If not Bush, who?

In the interest of disclosure, I should start by saying that I tend to lean leftwards politically. That being said, I would vote Republican if I were convinced that the GOP had the better candidate and that said candidate was not going to be pandering to the Religious Fundamentalist faction of the party.

Of course Democrats don’t want Bush in office, but I have heard lots of Republicans say (especially lately) that GWB is hardly their first choice either. So my question basically is, if Bush dropped dead right this second, who would be the best representative of the GOP come next November, and why? Dems can play too-- I personally would have liked to see a Gore/McCain election last time, but the fates were cruel…

ANYONE!!!

Seriously though, speaking for most of the Dems I know including myself, If McCain or Powell were to run we would have to think long and hard about who to vote for in 04. Now if say Rick Santorum or Bill Frist ran I wouldn’t be quite so conflicted.

I do wonder who board repubs like though… Cheney?

Can you give examples of how Bush is “pandering” (ie, going along with them despite his own personal convictions otherwise) to the Religious Right? Show us how that is a significant part of his political platform. Personally, I don’t see it.

This is a hijack John but I’ll humor you.

[During a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, Rove said that one reason the 2000 election was so tight was that as many as 4 million Christian conservatives did not go to the polls. Although the Bush campaign had expected 19 million evangelical voters, election returns revealed only 15 million turned out to cast ballots.

Rove said during his speech that the Bush campaign “probably failed to marshal support of the base as well as we should have.”

Glover, of the Family Policy Network, predicted Bush would only pay attention to evangelicals “through political maneuvers, direct mail, and videos. He clearly does not have any desire to please evangelical Christians. He merely wants their vote.]( http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:4QqhhqTaR-0J:www.beliefnet.com/story/95/story_9577_3.html+loss+4+million+evangelical+voters&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)

If the 2002 elections are any indicator Bush clearly took Rove’s advice to heart.

John, I think it has something to do with…

-The faith based initiative
-Talking about a “crusade” and “evildoers”
-Marriage = man + woman

etc.

I don’t think it’s pandering, it’s just his own convictions.

Anyway, I, (on the left of things, generally,) would enjoy a McCain type, though I think that many on the left would think him more liberal than he actually is. Colin Powell would be cool. The usual suspects.

I never said that Bush was pandering to the RR. I just said that before I would personally vote for a Republican he would have to be A) the best candidate and B) not be pandering to the Religious Right. If a person truly espouses (some of) the positions of the Religious Right, I’m not voting for him no matter what party he affiliates himself with.

Jonah Goldberg.

If Jonah wouldn’t run, there are plenty of fine candidates in the ‘R’ column. Dan Quayle, John Engler, Dick Cheney, Steve Forbes, Bill Frist, just to name a few. Not that all or any of them neccesarily have presidential aspirations.

The OP may be laboring under a misunderstanding. While I certainly am no fan of GWs social policies, for instance, he will certainly get my vote, and some money, in '04. Not liking a certain aspect of his policies does not mean I would rather see someone else in his place; I think GW is the right man at the right time for America.

Well, I can see this starting to go south already.:frowning:

To clarify: I am not trying to start a Defend Bush/Bash Bush thread here, (We’ve had plenty of them already!) and I know that there are still plenty of folks who think he’s a great guy and doing a bang-up job. I would just like to know who the GOP should field next November if Bush were out of the running, and what particular characteristics make that choice the best one. Character? Particular policy positions? Ideological leanings?

Liberal Democrat here. Colin Powell would be a worthy candidate and much further down the line, McCain.

I’m surprised at the disregard for Frist. Although I disagree with him politically, I have nothing but respect for him as a person.

He used to fly into the Sudan twice a year – on his own inititive – to perform surgery on children who needed it but would not have it otherwise. He quit only when Security said it was no longer an option. Very decent human being.

I’m impressed with people who do that sort of thing quietly – especially politicians. I found out only through someone we both know.

OK, I probably read too much into the OP thinking you had referred to Bush as pandering to the Religious Right. IIRC, Bush nominated an openly gay person as an ambassador, much to the disamy of the Religious Right. But there are plenty of Pubs who do their fair share of pandering.

You’d probably like Powell, but I don’t think he’ll run.

The honest truth is that no republican besides Bush has a shot. He has a high enough approval ratings with republicans that his spot as the republican nominee is not in jepeordy. Also, no republican with any shot has said they will take on Bush, and it already getting to the point where if any republican had a chance, he would have to make a point of it right now. Basically Bush will be the republican nominee for 2004, end of story.

