Dear Dog Gone,
"Social conservatives are not a uniform block, and they do have varying degrees of being able to accept less than a perfect candidate."
You're absolutely right. In fact, I've often said that should he be nominated, many social conservatives would hold their noses and vote for Mr. Giuliani. Perhaps even a majority of social conservatives. Lots of us held our noses for George HW Bush and for Mr. Dole, as well. I was one of them.
I don't think that social conservatives generally had a problem with Mr. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Perhaps a few on the fringe, but let's face it, Mr. Rove targeted us to vote, and we voted in droves, especially in 2004. And the loss of many of us in 2006 hurt the party significantly.
But what the country clubbers need to understand is that Mr. Giuliani is going to lose a lot more social conservatives than any Republican nominee since Mr. Reagan cobbled together the current Republican coalition.
If you thought social conservatives abandoned Republicans in large numbers in 2006, you haven't seen anything until you nominate Mr. Giuliani in 2008.
Mr. Giuliani won't lose two or three percent of us, but rather 20%, 30%, or even 50% or more of social conservatives.
I presented my own voting history to show that as social conservatives go, I'm pretty flexible. I have friends who hold me in some suspicion because of that flexibility.
Even this year, when many different types of Republicans abandoned the party, I dutifully went to the polls on Election Day, held my nose, and voted for pro-abort Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R-Country Club) for re-election. As well, I voted for his lame-brained pro-abort running mate, Kristen Cox, whose primary qualification for office was that she was a two-fer - both a woman and a handicapped person (she's legally blind). I voted straight Republican ticket all the way down the ballot. I didn't vote for anyone who didn't have an "R" next to their name.
But I ain't gonna vote for Rudy no way no how.
And if he can't get me, then he's in a world of hurting with social conservatives. It is unlikely that he'll win the nomination, but even less likely that he'll win the general election.
Mr. Giuliani is not a "compromise" candidate for us, but rather a complete defeat for us. Don't make us choose between two major party candidates who are not at all acceptable.
"But when push comes to shove, they won't choose the lesser of two evils. They'll not vote at all."
Oh, plenty of us will vote. But not for Mr. Giuliani.
sitetest
It would be perfect--as he'd draw large numbers of votes from BOTH parties.
Then we could see if the Rudy sycophants would still be willing to vote for Rudy (even though their vote would be wasted--just like they keep telling us conservatives our vote would be, if we voted Third Party, INSTEAD of Rudy)--thus helping to elect the Democrat.
The irony would be priceless.
I won't argue with you because you're expressing your opinion and the reasons for it. And you write well.
I don't doubt that Guiliani will have trouble securing the vast majority of voters who identify themselves as social conservatives. That's kind of the point I was making myself.
If it comes down to a choice between Hillary or Obama vs. Guiliani, you'll probably cast a protest vote for someone with no chance whatsoever. I think that would be an error, but I also know that there's no chance of persuading you otherwise. It's the same as not voting, in my opinion, but we probably differ on that.
I'm not here stumping for Guiliani. I tend to favor Newt, but I don't know what my choices will be when I finally get into the primary polling booth.
From my perspective, defeating the Democrat candidate is the most important thing. I don't think the candidate I will vote for in November 2008 is going to be my ideal candidate. But I literally will vote for anyone who stands a chance of beating the Democrat.
It's entirely possible that we'll be facing a situation where we'll be displeased with the outcome of the election no matter what. I believe in cutting my losses and voting for least objectionable candidate, if that's what it takes.