Posted on 08/11/2005 3:56:27 AM PDT by pookie18
"Can he win the primaries if the pro-life and family values half of the party vote for someone else?
Can he win the general election if the pro-life and family values half of the party stays home?
I am asking this seriously, not rhetorically."
No, he cannot. And I am not about to question your priorities, which I understand a respect, but do not share; we inhabit the same tent, after all.
My point is that you may not find a candidate who completely shares your values and can win. Would I rather Rudy be the "perfect" man value-wise? Yes, I would. But even with his warts, he's much better-looking as a President than Hillary, who is ugly through and through.
That's gotta leave a mark...
If there was a Hillary Rudy match up I would not stay home.
I'd even hold my nose and pray to God and not stay home if there was a Hillary McCain match up.
The problem isn't me. I understand the constraints of real politik.
I'm talking about people who normally don't go out and vote for heathens no matter if they are running against Satan himself.
They already knew....the clinical term would be "denial".....
Come now. You know what she meant. I know what she meant.
Sheesh. They give us so much great ammo to use on them. Don't skew a statement like that above.
The SCOTUS is the SUPREME word on the law...like the voice of God.
The responses to your comment here are not surprising. There is a pretty large group of self-described "conservatives" who really have no interest in values issues--or have outright contempt for those who speak the language of morality. For them, it's all about power. But the Republicans only came to power because many people--like me--came to believe that they represented the best hope for keeping this country from sliding futher down the slippery slope. That is the point of the original article and the poll on which it is based. Too bad so many "conservatives" just don't get it.
It goes back to my tag line....
Let's look at the dim leadership:
Kennedy=killer
Pelosi=out of touch shrew
Kerry=giggalo
algore=illrelevent
Hillery Clinton=lying,thieving,murdering,conniver.
Yeah a mirror image of America as presented by the Democrat party.
She "WAS" handling a snake long before this...Its' name is William (BUBBA) Jefferson Blight Clinton.
Rudy is difficult to peg. IMO.
From what I see, Rudy has no chance on FRee Republic. None. And I am like the majority here; I am NOT for Rudy for President. For all the obvious reasons others have observed.
My take is that Republicans in the nation, however, could possibly go for him, if they saw him as a Reaganesque figure. Not on the values issues as his personal stances, which is quite unReaganesque, but on his personal style and leadership qualities. The man just has it. And he is tough as nails, which people perceive we need in these dreadful times.
The failed marriage is actually not as bad as it seems on its face...Ronald Reagan was divorced and remarried. It is Rudy's position on values issues that is a problem. He has shown too much empathy for gays and abortionist females, if you ask me. These people might have some valid points about their personal issues, but the problem is they are trying to remake society into everything that most of us believe is very, very wrong. They try to force society to agree with them and adopt their wrong-headed values, not simply be more tolerant of their situations.
Rudy needs to wake up to this impossible situation. He needs to pull more toward the majority, (thin as it is, there is one) and less toward those who are trying to smash the majority. If he does this, he has a chance.
Rudy would appeal to people from all kinds of backgrounds and points of view, IMO. He would appeal to a strange concoction of differing types. That is a true strength, and Reagan had that kind of appeal, despite his intransigence on certain core-values issues.
I hope that Karl Rove has got Rudy's ear. There was a report that the two of them got together, recently. Some on this site were livid that Karl would even think of getting with that horrible Rudy G.
Myself, I just hope that if Rudy does badly want to be President, and a Republican President at that, that he will listen to Karl Rove. Otherwise, we could be in for a "bloodletting" among Republicans that would let the Dems snatch victory from the jaws of almost sure defeat, which is where the Dems are now.
Rudy worked in the Reagan Administration. He worked in the Justice Dept. under Reagan, and he greatly admires him. Glowingly admires him.
Ok.....time for Rudy to choose between his NY buds and his loyalty to Reagan. No, he cannot become like Reagan, but he can move in that direction on his issue positions.
Time to show respect, Rudy, for the people and their values that animate and define the moral character of this nation.
Another side of the coin is that candidates like George W Bush don't come along every eight years.
There is a lot of disparagement of President Bush by some very vocal conservatives, who don't appreciate how much he has advanced the appreciation of conservative values in America.
They seem to think it is simply due to the power of their ideas and values, and don't appreciate the role Bush has played in putting a face on those ideas and values for a new generation of Americans. And the role he and Rove have played in getting good people elected to Congress to vote for those ideas and values (or not vote for them as with letting the assault rifle ban expire)
Excellent post!
It would be completely valid for him to realize that our foes are people who are cavalier about the taking of life, and that realization to lead him to become more aware of a needed deeper reverence for life.
It's kinda like that woman the heads the Kerry household painting the homosexual agenda as a "family value." But then Conservataive Coors said it was only "reaching out." Well, gee, I guess he did lose to a Dem.
Bump & Ping
The DemonicRats will never be able to honestly embrace God and religion.
They can only trot the pseudo Christians like the Clintoons and the Kerry out. Remember the size of the Bible the Clintoon was carrying to church during the Monica Licking mess?
If they honestly embraced God/religion and morality, they would lose their core of Godless/amoral voters who believe abortion and illegal voting are their cores.
Thanks, PR. I hoped you would not think I minimize Rudy's personal failings, I don't mean to at all.
But taken in isolation, the failed marriage is a point against Ronald Reagan, too.
The difference is that Reagan understood and honored the basic values of moral America. He knew some divorced, some gays, especially in Hollywood, and no doubt he knew more than one or two who got abortions and believed in abortion as a private right. He moved in two worlds, PR, but he danced politically and leadership-wise with the one that brung him...the values he was taught as a young boy in Illinois along the Mississippi River.
He understood that Jimmy Stewart's America was the America we had to preserve, protect and defend. That it is not all about a minority of people in America who have difficult personal issues, which might evoke a bit of sympathy, but who at the same time are trying to destroy the America that Reagan knew, understood, respected and loved.
Rudy has to see that, too, if he wants the nomination as a Republican. He must side with the America that must endure, more than he sides with those whose personal issues are motivating them to try to destroy THAT America.
The DemonRats are a bunch of immoral, morally bankrupt, anti-religious traitors.
Please. You're insulting all the nice black snakes in my yard by comparing the Witch to them.
I asssume you're referring to the one-eyed type of snake.
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.