Posted on 11/08/2006 4:58:08 PM PST by rodomila
George Allen is completely dead politically. He proved what I suspected - that he wasn't smart enough for the national spotlight.
Santorum would have been my first choice but his crushing defeat yesterday rules him out.
McCain is insane and a turncoat on taxes, judges and immigration. Many hard core Republicans, such as myself, would NEVER vote for him.
George W's phony, big government "conservatism" has poisoned the well for Jeb as Bush fatigue is now almost universal.
Hillary MUST BE STOPPED, but if I were a bookmaker I'd have to make her the odds on favorite.
So that leaves four possibilities for the good guys:
Condi Rice is a no go because she isn't sufficiently experienced. Frankly, I don't think she is up to the job and I think she would make Hillary competitive in the South which would be disastrous.
That leaves three sane guys right now with the name ID, credible experience and the brainpower to be Prez:
Newt Gingrich has the conservative bonafides but the media trashed him so badly in 1995 that, like Quayle, he probably can't win. He's also kind of fat and has an annoying, high pitched voice - two things that would hurt him in our superficial media dominated age. Also, the press would have a field day with his personal life.
Rudy has the brains and could be trusted to fight the war on terror. His pro-choice and pro-gay positions are definite downers for me, but would make the northeast competitive for Republicans and really throw a monkey wrench into the Hillary machine. He might be able to finesse these issues with the Republican right if he said social politics should be resolved at the state level and promised to name constructionist judges. He would also have to be solid on taxes, spending, immigration enforcement and economic growth. A little pow wow with Stephen Moore and Pat Toomey at Club for Growth should straighten him out.
The final, and I believe the best choice at the moment is Mitt Romney. I wish he wasn't a Mormon but he has the following going for him. He is running on the right - pro-gun, anti-abortion, pro-marriage etc. He will make us competitive everywhere. He is telegenic and articulate and so smooth on TV. He has been a phenomenally successful businessman. He has impeccable academic credentials. He is also the only Republican option who is still happily married to his first wife. There are those who will claim his record in Massachusetts is too liberal to be the Republican nominee. I would submit to you that politics is the art of the possible, and he did as much as he could do in that bluest of blue states. I for one will be delighted to have a candidate who can explain the issues who doesn't make me cringe during Presidential debates. We haven't had that since Reagan in 1984.
If not Mitt, who? And why? I would love to hear Freeper views if there is any other viable option I haven't considered.
I know this will be hard for you but read the article:
"(CNSNews.com) - The New York Torah Court - Beth Din announced Monday that, after careful deliberation, it has excommunicated Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential hopeful on Al Gore's ticket."
"The New York Torah Court" was the writer's name for Beth Din.
It was Beth Din that isued the ruling. The Beth Din of America is a rabbinical court which serves affiliated and unaffiliated Jews, as well as the entire spectrum of the Orthodox community in their Beth Din needs. Originally founded in 1960, and reconstituted in 1994, the Beth Din provides services in the following areas:
* Adjudication of monetary, interpersonal and communal disputes
* Issuance of divorce decrees (Gittin)
* Confirmation of personal status issues for rabbinic courts in Israel and elsewhere in the world
One of the areas Beth Din rules on is personal status of those claiming to be Orthodox Jews.
http://www.bethdin.org/
Beth Din did not say it was the "Torah Court" that issued the pronouncement. it was the writer's lead in so people would know what Beth Din is. It's quite common for news articles to lead a story this way.
Some of those quotes are from 15 and 19 years before 2008. Ronald Reagan signed the most liberal abortion law in the country as Gov of CA and supported it. He was a liberal democrat for much of his life before he changed to the GOP.
You can always find quotes from guys 20 years old that might be different from what they think now and how circumstances change things.
In 2000, Bush said he was against nation building. He ended up turning nation building in to the defining feature of his Presidency and just lost the Congress because of it. People change. You can be against Rudy and that's fine, but basing your decision on something he said in 1993 or 1989 really isn't a good reason, in my book.
Zell Miller gave Bubba's keynote speech in 1992 and all but hailed him as the second coming.
Are you sure any of your conservative favorites don't have any quotes 15-20 years old that might portray them in a different light?
Yeshua is a monarchist and a Zionist, why would he have wanted to?
It is obvious he did help... THE OTHER SIDE!
When did Rudy say he changed any of these positions?
If all we know about someone is that he is of a religion that we don't particularly like, then it seems like a no go. But as the people get to know the candidate, and they like what they see, such a factor steadily recedes in importance, eventually to nothing.
That's always a possibility, I guess. :-)
About the same... insipid and ineffective...
He's pro-gun, anti-abortion, pro-family, anti-gay marriage precisely in sync with his religion. Most active members of the LDS Church are this way.
Evangelicals need to look beyond superficialities and judge the fruit. When they have done this they will discover that Romney is just as thoroughly and profoundly socially conservative as they are.
