Posted on 11/14/2007 5:27:25 AM PST by connell
By Christopher Cook
Let's face it folks, the country is in a weird mood right now. The left's incessant, squalling permatantrum™ has made people unhappy, jittery, and willing to consider hating whoever and whatever the left hates. That means the GOP.
So, how does this anti-GOP mood play out in 2008?
It may all depend on one thing: Michael Bloomberg. There were some rumors a while back that he might make a third party run for the presidency, and in my view, that would likely spell doom for the GOP. Here's how:
He's an independent, which means he could capitalize on the anti-incumbent vibe the electorate is feeling right now. He's a multi-billionaire, which means he can spend endlessly on his own campaign (a huge advantage since the disaster of McCain–Feingold).
Most of all...he's not Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or a Republican, all of which would be very advantageous...
(Excerpt) Read more at modernconservative.com ...
If this guys point is that Republican (or even Independent) fear and distrust of Hillary Clinton is enough to elect ANY Republican, even Rudy Giuliani, I’m floored by the shallowness and naivety of the thinking process behind such a conclusion.
I think Cook needs to swear off the hard stuff and stick to diet colas.
The mighty Moderate Swing Voter is over rated. Give America a clear choice between a conservative and a progressive and the conservative will win easily. It is the Political Consultant who fantasizes over winning the Undecided by moving to the middle. That helps the progressives but hurts conservatives.
I think a true conservative will win the GOP nomination and defeat the Democrats. I doubt a Hillary vs Rudy match up.
So, is it your view that no Republican can win in 2008, or more specifically that something other than fear and distrust will be required?
Some elections hinge on base voters, some on swing voters, e.g., 2002 and 2004 were base, 2006 was swing. 2008 is going to be interesting, to be sure, and who the vital constituency will be this time has never, in my view, been harder to predict.
There is no way I will ever vote for Rino Rudy. If he is nominated I will go third party.
I think the Republicans can win and win big in 2008, but not with Rudy.
Rudy is the LEAST electable of the entire field. We’d be better off running Ron Paul.
Mind you, I’m not recommending that, only making a point. I have a favorite, but I’m not going to say who here, as it is not relevant to the post.
We just need to nominate a credible conservative that people will vote FOR, not just as a protest against Hillary Clinton. It has to be somebody running on a campaign to reverse the drift toward socialism, not just slow it down.
2006 was not, IMO, swing. It was the leftist media making much of Macaca and George Allen’s ceding the battlefield over it. Had Allen stayed on message and ignored the Macaca flap he would have won. Instead he wrestled in the mud with the pigs trying to apologize his way out of it. The same is true in other races. No conservative who stayed on message lost.
Wrong, Sparky.
if Guiliani is the candidate, the Dems win.
If we've learned anything about the Republican Party the last few years it's that they'll support anything a President with an R next to his name proposes. That isn't good enough. If Guiliani gets the Republican nomination I'll vote for the Democrat. It'll be the first time I'll cast a vote for a Democrat for federal office in forty years of voting in every election.
If the choice is a Liberal Republican or a Democrat, the only hope the Republican Party will remember its conservative roots is if the Democrat's in the White House.
When conservatives say, "Anyone but Hillary", why do they not see that they are doing the same thing.
It's not enough to only be against something, you have to stand FOR something.
If the conservatives allow a liberal, disguised as a conservative, to be their candidate because, "Only they can beat Hillary", they aren't standing FOR something.
They are only against something. The same thing they accuse the liberals of being.
The left must be stopped!
What has the first sentence to do with the second?
We'd better get behind a candidate other than Rudy and soon!
Fred Thompson (since we can never have Tom Tancredo) will fit the oval office just fine.
You’re right on those points, I think. And your points are something for conservative candidates to remember. However, just in terms of turnout numbers and who did what in 2006 in comparision to 2004, we didn’t lose our base in 2006, we lost more swingers who had voted for us in ‘04, but changed their minds (for whatever reason) in ‘06
Maybe-—I certainly think conservative defections are a big risk for Giuliani. However, he does pick up a lot from the middle and even some Democrats. Whether those would offset, I’m not sure. However, I do lean in the direction that Romney would be more electable for us.
Problem is I dont thing any of the current field has a chance of beating Hilliary except Rudy. Wonder how many conservatives sit this one out if it becomes down to Hilliary vs Rudy.
Maybe it is time for a new conservative party not this RINO crap.
“Suppose someone seeking the presidential nomination had, as a governor, signed the largest tax increase in his state’s history and the nation’s most permissive abortion law. And by signing a law institutionalizing no-fault divorce, he had unwittingly but substantially advanced an idea central to the campaign for same-sex marriages — the minimalist understanding of marriage as merely a contract between consenting adults to be entered into or dissolved as it suits their happiness. “Question: Is it not likely that such a presidential aspirant would be derided by some of today’s fastidious conservatives? A sobering thought, that, because the attributes just described were those of Ronald Reagan.”
-George Will
Sorry pal, you may go through the motions... but you're ELECTING Clinton.
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.