# Democrats only: who do you want to win the GOP nom and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 5, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196 "2016-01-05T03:23:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [January 12, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/61 "2016-01-12T20:50:12Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Who is Nixon in this scenario? Dan Quayle? Hopefully Clinton. Enough of this hope and change nonsense-we need some _Macht_ and _Ordnung_ and a politician willing to fight their rivals in the gutter. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/62 "2016-01-13T20:56:29Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I disagree, in part, with this post and the one it quotes. Kasich, Christie or possibly even Fiorina, Huckabee or Santorum would be the best of the lot, in the hope they attract competent advisors. Jeb! has already announced he’s going with the same neocons, con-men, and idealogues who screwed up his brother’s Administration. > > Among Rubio, Trump and Cruz, it’s hard to decide who would be the worst President but those taking a sanguine view of Rubio confuse me: > > I don’t think either Trump or Carson is planning to win the White House, but if they did I think they’d cough up at least enough sincerity to permit progress. Cruz is intelligent enough to at least understand the issues and argue with his advisors, however twisted his idealogy might be. Rubio would be a Zero. > > TL;DR: _ **I cannot condone the sanguinity with which some Dopers embrace a possible Rubio Presidency.** _ List removed. Rubio would be better than Trump or Cruz, which is faint praise, but in general I agree with you about him. As for the others. I’ve lived in NJ, pre-Christie, and follow its politics reasonably closely, and Christie is far worse as a governor than you might think. Forget bridgegate - he has plenty of other sins. I know lots of people who worked for HP under Fiorina and they universally hate her guts. Most of them got spun off into Agilent and were glad. It is no accident that she never got another CEO job, and even got fired by the McCain campaign. Huckabee and Santorum are both religious fanatics. And morons. Kasich is probably number two. Bush has a wide range of advisers, not all neocons. I suspect he was broadening his appeal in the party ranks. He does not appear to be listening to the neocons at least. Let’s be clear - even if Jeb! won I’d vote for any plausible Democrat, but I think he’d do the least damage to the country. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/63 "2016-01-13T21:19:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Kasich is probably number two. In terms of your preferences, or in the scatological sense? ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/64 "2016-01-24T21:37:07Z")
If Trump is the Republican nominee, that means that we only have one real political party in this this country. Since it’s already shameful for a supposedly democratic society to only have two parties with a chance at winning, then I hope the Republicans pick an actual candidate. I would agree with most of this thread and say that Christie and Kasich are the best of a bad bunch. I completely disagree with both of them on most issues, but I think they would actually try to govern, and not try to institute a theocracy or round up Mexicans or something. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/65 "2016-01-24T21:47:16Z")
> [@FabioClone](#): > > If Trump is the Republican nominee, that means that we only have one real political party in this this country. Since it’s already shameful for a supposedly democratic society to only have two parties with a chance at winning, then I hope the Republicans pick an actual candidate. Why not? Sweden did just fine under Social Democratic dominance in the postwar period. ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/66 "2016-01-25T06:00:23Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Why not? Sweden did just fine under Social Democratic dominance in the postwar period. Because it easily might not have been fine, and if there were no other options then Sweden would have been stuck with a terrible party for the length of time it took for another party to gain legitimacy. Look at modern South Africa and Zuma’s antics. But since the ANC is the only game in town, that’s what they’re stuck with. A couple of other parties are only now starting to make gains in response to the problems. I think a conservative government would be a disaster for the U.S., but that doesn’t mean I don’t want them to run their best candidate and make their case honestly to the nation. There is also value in having minority parties to hold the ruling party accountable and give voice to those in the population who share those views. I’m also not comfortable with having the democratic party (which, let’s be honest, is right-wing compared to most of the rest of the world) as the only realistic option. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/67 "2016-01-25T07:25:22Z")
Originally, I was hoping for Jeb?!? to be the GOP nominee- as he was least insane of the bunch. Then Hillary would beat Jeb?!? in a close contest in November. Then in 2020 the nutball Republican wing would no longer be denied and nominate someone from the clown car. Clown car republican would go down in a Goldwater-type defeat. Next election Republicans would finally come to their senses, take back their party from nut cases, and would nominate a sane candidate in 2024. Especially since there is no way Democrats could win 5 presidential elections in a row. Now I don’t know. Jeb?!? seems to have inexplicably crashed and burned, Christie is too heavy to get off the ground, and Rubio unable to find to even find his wings, so far. That leaves the foolish daredevil Trump and kamikaze Cruz, either would be a Hindenburg disaster for the country if elected. But somebody has to win the nomination, and a fiery flame out in 2016 would likely lead to Republicans nominating a sane candidate in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/68 "2016-01-25T12:14:50Z")
One thought that crossed my mind this morning was: if Cruz gets the nomination, then there’s really no way the right wing would be able to say the GOP didn’t run a true conservative this time. After LBJ steamrollered Goldwater in 1964, the GOP moved back towards the center. Not ‘to’ the center; just ‘towards’ it.) Think that would happen if Cruz got crushed in the general election? Me either. True conservatism cannot fail; it can only be failed. Conservatives would come up with some excuse about why it wasn’t Cruz’ or conservatism’s fault that he lost, and they’d keep on dragging the party rightward. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/69 "2016-01-25T14:19:27Z")
> [@FabioClone](#): > > Because it easily might not have been fine, and if there were no other options then Sweden would have been stuck with a terrible party for the length of time it took for another party to gain legitimacy. Look at modern South Africa and Zuma’s antics. But since the ANC is the only game in town, that’s what they’re stuck with. A couple of other parties are only now starting to make gains in response to the problems. > > I think a conservative government would be a disaster for the U.S., but that doesn’t mean I don’t want them to run their best candidate and make their case honestly to the nation. There is also value in having minority parties to hold the ruling party accountable and give voice to those in the population who share those views. I think we’ll be much better off if the GOP flames out and a new two-party system coalesces around the DNC/Hillary (conservative) and progressive/Sanders (liberal) factions. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/70 "2016-01-25T14:28:59Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > So, Trump getting the nomination would either result in a Hillary win, or if he did win he would do less damage than any of the others as he’s not a movement conservative. In terms of cynical political calculation, for the GOP to nominate a candidate who isn’t a movement conservative (especially after a candidate who _is_ a movement conservative came in second) keeps them weak by insuring that they’ll spend another election cycle hatching plans and ordering parts for them from the ACME catalog. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196/71 "2016-01-25T14:43:48Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I think we’ll be much better off if the GOP flames out and a new two-party system coalesces around the DNC/Hillary (conservative) and progressive/Sanders (liberal) factions. That would be nice, but the angry Foxified voters will still be a major force for quite some time. They’ll keep the GOP alive for quite some time, even if it never again wins the White House. > [@Steve\_MB](#): > > In terms of cynical political calculation, for the GOP to nominate a candidate who isn’t a movement conservative (especially after a candidate who _is_ a movement conservative came in second) keeps them weak by insuring that they’ll spend another election cycle hatching plans and ordering parts for them from the ACME catalog. I like the way you think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-only-who-do-you-want-to-win-the-gop-nom-and-why/742196.md?page=3)