Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A winning conservative platform for 2008?
Opinion | Jim Robinson

Posted on 02/19/2007 1:14:04 AM PST by Jim Robinson

Edited on 02/19/2007 2:20:11 AM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]

I was told earlier this evening that it's impossible for a conservative to win the general election against Hillary Clinton. That the socially liberal Rudy Giuliani is the ONLY Republican who can (a) beat Hillary and (b) win the war.

How many FReepers actually believe this hogwash? If we have no faith in our own conservative principles and values why do we call ourselves conservatives? How can we possibly hope to advance our conservative causes if we tuck tail and run when we should be fighting as if our very survival as a free people depends upon it. Because it does.

We cannot advance conservatism by running a social liberal for the office of chief executive. If you want proof, ask Arnie, the socially liberal Republican governor of California. No thanks. You can have him and the socialist horse he rode in on.

We cannot defend life, liberty or nation (see below discussion on securing borders) with a social liberal at the helm.

I'd like to build a winning conservative platform with a dozen or so hard hitting no nonsense points that we can all agree on that would help us focus on our best potential primary nominee and one that can defeat Hillary, et al, in the general.

Here's a starter list and it's open for discussion, cutting, consolidation, expansion and detailing:

  1. Win the war!
  2. Secure the nation!
  3. Secure the borders!
  4. Stop the illegal aliens!
  5. Rebuild the military!
  6. Deal with growing threats! Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, (and an increasingly Muslim Russia and Europe?)!
  7. Cut government!
  8. Cut spending!
  9. Cut taxes!
  10. Allow the free economy to expand!
  11. Return control of states issues to the states!
  12. Defend life, liberty, property and individual rights!

Would a conservative platform focusing on victory in the war, national security, national defense, securing the borders, deporting illegal aliens, sound fiscal policy and defense of life, liberty, property and individual rights be a winner over Hillary's treasonous platform of surrender, weakness, open borders, socialist fiscal policies, "abortion rights," "gay rights," global warming, continued government abuses and subversion of our rights to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, right to keep and bear arms and private property rights?

Expanding on one issue, for example, I'm pushing for increased border security. I used to be in favor of some sort of temporary worker program, but not one that has a fast track to citizenship. I'm now coming around to the point of view held by the majority of Americans regardless of political party affiliation and that is we MUST secure the borders immediately. It's obvious that this war against Islamic fascism is going to grind on even after we put down the nasty business in Iraq. We must secure the borders against terrorist intrusion and infiltration. We must tightly control ALL immigration to the US.

It's also becoming more and more obvious that Americans are not happy with illegals taking jobs in an ever growing number of industries. They're no longer just doing field labor and or menial low paying tasks. They're creeping up the uskilled labor and union scale, only they're competing unfairly by accepting low wages and under the table payments.

We also need to seal the borders against drug smugglers, weapons smugglers, criminals, terrorists, etc. Catch them, try them and lock them up.

Americans are also tired of footing the bills for illegal alien health care, education, welfare, auto accidents, crime, disease, etc.

It's way past time to call a halt to this nonsense. I say we catch them at the borders and deport them. If we catch them again, place them in a work camp. If they want to work, fine, let them work in a work camp for their keep. Nothing more. And no illegal families or children or anchor babies. If it takes additional laws on the books, fine let's get it done. If it takes a constitutional amendment to stop the anchor babies, let's get the process started.

We should also catch and deport them when they show up at the DMV, voter registration or voting booth, unemployment line, bank, building permit office, welfare department, social security office, hospitals, free clinics, schools, jails, auto accident or traffic stops, etc. If they can't speak English and they don't have valid identification, then we need to hold them or call in the INS.

If we're going to secure the nation we must secure the borders, control immigration and stop pandering to the illegals or their enablers. Employers who willingly and knowingly hire illegals should be punished. If they pay their workers under the table and fail to withhold taxes or social security, they should be dealt with as felons.

So, we win the war, secure the nation, build our defenses, return to a sound fiscal policy, cut spending and taxes, and defend our rights.

