RINO or Conservative: Who Scores Best?

1/15/08 | Dwar

[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:

• How immediately an issue could impact the nation- Immediate, Urgent, Serious
• The power of an issue’s negative impact on the nation- Devastating, Powerful, Strong and
• Once implemented the likelihood an issue could ever be changed- Unchangeable, Changeable.

It seemed rational that issues like being conquered by illegal immigrants or losing the war, being more immediate, potentially negative and unchangeable, were more critical than even important issues like Gay Rights or Healthcare. Therefore issues that are more immediate, more negative and that were relatively unchangeable were more highly prioritized.

I’ve 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 O’Donnell.

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 wasn’t “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:

• Conservative = 10
• Conservative tendencies = 8
• Moderate or Unreliable = 5
• Liberal tendencies = 2
• Liberal = 0

I separated and subtotaled the top 10 and the top 20 from the total to see how the candidates compare on the most important issues as opposed to the total. If a candidate scored in the middle on the total of issues but the highest on the top 10, I might want to support him.

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:

• Thompson- 95/100
• Hunter- 93/100
• Romney-92/100
• Giuliani- 81/100
• Huckabee- 60/100
• McCain- 49/100

On the top twenty issues:

• Hunter- 190/200
• Thompson- 181/200
• Romney- 173/200
• Giuliani- 146/200
• Huckabee- 119/200
• McCain- 117/200

On the totality of issues (33):

• Hunter- 315/330
• Romney- 292/330
• Thompson- 279/330
• Giuliani- 241/330
• Huckabee- 203/330
• McCain- 190/330

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

[BlackbirdSST]

Couldn't help but notice you did not include all of the Republican candidates.

LOL! Geez, that would skew the intended results. Blackbird.

[Bear_Slayer]

No it's guys like this that gave you the Clintons

READ MY LIPS, "NO NEW TAXES"

[napscoordinator]

Romney/Thompson which would make it a little less painful.

I HATE this combination. It must be Thompson/Romney if we are going this route. Everyone knows I want Romney President, but if we are going to have Thompson part of the equation, we cannot have him as VP! The problem with having Thompson as VP is that he will be too old (Americans will think so not me necessarily...yes McCain is being humored). Romney is 15 years younger than Fred at least so he has plenty of time to run for President after the eight years. FRed will be hitting close to 80 when the eight years are over. We don’t want to go through what we are going through now again in eight years having no VP ready for President. Thompson/Romney makes sense!!!!!

[Grunthor]

“And its voters like you that allowed the dems to retake congress.”

Ah no, it is the watered down Republican party that allowed the dems to retake congress. NO ONE is “entitled” to your vote OR mine based simply on the letter that follows their name.

[DWar]

"There is NO WAY I would vote for Giuliani or McCain. Makes no difference to me if one of the Democrats is elected, even Hillary, if I would have to vote for Rudy or McCain in the general. That’s not gonna happen." For the good of the nation...
I hope you rethink that decision. There is a war in Iraq and a war on terror we HAVE to win and Giuliani's worst SCOTUS appointments would be better than OBAMA' best.

[Grunthor]

I have NEVER seen anyone in the “party uber alles” crowd EVER answer that question.

[ArrogantBustard]

Uh .... it was the nose-holding bit (what you said in #10) that got me flamed ... the rating matrix.

[AuntB]

You might want to start with this rating for Huck.

Cato Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2006. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6724

Arkansas Mike Huckabee, Republican Legislature: Democratic Final-Term Grade: F Final Overall Grade: D

Thanks to a final term grade of F, Huckabee earns an overall grade of D for his entire governorship. Like many Republicans, his grades dropped the longer he stayed in office. In his first few years, he fought hard for a sweeping $70 million tax cut package that was the first broad-based tax cut in the state in more than 20 years. He even signed a bill to cut the state’s 6 percent capital gains tax—a significant progrowth accomplishment.

But nine days after being reelected in 2002, he proposed a sales tax increase to cover a budget deficit caused partly by large spending increases that he proposed and approved, including an expansion in Medicare eligibility that Huckabee made a centerpiece of his 1997 agenda. He agreed to a 3 percent income tax “surcharge” and a 25-cent cigarette tax increase. In response to a court order to increase spending on education, Huckabee proposed another sales tax increase. Huckabee wants to run for the GOP presidential nomination next year. He’s already been hailed as a viable big-government conservative candidate by some. That seems about right: Huckabee’s leadership has left taxpayers in Arkansas much worse off.