Ronald Reagan looked beyond superficialities and judged the fruit. He was a wise man. He held the social conservatism and self-reliance of the LDS Church and its members in high regard. He was especially impressed with the LDS Church's welfare system which relies on voluntary donations and provided the first effective "workfare" model.
Romney has a lot of Reagan's attributes: his ease in front of crowds, his telegenic nature, his keen sense of humor, his optimism. Moreover, Romney is a brilliant businessman who truly understands how the free market works. The creators of wealth and jobs would be ecstatic to have him as president for precisely the reasons they would loathe having Hillary Clinton as president.
Once or twice can be ignorance.
When you refuse to face and understand facts, you've moved it to idiocy.
The Beth Din recognized in NY did not issue any ruling on Lieberman. None. Zero.
Three "Rabbis" got together called themselves a Bet Din and made this pronouncement for political purposes. It may have meant something to their followers- if they have any. It meant nothing to Lieberman or almost any other Jew.
Now go back to being clueless about Giuliani.
Your sourse for that is? Post the link that says 3 Rabbis just called themselves Beth Din and issued the ruling.
I've never seen that said. I can't find anywhere that Beth Din said the ruling wasn't from them. If you have such a link I'll stand corrected.
"Joe Lieberman has been excommunicated by a rabbinical court in New York. Excommunication in Jewish law has a different meaning from the term as used in the Catholic Church.
It does not mean that the individual is cut off from the 'Communion' and condemned to eternal damnation. It means that he is cut off from contact with the community. It is meant to be a state in which the sinner is socially isolated and bereft of collegial support so that he can reflect on his deeds and repent.
There are two levels of excommunication. The lower level is referred to in Hebrew as Nidooy; the more stringent level is called Herem.
In both modalities of excommunication the individual is banned from direct contact with most individuals, he must follow the laws of a mourner, and he cannot actively participate in synagogue services. He is allowed to earn a livelihood, to have contact with his immediate family, and if he is a teacher or a student, he may participate in classes. However, others in his presence must remain four cubits distant from him.
The standard period for Nidooy excommunication is 30 days. If he remains unrepentant, the rabbinical court may now excommunicate him with Herem. Under this level of ban, he is not allowed to participate in classes and the community doesn’t do any business with him. He is allowed only a subsistence-level livelihood.
Does the excommunication of Joe Lieberman have any binding status? Probably not too much. Joe Lieberman is not a member of the community whose rabbinical court excommunicated him. Therefore, no one, except for the community over which that rabbinical court presides, is bound by the excommunication.
Nonetheless, according to some opinions of Talmudic law, Joe Lieberman should take the excommunication seriously. He should either demand from the rabbinical court justification for its action, or accept the excommunication and repent for his offenses. Surely that would involve dropping out of the vice presidential race.
Personally, I must disagree with my friend and colleague, Rabbi Yehuda Levin, whose opinion is commonly quoted in conservative news services. Despite the apparent flipflops on conservative stands and blatant statements that contradict Orthodox Jewish law, I believe Joe Lieberman always has been and still remains a man of great integrity and high moral character.
I suspect that he justifies all of his present controversial maneuvers in order to be elected. Most notably, he had to mollify Maxine Waters, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan and their ilk in order not to alienate the black vote."
.....
Alex Wolf is a rabbinical scholar and member of a think tank that analyzes contemporary issues from a Talmudic perspective. He recently published a thriller novel, "Samson’s Lion," which deals with the Israel-Arab conflict on a scholarly, spiritual and philosophical level.
###
Note that Alex Wolf doesn't claim that the ruling wasn't from a real court. In fact, he says, "Nonetheless, according to some opinions of Talmudic law, Joe Lieberman should take the excommunication seriously. He should either demand from the rabbinical court justification for its action, or accept the excommunication and repent for his offenses."
Somehow I think Mr. Wolf knows more about the rabbinical court than you do.
Do you think this is a good thing, or does it hurt his effectiveness too much? Will it prevent him from gaining the necessary political support to run a good campaign in 2008?
He could, I suppose, always take the grass-roots Dean tried, most likely without the meltdown Dean suffered at the end.
By that logic, anyone in New York could have endorsed Hillary and Spitzer and you wouldn't criticize them for it?
Conservatives generally oppose government interference in hiring and firing decisions. Even when the protected trait deserves protection, they create an additional level of paperwork and documentation, and offer unproductive employees who deserve firing an extra weapon to pull on their employers. How much worse when the trait really doesn't deserve any special protection?
I think many have probably had such an experience. However, "slapping down" often does not equal logically defeating in argument, as much as it means claiming victory on rather tenuous and unsupported grounds.
Wrong on all accounts. LOL
It's less an issue by itself than an indicator that he holds a far-from-sound belief in the free market. Given his social liberalism, many claim one of his positive traits is fiscal conservatism, but I'd need to see far more evidence of this before I'd even consider supporting him.
As usual, your argument is ironclad and unassailable.
LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.