Go participate in Patrick Ruffini’s straw poll for Republican candidates. Be interesting to see who you guys all choose.
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by John Cole| 45 Comments
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Go participate in Patrick Ruffini’s straw poll for Republican candidates. Be interesting to see who you guys all choose.
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Don
McCain all the way, baby.
Tim F
It was a tough call but Frist got my vote followed by Cheney in the fantasy slate. Go Frist go.
jg
McCain. Although I might be swayed if his brown baby is brought up again.
ppGaz
Pat Paulsen for President, Dead or Alive!
Mr Furious
Where can I write-in one of the 2 Pats? Buchanan OR Robertson—it matters not.
TallDave
Giuliani/Rice would make a great ticket — and tough to beat.
Tim F
Rice was NSA during 9/11. Sorry, she’s never getting on a presidential ticket.
Joey
Where’s Obama, Bayh, and…Oh, wait. Yeah….
How would Rice be tought to beat? Honestly, does anybody really like her? People like Giuliani, at least they do after 9/11. Before that, not so much, but that doesn’t matter. And, as Tim F said, anybody who was NSA when 9/11 happened would have some serious problems getting support. At least, I would hope they would.
And somebody has to say it, so it might as well be me: Cheney has already had his eight years.
Joey
Or, rather, is in the process of completing his eight years.
Tim F
There should also be an asterisk after names that will never, ever win the religious right’s approval. Those guys will be running against long odds.
MI
George Allen? running second? Really? He’s the epitome of your bland, uninspiring, run of the mill, pandering politician. The level of support he apparently has surprised me.
Tancredo, c’mon now.
Guess I’m not shocked Hagel is so low after his recent comments, but he’s really the kind of republican I could vote for. I’m only really a democrat by default at this point anyway, just because republicans have gone so off the wall insane, but I’m still really politically drawn to guys like Hagel.
MI
Does anyone think the war has a legitimate chance of nullifying or even trumping the religious right vote in ’08?
If the war continues its current path for another four years, do you think it’s fair to assume it will take on more importance to religious voters than issues like abortion and gay marriage?
Mason
I don’t understand the love affair with McCain. I’ve never felt right about the guy, and the atrocious incumbent protection bill is simply inexcusable.
TallDave
How would Rice be tought to beat? Honestly, does anybody really like her?
Are you kidding? People love her. Last I checked she had a 59 to 25 percent approval rating. Great life story, great person, very eloquent, and having a black woman as VP candidate for the GOP may cut to the heart of the Dem base.
TallDave
anybody who was NSA when 9/11 happened would have some serious problems getting support.
I doubt it, people aren’t dumb enough to put all the blame on someone who was in office for all of eight months. She’s not Jamie Gorelick building “the wall” higher or Bill Clinton saying the biggest mistake of his Presidency was turning down the Sudanese offer to turn over bin Laden, after all.
MI
The more TallDave posts, the less I think DougJ is goofing. Which is scary.
Tim F
TallDave is real. Scary how many people blame Cilnton for the first WTC attack (February 1993) and but absolve Bush of 9/11. The Mogadishu raid, October 1993, an operation initiated by Bush senior. Clinton’s fault. April 2003, an ATF raid initiated by the Bush Sr. DOJ goes badly. Clinton’s fault.
September 2001, Bush cools his heels in Texas while nearly 3,000 Americans die. Clinton’s fault.
Rightwing logic at its finest.
Kimmitt
I bet Rice wins, proving yet again the near-total disconnect between the Repub elite and the rank-and-file.
TallDave
I don’t think anyone whose vote is up for grabs puts all the blame on Clinton, either.
Most people are smart enough to understand there were structural deficiencies in our intel agencies, independent of the political parties.
TallDave
You know, one of the great ironies of our political situation is that Republicans are far more likely to give minorities powerful positions, esp. blacks. Since Democrats carry 90% of the black vote anyway, they have little incentive to court the other 10%. But Republicans have the whole other 90% out of which they can hope to persuade some voters to come across to their side.
ppGaz
The right Reverend Doctor Shaquille Pangloss hisself couldn’t have said it better! In the best of all possible worlds, if it weren’t for the fact that the GOP over the years hasn’t given a flying phuck about them, blacks would really be better off to vote Republican … vote with their brothers and homies, Big Oil, Big Banks, and the Bling Brotherhood of Big Money.
Word.
Mike S
Please nominate Gullani. The wingnuts cheer when his affair in the mansion pops up. Black people will flock to the party. And Bernard Kerik will become a household name again.
TallDave
the fact that the GOP over the years hasn’t given a flying phuck about them
Well, to be fair, they did free the slaves.
TallDave
vote with their brothers and homies, Big Oil, Big Banks, and the Bling Brotherhood of Big Money.
Actually, the one GOP issue that seems to have traction in the black community (esp middle class families) is school choice. Blacks are disproportionately forced to send their kids to public schools that fail to give them an education, dooming them to menial jobs. Blacks parents in DC are dying to be able to use vouchers to send their kids to Catholic schools that spend 1/3 of the $ per pupil public schools do and have far better test scores.
