Posted on 01/15/2008 10:37:17 AM PST by DWar
If Fred Thompson or Duncan Hunter don't "make it" and it becomes necessary to vote while holding my nose and puking, I tried to devise a rational way to determine which RINO (Republican In Name Only) would make me the least ill. I identified my top issues and prioritized them based on:
Ive spent weeks researching and analyzing the candidates quotes and votes. I have watched every debate more than once and spent dozens of hours on numerous websites including http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm, to make some judgments about their level of conservatism.
Taking into consideration the, "If their lips are moving, they're lying" factor, I marked a candidate lower if I thought their stated position was shaded like with Huckabee on Taxes, McCain on Immigration, Romney on Gay Rights or Giuliani on Guns. They were marked down a bit even if their position today sounds rock solid conservative.
Consideration was also given to whom their past constituencies were. They are all politicians and in past statements or votes they sometimes had to speak or vote in a way that is a little less than straight forward than they might have liked. Like every smart husband has to do when his wife asks,Do these pants make my rear end look fat? The way he answers depends on who his wife is; Eva Longoria or Rosie ODonnell.
I included two categories usually not even considered, as the first and second in importance; Stability of Personality and Electability. While excitement, passion and a certain impulsiveness may be desirable in a candidate, stability and deliberativeness are necessary in a president. An unstable personality in a president would be a disaster waiting to happen.
In addition, none of the conservative political agenda has any hope of being followed with Hillary or Obama in the White House. Therefore electablity is not a sacrifice of conservative principle but rather the most important of conservative principles. Winning and getting something, is better than losing and getting nothing. Even Reagan wasnt Reagan (the size of both the government and the budget grew) but it was important for conservatism that he won.
The ranking scale range is:
In the interest of full disclosure I have taken multiple candidate preference quizzes. They always come out with my order of preference being Hunter and Thompson numbers 1 & 2 with the others in various positions depending on the quiz. My desire is for the most conservative candidate who is also electable to win the nomination.
This is a work in progress. Adjustments to the matrix are made regularly as other issues come to my attention, issues rise or fall in importance or candidates appear to change positions.
As of now the order of most conservative to most liberal are:
On the top ten issues:
On the top twenty issues:
On the totality of issues (33):
Feedback is welcome.
Candidates Side by Side Comparison
Issue | Immediacy | Negativity | Changeability | ||||||
Giuliani | Huck | Hunter | McCain | Romney | Thompson | ||||
1- Stability of Personality | Imminent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 8 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
2- Electablity | Imminent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 8 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
3- Illegal Immigration | Imminent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
4- War in Iraq | Imminent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
5- War on Terror | Imminent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 10 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
6- SCOTUS appts | Urgent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 10 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 10 |
7- Guns & 2nd Amend | Urgent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
8- Business/infl/rec | Imminent | Powerful | Changeable | 10 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
9- Lower Taxes | Imminent | Powerful | Changeable | 10 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 10 |
10- Iran | Urgent | Devastating | Changeable | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Top 10 Total | 81 | 60 | 92 | 49 | 93 | 95 | |||
11- Pro-Life | Urgent | Devastating | Changeable | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 |
12- Healthcare- gov run | Urgent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 10 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 10 |
13- Soc Sec | Urgent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 |
14- Internet Neutrality | Urgent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
15- Internet Tax | Urgent | Devastating | Unchangeable | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
16- Kyoto Treaty | Urgent | Devastating | Changeable | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
17- Global Warming | Urgent | Devastating | Changeable | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
18- Energy Indy | Urgent | Powerful | Changeable | 8 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
19- ANWAR Drilling | Urgent | Powerful | Changeable | 5 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
20- Globalism & Free Trd | Urgent | Powerful | Changeable | 2 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Top 20 Total | 146 | 119 | 190 | 117 | 173 | 181 | |||
21- Military Strength | Urgent | Powerful | Changeable | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
22- Guantanamo | Urgent | Powerful | Changeable | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
23- Waterboarding | Urgent | Powerful | Changeable | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
24- Tax Reform | Urgent | Powerful | Changeable | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
25- Gay Rights | Serious | Powerful | Unchangeable | 0 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 8 |
26- CFR & 1st Amend | Serious | Powerful | Changeable | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
27- Crime | Serious | Strong | Changeable | 10 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
28- Education | Serious | Powerful | Changeable | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
29- Death Penalty | Serious | Strong | Changeable | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
30- Tort Reform | Serious | Strong | Changeable | 10 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 5 |
31- School Vouchers | Serious | Strong | Changeable | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
32- Federalism | Serious | Strong | Changeable | 5 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 10 |
33- Affirmative Action | Serious | Strong | Changeable | 5 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
All Issues Total | 241 | 203 | 315 | 190 | 292 | 279 | |||
Conservative= 10 | |||||||||
Conservative tendencies= 8 | |||||||||
Moderate or Unreliable=5 | |||||||||
Liberal tendencies= 2 | |||||||||
Liberal= 0 |
Jim Rob
In our last exchange of posts, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1951136/posts, I said Id keep you updated on the Candidate Comparison Chart I was doing to try to identify the least objectionable RINO.