Apparently the good folks in Arkansas had a rough time of it with Mike Huckabee: Big Government Conservative.

Huckabee was in line with these governors:

Montana Brian Schweitzer (D)* 47 F Alabama Bob Riley (R) 47 F Washington Christine Gregoire (D)* 47 F Arkansas Mike Huckabee (R) 46 F Nevada Kenny Guinn (R) 46 F Delaware Ruth Ann Minner (D)* 44 F North Carolina Michael Easley (D)* 44 F Arizona Janet Napolitano (D) 43 F Louisiana Kathleen Blanco (D)* 43 F Ohio Bob Taft (R) 53 C Kentucky Ernie Fletcher (R) 53 C Maryland Robert Ehrlich (R) 53 C Vermont James Douglas (R) 53 C Michigan Jennifer Granholm (D) 53 C

http://ajacksonian.blogspot.com/2007/12/looking-at-republican-field.html

[Tennessee Nana]

Thanks for the PING

[stuartcr]

I was just repeating what DWar said. I’ve been holding my nose and puking for quite a few elections.

[penowa]

"The Democrats have made it clear that they will saddle us with state run healthcare (and from the earlier discussions you can say goodbye to private practice).

I would vote for any RINO who would absolutely refuse to burden us with that system."

And which of our 4 RINOs can you honestly say will go against a Democrat House and a Democrat Senate, maybe even a fillibuster proof one, on state run health care? The ONLY one that I would have any hope for is Romney, and I would not bank on him standing up to them. The other 3 RINOs will sign on to anything the Democrats send them because they are virtually no different from the Democrats with the same agenda and ought to be running as Democrats, not RINOs IMO.

[pissant]

These are all inaccurate about Hunter too, MENSA

* ACU Lifetime rating 92

* American Civil Liberties Union – 5% for 2005–2006

* Americans for Democratic Action – 5% for 2006

* American Land Rights Association – 91% for 2006

* Americans for Tax Reform – 100% for 2006

* AFL-CIO – 15% in 2006

* Children’s Defense Fund – 10% for 2006

* Family Research Council – 100% for 2006

* Gun Owners of America – 100% for 2006

* League of Conservation Voters – 0% for 2006

* NARAL Pro-Choice America – 0% Lifetime

* National Education Association – 0% for 2005-2006

* National Federation of Independent Business – 100% for 2005-2006

* National Rifle Association – A lifetime

* Gun Owners of America - A lifetime

* Numbers USA on Illegal Immigration - EXCELLENT lifetime

* National Right to Life Committee – 100% Lifetime

* Secular Coalition for America – 0% on 2006

* United States Chamber of Commerce – 93% for 2006

* Americans for the Arts - 2 lifetime

* National Council of La Raza - 0%

* Eagle Forum - 100% 2006

[DWar]

"I would add consistency to the mix and make it worth 20 points." Good idea. I kind of did that on each issue, however. A candidate my claim he is strongly against illegal immigration, or pro life, or against gay marriage which would normally get him a 10. But if his voting record or public statements seem otherwise he is marked lower perhaps to an 8 or even a 5.

[Designer]

"Stop being afraid. Our country was formed by men, such as us, in times less drastic. Surely we are qualified to regain it if we simply quit ourselves like men!"

Bump for your post, Sir!

[pissant]

They are trying to do just that.

[Designer]

"No it's guys like this that gave you the Clintons"

The legacy of 41 continues.

The legacy of 43 is coming 'round the bend!

[Tennessee Nana]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I had to search to find out why Duncan was not your top candidate in your first ten things...

But since it was only becaus you feel that he is unelectable, you are excused...

The only reason Duncan could be considered “unelectable” is because the conservatives are chasing after RINO’s in conservatives clothing...

This campaign for POTUS is based on fear right now

Beat Hillary has replaced...Who will be the best candidate for POTUS ???

If the Republicans keep this up we will get Hillary in the White House...either in person or in the body of a RINO...

[gunservative]

If Thompson isn’t the nominee, I’d vote for Romney. At least he’d use the veto pen, unlike Bush 43.

You know Huckabee would green light every tax increase and McCain would be slapping the back of Democrats so that the media would love him. So, yeah, I could vote for Romney over those two.

[luvadavi]

I think he*s jealous. Are you, One-ROM?

[Designer]

"It would be nice if Cutting Government Spending and Balancing the Federal Budget were included in the issues conservatives were evaluated on."

Yes!

Even some more, IMO.