# Dems: Bush, McCain, Romney? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 21, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415 "2012-10-21T13:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/1 "2012-10-21T13:54:16Z")
For liberals only (and you must be registered Democrat, or Socialist, or Communist, or a woman to vote here): which of the three boogeymen would you choose as your President if they were the only three choices available? For argument’s sake, let’s say the time is right now, and as a bonus, you get to choose ANY registered Republican as their running mate. (You also get a choice of hot vegetable with this option.) This is NOT who you would like to run against–this man WILL be President of the US. You get to choose which one. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/2 "2012-10-21T13:57:39Z")
McCain. Bush was a true believer in the religious and conservative right wing ideals. Romney is an empty vase whose only ideal is to become president; he’ll dance with the ones that brung him. At least with McCain there was a chance he was pandering to get elected, but would be his own man once elected. Plus, campaign finance reform is my number one issue, and he seemed to have strong opinions in a direction toward my views. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/3 "2012-10-21T13:59:48Z")
Worst FMK ever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/4 "2012-10-21T14:04:07Z")
Hopefully I would be quite close to a vomitorium when I made the selection- but I’d have to take McCain. I’d have to rule Bush out because he actually believes all the right wing bullshit. I despise Romney and so does everybody else- should he lose next month, nobody but nobody is going to say a nice word about him. I don’t believe for a minute that Romney believes all the right wing orthodoxy, but the trouble is you don’t know what he believes about anything. Would he listen to sound advice? Who knows? His agenda would be lining up the Brinks trucks at Fort Knox and sending the contents to all of his rich buddies. So as little use as I have for McCain, I’d have to go with him. At least I think he would listen to reason and I don’t see him as the pawn of the privileged class. As for a running mate, I don’t know if she’s an official Republican but I’d go for S.E. Cupp. Hotter than Sarah Palin and a thousand times smarter. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/5 "2012-10-21T14:04:13Z")
McCain. I thought he went a bit insane during the 2008 election, but I’m willing to chalk that up to election pandering. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/6 "2012-10-21T14:35:55Z")
McCain sans Palin. I do think he’s still a respectable politician who had to do much of what Romney is doing now, lose his moderate nature and pander to the religious right to get the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/7 "2012-10-21T14:48:00Z")
McCain. His positions were wrong-headed, but he had a pragmatic streak and honestly seemed to have the country’s best interests at heart. I’d hold my nose and choose Bush second. He seemed like a decent guy personally who was in way over his head. I agreed with a few things he did (AIDs in Africa, immigration) even if I though he was a pretty crappy president. Romney scares the shit out of me. He’s a slippery opportunist who seems to be willing to say anything to get elected. I disagreed with what McCain and Bush believed in, but at least they seemed to have core beliefs. Romney comes off as hollow and soulless. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/8 "2012-10-21T14:55:28Z")
Hard to judge between two candidates and one president with actual catastrophic results. Yes, McCain would probably have been the one least likely to follow the current Republicans path of insanity, but we don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/9 "2012-10-21T15:14:12Z")
McCain, provided he doesn’t come with Palin. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/10 "2012-10-21T15:16:59Z")
Bush. The elder. You didn’t specify which one. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/11 "2012-10-21T15:22:20Z")
1.) Bush is a moron. 2.)I wouldn’t trust Romney to watch over an envelope containing $1000 - he’d find a way to make it his own. Plus he’s Mormon, just one step less evil than Scientology. 3.) I have no strong feelings about McCain, other than standard “I really hate his politics.” I guess McCain. And I’m registered Independent, fuck your rules. Joe ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/12 "2012-10-21T15:25:58Z")
> [@hrhomer](#): > > And I’m registered Independent, fuck your rules. Isn’t that redundant? ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/13 "2012-10-21T15:26:18Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > and as a bonus, you get to choose ANY registered Republican as their running mate. (You also get a choice of hot vegetable with this option.) Why would we volunteer Sarah Palin for that role AGAIN? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/14 "2012-10-21T15:27:09Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’d go for S.E. Cupp. Hotter than Sarah Palin and a thousand times smarter. My brother says this too, but I don’t see it. Maybe an S. E. Cupp is just bigger than I care for… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/15 "2012-10-21T15:31:34Z")
Add me to the “McCain, I guess…you bastard” camp. Thing is, based on what he’s done (health care in Mass, especially) and the things he’s saying at the debates (prompting many of my friends to think that Romney and Obama aren’t that different, really)…I could actually like Romney as Pres. But I just don’t trust him. I don’t know if he’s lying now to appeal to moderates, or he was lying 6 months ago to appeal to the Religious Right. And I have no idea about a running mate, but I’d like broccoli, please. With cheese sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Catballou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Catballou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catballou)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/16 "2012-10-21T15:46:46Z")
McCain. When the light hits him just so, he has moments of lucidity unlike the other two. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/17 "2012-10-21T16:00:26Z")
If Bush the elder is off the table, it would be McCain, but only if Palin were not around. If she is still the VP choice, I would abstain. Bush/Cheney was a disater (doubled national debt, two unfunded wars, de/re regulation favoring corporations, etc…). Romney doesn’t have the character to be president, the guy would be worse than Nixon. Ryan is almost as bad as Palin. Almost. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/18 "2012-10-21T16:55:49Z")
I’m going to go against the current, here, and pick Bush. Bush as President, but with the Republican of our choice as VP, is basically equivalent to the Republican of our choice as President. I don’t know who I’d choose for that off the top of my head, but there have to be better options than McCain and Romney. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/19 "2012-10-21T18:40:50Z")
Romney. Not a single hesitation in my mind. Bush was totally incompetent, but McCain is a very, very dangerous individual. As one fellow Republican senator said of McCain, “The thought of his finger on the button sends a cold shiver down my spine.” Romney may make the US even more unfair to people who aren’t rich, but I’m satisfied he isn’t goin to send Americans to their deaths without decent justification. I can’t say that about the other two. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415/20 "2012-10-21T19:06:43Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > he isn’t goin to send Americans to their deaths without decent justification. Problem is, “decent justification” may be his advisors telling him to. I don’t know otherwise, and neither do you. He’s shown the foriegn-policy awareness of a chimpanzee. Bush= reg’lar guy moron McCain= sick maniac Romney= Ken doll twit How do you choose between these three? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-bush-mccain-romney/638415.md?page=2)