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

[AuntB]

I was listening to Laura Ingraham talking with Center for Immigration Studies Mark Krikorian . Huckabee claims Krikorian devised his ‘immigration’ policy. Mark said he had been contacted by several people and wrote up a brief ‘what had to be done list’, by no means a complete policy that was published (I forgot where!). Huckabee simply took that article, added little to it and implied Mark and Huck worked out this new ‘policy’. Mark has never worked with or endorsed Huck. Never.

http://www.lauraingraham.com/

Cool clips (Laura365)
NEW! Mark Kirkorian on the immigration issue.(pay to play:<(

[Bear_Slayer]

I think you meant to tell the other person. I’m in agreement with you.

[Bear_Slayer]

. . ."Is perfect agreement required on every issue . . .[?]

No. I don't require perfect agreement, but conservative politicians should not be advancing liberal ideologies.

If the country is gonna get ruined at least let the democrats be responsible.

[jmc813]

Very well thought out post. I enjoyed it. Well done, young freeper.

[jmc813]

At quick glance, Romney deserves a hell of a lot less than 5 for health care.

[freekitty]

I am so sorry. Excuse me, please.

[Calpernia]

Krikorian wrote his plan up in 2005 (see post 30)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935622/posts
Huckabee ‘s Plan for Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

[jmc813]

I just read your profile page and found out you’re a pastor. My apologies for dropping the h-bomb in my last post to you.

[AuntB]

Exactly! That’s the one. Huck is something else! His supporters made it sound like CIS had worked with him on this.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/mskoped052305.html
Ten Points for a Successful Presidential Candidate

By Mark Krikorian

National Review
May 23, 2005

[Bear_Slayer]

I suppose on this instance I could

[Tennessee Nana]

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

Ahhhhhhh I dont think so...

We are talking about conservative Duncan Hunter...not RINO Romney...

Apples and oranges.......

[Calpernia]

>>>His supporters made it sound like CIS had worked with him on this.

Yes they did. And it turns out, he is just a plagiarist.

[AuntB]

It was funny. Krikorian says, “Well, at least he credited me with writing it!”

lol

[DWar]

"Instead of employing the defeatist hold the nose mentality those at this website should show the courage of their alleged Conservative convictions by supporting the Candidate who has most represented those Conservative ideals throughout his political career. That candidate as the record shows is Duncan Hunter."

I agree with much of what you have to say. Unfortunately it's the same argument made by those who support Alan Keyes. The point is if everyone at Free Republic could get together and support Hunter, they plus the 1% of the American voters who support Hunter and are not FReepers would add up to 1.1% and he'd stll lose.

A part of being a successful leader is the ability to command the attention and following of others based upon personal criteria. A dynamic personality is one component of that. Hunter is the worst in this regard. Thompson was a close second until this past week or two. He has given me some hope. But when the primaries are all over I will defer to my tagline and vote for the GOP nominee.

[AuntB]

I’d take Duncan’s body any day compared to the rest of them!

People who say stupid stuff like that don’t have a clue what a man is.

[pissant]

Healthcare expansion? He must mean prescription drugs, because Hunter has advocated free market healthcare for eons.

[Calpernia]

That is what the HSAs bring.

[DWar]

"You left out a “Member of a cult” on your chart. "

You have the right to make such distinctions as you cast your vote.

But I don't recall Jacob refusing to serve the nation because Pharoah was a Ra worshiper. I don't recall Daniel refusing to serve the nation because Darius and Cyrus didn't follow Jehovah. I don't recall Jesus leading a political rebellion against Caesar as Judas wanted him to do.

I am an evangelical Christian with graduate school degrees in theology. I understand the errors of Mormonism. Mr. Romney would never be anywhere on my list of possible pastors. But based upon the success of his life experience, level of moral leadership, and other qualities he's gotta be on my list as a possible president.

[freekitty]

Well, that’s mighty kind of ya.

[kevao]

He has given me some hope. But when the primaries are all over I will defer to my tagline and vote for the GOP nominee.

I do like your tagline. Trouble is, not one of the GOP hopefuls is anywhere near "excellent".