Although there are plenty of presidential pretenders on both sides of the fence, I have yet to find a candidate. Today, I'll give you my take on the Republicans.Ron Paul: - A libertarian version of Ralph Nader. Neo-Nazis just love him. Need I say more?
Rudy Giuliani: - A scary, thin-skinned and unethical little bastard. "Republican Rudy Giuliani vows to be tough on terror, chooses advisers who want to bomb Iran and doesn't think pretending to drown prisoners is torture." He sounds like Bernie Kieklak. Neo-Nazis are in love with the wrong guy.
Mike Huckabee: - What is it about Arkansas Governors that make them so damn likable? But I'm sorry. People who have to tell me they're Christians every ten minutes usually aren't, and scare the hell out of me.
Mitt Romney: - I'm sure his dog loved being strapped on that car roof. And the illegals who worked for this political peacock never needed a strap - they liked it up there.
Fred Thompson: Zzzzzzzzzz.
John McCain: I thought his campaign had imploded, but he seems to have caught a second wind. Here's how The Washington Times sums him up. "McCain is hawkish on defense, securely pro-life, supportive of constitutionalist judges and scornful of government waste. But he is also convinced of global warming's threat to mankind, a two-time opponent of the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 (though today he supports making them permanent), inclined toward the Kennedy-Bush view of immigration, certain that aggressive interrogation methods amount to unacceptable torture and comfortable with de facto First Amendment restrictionism on campaign finance. He is socially conservative but with libertarian inclinations. In short, he is a selective moral crusader, with a war hero's biography and a sense of mission."
Of all of them, the only one who even remotely sounds like a president is McCain. But I doubt he'll last through the primary. What do you think?
Next week, I'll give my take on the Dems.
34 comments:
The biggest problem McCain has with the Republican base is that people like me and you like him. If he had won the nomination in 2000 the election wouldn't have even been close. This time around it's the Democrats to lose not that they aren't capable of blowing it again.
Recognizing that Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo will not get the nomination, I nonetheless think you should comment on them as presidential candidates. Oddly, the truer conservatives seem to be getting "dissed" by pundits who say they are looking for true conservatives.
Let's Get Serious!
Sorry, dude. I let them pretty much alone bc I know little about them and they have no chance. Fill us in.
I always thought of myself as kind of a Libertarian Republican but certainly not a neo-nazi. In 2000 I was for McCain on the R side and would have voted for Bradley on the D side so of course neither made it through the primaries. I'm with you Bernie, McCain won't make it this time either. Too bad. Last time I voted for a candidate I actually wanted was Reagan. I am really tired of holding my nose and picking the lesser of two evils.
I really respect and admire Mcain in my mind he represents a true american who served this country and suffered in the pow camp. I don't think he will win, however i think he deserves a shot at it. As for the others i"m still on the fence hockebee not sure about yet, and Guilliani i thought did a great job during 911. not sure if that makes him Presidental matwerial or not I watched the debate but still unsure who is the best candiate. it's hard decesion this time around.
I came to the same conclusion as you about McCain after this last round of debates. Hard to picture any of the other candidates as a capable, responsible, honest, and respectable president. McCain impresses me as someone who can deal with national and international issues and be a leader.
The others scare me- Rudy is petty and mean-spirited. Romney panders too much and as you said- anyone who has to keep mentioning their religion is not presidential material in my book. Actions speak much louder than words.
Tough choice for this moderate R. Chances are good I will vote Democrat next November.
I have to add this quote:
A politician is a man who thinks of the next election; while the statesman thinks of the next generation. -James Freeman Clarke, preacher and author
(1810-1888)
Where are all the statesmen/women?
If you want lots more war, McCain is your man. I believe McCain favors military intervention in Syria.
Plus, he's like 100 years old. I'll pass.
McCain is slippery, having bashed religious conservatives, now begging to return to their good graces. He also co-sponsored McCain-Feingold which unconstitutionally limited political speech in campaigns' final days; he allowed donor exceptions for Indian tribes in the casino business (there happen to be several of them in Arizona who've given lots to McCain's campaigns). He was one of the Keating Five. Conservatives don't trust him to be conservative, because he's not; nobody should trust a career politician who's played the inside-politics game like a master. I salute his heroic service, but I wouldn't vote for him.
Fred Thompson may be more of a threat than many pundits want to believe. He's solidly conservative save for his triangulated support of McCain-Feingold. He's also part of the Tennessee GOP Mafia that includes Lamar Alexander, Bill Frist and a number of big money donors who have a record of raising a pile of money in a big hurry.
Media reports of Thompson's disinterest and laziness are remarkably similar to snipes taken at Reagan. Thompson is no Reagan, but he's shown himself to be easily electable and he has more of a demonstrated voting record on conservative issues than any other candidate (including the lower polling conservatives who haven't a shot).
In federal politics, conservatives are easy to figure out and operate on three basic themes in the following order of importance:
1) opposition to abortion
2) support of strong national defense
3) support of lower taxes and opposition to higher ones
All other issues are ancillary. Fred Thompson's record is the most reliable here.
Money is the key, however. It's how Republicans and everybody got stuck with another Bush (he raised more money faster than any candidate in the history of the GOP). It's how we'll likely get stuck with Hillary.
I don't know which R I like the best yet but I know I wouldn't vote for hillary, and obama is too lax on defence.