How many states would go for this platform as opposed to Hillary's that is exactly opposite?

I think we'd even pull in California.

What say you?


TOPICS: Breaking News; Free Republic; US: California; US: Texas; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: adminlectureseries; aliens; amnesty; borders; conservatism; duncanhunter; elections; fredthompson; giuliani; illegalimmigration; immigrantlist; rfr; tancredo; turnrighttosanity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 381-400401-420421-440 ... 701-717 next last
To: Jim Robinson

JR: you are correct in that Bush always talked being a compassionate conservative, doing things as a compassionate conservative, etc., but again, and even Rush has spoken of this, Bush is no conservative. Rush said he wasn't even a conservative. I agree with that. At most, I think Bush qualifies as a middle of the road moderate with liberal leanings. If he were not liberal leaning, how do you explain his view on illegals?? His views on making all them legal and granting amnesty is exactly what the left would do. I believe that Bush misled a lot of us with his talk, but no actions concerning conservatism. His big liberal, big government growing spending proved that. Taking out his actions on the WOT, I give Bush a big fat F as president. He has failed his oath of office to defend the USA within in not closing the borders and not stopping the flood of illegals invading the Republic. He is a big government liberal when it comes to throwing money around. And, when was the last president to sit 7 years without ever vetoing anything passed by the Congress?


401 posted on 02/20/2007 7:21:18 AM PST by RetiredArmy (Marxis-Dimocrats, Enemies of the Republic, the ENEMY within!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 321 | View Replies]

To: RetiredArmy

What do you think of Bush's tax cuts?
Are those the actions of a big-government liberal?
Hmmm?


402 posted on 02/20/2007 7:39:28 AM PST by Redbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 401 | View Replies]

To: Redbob

Bush's tax cuts do not match his spending. Just look at the bloated farm, education bills as examples. You can try to throw out tax cuts to cover all his spending you want, but the record clearly shows how much Bush and the RINOs in Congress GREW the federal government and government spending more than Klinton and the Marxist dimocrats did. Heck, they just sit back and let him do it. They get what they wanted and Bush did it for them. And, he tried to pal up with Swimmer at the same time.


403 posted on 02/20/2007 7:43:51 AM PST by RetiredArmy (Marxis-Dimocrats, Enemies of the Republic, the ENEMY within!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 402 | View Replies]

To: Lurker; Jim Robinson
"We don't want 'electable'. We want Conservative."

Amen!

George H.W. Bush was "electable," and main-stream, and appealed to that elusive "middle-of-the-road" electorate, and gave GOP voters such heartburn that they simply stayed home in '92 or voted for that hand-grenade-with-ears, Ross Perot.

It's time we stuck with our principals, and the devil take the Eastern Liberals like Romney and Giuliani.
If Romney and Giuliani aspire to the Presidency, let them join their kindred spirits in the Dimocrat Party.

404 posted on 02/20/2007 7:51:50 AM PST by Redbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 372 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson; nopardons
"Go forth, my lass, and kid thy self no more."

LOL!
Nicely put!

405 posted on 02/20/2007 7:55:43 AM PST by Redbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 385 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson
I, the poster known as [state your screen name] do readily admit that Rudolph W. Giuliani is every bit the social liberal that he himself admits he is, but I, a person who claims to be more conservative than thou, openly, willingly and wholeheartedly embrace and support his liberal positions on abortion, gay unions (also known in mine own conservative circles as "gay marriage"), gun control, open borders, etc, even though it is an act of betrayal to mine own true conservative heart and soul. As all of FReeperdom is my witness, I declare this to be so.

Beautiful. I wish it fit as a tagline.

L

406 posted on 02/20/2007 8:01:48 AM PST by Lurker (Europeans killed 6 million Jews. As a reward they got 40 million Moslems. Karma's a bitch.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 385 | View Replies]

To: Valin
"What makes you think they will be able to take away one or more of our liberties?"

The one-word answer to that question is of course "history."

