Dude, Where's My Candidate?

National Review Online ^ | Jan 27, 2004 | Andrew Cline

[sweetliberty]

"There is a disconnect somewhere."

.

[Akira]

I guess we can hope that half of these people are too stoned to remember to vote on election days.

I think you overstate how close we are to anything resembling NK. France, perhaps...

[Lil'freeper]

The vegan is speaking on Hannity right now...

[Akira]

I haven't had time to take the poll, but I got the feeling that it takes Bush + all the current Dem candidates. If that is true, then just about anybody on this forum will come out 100% for Bush.

But throw in any other true conservative candidate in there and Bush would suffer. Throw out the tax cuts and the partial birth abortion ban (and I don't mean to trivialize either of those) and Bush's domestic policy has not been anything any true conservative should be proud of.

When you sign an education bill that makes Ted Kennedy happy, you are not a conservative. Alan Keyes gave a great speech on this at CPAC last weekend.

[Redcloak]

"OK... One more time. This is your brain. This is your brain on Dennis Kucinich. Any questions?"

[Akira]

From NH:

[axel f]

I like Alan Keyes and think he'd make a good president. That said, how did he explain why the people who are the most upset about the NCLB Act are in Ted Kennedy's camp? By far the most complaining I hear about it comes from the left.

[Akira]

The gist of Alan's speech was to distinguish b/w Republicans and conservatives. He pointed out that O'Reilly now uses the term "conservative" when discussing Lieberman and Edwards, and this doesn't help the movement. He also bashed RINOs like Arnold in CA.

He didn't specifically talk about NCLB. As near as I can tell, Dems are now complaining about NCLB b/c:
1) Bush is behind it (they'd bash Bush if he cured cancer) and the election is approaching
2) It doesn't spend ENOUGH money
3) It mandates testing, which scares them into thinking that kids and teachers will actually be expected to perform well

Back in 2000, with both Dem and Rep primaries going on, there was a similar poll to match you to a candidate. It matched me to Keyes.

[null and void]

Ah yes, I remember Keyes from the last election. He was the only candidate with a grip on the Constitutional requirements of the job.

Imagine an Alan Keyes/Condi Rice ticket...

[The Bat Lady]

PING

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

You know... The 26th Amendment guaranteed my Right to Vote at the tender age of 18 -- but I never owned my own Landed Property (okay, I pay the Bank, but my name is on the Deed) until I was 25 years old.

However, after reading an Article like this, I'm even more firmly convinced that the Founders were Right. Restrict the Voting Franchise to Property-Owners!! Them's which have a physical investment in their Motherland, tend to evaluate their Vote a bit more seriously.

William F. Buckley (jr.) is famously credited as saying, "A Conservative is one who stands athwart the Progress of History, yelling 'STOP!!'"

If that be the case, then a Libertarian (or, more exactly in my case, a "man's-home-is-his-castle" Propertarian) is one who stands athwart the Progress of History, yelling "Go Back! For the love of all that's decent, GO BACK!!"

Back to the 18th Century, baby. Common Sense is like a fine wine... it doesn't sour easily; it improves with age.

We can endlessly debate the merits of the 19th Amendment (sorry, Ladies; but Men do tend to vote for Liberty, and Women do tend to vote for Socialism -- a century of voting habits can't be easily overlooked)... but, Male or Female, if we'd retained the Founder's Practice of Restricting the Voting Franchise to Property-Owners -- methinks we'd have saved ourselves a world of hurt.

Admittedly, to steal a line from the Kucinich Voters:

• "You know what? It's never gonna happen."

But a Propertarian can dream. To steal a line from Rush Limbaugh:

• "It's the Way Things Oughtta Be."

As always, just one curmudgeon's opinion.

Best, OP

[George W. Bush]

It's only in the last 20 years that non-property owners even get elected to puny positions around here. At the old people will still grumble queitly about it.

Tended to keep taxes down.

[George W. Bush]

As always, just one curmudgeon's opinion.

