The Right Candidate?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Elections, General PoliticsNow this is interesting.
Because the top three Presidential nominees are potentially more socially liberal than Bush, Evangelicals are scratching their heads and figuring out who will be their guy in 08…
Senator John McCain originally opposed Bush’s tax cuts, supports looser immigration policies, voted against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and was an architect of the deal under which Senate Democrats retained their right to filibuster Bush’s judicial nominees. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is in favor of gun control, abortion rights and same-sex civil unions. And outgoing Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney espoused liberal views on gay rights and abortion when he was running for office in Massachusetts, though he has disavowed them as he has moved into national politics.
Could this potentially leave the door open for an independent, more socially conservative candidate?
The answer is yes…
Surveying the leading G.O.P. contenders for 2008, direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie pronounces “not a one of them is worthy of support from conservatives.” Says Craig Shirley, a public relations executive who represents many conservative groups and who has written a book on the Reagan revolution: “There’s anger, there’s angst, there’s dismay in the conservative movement.” Some activists, Shirley adds, have even begun talking quietly among themselves about forming a third party.
After all, just think of the get out the vote efforts that churches already have in place.
Ultimately, if a third party springs up around a socially conservative candidate, say goodbye to any hopes that Republicans would have for winning the White House. Everybody knows that Republicans can’t win without the religious right, so this could provide an unique opportunity for the party to rediscover its roots and reposition itself in the middle.
However, one caveat for the Dems…
As one G.O.P. official put it, “Nothing will rally conservatives and Republicans like a Hillary nomination.”
End the dynasty or suffer the consequences.
This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 and is filed under Elections, General Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 8th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Let’s see, the rabid social conservatives decamp to form their own party. Leaving the Republican Party in the hands of . . . fiscal conservatives and social moderates.
Sure, they will get trounced in an election or two, while their reputation is rehabilitated. But then they will be beautifully positioned as the party of the center. For anybody who longs for a moderate/centerist party, but thinks a new/third party can’t get enough traction to be a serious contender, it would be the answer to a prayer.
Then we can work on getting the Kos types to leave the Democrats in a snit. Which would give us a shot at TWO moderate parties. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?
January 8th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
“You Guys, You Guys”; Picture Robert DeNiro sayin that in his ‘Mafia Boss’ accent, and that’s what I think of when I read your comments.
The problem is, many of us are ‘moderate’ about things until suddenly you feel very passionate about it. Maybe it pushes a button, set’s you off, then out of nowhere you’re acting like a lunatic.
For some issues I like the ‘dailykos’ take on things. Now, suprisingly, Robert Novak sounds reasonable when months ago I could’ve choked
him with my bare hands, like when he spilled the beans on the CIA operative. Politics is a strange beast, but what I like best about “You Guys, You Guys” is the ideas you put forth WITHOUT the labels attached. I know that’s impossible, too. So many of the stereotypes we get in trouble for are simply deserved because that’s how we act…just like the stereotype!
I guess that was my New Year lecture, for whatever it’s worth, have a good one.
January 8th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
I would love to have the evangelicals form their own party - that way the republicans can get hurt from the right much like the democrats have been hurt by the Green party.
There’s no chance those holier-than-thou types would ever vote for Romney, even if his conservative pedigry was spotless - he belongs to a different flavor of whackoism, and they tend to dislike anyone who doesn’t believe in their personal flavor of mythology.
January 9th, 2007 at 11:42 am
In case no one’s been watching, McCain’s “moderationâ€Â? on social issues has been short-circuited by his obsession with being elected president — by visits with Pat Robertson (or was it Jerry Falwell?), et al., and (speaking as a libertarian) a bill attacking bloggers in the name of saving the children from sexual predators. If McCain gets nominated, he’ll get the votes of both social conservatives and moderates who haven’t been paying attention … and win.
Also consider that the two front-runners for the Democratic nomination are a woman and an African-American. This country isn’t ready to elect anyone from either of those categories.
It is still possible, I think, that in an effort to become “centrist,� the Republicans will nominate Giuliani. If he wins the presidency and the Congress remains Democratic, it will be good if you are a proponent of gridlock, but bad (recalling how he turned New York City into a police state) in that he will likely continue Bush’s tradition of violating our civil liberties with illegal wiretaps and other draconian security measures in the name of the generic “war on terror.�
January 10th, 2007 at 5:03 am
I feel sorry for conservatives across the country…all of their core values are being put on the back burner to get a populist candidate with the ability to win in 2008.
Hillary job will be to keep many of the moderates and independents in her corner with one of the best appeals she can muster.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Justin is right, Hillary will unify the Right like no other candidate. Conservatives have been well trained by Limbaugh to go into convulsions every time they hear the word “Clinton�.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
The real social progressives (def=pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-embryo market, anti-religion, condoms-in-elementary-school) fruit cakes aren’t that smart.
You all shouldn’t worry about the creation of your bizarre world being destroyed from the Right. The threat to your freak show will ultimately come from socially conservative Democrats.