Here it is.
Romney could easily flip flop back to being a lib for the general election.
My order is the same as yours on the top 20. However, I will NOT vote for Huck or McCain, period.
Once you take Thompson and Hunter out of the race, you’re left with Hillary or Hillary-Lite.
Any system that has Romney outscoring Thompson is broke.
“I will support who ever is the nominee.”
Strongly agreed. Just hoping I can feel good about it.
Thompson is clearly the best shot for conservatism and the cure for Rino-itis.
This is GREAT. Thank you!
Unfortunately, the elected candidate will never get to know that you held your nose and puked while voting...
This is VERY inaccurate regarding Duncan Hunter
8- Business/infl/rec — He supports a hike in minimum wage.. He’s made pro-union votes in the past as well.
12- Healthcare- gov run — He voted for Bush’s big $400m healthcare expansion! Claiming he’s perfect is outrageous.
20- Globalism & Free Trd — The scores are all backwards!! If Anti-Free Trade is an anti-conservative trait, GOD HELP US.
“Loser” Hunter is polling less than 1% in his own state.. Pretty pathetic.
I understand but it’s not just Romney. Giuliani has softened his position on Gays and Guns. McCain is back Tracking on Illegal Immigration, at least publically. Huckabee is claiming to be a fiscal conservative. Even Thompson softens his stand on CFR when speaking about it today although he was a very big supporter at the time.
Never-the-less I did take the flip flop factor into consideration and ranked a candidate lower han his stated position if his past statements or votes seemed to be inconsistent with his position today.
Wow! That’s a lot of work! Thanks!
For Christmas this year would like a presidential candidate who meets the following criteria, please:
1. He has to be opposed to abortion on principle.
2. He has to support constitutional freedoms, especially including the right to bear arms.
3. He has to be willing to try to do something to give us less government and less taxes.
4. He has to be willing to secure our country's borders.
On second thought, forget it, Santa. A candidate like that would never be elected. A Democrat who fit the bill doesn't exist any more than you do, and a Republican who met those requirements would get opposed by a partywide full-court press, and wouldn't get nominated.
Thanks anyway, Santa. I guess I'll have to settle for a necktie again this year.
Sincerely,
Oberon
Me too, even if I have to hold my nose...like DWar said, “winning and getting something, is better than losing and getting nothing.”
I was surprise, too. Look at the individual issues and tell me where I should adjust.
Quick question on the changeable, unchangeable characteristics of an issue... Do you mean the likelihood that the response could be undone by future presidents/administrations in total or just the succeeding administration?
It's voters like you that enable the watered-down republican party.
True, but he does face reelection in 4 years. If no Fred, sigh....Romney may be the one we have to got with. I’d feel better with President Romney than President Clinton any day. I saw some suggest Romney/Thompson which would make it a little less painful.
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