BTW, you're not quite old enough to apply for membership with the Curmudgeons. But I might be able to get you in on the quiet...

[hunter112]

I guess we can hope that half of these people are too stoned to remember to vote on election days.

Not me! I hope they goad the fool into going third party. Looks like as long as Howie's taking his meds, he won't get pissed off enough to start a third party, so we need Kook to drag off the far fringe. Sure, it won't be as much as Nader siphoned off, but if it doesn't go to Kerry in the fall, that's all right with me!

[Joe Hadenuf]

Dude, Where's My Candidate?

He's the one that isn't a lawyer, sitting in traffic, doing the nine to five, while having a large part of his income confiscated by the government.

When he runs for office, we'll know it.

[The UnVeiled Lady]

http://www.presidentmatch.com/Guide.jsp2
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Where do you stand on the following abortion positions?

Appoint Judges Who Will Outlaw Abortions
Outlaw "Partial Birth" Abortions
Outlaw Abortions Except for Rape/Incest
Parental Notification for Minors Under 18


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Constitutional Gay Marriage Ban
Equal Rights for Civil Unions
Allow Gays to Openly Serve in the Military

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Organized Prayer in Public Schools
Commandments Displayed in Federal Buildings
Federal Funding of Religious Charities

Social Issues

Where do you stand on the following abortion positions?
Appoint Judges Who Will Outlaw Abortions
Outlaw "Partial Birth" Abortions
Outlaw Abortions Except for Rape/Incest
Parental Notification for Minors Under 18


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Constitutional Gay Marriage Ban
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Number of Candidates
Total 8
In Your List 8



1 Bush Score: 100% Republican
Has Held Elected Office Yes
Served in the Military Yes

2 Lieberman Score: 46% Democrat
Has Held Elected Office Yes
Served in the Military No

3 Edwards Score: 38% Democrat
Has Held Elected Office Yes
Served in the Military No

4 Kerry Score: 33% Democrat
Has Held Elected Office Yes
Served in the Military Yes

5 Dean Score: 33% Democrat
Has Held Elected Office Yes
Served in the Military No

6 Clark Score: 32% Democrat
Has Held Elected Office No
Served in the Military Yes

7 Sharpton Score: 25% Democrat
Has Held Elected Office No
Served in the Military No

8 Kucinich Score: 17% Democrat
Has Held Elected Office Yes
Served in the Military No

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

It's only in the last 20 years that non-property owners even get elected to puny positions around here. At the old people will still grumble queitly about it. Tended to keep taxes down.

Per'zactly.

Meaning no offense to the Current Administration, whom I freely admit is a better President than any Democrat -- laying aside the matter that the GOP Congress actually opposes Big-Government Socialism when a Democrat is in Power (it's best not to speak of these things, don't wanna rock the boat)...

...But I remain utterly befuddled and uncertain as to what exactly a $200-Billion Kennedy Education Bill and $200-Billion Iraq War and a $50-Billion "Reichland Security" Office actually accomplishes which can't be better accomplished by Midwestern Homeschooling and family Shotgun practice (and a few billion -- even one billion -- for extra Border Security), other than double the Deficit up to figures which would make Thomas Jefferson blush and beg for mercy.

(Especially when we are going to throw open the borders anyway, as seems to be the current intent.)

(And even if you are totally-hardcore-serious about the Iraq War, think about this: ONE twenty-kiloton "Hiroshima Fat-Man" tac-nuke dropped on top of the Salman Pak terror-camp 30-miles south of Baghdad would have made our point. Wouldn't have cost $200 Billion. Wouldn't have cost 500 [and counting] American Lives [and incalculable family-disruption, the "homeland cost" of War]. Would've actually done LESS radiological damage to the Iraqi Civilians than the Depleted-Uranium shells we are dumping all over the Fertile Crescent. And Nobody would doubt our "National Resolve". You wanna "make a point"?? Make your point. But do it cost-efficiently. The Rules of War-fighting have not changed.)

