he's largely an annoyance to the right. He split on Trump impeachments, which it turns out to make everyone detest you. Point being, there is nothing discerning or reasoned or considered about their protesting; someone/something tells them to Outrage and they Outrage. It's why the NPC meme works and has held up. But more than now, UF has to go through with naming him or else they'll be enabling all the worst and most childish impulses of their students. EDIT: It also seems fairly obvious to me that he is desired to be someone associated with the Republican party to come into a high profile position in the State educational heirarchy to pick fights with DeSantis for the next two to four years. Ostensibly fights that those same protesting myrmidons would otherwise support. But they can't see, or think, around corners because nobody challenges them to do so.
There's nothing "centrist" about Ben Sasse. But that's not even a real response to the concern that he's a politician who is underqualified for the job. Maybe Sasse will be great for the university. But it's not surprising many people are unhappy when the Republican Party has been credibly accused of meddling with UF.
Well upon further thought, at least Richard Corcoran wasn't a finalist. That would have been an absolute disaster. So, there is hope.
He's certainly better than Corcoran. In that vein, Sasse is far from the worst case scenario. As I said, I'll give him a shot. But I'm not heartened by the university hiring a politician when many of us are unhappy with the way current leadership in the state is trying to inject politics into our state's great universities.
I'm skeptical of Sasse as prez of UF, but that's just embarrassing. What a bunch of dumbasses, most who probably know little to nothing about the man.
I was OK with this appointment as about the best possible Republican there could be, posted earlier in this thread. But I have to tell you, I don’t know why the younger generation would listen to my generation about anything. We’re leaving them a pretty screwed up world. And Republicans being in charge of the state have pretty much ruined it and been pretty destructive of higher education. They have more skin in the game at their age. I’m not sure why they would feel the need to defer to the older generation or to any Republican.