Posted on 08/02/2013 7:32:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
DEMOCRATS (88 VOTES)
Chris Christie's: 68%
Rand Paul's: 32%
Chris Christie's
"Ted Cruz is at war with Tom Coburn on Obamacare. Christie and Paul are going at each other like they're only a month out from the 2014 Iowa caucuses. As a Democrat, I love it."
"Paul's strategy would lose the GOP more votes in the long term."
"This isn't like abortion—the elites control the security debate, and the elites are not isolationists."
"In GOP-land, Big Military always trumps civil liberties."
"As a Democrat, it is going to be great theater and fun to watch the meltdown."
"Rand Paul's views represent an intense group of activists who are more ideological than partisan. Christie's views represent the core Republican brand."
"Rand Paul's America First credo will be no more successful than it was when Pat Buchanan pursued it. It is not premised on reality, and that is a fatal flaw."
Rand Paul's
"The GOP is currently incapable of saying no to the tea party."
"The trend line is libertarian."
"Neo-isolationists have replaced the neocons, especially when it comes to [the National Security Agency]."
"Republican primary voters do not like pragmatism."
"Passion beats rational analysis."
"Chris Christie isn't the GOP. He's an outlier. He needs to come to grips with that."
"The so-called grown-ups seem to be losing to the pseudo-libertarians, along with the GOP's many other exotic factions these days."
REPUBLICANS (90 VOTES)
Chris Christie's: 81%
Rand Paul's: 19%
Chris Christie's
"The Republican Party is first and foremost the national security party. Sounding like a Democrat, as Paul does, is a great way to undermine our credibility."
"Paul is right, but the Defense Industrial Fear Complex will invest and win."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Time for the Bear in the Woods picture.
I’m no libertarian at all, but I side with Paul on this issue. With the government currently morphing into basically a one-party tyranny of Dems and GOP-E, I just don’t have the slightest smidgeon of trust that, just like the IRS situation, the ruling-class government elites will use all this domestic NSA snooping to deliberately crush its enemies (meaning tea-party, grassroots folks who oppose the big-government, pro-socialist agenda).
Sadly, a lot of people think that dissipating national strength on the other side of the world equals national security. National policy and our military should be geared to maintaining a measure of aloofness from the rest of the world. This was the conservative policy bequeathed us by the founding generation. This is how we became the most powerful nation on the world. I fear the current trend of endless intervention in the name of national defense may be how we will be ruined.
The whole debate going on here is misleading, starting with the assumption that there are only two choices to poll. the extremist intelligence blackout advocated by Paul and the all knowing 1984 police state of Christie.
We do need the ability to look into some communications given that modern technology has made internet traffic and cellular communications the strategic and tactical planning tools of a new enemy skillful in exploiting the technology.
On the other hand, we need rules and constraints on the government’s powers, knowing that a corrupt and tyrannical government is always just one election away (or is already here with Obama). And we need penalties when those rules are violated, not meaningless contempt of Congress citations.
The all (Christie) or nothing (Paul) approaches of surveillance are not the only options. Let’s not have polls like this starting out with that as the major premise.
I’m going to side with Paul.
Our government isn’t fighting wars and what they are doing isn’t in our best interests.
If we were going to go bomb the hell out of someplace, kick azz and take names, in a country that is a threat to the United States, I’m a 100% for that.
This nation building, policing and winning the hearts and minds, nope, I don’t support that—I support our troops, yes—the rest, no.
RE: the extremist intelligence blackout advocated by Paul
Is this REALLY what rand Paul is advocating?
This is a poll of GOPe insiders. This was not a poll of conservatives at large. I think if they had polled conservatives at Freerepublic they would see very different numbers.
I stand with the waco birds myself
If Christie gets the nod then the ball game is over.He can’t even run New Jersey.How can we expect him to clear up all of the damage that Obama has created throughout the country?
Intervention is not the problem.
It’s the prosecution once intervention is begun. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq I and II, Afghanistan are examples of what happens when overwhelming and total victory and utter destruction of your enemy are not part of your game plan.
A lot of young men end up dead with an outcome no different that the status quo ante. Iraq is back to being Iraq; Afghanistan is back to being Afghanistan; Vietnam is one of communism’s last outposts, and North Korea has nukes. Over 100,000 young American have died playing to tie or lose.
Utterly destroyed and “bombed into the Stone Age”, Japan and Germany are now leading, prosperous democratic nations. We are not worrying about Nazism or Fascism or Bushido anymore, are we?
Rand Paul is an isolationist like his whacky old man. Christie has his warts too and I think the Republican party can do better than either of these guys. What about Scott Walker?
But with Japan and Germany we followed the wise path of being the LAST major power to go to war, not the FIRST. The last power to join the fight conserves national strength, tips the balance and dominates the peace settlement.
Relative isolationism made us the world’s superpower. I fear discounting the advantages of isolation will destroy us.
I would have picked Christie in this case too. The question was "who do you think will win" not "who should win". When someone starts kicking the Washington wasp nest, the wasps from both the left side of the nest and the slightly less left side of the nest join together to fight the invader.
When you are up to you chin in manure and someone throws a bucket of urine at you, do you duck?
How about C, none of the above. We aren’t going to let the left-wing media and establishment Rino’s select our Republican presidential nominee next time.
There is a middle ground and each foreign intervention should be measured by itself and the impact on U.S. National Security. I am afraid Rand Paul is the preverbial seed that didn’t fall far enough from his Dad’s tree.
Paul or Ted Cruz...
the only 2 to which I will contribute $.. Cruz is my wish, however.
and if he loses, at least we had a strong voice of reason sent out to the country..
Paul or Ted Cruz...
the only 2 to which I will contribute $.. Cruz is my wish, however.
and if he loses, at least we had a strong voice of reason sent out to the country..
Yep, Cruz would be my choice also. I would certainly take Paul over Christie any day of the year.
I agree that there’s a middle ground that’s best. Given today’s domination of both liberal and conservative interventionists, I just see Rand Paul as closer than most to that optimal middle ground right now.
Christie can’t even run his own damn life, look at him.
Sad to say I don’t care one way or the other anymore. Every f’ing one of them is a liar and a cheat. My policy is to vote out whoever is in office. Too bad because my congressman is a “R” (but in name only). I will vote for the person running against him in the Primary and skip if he makes it to the General election.
This politically correct war on terror is destroying our liberty and robbing us of our freedom. It is time to stop the maddness focused on installing Democracies in war zones. Kill the enemy and then come home.
Let the fat man from NJ stay in NJ. I'll follow Paul over him any day of the week.
????
Flower Child ALREADY cried uncle to Fat Boy.
‘Let’s iron it out over a beer....’=’uncle’.
Indicates that Hillary would have him for lunch.
To an extent I agree. We clearly have to rethink our strategic policies. We cannot pay for the current level of spending.
Paul is right we have to make strategic cuts and strategic increases in areas where needed.
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