But having the first black and first female Vice President would be a nice symbolic victory for America, whichever party she came from.
ppGaz
Once they are properly taught the Young Earth story and that science is a creation of Satan, they’ll be right up there with the brightest white Republican kids. Good idea.
So good, I’m thinking of becoming black and Republican myself.
DougJ
Exactly. I still don’t understand why Jamie Gorelick has never been tried, if not for treason then at least for rashly undermining national security. The fact she was allowed to serve on that panel just makes my blook boil.
I’m not sure what to think of Condi. I’d be more comfortable with Allen or Brownback. I really don’t know where she stands on social issues. She’s done a hell of a job as NSA and Secretary of State, though. Maybe she should be VP.
ppGaz
I do. She’s a paid liar, totally loyal to the Bush family, and her ideas are frozen in 1984 and the Cold War. She hasn’t managed to utter an original thought on the subject of the Middle East, to my knowledge, in 5 years.
She’s a scary person and she won’t last a week on the primary campaign trail.
Other than that, Dougie, I’d say, good choice!
Joey
Thank you, I was trying to articulate why I don’t like her. You did a fine job. And, just out of curiousity, how has she done a hell of a job as NSA and Sec. of State? Are we looking at the same planet here, watching and reading the same news? I don’t know about you, but I would consider the whole Iraq affair to be a royal phuck up. Like, one that should destroy one’s political career for all involved.
TallDave
I don’t think black parents would mind their kids being taught ID if their grades rise from a D average to a B average.
At least they’d be learning something.
TallDave
LMAO Like ppGaz wouldn’t say things like that about any conservative candidate.
Anyway, we already heard all that bullhooey in the the Senate confirmation hearings. The public didn’t buy it then and won’t in 20008. Rice is brilliant and articulate and would make a perfect VP candidate in the Cheney mold. Iraq should be mostly sorted out by then and will likely be seen as a positive for her (I can’t wait to hear the screeching responses to that last part here).
Socially, she’s fairly liberal iirc, except for being a Second Amendment absolutist.
TallDave
*2008
MMM
George Bush
“If they elected my son twice, surely they would vote for me as President again…my hands are getting tired from pulling the strings, and Dick needs to slow down some…”
Another Jeff
I voted for Fred Thompson, but only with the caveat that if he wins, he can still be DA on “Law and Order”, and that Angie Harmon gets a spot in his cabinet.
Dave Ruddell
Because Catholic schools (which TallDave specifically mentioned) are notorious for just that.
Tim F
It’s this kind of patronizing attitude that will keep most black voters away from the GOP. Republicans clearly think that black people don’t recognize the difference between tokenism and real power. Bullshit. Black people are smart enough to recognize the difference between a PR hire and real influence within the party. Show me the Republicans in the Congressional Black Caucus. Cough.
It’s this same attitude that makes Republicans think that Condi will bring in the black vote. Sorry guys, once again black people are smarter than you give them credit for. Anybody can tell that she’s a soulless kiss-up without an ounce of natural charisma. Republicans can see it too but they like her robot-like, unwavering loyalty to the Movement and hope that she’ll act as a human wedge. In fact she would. She would wedge the dixiecrat ‘southern strategy’ south straight out of the GOP.
Marcus Wellby
Sadly, Gulliani* doesn’t stand a chance — nor does any other potenital cross-over candidate that could appeal to moderate Dems. Not only would the Dems go after him with both guns blazing, but the Religious Right wing of the GOP establishment would see him as a very large threat to their dominance.
*The WASPocracy needs to end.
Tim F
To add. Recall how gleeful Republicans got when Alan Keyes stepped in against Obama. Why would any sane person think a ranting lunatic like Keyes would do any better against Obama than the relatively charismatic George Ryan? Think about that.
Another Jeff
Who were all these Republicans that got gleeful when keyes ran?
Tim F
Not going to list them all. This guy reflects the attitude that I observed in the brief time between Keyes’s entry into the race and the first matchup polls.
Tim F
It would help to include the link.
TallDave
Once they are properly taught the Young Earth story and that science is a creation of Satan, ….
Because Catholic schools (which TallDave specifically mentioned) are notorious for just that.
Exactly, that’s why their students can actually read, write, and do math when they graduate, despite the fact their teachers make considerably less than their public school counterparts.
It’s this kind of patronizing attitude that will keep most black voters away from the GOP.
Isn’t it more patronizinng to tell blacks they don’t need leadership positions, but more race-based preferences and welfare?
TallDave
Recall how gleeful Republicans got when Alan Keyes stepped in against Obama
You have got to be kidding. I live in IL and the reaction here on talk radio was “WTF were they thinking, Keyes not only doesn’t live here but is insane!”
Tim F
I’m not talking so much about Illinois Republicans. Having to put up with Senator Keyes for the sake of the Party is probably too much to ask. I’m talking about the paud bobbleheads like the guy quoted above.
Tim F
“…paid…”
Tim F
Like I said above, you’re assuming that black people are too stupid to tell the difference between tokenism and real leadership. Textbook patronizing.