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

[DWar]

I have't seen a side by side comparison like this that gave weighting to a candidate's positions so I created one.

[DWar]

Jim Rob

In our last exchange of posts, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1951136/posts, I said I’d keep you updated on the Candidate Comparison Chart I was doing to try to identify the least objectionable RINO.

Here it is.

[bluebeak]

Romney could easily flip flop back to being a lib for the general election.

[svcw]

As bad as some of the Republicans may be, a dem will be more than worse.
I will support who ever is the nominee.

[Free Vulcan]

My order is the same as yours on the top 20. However, I will NOT vote for Huck or McCain, period.

[Old Professer]

Once you take Thompson and Hunter out of the race, you’re left with Hillary or Hillary-Lite.

[xzins]

Any system that has Romney outscoring Thompson is broke.

[Names Ash Housewares]

“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.

[peggybac]

This is GREAT. Thank you!

[stuartcr]

Unfortunately, the elected candidate will never get to know that you held your nose and puked while voting...

[Rockitz]

I have made my own trade and have noted that Romney would be the least objectionable for me assuming he doesn’t flip-flop on his campaign statements.

[Onerom99]

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.

[DWar]

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.

[Reaganesque]

Wow! That’s a lot of work! Thanks!

[Oberon]

Dear Santa:

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

[Lucky9teen]

Me too, even if I have to hold my nose...like DWar said, “winning and getting something, is better than losing and getting nothing.”

[DWar]

I was surprise, too. Look at the individual issues and tell me where I should adjust.

[faloi]

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?

[Bear_Slayer]

I will support who ever is the nominee

It's voters like you that enable the watered-down republican party.

[icwhatudo]

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.