quote:
Originally posted by Conan71
Thanks RW, I didn't want to have to do that twice. How nice and ironic, Dem thread started by a flaming conservative [}:)] and GOP thread started by a flaming Independent liberal [}:)]
I'll weigh in on it after I get back from lunch.
I like Rudy. Any Republican who could win election as mayor, not once but twice, of one of the most liberal cities in the world is a galvanizing figure. He also made the most of the opportunity. He got tough on crime, he got the city fiscally stable again, handled crisis with aplomb, and I think he has a lot of dignity. He's been a great public servant dating from his days as a fearless prosecutor. He's got experience in the US Attorney General's office as well.
His leadership of NYC is virtually un-impeachable. He did an excellent job running a city with a population and budget of a small country. I think he has relevant experience. He's also pretty likeable. There is some criticism of his handling of 9/11 that will get trumpeted pretty loudly if he is the nominee, because there's not much else to impune him.
The far right wing-nuts are going to have to get over his personal life woes.
McCain bothers me and I can't really say why. My biggest problem with him is somehow he thinks he's entitled to be the next GOP nominee. He managed to piss off the far Christian right in 2000. Unfortunately, you need that faction to get the nomination. He's since patched things up with Jerry Falwell, but if someone gets into the race who wants to pander hard to the Christian faction, McCain will pay for his earlier problems with them.
To his credit, he's pretty moderate and does appeal to some Democrat voters. Environmentally, he falls in line with them and he has broken with the GOP on various occasions to do what he believed was right. He is very pro-military and national security. He does talk a pretty good game, but I don't think he will get the nomination.
Newt Gingrich- How Newt thinks he is still politically relevant is beyond me. He's the GOP equivalent of Al Gore- huge hypocrite and flaming narcisist. He squandered the opportunity with the "Contract For America", was the poster boy for the political excesses of Congress, and is damn lucky he was never indicted for his ethics issues.
He needs to be satisfied with being a bitter ex-politician whose only political outlet these days is to write forgettable books and be a regular guest of GOP propagandists as a "political analyst".
Romney, like Rudy, could have really good general election appeal. To be a Republican Governor in a state that heavily supports Democrat candidates you have to be moderate. His entire political career is as a failed challenger to Ted Kennedy for Senate and a one term Governor. Other than that, he did a sterling job as CEO of the Winter Olympics in SLC which some could say is relevant by winding up with an event was projected to lose tons of money and wound up with a healthy profit.
He's reminiscent of the stereotypical eastern Episcopal-born with a silver-spoon-Republican pedigree. Yet he's a Mormon and that is percieved to be his biggest liablity. He may not be conservative enough to please the right wingers in the party.
I don't know enough about Huckabee yet to comment on him. I had never heard of Brownback until a few months ago, and Hagel is far too moderate to ever make it through the primaries, personally, I don't think he will run. He is either a liberal sympathizer or just a maverick. He will get slaughtered by McCain in the primaries for his stance on the war. In fact, those two guys may just annhilate each other and leave it wide open for Rudy.
As far as Istook, either A) his ego was so big that he thought he could move back to Oklahoma and that people would fall all over themselves to elect him governor B) He figured running for governor against such a popular incumbent was a graceful way to retire, or C) he didn't read the newspapers and hear that Henry was doing a bang-up job.
