Posted on 11/21/2004 9:53:50 AM PST by wagglebee
I sure you're right, but it makes me happy to imagine it. Especially thinking about how much it would freak the lefties out.
Ah, Clinton wasn't that impressive. He was re-elected in the mdist of a massive economic boom which the Republicans were able to supply him due to his own political incompetence. Bob Dole then ran the worst campaign I have ever seen, attacking his own party far more viciously than the Democrats. And Clinton STILL couldn't break 50%.
Give her a weak economy and she'd be trounced in a landslide.
I suspect that the '08 GOP primary might be like the '88 race, in which a number of candidates competed for the Reagan/conservative mantle, but Dole was able to claim the RINO vote entirely for himself. We forget how close he came to winning the nomination on an anti-Reagan platform. And the final surviving representative of the Reagan faction was the most liberal of the options (GHW Bush), because he had the advantage of incumbency and name-ID. The conservatives in the race ended up cancelling each other out. (Remember Kemp vs Robertson in the early Michigan pre-primary beauty contest?)
Consider this scenario for '08: Either McCain or Hagel (but not both) enter as the anti-Bush, with the full support and massive spotlight of the Lamestream media. The 6 or 7 solid conservative candidates are too unknown/regional in their appeal (Owens, Sanford, etc) and cancel each other out. Giuliani emerges as the pro-Bush/interventionist candidate with the most name-ID, but is un-electable in the primaries due to his social liberalism.
I am very worried that it could be very difficult to stop McCain, unless conservatives unite around a single candidate who is solid on foreign policy and domestic issues.
Even when the establishment united VERY early and VERY heavily around GW Bush in 2000, McCain came within a whisker of the nomination on the strength of MSM alone.
I think we need to try to unite early around a single, electable conservative candidate, and recognize that it won't necessarily be the most conservative of the bunch (just as GWB was not the most solid appearing candidate in 2000).
I won't vote for him. He's another Kerry.
Uhhhh...U.S. born?
hey, i respect him, just don't want his hands on the football... thats no insult.
Oh well, I guess Clinton has paved the way for that...
I'd prefer us CONSERVATIVES did the grooming and not Bush.
Jeb Bush is *not* interested. This has come up.
IMHO, W will not endorse anyone, and rightly so.
But what Krauthammer says in his new column makes no sense to me at all.
Click here for the latest 'tator Take
Or as Peter, Paul,and Mounds used to sing.. "If I had a Hammer."
LOL! I had never thought of that!
Fortunately, McVain cannot win the '08 Primary and he could not win the election, even if he got past that. He's history. Yesterday's news. MSM's puppy love, not Republican's.
Your 1988 analogy is exactly right! But I see it a little differently. Hagel won't run; even if he did, he's a third tier candidate these days and wouldn't make a splash. Rudy and McCain will be splitting the Andrew Sullivan vote --- moderate Republicans, libertarians, RINOS, etc. Let's say that's half of the GOP electorate. The other half, then, will go to the conservative candidates. The problem is, out of all of the conservatives, there isn't one with the star power and name recognition of McCain or Rudy. Instead, there will be half a dozen governors and senators splitting the conservative primary vote (Frist, Owens, Pawlenty, Santorum, Sanford, etc). The result would be that either McCain OR Rudy will win the nomination.
The only way to prevent this --- if it's something that one wants to prevent --- is for the GOP establishment to pick one of the conservatives and rally around him. It can't be somebody too far to the right; otherwise, we might as well just send the centrists over to Hillary right now. No Tancredos or Santorums. Instead, we need a center-right Bush Republican, preferably a governor, to rally around as the heir apparent. I prefer Pawlenty, but others have argued for Sanford, Owens, etc, all of which would be good choices. The point is, if we let these guys split the half of the Republican vote that wants a conservative candidate, the star power of McCain and Rudy will almost certainly dominate the primaries and one of those two will be the nominee --- either McCain because he can be trusted more with social issues or Rudy because he's been more loyal to Bush.
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