Now, maybe I'm always gonna be just a naive, stupid, corn-on-the-cob Iowa Farmboy at heart -- despite all my East Coast financial training and Je Ne Sais Quois (That's a French colloquialism favored by Yankee Liberals. Loosely translated, it means "I haven't a thing worth saying, but I can say it in French!")...

...But down on the farm, where we still figure Mathematics according to Grain Elevators rather than "self-esteem" -- a Family of Five takes a $500 Billion-dollar Deficit divided by 250 million tax-paying Americans, and that means that Bush Junior is soaking each Man, each Wife, and each of Three Kids with an extra $2,000 dollars each in Debt that we're gonna hafta pay back. ON TOP of the existing National Debt, which would get us to Mars and back without any new photo-ops!!

$2,000 dollars per each!! Every Man, Woman, Child and Infant!! Is anyone paying attention? And that's just one year of Bush Junior's astronomical $500-billion dollar deficits.

Get a grip, people. Compare Bush's fiscal policies to your family's credit-card Bills. An additional $2,000 dollars of Debt per family member, per each, in ONE YEAR!! And more to come...

Bush Junior is trying to buy off the Liberals and fight a World War at the same time.
There is no way to sugar-coat this.... This is Fiscal Insanity.

As Ronald Reagan once said in his 1964 endorsement of Barry Goldwater, "There has come a Time for Choosing."

And down on the farm, in Iowa and Kansas and Nebraska and across the Heartland, I think the choice is clear -- the Massive Taxation and Expenditures of the Federal Government cannot truly provide one iota more "Homeland Security" than that which can be provided by Families, Churches, Gun Training, and Common Sense. The only thing the Feds can do is defend the Borders, and they have betrayed that Trust.

But the Feds can run up $500 Billion-dollar Deficits, 'cause "they're from the Government, and they're here to help."

Well, you know what? I grew up in Iowa, in a white-bread Midwestern nuclear Family of Two Parents and Four Kids. Stack it up the way you stack up bales of hay, and an extra $500 Billion dollar Deficit divided across America by six-person Families works out to an extra $12,000 dollars of debt, per Family... per year. EEE-GADS!! Some of us just finished paying off the new Tractor! I think I'm gonna be sick...

And so I have to say, with that great Calvinist General "Stonewall" Jackson, I do not fear the Terrorists -- "I Know that the Sovereign Lord has already measured out for me all the Days of My Life, and so I feel as safe in Battle as I do lying in my Bed"... but I do fear my Government.

Terrorists can Kill your Life (in one chance in a hundred-thousand; in the Midwest, you're more in danger from lightning storms); but only the Government can Rape your Children's Future.

In fact, it has become their Raison D'etre. (This is another French colloquialism favored by Yankee Liberals. Loosely translated, it means "We're from the Government, so Lie Back and Try to Enjoy It.)

Best, OP

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

BTW, you're not quite old enough to apply for membership with the Curmudgeons. But I might be able to get you in on the quiet...

My Youth may be against me, GWB (remind me sometime to scan in a few pictures of my "long-hair" days, for laughs and reminiscences)...

...But considering I pay the highest property taxes in Florida to the Enviro-Fascists who run the show down here in the Keys, I think I can "Curmudgeon" with the best of them. (grin)

best, OP

[xzins]

There have traditionally been two reasons acceptable for deficit spending: one is war and the other is recession/depression.

George Bush is dealing with both AND the eye-opening first strike was against the financial institutions and the airlines which FURTHER PUSHED the economy to the edge.

If he were a Democrat and had brought this economy back from those strikes with such elan and in such a short period of time he would be being hailed as the 2nd coming of FDR. Under cover of a smoke screen GW has applied BOTH traditional methods of stimulating an economy: tax cuts and deficit spending. The scarey part is that it was GW who pushed the tax cuts, but he didn't even need to push the deficit spending.....the Congress gave it to him due to their own greed and general all-around porkiness. What's scarey was that they simply followed their natural tendencies and GW signed it.

[Jerry_M]

Far too many have the attitude of c'est la vie.

Everyone needs to read your #57, even if they do end up sick.