# Handicap the GOP nomination race **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 21, 2007, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463 "2007-10-21T12:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**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:** [January 20, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/341 "2008-01-20T05:50:05Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] That’s two for McCain now. This is disconcerting. The over-the-top comments on this board against Republicans have prompted me to lean towards voting Republican this year for the first time in my life. \*\*Der Trihs \*\* alone makes me regret that I cannot vote for Bush this time around. But although I kinda like McCain as a person, I’m not voting for anyone in their 70s for president. [/QUOTE] That’s possibly the silliest thing I’ve ever read. How malleable are you if dislike of someone else’s online personality causes you to vote or not vote for someone? Vote for the person who most agrees with your personal view of what the president should be doing. Don’t vote the opposite of **Der Trihs** because you think he’s obnoxious. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/342 "2008-01-20T06:16:33Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] That’s possibly the silliest thing I’ve ever read. How malleable are you if dislike of someone else’s online personality causes you to vote or not vote for someone? Vote for the person who most agrees with your personal view of what the president should be doing. Don’t vote the opposite of **Der Trihs** because you think he’s obnoxious. [/QUOTE] WHOOSH! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/343 "2008-01-20T06:23:06Z")
Although I do admit my opinion of the Republicans have improved from the comments about them being so over the top, and I do like Bush better than I ever did just because people like **Der Trihs** get their knickers so much in a twist over him. And that’s NOT a Whoosh. 🙂 ---
**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:** [January 20, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/344 "2008-01-20T06:25:15Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] WHOOSH! 😃 [/QUOTE] Pffft…I’m going to have to have my head declared a no-fly zone…all the whooshing is losing me sleep from the noise… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/345 "2008-01-21T16:06:24Z")
That’s okay. What’s NOT a whoosh, though, is my concern about McCain’s age. I think 70s is too old for a president, especially starting out. I know that life is full of uncertainties, but really, I want a president who I can feel relatively certain will live though two terms. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/346 "2008-01-22T19:36:25Z")
[Thompson is O-U-T](http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/thompson_drops_the_statement.php). ---
**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:** [January 22, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/347 "2008-01-22T19:40:35Z")
Was he ever I-N? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/348 "2008-01-22T19:45:47Z")
I wonder who his four supporters are going to vote for. What a dud that candidacy turned out to be. It started out with some energy but then just fizzled down to nothing. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/349 "2008-01-22T19:46:04Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Was he ever I-N? [/QUOTE] It was all a big mixup in the first place. Thompson got delivered a script that Morgan Freeman was supposed to get, that featured a character who was an older presidential candidate. Poor guy thought it was an actual proposal for him to run for the GOP nomination. Major misunderstanding there…sad, really… ---
**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:** [January 22, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/350 "2008-01-22T19:48:59Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I wonder who his four supporters are going to vote for. What a dud that candidacy turned out to be. It started out with some energy but then just fizzled down to nothing. [/QUOTE] It didn’t really start with any energy. It started with about eighteen metric truckloads of hype and hope and starry-eyed wonder at a possible Second Reagan, come to rewrite the Gospel of the Republicans and lead them all to a shiny New Jerusalem where there’s free trade, patriarchal heterosexual Christians and buttloads of jingo. Then Fred woke up as they were chanting his name, got out into the golf cart for the parade and promptly nodded off somewhere between the Mall and Dupont Circle. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/351 "2008-01-22T19:59:24Z")
Who’s going to break the news to\*\* Sam Stone\*\*? ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/352 "2008-01-22T21:29:30Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] buttloads of jingo. [/QUOTE] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/353 "2008-01-22T21:48:55Z")
So, now it’s down to five: McCain Romney Huckabee Giuliani Paul I think we can rule out Paul. So who has the best shot? I’m thinking Romney. McCain is just too old. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/354 "2008-01-22T21:50:25Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Sure, but near as I can tell Fred Thompson “running” consists of sitting still and hoping Law & Order reruns are enough to make him something other than Kucinich of the Right. -Joe [/QUOTE] Wow, I should be, like, a psychic type. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/355 "2008-01-22T21:55:27Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] So, now it’s down to five: McCain Romney Huckabee Giuliani Paul I think we can rule out Paul. So who has the best shot? I’m thinking Romney. McCain is just too old. [/QUOTE] I am hoping for McCain, at least that will give me a palatable candidate from the Republicans. I think he still stands a decent chance. Rudy might now be running for VP with the Big States. Huckleberry will scare me until he is put away. Romney is as bad as most Massachusetts politicians. I can’t stand the man. How do they do that? Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Tip O’Neil and now Romney all put the sleaze in sleazy politician. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/356 "2008-01-22T22:05:41Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] [Thompson is O-U-T](http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/thompson_drops_the_statement.php). [/QUOTE] His only function was to keep Huckabee from winning South Carolina. Mission accomplished, he may now bow out, assured of a spot in a McCain administration. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/357 "2008-01-22T22:07:36Z")
Is Fred now hoping for McCain’s VP slot? Personally, I think he might have benefitted hugely from a Huckabee implosion had he stayed in. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/358 "2008-01-22T22:14:23Z")
I don’t think McCain should choose Thompson for his VP - the last thing his candidacy needs is another (and much more obviously) old guy. He might want to pick Huckabee for VP, partly to pacify the evangelicals, and partly because Huckabee is charming enough to be quite an asset as long as he keeps his mouth shut about policy. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/359 "2008-01-22T22:23:25Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] I don’t think McCain should choose Thompson for his VP - the last thing his candidacy needs is another (and much more obviously) old guy. He might want to pick Huckabee for VP, partly to pacify the evangelicals, and partly because Huckabee is charming enough to be quite an asset as long as he keeps his mouth shut about policy. [/QUOTE] Boy, that would be rich–the two candidates the GOP establishment hates the most\*, paired off together! \*I’m not counting Paul, whom the GOP establishment refuses to acknowledge even exists ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463/360 "2008-01-23T00:13:33Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Is Fred now hoping for McCain’s VP slot? [/QUOTE] More likely another season on TV. He got a great career boost out of this half-assed campaign thing, if his agent takes proper advantage of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicap-the-gop-nomination-race/423463.md?page=19)