Y’know if you get your wish, and some of the Pubs get theirs, it could be Newt vs. Hillary . . .
Wonder how that would play out?
Gingrich would get completely smashed.
I agree. He’s a smart man with some very good policy ideas, but he got caught up in his own power trip during the Clinton administration. His time is past, and he has no one to blame but himself.
No kidding. It’d be a battle of the bad reputation versus the battle of the insanely bad charisma. Hillary has a millstone around her neck, but Newt is already crawling at the bottom of the pond. I can’t believe anyone (other than elucidator, the Democratic Pollyanna) would take the idea of a Gingrich campaign seriously.
I agree with rtfirefly. Sam’s suggested platform isn’t necessarily one that would earn my vote, but I could live much more happily with it if it spelled the end of the religious right’s control over the Republican party.
Of course, I’m increasingly thinking that the most important issue for the next presidency will be global climate change. What happens there remains to be seen.
Daniel
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Sam is almost describing Richard M. Nixon! :eek:
Giuliani is/was never “so bad” to begin with. No, social conservatives will not think he is “one of them,” but that isn’t the point.
The religious right didn’t stop supporting Reagan, even though he was a divorcee whose wife saw an astrologer; feminists didn’t hesitate to support candidate Clinton despite his record as a womanizer. What matters most to most any given constituiency is whether or not they think a candidate will do the things they want done, not a candidate’s purity.
Giuliani can point to cleaning up Times Square, cracking down on vice crimes, and fighting obscene art. Given that record, nobody will give a crap about his messy personal life. He can say he’s pro-choice, but promise to appoint judges that will be strict constructionists (wink, wink). He was anti-gun as NYC mayor, but can promise not to extend that to the whole country. As allowing gay adoption … well, candidate Reagan spoke out in favor of gays being allowed to be schoolteachers, and it didn’t seem hurt him much.
On the plus side of his ledger, the number one issue among the Religious Right, and among Republicans generally, is national security; nobody, not even McCain, will touch Giuliani there. Guiliani has very wisely kept his profile fairly low for the last few years, so he will not be an old, tired face with a voting record in 2008. He has has only loose ties to Bush, but at the same time has never attacked him.
Finally, he’s electable. And after 2 years of a dem congress and a lame-duck president, that will be very important.
Could a little-known governor from Arkansas come out of nowhere to win the nomination? Yeah, like THAT could ever happen…
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/27/Huckabee.ap/index.html
Though, according to Newsweek, the country isn’t that crazy about having a Republican President: a little under half the registered voters sampled want a Democrat, whereas Republicans are at 28%.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16840614/site/newsweek/
Okay, I’m not saying there’s an actual resemblance that a normal person would think of, but that picture of Huckabee made me think of President Logan from 24. Sooo not the fictional president you want to resemble. 
But I have!
Yes, let it be Newt. But it won’t, because Newt has zero personal appeal. He’s limp, lame, and lacking charisma. He’s nerdy and non-macho. He’s fucking dull!
Forget Newt, just as you’d forget a newt in a muddy puddle.
Goddamn, that is scary.
Now, is he President Wussyface or President EvilConspirator?
-Joe
His opponents can trot out Abner Louima and the family of Amadou Diallo, and some corrupt appointees of his such as Kerik. Remember that Giuliani had become very unpopular as a mayor, despite those accomplishments, as of 9/10/01. It’s certainly fair to argue that he immediately grew into the responsibilities thrust upon him by 9/11, but bluntly that isn’t the central issue for 08; Iraq is.
I’m not seeing it, sorry. He still looks good in part because he hasn’t been running, he hasn’t been facing questions, he’s still a blank slate upon which voters can write their hopes. Once he’s in, he’s fair game, and he’ll get roughed up pretty harshly. Powell was in the same situation in 96 and 00, for instance, and for the same reasons - he too looked like a great candidate precisely because he wasn’t a candidate.
I still say that Giuliani would have been well suited as AG. As a mayor, he just wasn’t impressive as an executive, consensus builder, manager. He was a elite prosecutor. Fighting crime was what he did and did best.
Gulliani is too urban, NYawk. The problems with his abortion stance might be overlooked if he paid some other for of obeisance, like a spotless marital record with 6 kids, one wife, and no gays. Wherein Rudy falls a bit short, marital bliss wise. The situation calls for a man with a spotless record of domestic devotion.
Like Newt!
Draft Newt! God, that works on sooo many levels!
I submit that “consensus builder” is not traditionally a prized virtue among conservatives. As to attacking him as an incompetent executive, what specifically do you mean? Remember, we’re talking about things that will bother conservatives.
I am not claiming that he will be a great or even good president. I am not claiming he will win a general election. I am not endorsing him, as he has an authoritarian streak I find disheartening.
But I am saying is that the mass-media meme that “he’s too liberal for the conservative base” is wrong, rooted in ignorance about who the religious right is, what they value and the extent to which they are willing to deal with political reality. A competently-run Giuliani campaign can, and I think will, mollify them.
Oh, god! I think I just swallowed my tongue! :eek:
Nixon did a lot of good for this country. The EPA, 18 year olds voting…
Before Bush, I wasn’t a fan. Now, I am. He may have been a paranoid son of a bitch, he may even have been evil, but he wasn’t stupid.
Mister, we could use a man like Nixon again.
Yeah, except for that little War on Dirty Hipp … er, Drugs thing.
He lost. He’s dead, and I’m not.