# Democrats and Liberals, Who Do You Want to be the Next Republican President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 9, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570 "2010-10-09T03:11:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/61 "2010-10-09T21:45:12Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > No Communists, Islamists, Stalinists, neo-pagan Nazis in the GOP though. Those are all authoritarian worldviews though while liberals (and right wing libertarians) tend to have more libertarian attitudes. And Islamism is a right wing authoritarian philosophy no different than the (more tame) christian conservatives here in the US. The Nazis were also a right wing movement. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/62 "2010-10-09T21:46:19Z")
I’d vote for the John Roberts (if he were to resign from SCOTUS and run that is). ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/63 "2010-10-09T21:51:13Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Apparently the worst recession since the Great Depression and the most pointless war fought in recent history are not enough for people to be turned off of the Republican party for more than one election cycle, so I want someone really radical. Someone that represents the direction that this country is moving in. But there really is no single candidate that covers it all so I am thinking we need a few of them in a row. > > I am torn between whether Ron Paul or Sarah Palin better represents the direction the Republican party is going. Perhaps we can draft Grover Norquist or Alan Keyes. What I’d like to see done is someone redact medicare and social security for 6 months. Watch the tea party dry up and die as a political movement when they get their wish. Then again, if we got 8 years of misery and ineptitude and ideology over pragmatism under someone like Paul or Palin, it might only be 2 years before the public totally forgets and runs back to the GOP after it is all said and done. Again. Steve King and Michelle Bachmann would make good presidents. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/64 "2010-10-09T22:35:11Z")
Just how is Schwarzenegger a republican? Fiscal conservative? If so, he’s like an old-fashioned liberal republican. If he could run for president (he can’t) and if he could become the nominee (no way) then he’s the republican president I’d want if there had to be one. I’d pick Bloomberg first, but as mentioned above, he was a rino and is an independent now. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/65 "2010-10-09T23:05:14Z")
Mitch Daniels seems pretty sane. That’s almost unique among prominent Republican politicians. I don’t know too much about his positions on social issues, but he appears fairly moderate across the board. And understands that you can’t cut taxes to balance the budget. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/66 "2010-10-09T23:28:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > > > No Communists, Islamists, Stalinists, neo-pagan Nazis in the GOP though. > > WRT the Nazis, don’t be so sure. [Republican Candidate in Ohio Took Part in Nazi War Reenactments](http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/09/republican-candidate-in-ohio-took-part-in-nazi-war-reenactments/) Curious minds are naturally curious about this: [Democrats criticize GOP over House nominee who dressed as Nazi during battle reenactments](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/09/AR2010100903350.html) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/67 "2010-10-09T23:36:19Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > > WRT the Nazis, don’t be so sure. > > [Republican Candidate in Ohio Took Part in Nazi War Reenactments](http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/09/republican-candidate-in-ohio-took-part-in-nazi-war-reenactments/) > > Curious minds are naturally curious about this: > [Democrats criticize GOP over House nominee who dressed as Nazi during battle reenactments](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/09/AR2010100903350.html) My problem with this isn’t the re-enactments. There are tens of thousands of people who re-enact Revolutionary, Civil, WWI, WWII, etc., battles and generally re-enacting as the enemy in whatever particular war isn’t seen as sympathy for that enemy. (Disclosure: my parents were long-time Revolutionary re-enactors) However, there’s more going on with this case than just that. It appears that the group he re-enacts with actually espouses the virtues of the unit that they re-enact as, and that unit was apparently not regular Wehrmacht, but an all-volunteer unit that personally swore allegiance to Hitler. And the group’s webpage not only plays up this group’s activities, it downplays the Holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/68 "2010-10-09T23:37:55Z")
None. Just say no to theocracy, military adventurers and further concentration of wealth. If a Republian convinced me that they were against those things I’d consider it. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/69 "2010-10-10T00:38:02Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > > > No Communists, Islamists, Stalinists, neo-pagan Nazis in the GOP though. > > How can you be sure? Hmmmm. All those are/were fanatical groups that wanted to exercise absolute control over the “others”, the “outsiders”, and wanted ti imprison or destroy anyone who opposed them. Their cult or religion or else. Their way or the highway. Just like those “fringe group” loonies they are courting now. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/70 "2010-10-10T00:44:09Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Just how is Schwarzenegger a republican? Fiscal conservative? If so, he’s like an old-fashioned liberal republican. If he could run for president (he can’t) and if he could become the nominee (no way) then he’s the republican president I’d want if there had to be one. I’d pick Bloomberg first, but as mentioned above, he was a rino and is an independent now. Even if Schwarzenegger were able to run, his own party would attack him for not being religious enough, or rightwing enough or something - in short, for not being extreme enough. Or, if people like Christine O’Donnell and Palin are the wave of the future, he would be attacked for not being stupid enough. He’s too moderate and too smart to qualify. Yeah I said it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/71 "2010-10-10T01:42:59Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > No Communists, Islamists, Stalinists, neo-pagan Nazis in the GOP though. Those four groups don’t cover the entire spectrum of undesirability, though. One could be none of the above, and _still_ be a terrible president. Feel free to suggest names of viable/acceptable Republican candidates, if you can think of any. