Posted on 09/16/2005 9:42:04 PM PDT by quantim
I think you're right if President Bush has some coattails to ride in 2008. I say this because Allen does appear to be best suited to keep together the coalition that Bush has succeeded in building.
But if the President is a non-factor in 2008 (ie low popularity), I unfortunately think the candidate that will win is McCain (health-willing) or Hagel.
Long story short...imho it's essential to get the President's popularity back on track to keep this country going in the right direction for the next 12 years.
JEB would make a good candidate but even I know that he won't run. Besides, the voters might have enough of the Bush family come 2008.
Sort of cautios of politicos from Arkansas and Mass. too.
Would rather put them all in the receiving line of a firing squad then in a higher position of power and graft.
I'd love to see it. Haley's good people.
You and I seem to be lone voices in the wilderness. No one at FR believes me when I post that.
After seeing Barbour on TV recently, and especially yesterday, he would probably have my vote, too.
Instead of sending out mailers for Salier, who had done so much for them, they charged the campaign to send them out. I have absolutely no use for the Christian Coalition.
I guess the point I failed in making earlier is that if the President's popularity is in the gutter come 2008, the concept of "GOP loyalty" as we know it will have entirely new meaning. In fact, it could mean the polar opposite of what it means now...and there's no viable Republican more anti-Bush than McCain.
As for the temperment issue, you may be 100% correct, but I would doubt the public at large perceives him this way. It doesn't make me happy, but I do think McCain is extremely electable and should not be underestimated.
Back to the original point, Giuliani is the true non-starter.
The idea that a blue state pro-abortion gay rights thrice married ethnic will carry a southern primary is a bit much to ask, and one I would not have made before 9/11.
But I also understand the varying degrees of political appeal, and Rudy's transcends conventional models. He is riding the elan of almost rock star status in every corner of this country, and he is cagey enough to parlay this into a series of IOU's, which he has been collecting in the last two election cycles. And likely in the '06 one as well.
Come the '08 cycle, a sizable amount of the GOP congressional caucus, particularly in Dixie, are going to owe this guy their jobs.
Why? Because Rudy's endorsement carried weight with their voters. And when those same voters get an opportunity to cast a vote for Rudy himself, they will knock themselves over to do it.
'08 is going to require a strong candidate to overcome the media orgasm over Hillary. Tossing out Allen or Frist, whom have regional appeal at best at the moment, would be folly.
Rudy can pick off blue states for the GOP like New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey in addition to the traditional red states.
With ease.
And any concern about his abortion stance is tempered with the knowledge that he will appoint law and order judges, who tend to be socially conservative.
A Churchillian Reaganite with glittering name recognition doesn't come along too often. Guiliani/Barbour would be a landslide in 2008.
Watch it happen.
BUMP! Haley has always had my heart --- hate to lose him as out governor, but we'd make the sacrifice. :)
New wheels and tires, I assume?
Tom Roeser of the Chicago Sun-Time wrote the following last week about a Guiliani/Babour ticket:
The final three paragraphs:
And as for those who say that Giuliani is too liberal, I say: Wait for the change as the campaign unfolds and he won't have to romance just New York City. His critics forget the magical fluidity that is politics. Ike started out as an FDR man, JFK an America Firster, LBJ a segregationist, Nixon a Red China-basher.
Reagan was originally a pro-choicer who co-founded Americans for Democratic Action. George H.W. Bush, who was called "rubber George" in the House, wanted the feds to control population and was an enthusiastic pro-choicer. And remember, George W. was a supporter of humble, stay-at-home foreign policy.
One more thing: Let 'em pair Giuliani, whose words spout like bullets from a machine gun, with a veep who talks slow, with the vowels dripping syrup on hominy grits swimming with butter: Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who brilliantly handled Hurricane Katrina. Manhattan and Mississippi. Yeah: I like that.
P.S. I love the syrupy grits and butter line! :)
The Iowa CC is the same group who had several fundraisers featuring Bill Salier who took time out of his own campaign schedule to help the CC out. The CC then said that they 1. had no money for voter guides, and; 2. even if they did, Iowa Right to Life was supposed to put them out with the CC and IRL went back on the deal.
Instead of sending out mailers for Salier, who had done so much for them, they charged the campaign to send them out. I have absolutely no use for the Christian Coalition.
Isn't Huck a Baptist Preacher.
I am kinda fond of them.
Didn't Barbour, after his tenure at the RNC, lobby for the UN? Or at least a group that lobbied for the United States to pay back UN dues.
I don't know.
Are you? Why is that? :)
Are you? Why is that? :)
cause they keep Catholics in line. :>)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.