As of yet, no Pubbies have tossed their hats into the ring to contend with George W in the Republican primaries. Or if they have they’ve received zero media attention.
If you had to pick someone other than the incumbent as your party’s standard-bearer, who would you go with?
Me, I’m no Republican and frankly I think your party is up to its eyeballs in unpalatable political detritus, 2/3 of it social conservative and/or fundie religious in flavor, and the remaining third of it consisting of a failure to be economically conservative.
My pick would be Dennis Hastert. He ranks pretty low on the “ick” scale, although I’d like to hear him come out as pro-choice before I could vote for him; he’s a good politician and thinks on his feet. And despite his position he doesn’t come across as a Washington insider type. He would play well to middle America.
one of the very few republicans that I still have any respect for is John McCain. I can not think of a single other republican currently in office that I have any faith at all in having any moral sense.
One of the Doles. I voted for Bob in 1996 and I’d have voted for Liddy too if she hadn’t dropped out of the race in 2000. They seem pretty decent for people who ran for office.
I know the OP asked for Republicans’ opinions, and I’m not a Republican, but when I saw the thread title, McCain was the first person I thought of. He seems like a really cool guy; I wish he were a Democrat.
I hate to hijack, but I once started a thread about this, and got no response, so I’m really wondering…
Has everyone forgotten and/or forgiven McCain’s role in the whole S&L mess as one of the Keating Five? It certainly feels like it’s no longer an issue with many people considering all the gushing about him, so I’m curious.
Don’t know. As for myself, it’s simply ignorance. I don’t know anything about that - do you have a link? I don’t know much about McCain at all other than the fact that he comes across in interviews as very intelligent, thoughtful, and having a good sense of humor.
Amazing. A thread asking for Republicans to name their favorite Republicans, and the first two posts are Republican bashing. That’s sure to attract Republican posters. :rolleyes:
I don’t know if I count as Republican, but as someone who’s leaning toward voting for Bush, I"ll answer.
I don’t properly count as either a Republican or Democrat, but I will give it a shot. I am waiting for the day when a truly moderate Republican has a chance of escaping the primaries. Among the possibilities I would be likely to vote for are:
Olympia Snowe
Christie Todd Whitman
Robert Erlich (who I would predict as a rising star of the party)
I would guess the front runner in '08 would be Frist though and he is, like most Republicans, too socially conservative for my tastes.
Put me in the McCain camp too. I also kinda wish Lieberman were a Republican (“You mean he’s not?”)
Unfortunately it’s hard to find a good candidate who’s 1. Socially conservative and 2. Fiscally liberal, or at least not a puppet of major corporations and wealthy individuals.
Another vote for Lieberman.
Ok, so I wouldn’t vote for him no matter what party he’s in. But then, I’m not a Republican or conservative Democrat. For those of you who are Republican, there is Blake Ashby, a self-made millionaire from St. Louis, who, last I knew, was registered in at least New Hampshire’s primary. By now, he’s probably in most, if not all the rest. Not that he has any sort of chance, but if you want to vote in the primary for someone other than W, there you go. For what it’s worth, Ashby appears to be a very libertarian Republican.
Here’s a bit on McCain’s role in the Keating S&L deal.
In a nutshell:
He was one of a group of senators who intervened on Keating’s behalf to federal legislators when Keating was being investigated as his S&L was going under. At that point, it was discovered that Keating had been giving sizeable campaign contributions (and possibly other perks) to these senators, including McCain.
The reason people like McCain and Miller get so much bipartisan support is simply because they aren’t running for office, and therefore are free to talk up the stuff everyone likes and downplay the stuff they don’t.
I really don’t get the widespread support for McCain among Democrats, for instance. McCain is a conservative. He’s pretty far over to the right in the Republican party. His objection to Bush is that Bush isn’t conservative enough - he spends too much money. But McCain wants more money for the military, so guess where he would cut if he could? That’s right - domestic spending.
McCain favors overturning Roe V Wade. He would prosecute abortion doctors. He wants to outlaw all abortion other than in cases of rape, incest, or if the mother’s health is at risk.
On the economy, McCain supports a balanced budget amendment AND spending caps on domestic spending. No more 4-8% growth in government while he’s in office.
On social issues, McCain supports prayer in schools, defends the confederate flag, supports a flag burning amendment, and opposes affirmative action that results in quotas. He supports the patriot act, and even before 9/11 voted to loosen requirements for wiretaps. He has voted against same sex marriage.
McCain wants a stronger war on drugs, voted against increasing CAFE fuel standards, and he’s a strong supporter of Bush’s approach to the war on terror (the policy of pre-emption) and is a strong supporter of the Iraq war.
Remind me again why he’s the darling of Democrats? Oh yeah - because he campaigned against Bush in the primaries.
I submit that McCain was more popular in 2000, when he was running, than now.
Because they are responding to him as an individual, not his positions, and he is seen (true or not), as honest and brave. Plus the whole Boomer-'Nam-guilt thing.
He likely doesn’t appeal to the demi-Greens on the Mad How wing of the party; but they aren’t all Dems.
Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) would be the perfect man for President right now. He’s probably the most knowledgeable person in the Senate on foreign relations and I think he would be able to reverse much of the damage done by Bush to the United State’s international image. He has spoken out against the president on a number of issues in Iraq, mainly his lack of a post-war plan. He’s well respected, has few no no skeletons in his closet to be embarassed of and is much more qualified for the job than Bush.
Won't happen, but he'd be the best person for the job right now, Republican or Democrat.
Speaking as another libertarian-leaning type who votes more Pub than Dem, the Republicans (with caveats) I’ve like the most are:
Kemp (let’s call his support of Dole a “youthful indescretion”)
Kasich (until he started sub’ing for O’Reilly)
Powell (although he’s much more of a pol than one might think)
Army and Graham (somehow I associate these guys with each other)
Bush (Jeb)
Kemp particularly stands out because he holds to his principles, but will acknowledge mistakes if he finds out something doesn’t work. He’s a straight shooter, with a can-do attitude who does not seem to play silly political games.
I’ve always like Jeb much more than GW (been following both for awhile). He seems much more thoughtful, intelligent, and principled.
On an intellectual level, I do like Gingrich a lot, but he’s just too nasty a person to be president. Too much of a go-for-the-jugular type guy.
