What’s that old saw, in a democracy people get the government they deserve...
There are quite a few straw polls out there these days with slates of republican candidates; and honestly none of them hold much real attraction to me.
I mean I wouldn't mind Tom Tancredo, or George Allen, but I think they have about as much chance of being elected as I do; and I'm constitutionally barred from running for five more years (and then, then I will show you all mwahahahahahaha).
Then there's Bill Frist... yeah no. He can't fight the democrats effecitvely with a senate majority, how's he supposed to do it as president?
The focus of media attention has of course been on Condi Rice, Rudi Guiliani, Mitt Romney, and John McCain.
I have the utmost respect for Rudi, but basically he's a conservative democrat; which is about as Republican as New York politicians can be. He's anti-gun, pro-abortion, pro-statism in general. Besides, Rudi really shouldnt bre president; nor should he leave new york.
I'd LOVE to see him kick hillary out on her ass, but failing that he should absolutely destory Elliot Spitzer in the governors race.
Romney... Honestly he's the governor of my original homestate of Massachusetts, and people say he isn't a real conservative because during his watch he's allowed more gun control etc...
Folks, he's the governor of Massachusetts; it's all he can do to hang on, and you've got to pick your fights. The state house can override him any time they feel like it and he knows it.
Anwyay, he's a lot more conservative than people give him credit for.
Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with why he can't get elected. Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and he makes no bones about the fact that his religion informs on his decisions.
I'm not sure if you all know this, but there is a HUGE streak of anti-mormon (and anti-catholic) bigotry in this country. The chances that a mormon are going to get elected president in this country are somewhere around the same chances that Arnold Schwarzeneggar will... and oh yeah theres that whole barred by the constitution thing in the way there again.
I'd love to see Condi run jsut to make the media turn itself inside out trying not to look like bigoted hypocrates; but it's not going to happen. One, she won't run. Two, even if she did, she's never held any kind of elected office, and regardless of her other qualifications, and challenges (like being a black woman for example), those folks jsut don't get elected.
THeres a reason for that, they have no record by which they can be judged. Condi may seem like a great somewhat libertarian conservative now; but who knows how she would handle the executive office.
This BTW is the same reason we dont like to elect senators and representatives. Since the civil war most of our presidents have been governors, because they have an executive record they can be judged against.
While I can’t imagine a worse candidate among the realistic slate than McCain, and I’m not by any stretch of the imagination a conventional republican (I’m a minarchist who votes republican because there is no other less distasteful alternative), at least a McCain presidency (or any other republican) would have a republican administration and most likley congress to go with it.
It's funny, I used to have great respect for the man. He's one of my senators, I've met him several times; I even worked on his campaign in 2000. The party though, they went and screwed him hard in carolina, and he's been doing everything he could to screw them back ever since. He's quite frankly gone nuts.
Of course McCains much vaunted press relationship would disappear the second he was hurting the deomocrats more than the republicans, but he’d also still probably get more middleground voters than Bush. Also I trust that McCain would do the right thing in defending this country from without. What he would do from within is another story entirely, and his willingness to stifle free speech and political expression; as well as his clear willingness to use the authoritarian power of the state… yeah those are worrisome.
Actually the same applies to any republican nominee really. When you vote in a president, you arent just voting for the man, you're voting for an entire administration. I LOATHE the general principles, and the proven actions of the democratic party and I will NEVER vote for them under any circumstances, even if the republicans put someone as clueless as McCain up for president, and the democrats put up a Zzell Miller/Joe Lieberman ticket (which if it werent for the whole democratic adminsitration thing would be GREAT). At this point I will vote for any republican ADMINISTRATION over any democratic one without regard to the presidential candidates themselves .
At least that is, until someone can actually put up a minarchist candidate that can beat a republican and a democrat. Of course I suspect that would require the disintegration of the democratic party, and a reformation of a libertarian party coalition with the conservative wing of the democrats and the liberal and libertarian wings of the republicans.
Yes, I think that's a realistic possibility within the next 20 years, especially if the republicans keep getting more statist and the democrats keep losing more elections.
Until then, I'm voting republican, even if it is for idiots like McCain, because we can never trust the democrats in power again.