The polls say different, but it sure seems to me the best thing Rs have going for them is Hillary. She's a polarizing figure, and I think she will galvanize a lot of Rs (and Dems) to back the eventual R nominee. As much as people genuinely like her husband, they seem to detest her.
Anon 11:15, very nice analysis on Fred. I forgot about him in my rundown, maybe because he has failed to properly position himself as a leading candidate. I think the blame lies with his advisors. They had the ball with the huge media blitz of "When will Thompson announce his candidacy" and they have dropped it. He was the most talked about candidate and now he is the new version of Where's Waldo.
Anon 10:58, you expanded on why I think McCain is losing it. He once stood up to the far right, now he is trying his hardest to reel them in. And I had a temporary lapse of judgement, forgetting the McCain-Feingold bill. It is a disgraceful assult upon free speech, and I don't think it is forgiveable.
I used to like mcCain when he was a maverick. However, once he started kissing up to Bush and the Christian right he went to hell. Now he appears to be a cranky old man who hates the world. Actually I liked Huckabee. Despite the fact that i disagree with his stands on abortion and gun control, he seems honest and very sincere. He needs to play the christian right thing now because it brings him a considerable audience. Either way, he probably has no chance. He doesn't have enough money to do well in the big states.
It will be interesting to see how their primary turns out.
"She's a polarizing figure, and I think she will galvanize a lot of Rs (and Dems) to back the eventual R nominee. As much as people genuinely like her husband, they seem to detest her."
I agree with the Hillary analysis and acknowledge the popularity of a guy who was twice elected president. But his negatives were almost as consistently high throughout his presidency (high 40s, almost 50%), and he never received more than 50% of the popular vote (just 43% in '92 and 49% in '96 with Ross Perot running each time on the Tinfoil Hat ticket). I think Bill's reputation for popularity is routinely overstated.
Ron Paul is the only decent Republican running. What a better country it would be under limited government and maximum personal freedom.
Moreover, Paul's excellent rebuke of McCain over the difference between isolationism and non-interventionism was worth the price of a few hours in front of the boob tube
Bill Clinton had a 65% approval rating when leaving office. Overstated? I think not. Clinton was and is immensely popular and would wipe the floor with any of the current candidates on either side of the aisle. And that is AFTER being impeached.
Bernie-I would argue that Ron Paul has no chance either. I think the point of your post, though, was that most of the ones upon which you commented are in fact pretenders. I agree. I don't think Paul, Tancredo, and Hunter are pretenders, however. With regard to the latter two, it should give us all pause for thought that the two true, consistent conservatives are not being given any real media time/consideration. I guess that is because Republican does not mean conservative anymore.
I wonder if the 65% Clinton approval rating reflected a certain degree of approval that he was leaving.
Tancredo is not a credible candidate. His immigration views are outlandish and out of the mainstream of any reasonable person.
You know what I find surprising? The two frontrunners, Giuliani and Romney, don't seem to have any fans here in the local blogosphere.
I think BO's rating of Fred Thompson reminds me of John Stoffa. Too bad Gore decided to stay out. I think after 2000 and seeing another Clinton machine on the move he lost his stomach for the whole stinking race.
I think BO's rating of Fred Thompson reminds me of John Stoffa.
Now is that nice??
I like Rudy.
Anecdotally, I just finished an excellent book called Den of Thieves by James Stewart about the Insider Trading scandals revolving around Wall Street in the 1980's.
Guess who the Federal Prosecutor was that took down these scammers. That's right, it was Rudy. He was Elliot Spitzer before Spitzer was Spitzer. (That sentence makes no sense, but it's late.)
Personally, I appreciate a guy who can fight and beat the Mob in the Fulton Fish Market and then throw the White Collar crooks on the Street into the hoosesgow.
In any event, if you want a really gripping read, check out Den of Thieves.
Shawn M.
Ok, Rudy's got one fan here in Blogistan. Thanks, Shawn.
shane said as anon..".Anecdotally, I just finished an excellent book called Den of Thieves by James Stewart about the Insider Trading scandals revolving around Wall Street in the 1980's."
I just finished reading a book about Jay Gould with all the insider trading of the 1880's.... I wonder if there is any difference? The anything for a buck still rules Wall Street and modern day elections. The BIGBUCKS candidates will all the time.
sorry... the BIGBUCKS candidates will WIN all the time
Ron Paul has raised more money this quarter than any othe GOP candidate, far more than McCain. He does not have the big money people, but he has people, which means the media will ignore him.
Sad state of a democracy when the most vibrant voice is "not credible" because of whom? why?
War mongers, war profiteers, oil company execs?
Ron Paul is more viable than McCain right now.
You guys reading about Giuliani should not ignore--this guy likes big government big police power, big statist--he is a crypto-fascist likely to augment government power and police power rendering our diminishing freedoms more at risk.
McCain at least has integrity. Maybe even Thompson. However Rudy is hellbent on war and statism.
Big government police power indeed. Didn't RG fingerprint welfare recipients? Or try to?
hey cj, ron paul is supported by the kkk... that makes him a loser!
http://www.pakukluxklan.com/
Ron Paul is supported by believers of liberty, maximum individual freedom and government not intruding in our lives or sending us to intervene in other countries.
The Klan respects no one.
Ron Paul is supported by believers of liberty, maximum individual freedom and government not intruding in our lives or sending us to intervene in other countries.
The Klan respects no one.
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