Posted on 02/10/2007 2:16:42 PM PST by EveningStar
Two days ago, in blogging about the abortion records of the serious GOP Presidential prospects (McCain, Giuliani, Romney), I provoked a great deal of anger by writing off the other current contenders (Huckabee, Brownback, Tancredo, Ron Paul, Gilmore, Thompson, Duncan Hunter) as "lesser" candidates who stand no realistic chance of winning primaries or grabbing the nomination. No matter how much you may admire these people, their candidacies are irrelevant – more a bid for attention, or a preparation for future races, than a realistic bid for power...
When, in the last 60 years of Presidential politics, did any obscure underdog manage to defy the odds and win the nomination of the Republican Party?...
(Excerpt) Read more at michaelmedved.townhall.com ...
Medved is the Grima Wormtongue of the conservative world.
Whispering words of defeat into your ear, trying to wear down your will to back the conservative of your choice.
Some of Reagan's actual policies on free trade (but then why let facts get in the way of a good story?):
http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=489&sortorder=articledate
The administration has thus far:
* Forced Japan to accept restraints on auto exports;
* Tightened considerably the quotas on imported sugar;
* Negotiated to increase the restrictiveness of the Multifiber Arrangement governing trade in textiles and apparel;
* Required 18 countries, including Brazil, Spain, South
* Korea, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Finland, Australia, and the European Community, to accept "voluntary restraint agreements" that reduce their steel imports to the United States;
* Imposed a 45% duty on Japanese motorcycles for the benefit of Harley Davidson, which admitted that superior
* Japanese management was the cause of its problems;
* Raised tariffs on Canadian lumber and cedar shingles;
* Forced the Japanese into an agreement to control the price of computer memory chips;
* Removed third-world countries on several occasions from the duty-free import program for developing nations;
* Pressed Japan to force its automakers to buy more American-made parts;
* Demanded that Taiwan, West Germany, Japan, and Switzerland restrain their exports of machine tools;
* Accused the Japanese of dumping roller bearings on grounds that the price did not rise to cover a fall in the value of the yen;
* Accused the Japanese of dumping forklift trucks and color picture tubes;
* Extended quotas on imported clothes pins;
* Failed to ask Congress to end the ban on the export of Alaskan oil and timber cut from federal lands;
* Redefined dumping so domestic firms can more easily charge foreign competitors with unfair trade practices;
* Beefed-up the Export-Import Bank, an institution dedicated to distorting the American economy at the expense of the American people in order to artificially promote exports of eight large corporations.
I know that Dean had stumbled a bit but he had been lapping the field for so long he still had a somewhat of a chance. Kerry, by contrast, had fallen so far behind that he actually had to mortgage Teresa's home for cash. The most telling factor is that Kerry not only pulled off a "surprise" victory, but that the guy in second place (Edwards) still received more votes than the rest of the field combined.
The fact that Kerry and Edwards were both able to make up that much ground in such short time is very suspicious.
Love your tagline : "California, Mexico's HMO.". ;>P
I notice you ignored the point about historical realities.
You hit all the points I was going to make, far more articulately. :-) One of the advantages of the GOP method is that it can get strength, unity, and organization behind a weak candidancy, but the downside is that we don't get the super-underdog like Clinton.
Some of us would be happy to vote for Hunter or any other conservative, however ripping fellow Republicans only hurts your cause.
Pray for W and Our Troops
I consider Reagan to be a "pragmatic" president. I think any successful politician has to be pragmatic.
:) I'm sure he's a healthy 110. I guess you have to be exposed to supply and demand curves and competitive advantage to really embrace the concept.
The Chomsky hierarchy is often taught in fundamental computer science courses as it confers insight into the various types of formal languages.
Given what this says, I think it might be tacked onto the introduction of some textbooks.
has generated interest among mathematicians, particularly combinatorialists.
This is a lie. I know. These are my peeps and nobody discusses this. Nobody. Anywhere. At all. It is possible that it is a single example of a partially ordered set, but no mathematician that I have ever heard discusses anything related to Chomsky unless they're discussing one of his voluminous political tracts (seriously, does he have an unexpressed thought?)
A number of arguments in evolutionary psychology are derived from his research results."
Assuming "evolutionary psychology" has more rigor than "pulled from my posterior," if it even exists.
I don't oppose Hunter and I think he's smarter than his FR boosters. If he's running for Veep, he's doing a good job. He emphasizes his Reaganite beliefs and gets a following, he can make the case that he's necessary for, say, Rudy.
The first thing about McCain is that he believes in his moral rightness. He hates the fact that he was dragged into the Keating 5 scandal (he was far less involved than the other 4, all Dems, he was brought in to make it a bipartisan scandal). Thus, he was on a crusade to make sure that no politician was ever subject to the same thing that he did.
The second thing is that he's so eager to be the compromiser. Whenever there's a conflict (gang of 14) he's always eager to play the arbiter.
Like most post-war presidents, Reagan championed free trade while selectively deviating from it. Critics of trade note correctly that Reagan negotiated "voluntary" import quotas for steel and Japanese cars and imposed Section 201 tariffs on imported motorcycles to protect Harley-Davidson. All true. But those were the exceptions and not the rule. They were tactical retreats designed to defuse rising protectionists pressures in Congress.
Thank you. While I do not care for Pat Buchanan, what we need is an insurgent candidacy that, somehow, bucks the system and wins. Then it will be changed forever.
I think the idea of limited government is in the public debate. We're just losing that debate. I'm not sure its worth ceding 4 years of government control to make a rhetorical point.
Yup. The odds are against them too. The odds favor a Protestant, white, male, governor of a southern state.
Fair point, no doubt. Sometimes, even those who know better, feel the need to throw some bones to the wolves chasing the sleigh, to deflect them from doing real damage.
I don't recall ever saying I supported Giuliani, but you are welcome to point where I did say such a thing. Perhaps I am losing my memory, and I'd certainly want to know about that. I'm just observing the field and learning about the candidates at this point.
Third Reich? I'm not going to take you seriously after that comment unless you care to back it up with specifics.
If what you say is true, I might still support him, depends on who he's running against. I'm not worried that he will get my arsenal away from me.
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