Replies

For the past few weeks, I have been watching freepers tear each other apart over a nomination still 18 months away. When a thread is posted for a particular candidate, it is only a matter of time until it swamped by factionalism and personal insult. We are turning on each other with a viciousness that has permeated the forum since the elections.

I have thought about what seems to be the change in Free Republic from the nice but, at times, very passionate place to discuss politics, to the hostile place it seems to be today.

There are many answers, but I think it comes down to how each freeper sees the future of the country. We are in agreement that the country is in a crisis and I think most of us agree that things have got to change or the country may be lost.

Where we differ is on how to fix it.

In one corner, we have the people who will vote Republican even in the nominee is Rudy - a liberal Republican at best. Why? Because we fear Hilliary in the White House or Obama or the Breck Girl...

In the other corner we have people who will not vote for the liberal RINO no matter what because a RINO is not the solution but a perpetuation of the problem.

For those in the corner who will vote for the RINO it is the fear that we do not have 8 years to wait and would rather have the "devil we know than the devil we don't."

For those in the corner who will stay home or vote third party, it is the fear that the conservatism is the answer and it should not be compromised for political expediency.

I think the rather heated debate underscores the importance of the election.

It seems that no politician running for president has managed to rally both sides. The front-runners are disparaged because they are RINOS, and the conservatives (who are lagging in the polls) are disparaged for low poll numbers.

For those in the corner who will vote for Rudy, I respect your opinion and your principles.

For those in the corner who will not vote for anyone but the conservative, I respect your opinion and your principles.

But we should be able to espouse our ideals and thoughts without it getting personal. We should be able to debate the differences with out it getting ugly. We are all conservatives and all want what is best. Why can't that conversation go on in a spirit of respectable debate?

Maybe it can't. Maybe what is at stake has sucked the civility from us.

Here is where I stand. I am going to vote for Duncan Hunter. I have been told over and over again that he cannot win for so many countless reasons. I hope he can overcome that. If he cannot not and Rudy wins the nomination, I will vote for him. I do not think we have 8 years to waste or to wait. I think the war on terror is too important to allow Hilliary or Obama or one the other Dems from occupying the White House.

I am not asking to agree with me, but you should at least respect that I have thought long and hard about it and care for the future of the country as much as you do. We just see it differently.

If Rudy wins, I strongly believe he will split the party. And then it wouldn't matter whether someone voted for Rudy or voted for the splinter group, no matter which one ended up larger. Hillary would get 42 percent or so, just like Bubba did in 1992, and the Dems win.

Rudy is being promoted as the likely winner because of name recognition and fund-raising and the perception that he can win. He might well win the nomination on those factors.

But those were the exact same factors that propelled Kerry to the Dem nomination in 2004, over much-more experienced candidates. The Dems thought he could win.

And overlooked a very important detail. The post-Vietnam baggage that Kerry had on his person.

And the Swifties exploded that like a grendade and he never recovered - and Kerry also turned off conservative Dems.

Look at the ammo Rudy can give to the Dems. They can run his cross-dressing pictures to turn off social conservatives. They can beat on the Bernie Kerik scandal to tarnish his WOT credentials. In the age of alt media, YouTube and the internet, negative advertising will feed on such baggage - even more than it did in 2004.

IMO the Rudy boosters are making the same mistake as the Dems did - blindly following a notion that Rudy can win without thinking through the endgame.

Throw in the fact that he is on the far left of the party, with views very unpalatable to many to the right of the party, and he will have a very hard time both holding the base and attracting the Reagan Dems back to the GOP. His candidacy is a recipe for utter disaster. We need someone else.