I’m still on the fence as to who is the best Republican candidate, I think Rudy would be excellent on the war on terror and ok for the domestic stuff but I’m very pro-life so he’s out for me. No one else is jumping out at me at the moment, but its still early and I’ll be paying closer attention when nomination time draws near.
What the Fuck?
EDIT FOR THE POSTING MACHINE: He’s pretty much the defination of an empty suit.
Far out, man.
I’m not American, and am so far to the left most of you would probably read me as a Communist, so if my perception of Guiliani is off you can put it down to the glasses my socialised medicine bought for me, but, doesn’t he present a bit of a pickle for the Republicans? From this side of the border, he looks like their best bet to keep the White House - he seems enormously popular with the electorate - but he’s so moderate, within the framework of the American political system, he’s practically a Democrat. I guess my question is this: do they nominate Guiliani, and drift away from their base a little, or run the the table with someone whose policies are more in line with where the party is these days, even if that person has less leverage with the undecideds?
Well, he’s not as moderate as he’s made out to be, and he’s also not as viable a candidate as he looks at a glance, so I don’t think he does present that pickle.
However, in general, I don’t think it matters much. Elections are won and lost on the economy and, in times such as these, the war. After that, enough people vote for who they like the best personally to swing the whole thing. All other issues are marginal at best.
Really, Huckabee’s an empty suit? I thought he was doing some interesting stuff on taxes, the poor, marriage, etc.
Yglesias’s commentary on the sad state of the GOP primary field is good stuff.
What’s more, people forget this, but the same factors likely to hinder Giuliani with the base won’t help in a general election, either. This far out, you need to ignore the polls and think about how an actual campaign will play out. A thrice-married occasional cross-dresser with a penchant for seizing guns while turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants who also thinks cutting taxes on the rich is the be-all and end-all of economic policy isn’t going to inspire anyone to wonder what’s the matter with Kansas. Next to Giuliani, everyone looks like the candidate for values voters.
Trust me, man. Huckabee was governor here for a long time, pretty much the entire post-Clinton era till, well, now. Plus, he’s from the same town I am.
I’ll go into minuta if you want, but take my word for it, he’s mostly talk, but little substance, especially over such a long term in office.
EDIT: I’ll take one point from the Salon article that’s linked in your link. Yeah, he proposed increased education spending while in office. But, only after the AR Supreme Court ruled that the entire school funding system was unconstitutional, and his bill wasn’t enough to get the courts off the state’s back.
Every time I see Ron Paul I think Ruepaul.
I guess one candidate willing to dress in drag and sing “It’s raining men” is enough for the conservative party?
Also, come on. “Better education?” Wow, what a ballsy proposal.
Well after watching Tenet on 60min last night we’re going to get hit again…there’s evil people out there…the only choice is declare shenanigans and annoint W as supreme head muckity muck until it’s safe.
Yeah, but he’s got CindySue’s vote locked up.
I hope he’ll be campaigning dressed like this.
That’s how I felt in 2000, so I voted Nader. I remember thinking “meh, even if Bush wins, the country is strong enough to survive 4 years of Republican rule, and it’ll remind people how bad it is”.
Suffice to say, I’m having second thoughts about this philosophy now.
At least Washington state was solidly behind Gore, so the Nader vote didn’t swing things there. It’s the FL Nader voters who’ve been kicking themselves for the last 7 years.
If they’re anything like the Nader voters I’ve met here in Madison, they’re completely oblivious to anything outside of their little worlds. They will vote for Nader again and again and again.
What’s Mitt’s favorite novel?
Battlefield Earth
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/romney-favors-hubbard-novel/
Goddamn, if that doesn’t disqualify him from high office nothing does. Have any of you actually tried to read more than one page of that?
I did, in high school, I think.
Curiously, I have big holes in my memory from that time. Sure it’s just coincidence, though.
I found it in my older brother’s old room when I went home from college for break and read it. It’s hilarious.
I thought it was so great that I had a couple of my friends at school read it. To this day, we regularly call people man-animals and discuss the finer points of kerbango and breathe-gas.
It was great, if you treated the book as satirizing itself.