It depends, Wissa.
We can have the greatest candidate in the world, but a great candidate who loses by 20 points...STILL LOST.
You have your principles, I’d rather have my country.
Its kind of a double edged sword. Too strict and we lose the election. Too loose and we elect someone nearly as bad.
Bush sounded like a great conservative, and on many issues he was. But he also gave us Campaign Finance Reform, No Child Left Behind, Prescription Drug Entitlement, the TARP bailout, and he nearly doubled the debt in his 8 years.
And there is something to be said for McCain possibly being worse than Obama. Too many vote on party, not principle, and I think Cap and Trade (and others) would pass far easier under McCain because of all the Republicans who would go along because a GOP President proposed it. We saw that several times with Bush.
I supported and voted for Schwarzenegger before I knew that. Arnold taught me something -- and I'm applying what I learned. You cannot and will not alter the course of the ship that's heading toward the shoals until you start making big government liberalism LOSE. You are mistaken -- I used to think like you -- in thinking that a big government Republican is preferable to a big government Democrat. It's a lesson hard-learned and relies on understanding the value of counter-intuitive reality. It's the ONLY good thing I got out of Schwarzenegger; if I had that election to do over, I'd vote for Cruz Bustamonte as the lesser long term evil.