The Rise of the Metro Republicans How McCain, Romney, and Giuliani may redraw the red-blue map.

The Weekly Standard ^ | February 19, 2007 | Noemie Emery

[Clintonfatigued]

Here are the three leading candidates for president in the Republican party, a party based in the South and in the interior, rural in nature, and backed in large part by social conservatives: the senior senator from Arizona, a congenital maverick with friends in the press and a habit of dissing the base of his party; the former governor of deep-blue Massachusetts, son of a Michigan governor, a Mormon who looks, sounds, and comes across as a city boy; and the former mayor of New York, the Big Apple itself, ethnic and Catholic, pro-choice and pro-gun control, married three times, and a man who--Neil Simon, where are you?--moved in with a gay friend and his partner when he was thrown out of Gracie Mansion by his estranged and enraged second wife.

None hails from the South, none looks or sounds country, none is conspicuous for traditional piety, and none is linked closely to social conservatives. At the same time, none is exactly at odds with social conservatives either. None is a moderate, in the sense of being a centrist on anything or wary of conservatives; rather, each is a strong conservative on many key issues, while having a dissident streak on a few. Each has a way of presenting conservative views that centrists don't find threatening, and projecting fairly traditional values in a language that secular voters don't fear. In a country that has been ferociously split into two near-equal camps of voters for at least the past decade, this is no small accomplishment, as it suggests the potential to cross cultural barriers, and therefore extend one's own reach. If one of these men wins, it may mark a return to broader, national parties. And the iconic map of the recent elections,

[Blackirish]

Too Hillary???? Red states going for the cold and joyless one....name one.

[PhiKapMom]

ROFLOL!! That is one problem on here -- some Freepers speak before knowing anything about a former candidate or office holder. They assume if someone was Conservative they must be a social conservative -- wrong assumption.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

LMAO, Are we really as bad as they say ? /s

[Lancey Howard]

"I would like to see the "Law and Order" candidate throw his hat in the ring."

You can't be talking about Rudy, the "sanctuary city" candidate.

Uhh... No.
I said "the Law and Order candidate":

[Blackirish]

And we just cant seem to find it in our hearts to get behind a real conservative and so the rinos want us to get ....

When Allen and Santaram lost the social right was left without a QB going into the game. The game clock is ticking super Tuesday is less then a year away. The candidate will have to have an entire ground game and 100 mill raised NOW. There is no one who fits the bill.


If you want to be in denial about it.

[McGavin999]

Goldwater is from Arizona, I know the history of the man very, very well since I was raised here all my life.

[PhiKapMom]

Oklahomans will not vote for Hillary in enough numbers to win. If Rudy is our candidate, expect Oklahome to be very red once again. Rudy was one of the first people to call Gov Keating after the Murrah Bombing and vice versa after 9-11. In fact one of the firefighters killed in 9-11 led a team to help out OKC. Oklahomans gave NYC teddy bears for the children who lost a parent(s) and a firetruck that still bears the words "Spirit of Oklahoma" so Oklahoma will stand with Rudy in 2008 in the general election.

[streetpreacher]

I don't think abortion was an issue in 1964 and Goldwater was silent until later years.

[Beagle8U]

I don't know. To them we are. Big scary people that drink beer and own guns.

[PhiKapMom]

I can remember reading the book Conscience of a Conservative and wanted to do a book report but it was turned down! :( So I did one on Eisenhower!

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

No kidding, conservative mag my ass, cancelled my subscription some time back.Gaaaak, I love that.

[freedomdefender]

Too Hillary???? Red states going for the cold and joyless one....name one.

If by "red" states you mean states that went for Bush, I can name a number where the margins were close enough that the outcome next time will be different if the GOP nominee is someone who makes social conservatives stay home. Start with Ohio. Bush squeaked by last time - and it was on the strength of a no-gay-marriage amendment that brought out the social conservative vote. IF the GOP is running a candidate who believes in "gay marriage", you can say goodbye to those social conservatives, or at least to enough of them that the state could very easily go "Blue."

Of course, political calculations aren't the only reason I fear the nomination of Rudy. My concern about the future of our civilization - western civilization - is an even bigger reason. Homosexual marriage - which he supports, apparantently - would be the sign of a final downward spiral, by destroying the insitution on which civilization rests and by elevating perverted behavior to the status of normality. You don't have to be a fundamentalist anything (I'm not), to understand that -- and enough voters understand it that Rudy's gay agenda will sink his candidacy (and the GOP if it nominates him).

[KC_Conspirator]

You are probably correct in your assessment.

[McGavin999]

Nah, he wasn't silent, it just wasn't something that was talked about much until after Roe v Wade and that was, what, around 1973?

[Bittersweetmd]

the "values" voters will leave the GOP and the GOP will return to minority status.
True, but my rather pessimistic view point is just how many values voters are there anymore? Sure the south is there but the evangelicals are now the "new" evangelicals. They are not the solid conservatives of the Reagan years. I hope I am wrong about their social conservatism having gone the way of being much more open minded and accepting/tolerant or another way of putting it is"anything goes". I am talking about the 25 to 40 age range. Younger families going to the user-friendly, purpose driven, and emergent churches looking for a more do good social club than a repent of your sins and live right with God and man. I think most people are pretty unaware of this side to the church/evangelical movement out there right now. I work in an industry that has experienced first hand this change.

[Blackirish]

Homosexual marriage - which he supports, apparantently ......

At every speach he gives Rudy has come out AGAINST gay marrage.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

It is kinda hard not to notice isnt it. Unreal

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I like it, I like it.Big scarey people who drink beer and own guns.LOL

[Beagle8U]

"True, but my rather pessimistic view point is just how many values voters are there anymore?"

70 million Evangelicals is the last count I saw and most vote Republican. Add 45 million gun owners who also vote mostly Republican.

But what the heck, run them out of the party by nominating Fruity Rudi and hope he can steal every rat vote from Hildabeast.

[TommyDale]

"Rudy was one of the first people to call Gov Keating after the Murrah Bombing and vice versa after 9-11. In fact one of the firefighters killed in 9-11 led a team to help out OKC. Oklahomans gave NYC teddy bears for the children who lost a parent(s) and a firetruck that still bears the words "Spirit of Oklahoma" so Oklahoma will stand with Rudy in 2008 in the general election."

That qualifies him to be President? I would hope that Oklahomans would see his social liberal record and vote for a candidate that speaks for their values, not just because he has a (R) after his name.