Also, I can’t believe someone suggested Qualye as a possibility for anyone. He has to be the worst politician since Nixon.

I thought that Bush, being the President and all, was automatically the Republican candidate.

Nope. Naturally, the political parties tend to embrace their incumbents, but if an incumbent looks weak to a potential contender, there’s no rule preventing them from tossing their hat in the ring and trying to unseat the incumbent in the primaries. In '76, Gerald Ford was in the chair and seeking the Republican nomination to do a second term. Ronald Reagan ran an unsuccessful (but decently close) campaign to take the nomination away from him and become the Republican candidate. (Ford went on to lose to Carter, who subsequently lost to Reagan in '80).

To answer the OP, I would line up behind Olympia Snowe. I think she’d make a good President and would get a lot of bipartisan support (and piss off the lunatic fringes in both major parties). Disclaimer: I’m an independent and have voted Democratic significantly more often than Republican especially at the national level.

Yes, please! :smiley: Run any of these guys in 2004, and I’ll double Bricker’s bet. But please please please consider Danforth for your candidate; not living in California, I’m way overdue for a fun campaign.

As for whether Bush is the default candidate: the OP asked who would front for Republicans if Bush died before the election. I think McCain would stand the best chance of winning, but I’d suspect Cheney would get the nod – and he’d go down like the Titanic on Quaaludes.

Daniel

High on the list would have to be Chuck Hagel. He’d be a pretty darned good Republican candidate.

[hijack]
As far as McCain goes: he is CRAZY.

To all my friends on the center-left who think that we have a problem now with our foreign relations, you could not imagine how bad the situation would become under the leadership of a President McCain.

Point: He is incapable of a fair debate on the issues, due to his penchant for insinuating that those in opposition to his positions are corrupt. Google McCain and “the fix is in” and see how many different issues pop up in which he has made this not-so-subtle insult to his colleagues.

Point: Not only does he continue to advocate more American troops for Iraq, but he belittles the desiribility of more foreign troops. Don’t forget that he supported sending in ground troops during the Kosovo war. He is trigger-happy and the wrong man to have his finger on the button.

Point: McCain was just as hard, if not harder, in criticizing NATO allies for failing to support the war in Iraq as were the most vocal neo-cons. Recall: “The French remind a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn’t have the face for it.”(Cite)

McCain is the political equivalent of the hot stripper who, at first glance, would seem to be a trophy girlfriend, but once you get to know her, is revealed as a maniac who will leave you a manipulated, beaten down, alcoholic, imprisoned, bankrupt, heartbroken mess. Better just to ogle and not get involved.
[/hijack]

He’d never be nomiated because he is too old and I think he has probably pissed off too many Republicans lately because of his criticism of Bush’s handling of the war, but Richard Lugar, in my opinion, would be the best candidate. An expert on foreign policy, well spoken, knowledgeable, respected by many of both parties, life long public servant. He lacks of the charisma needed to be an exciting candidate, but I would feel much better with the fate of the country in his hands than in Bush’s.

Questions of ‘pandering’ aside, the Christian right pretty much has veto power over the GOP nominee, due to its numbers and demonstrated ballot-box presence. They’re not strong enough to nominate whoever they want, over the objections of more secular Pubbies, but nobody’s going to win the GOP nomination over the objections of Pat Robertson, James Dobson, the LaHayes, and all the other usual suspects.

That’s why McCain will never win the GOP nomination, and why Powell, Rice, Lugar, Snowe, and people of that ilk would have to pander to the Christian Right to win the nomination. (Kinda like Bush Sr. did.) At which point the cred they have with centrists would go out the window.

And if Quayle, Engler, Cheney, or Forbes won the GOP nomination, I’d join Daniel Withrow in wanting a piece of that bet.

If GWB were to drop dead tomorrow (and I very much hope he doesn’t; it would put Dick Cheney in the Oval Office), ISTM that the obvious frontrunner for the 2004 GOP nomination would be his brother Jeb. He’s governor of Florida, he’s conservative enough for the conservatives of all sorts in the GOP, and he’s brighter and more photogenic than his brother. He’d be a formidable opponent for any Democrat.

I would once have said Powell. But after he chose to make that ill-fated presentation to the UN… nuh uh. I don’t think he has any credibility left – he’s become an Administration puppet, and I would no longer considering voting for him.