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/72 "2010-10-10T08:38:17Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Even if Schwarzenegger were able to run, his own party would attack him for not being religious enough, or rightwing enough or something - in short, for not being extreme enough… > > He’s too moderate and too smart to qualify. > Yeah I said it. I’m not so sure. Let them think his accent is a charming speech impediment & he’s actually the Terminator, & people might vote for him. Throw in some intellectual nationalist handwringing about bad precedents for importing native Austrians as heads of state, which can be plausibly construed as undue fretting by paranoid New York liberal Jews, & some people will vote for him out of spite. The irony of changing the constitution to nominate Ahnold while denouncing Obama as unAmerican shouldn’t be an impediment. I don’t think cognitive dissonance has that much effect. And he’d get centrists. I really need to get that campaign going, huh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/73 "2010-10-10T14:46:37Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > > > No Communists, Islamists, Stalinists, neo-pagan Nazis in the GOP though. > > Those are all authoritarian worldviews though while liberals (and right wing libertarians) tend to have more libertarian attitudes. And Islamism is a right wing authoritarian philosophy no different than the (more tame) christian conservatives here in the US. The Nazis were also a right wing movement. The Stalinists and Communists are Left-Wing authoritarians while the Nazis were a mix of leftism and rightism (look at their position on the political compass) > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > > > No Communists, Islamists, Stalinists, neo-pagan Nazis in the GOP though. > > Those four groups don’t cover the entire spectrum of undesirability, though. One could be none of the above, and _still_ be a terrible president. > > Feel free to suggest names of viable/acceptable Republican candidates, if you can think of any. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Scott Brown, Mitch Daniels, ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/74 "2010-10-10T15:24:56Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > > Feel free to suggest names of viable/acceptable Republican candidates, if you can think of any. > > Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Scott Brown, Mitch Daniels, That’s an okay list… though I suspect at least some of these guys will face harder fights from their own party trying to get the nomination than from moderates in trying to win the election. And I’m rather less sure any of them could topple Obama in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/75 "2010-10-10T15:41:28Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > > > Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Scott Brown, Mitch Daniels, > > That’s an okay list… though I suspect at least some of these guys will face harder fights from their own party trying to get the nomination than from moderates in trying to win the election. > > And I’m rather less sure any of them could topple Obama in 2012. Yeah, except for possibly Daniels, none of them are ever getting a GOP nomination for president. Romney’s a Mormon. I hate to stereotype national Republican primary voters, but the Christian right is never voting for a Mormon. Never gonna happen. Pawlenty isn’t even popular in his own state. That’s a symptom of someone who’s going nowhere. Never gonna happen. Brown has been a huge disappointment for the Tea Party that put him in the Senate. He’s actually on the edge of being a moderate. Never gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/76 "2010-10-10T15:43:35Z")
[quote=“jayjay, post:75, topic:556570”] > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > That’s an okay list… though I suspect at least some of these guys will face harder fights from their own party trying to get the nomination than from moderates in trying to win the election. > > And I’m rather less sure any of them could topple Obama in 2012. Yeah, except for possibly Daniels, none of them are ever getting a GOP nomination for president. Romney’s a Mormon. I hate to stereotype national Republican primary voters, but the Christian right is never voting for a Mormon. Never gonna happen. QUOTE] If the TP opposition is split between Palin and Huckabee and Romney wins the big primary states (California, New York etc.) he’ll get the nomination since most of the McCain voters will flock over to him. For that matter I consider Mormonism to be a heresy but I will vote for Romney if I were allowed to do so. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/77 "2010-10-10T15:45:45Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > . . . neo-pagan Nazis . . . BTW, this isn’t quite as silly as it sounds (what it sounds like, IMO, is some incomprehensible slur on Wiccans). There are actually are some neo-pagan Nazis, mainly [Asatru.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81satr%C3%BA#.C3.81satr.C3.BA) Hitler would have been pleased, he never cared much for Christianity; and Himmler would be even more pleased, he devised what amount to a neopagan religion for the SS and dreamed of squashing Christianity throughout the Reich. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/78 "2010-10-10T15:54:52Z")
[Fred Thompson.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_thompson) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/79 "2010-10-10T16:06:06Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > If the TP opposition is split between Palin and Huckabee and Romney wins the big primary states (California, New York etc.) he’ll get the nomination since most of the McCain voters will flock over to him. For that matter I consider Mormonism to be a heresy but I will vote for Romney if I were allowed to do so. If abandoning the tea-partiers is inevitable anyway, who among the possible 2012 Republicans is likely to be the first? I think it’d be kinda cool if in five weeks (i.e. after this current round of elections), there were a handful of Republicans fighting to be the first to “restore sanity” and tell the tea-partiers to go fuck themselves. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570/80 "2010-10-10T16:40:27Z")
The Repubs want to cut taxes and spend. They created an enormous deficit. How can we possibly want those idiots back in power. They caused enormous damage. It will take the Dems a lot longer to fix the Bush/Cheney mess. You can gut every program for the poor and middleclass that exists, and they intend to, and not touch the deficit. You can bring military spending to a reasonable level, and not have much impact. You have to raise taxes to cut the deficit. It is that simple. Ending the Bush tax for the wealthy would trim the deficit by more than 25 percent. that would be a big help fiscally and psychologically. We should all be on board with that ,just for starts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-and-liberals-who-do-you-want-to-be-the-next-republican-president/556570.md?page=5)