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

[DoughtyOne]

And after all, hasn’t that mindset gained us much since Reagan left office.

No.

Let’s try the same thing for another twenty years.

No.

[kevao]

I will support who ever is the nominee.

Hypothetically, would you still vote GOP if Hillary Clinton were the Republican nominee?

I ask this only partly in jest. I'd seriously like a better idea about what limits, if any, the vote-GOP-at-all-costs types put on party loyalty. Is there any point at which you say enough is enough?

(And, no, I'm not necessarily planning to stay home in November if the GOP nominates a Lib, which they'll probably do.)

[CharacterCounts]

I would add consistency to the mix and make it worth 20 points.

No make it worth 100 points. We need a president who will walk the walk. Anyone can talk the talk.

[lonevoice]

Placemark. You’ve put a lot of time and thought into this, and it deserves equal consideration by readers. I’ll reserve my comments until I’ve had more time to analyze the work you’ve done. Bravo!

[AuntB]

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

Exactly, that’s why the MSM ignores them. CBS showed ALL the candidates except Hunter in photos last night. BIG pics of McCain, Huck, Romney and a small split screen with Fred and Ron Paul at the end. They’ve sidelined Hunter, now they’ve got Fred in ignore mode.

[Designer]

"Thank you for the input. I’ll do more research and adjust the matrix as necessary."

Of course, if you actually were to evaluate each and every Republican candidate, you would need to add a few additional categories.

Just to be "fair".

[Route66]

At first glance, it's obvious that your system is broken because you have rated Romney on what he says and not what he's done. That is the crux of the problem with Romney. He has not earned anyone's trust as a conservative because he has only governed as a moderate/liberal.

So while you obviously put a lot of work into this in an effort to prop up your man, it does not wash with those who are looking for a trusted conservative candidate.

[MEGoody]

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

The results would change, of course, depending on what issues are top priority to the individual voter.

[MarkDel]

It’s a good thing you are not supporting Rudy, or you might get chastised by a moderator for bad language. But as part of the “circular firing squad crew” you won’t catch any grief.

[Oberon]

Thanks for the BUMP!

[freekitty]

Giggle

[faloi]

Perhaps I'm being too cynical. I believe that even if the Supreme Court stands staunchly behind our 2nd Amendment rights we could still see a change. Certain issues like the WOT certainly can't be taken back. We're either strong on the issue, or we likely suffer to the point that we wished we had done something about it when we had the chance. Other issues, like rights issues, seem to me to be more flexible. One bad Supreme Court decision away.

Not that shuffling those changeable/unchangeable values would do much to the overall score anyway. And I certainly don't mean to take away from your work, this is an excellent job and more comprehensive than any list I've seen thus far.

[AuntB]

“8- Business/infl/rec — He supports a hike in minimum wage.. He’s made pro-union votes in the past as well.”

This poster has been corrected on his lies several times, but keeps repeating them. Do we really have to put up with the disruption? Really?

[jellybean]

I think Fred Thompson more than exceeds your criteria. However he doesn’t climb down your chimney to place his positions under your tree...you have to do a little bit of work on your own.

[Designer]

"For example if Gay marriage is enacted what is the liklihood tht it would ever be repealed by any president?"

Your post reads as if you need remedial education in how the legislative process works.

FYI:

POTUS cannot "repeal" legislation unilaterally.

Legally.

[Badeye]

Hunter: Top 20 Total 190 TOP SCORE

Yeah, let’s throw this guy to the curb.

No, lets put him in the coming GOP cabinet instead.

[weegee]

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. You’d never get out from under it in your lifetime.

If you want Hillarycare, so be it. Don’t shove it down my throat by voting for her.

[DWar]

I didn’t see the (/sarc) so I assume you were serious. However I admit that I, like all of you, have personal bias. I worked hard to ignore it as I looked at each issue. As I said to another poster above I’ll look again at issues and make adjustments in the matrix if others think my judgement on an issue is inaccurate. I’ll also include new issues if others suggest them and they seemreasonable to me.

What good does it do? What good does any political information do? It helps people make informed decisions about what candidate to support with time, effort and finance.

[backtothestreets]

Nice work. There is one specific area of concern I wish all the candidates were questioned on as the answers could be very revealing. Birthright Citizenship is that area of concern, and specifically, as it applies to the children of parents not in our country legally.

[AuntB]

The poster you responded to has been lying about Hunter’s record for days, has been called on it. Don’t believe it!