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]

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!

There is much to commend in what you've said. The challenge is that in any cooperative effort amoung humans no two will actually agree 100% on a platform of ideas. Therefore the question becomes,"Is perfect agreement required on every issue of an agenda that contains a multiciplicity of issues in order to cooperatively advance it?" (See my tagline.)

[DWar]

To quote my least favorite president,"I fee lyour pain."

See post #120

[DWar]

"Readers must like DWar better than you, I guess."

Yes they do! ;^}

[AuntB]

Take a look at my post. It was not to you. Are you sure you want to do an analysis of candidates if you can’t follow a conversation? The poster I addressed has been spreading these lies for days, take what he says with a grain of salt. Clear now?

[Calpernia]

Why go through all of that when you can just write in the candidate you want?

[DWar]

"We don’t want to go through what we are going through now again in eight years having no VP ready for President."

Wasn't it Roosevelt that changed VP each of the 4 times he ran for election?

[Designer]

"Is perfect agreement required on every issue of an agenda that contains a multiciplicity of issues in order to cooperatively advance it?"

I know you did not ask me, but please pardon this intrusion:

My answer is; Gosh, no! We do NOT have to agree on absolutely everything, only the MAIN things.

[RetiredArmy]

I ain’t voting for McScream, Rudi, Rummnie, Paul, Hillary, Osama Obama, Breck Girl, or the Hulkster. I ain’t holding my nose to vote because I am sick and tired of having to hold my nose to vote. If Fred or Hunter ain’t there, then I guess I have a problem. I ain’t voting for no liberals, no anti-gun, no abortion approving, no anti military, no anti war, no lying liberals. I ain’t going to hold my nose any more. That is what these RINOs are hoping we continue to do each and every election. If we keep holding our noses to vote, they will continue to slide further and further to the left and never stop. We will simply keep holding our noses. At some point you have to say enough is enough and I have reached that point. Maybe they just have to get their asses smashed a few elections and the USA see exactly what these socialist are going to do to the country, see that their big promises are not going to come true, see the damage they are doing to the economy, the deaths from terrorism, for AMERICA TO WAKE UP. I guess you have to go through hell to get to Heaven. But, I am through holding my nose. I won’t do it anymore.

[DWar]

Thanks AuntB.

I did see the Cato report's results but not the full report. I recognize Huckabee's tendency to be liberal on spending. His stated position is that he is a lower tax and spending cutting guy that was put into the position by the Arkansas constitution and Arkansas judges to spend on entitlements like schools, at a certain level. When attacked on this issue he asked Romney during one of the most recent debates if HE would have followed the law or broken it to cut spending?

Having said that, your concern is noted and I will reconsider that issue as I continue my research for the next matrix revision.

[DWar]

Thank you.

That’s helpful.

[AuntB]

Thanks, you’ve done a nice job.

[Revelation 911]

Paulping

[DWar]

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

How I wish he were electable. Put his ideas into Romney's body and we'd have a winner!

[Calpernia]

>>>12- Healthcare- gov run — He voted for Bush’s big $400m healthcare expansion! Claiming he’s perfect is outrageous.

THAT was for HSAs! That is the FURTHERIST thing in the world to gov run healthcare!

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/

[jellybean]

he does so in part by raising SS taxes which is an unconservative idea.

Could you show me in Sen. Thompson's plan where he raises SS taxes? The only thing you could possibly be referring to would be voluntarily opting in to the Personal Retirement Account where each worker (who decides to participate) would contribute 2% of their wages to their personal account.

[Revelation 911]

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.

if you dont mind a cultist and left leaning republican for President - sure have at it

[DWar]

"If Thompson isn’t the nominee, I’d vote for Romney."

If that happens, Romney will require a whole lot of feet to the fire holding.

[DWar]

See post #136.

[Calpernia]

The healthcare lie is corrected here. I’ve seen trolls post that lie before and not too many are familiar enough with it to correct it.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1954142/posts?page=154#154

[DWar]

"McCain is more conservative than Romney."

That's what the MSM says but not what the research shows. He is unrepentent about McCain-Finegold CFR, McCain-Kennedy Illegal Alien Amnesty, Votes for Gun Control, Higher taxes, Affirmative Action and against drilling in ANWAR, positions against Gitmo, Waterboadng and for recognizing Anthropogenic Global Warming and more.

Certainly a case against Romney's conservative credentials can be made based upon his past actions, too. On the otherhand he is repentent about much of it.

In addition Romney was trying to appeal to very liberal constituency when he held those positions. It's possible he is more accurately viewed as a panderer than a liberal. McCain served a very conservative constituency and has no excuse in that regard. He is just a liberal.