Examples abound, but I'll give you two recent ones:
1) McCain-Feingold, taking away freedom of speech during the election cycle.
2) The "assault-weapons" ban, taking away the right to buy the very militia-type arms guaranteed in the Second Amendment.

(Memo to an alleged lawyer: Rudy, the Second Amendment is not about "hunting." There is no Constituional right to hunt.)

407 posted on 02/20/2007 8:05:57 AM PST by Redbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 320 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson

Some around here'll start calling you a borderbot if you start wanting to shut down the border. Many FROBL are running around here. Of course we borderbots wear that name with honor.


408 posted on 02/20/2007 8:34:45 AM PST by processing please hold (Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nopardons
FR is far from being a mirror of the American populace.

You must not get out in the real world very much. Ivory towers are only good for looking down on people.

409 posted on 02/20/2007 8:42:07 AM PST by processing please hold (Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 319 | View Replies]

To: Peach
And you know, in over an hour's speech by Sen. DeMint yesterday about what conservatism means, not one word was said about abortion or guns.

Personal liberty is the core of conservatism and the 2nd Amendment is the guaranteer of such.

410 posted on 02/20/2007 8:52:24 AM PST by jmc813 (Rudy Giuliani as the Republican nominee is like Martin Luther being Pope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 400 | View Replies]

To: nopardons

I have a candidate who lines up with all the planks listed in JimRob's post. Duncan Hunter. No need for a Deus Ex Machina ending to this story, the cavalry (well, Rangers) have arrived.


411 posted on 02/20/2007 9:22:23 AM PST by Kevmo (The first labor of Huntercles: Defeating the 3-headed RINO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 382 | View Replies]

To: TSchmereL

I was being sarcastic.
***Darn it, forgot to include that there sarcasm tag again.


Obviously, the media will portray Duncan Hunter as a right-wing nut job.
***Then I guess it doesn't help when JimRob called him a "right-wing kook", eh? ;-)

The problem is that millions of Americans will buy it.
Giuliani will get puff pieces. The problem is, it matters. And the result matters.
***Giuliani will get puff pieces until he's the nominee. Then the media turns on him. What we need is a strategy that means we don't have to trust the media to be anything other than what they are, a herd.


412 posted on 02/20/2007 9:46:38 AM PST by Kevmo (The first labor of Huntercles: Defeating the 3-headed RINO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 397 | View Replies]

To: Kevmo
Giuliani will get puff pieces.

Totally agree. He'll get puff pieces until (God forbid) he should get nominated, then they'll tear him a new one, there by opening the door for his opponent. I've said it many times myself.

413 posted on 02/20/2007 9:58:10 AM PST by processing please hold (Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 412 | View Replies]

To: Kevmo

The media will not turn as hard on Giuliani even after the nomination. The negative press that Duncan Hunter will get will make the media criticism of Giuliani look like puff pieces.

But let me be perfectly clear. I will vote for Duncan Hunter if he is nominated by the Republican Party. I will never argue against nominating a more conservative candidate as long as that person has a good shot at victory in the National Election. The problem is, I don't think Duncan Hunter has a good shot at it in 2008. I might change my mind before the nomination is made, but right now, it does not look that hopeful to me. So, I will not join the trashing of Giuliani.


414 posted on 02/20/2007 10:01:30 AM PST by TSchmereL ("Rust but terrify.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 412 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson; nopardons
Spot on post, Jim.

I've been telling nopardons for years, she is fulla hot air. Yeah, on occasion she posts like a conservative. But most of the time nopardons offers more moderate-centrist viewpoints that border on the leftwing. Lately she has fallen head first into liberalism. Her support of Rudy Giuliani is clearly the icing on the cake.

And the same applies to ALL the other RudyBots on FR. They can support and promote his liberal candidacy all they want. As an American, that is their right. However, they shouldn't try and paint Rudy as a conservative, when he is obviously nothing but a liberal.

Rudy`s boosters took a turn into Liberalville and they'll have to live with that decision. They shouldn't expect serious, life long conservatives to join them in such folly.

415 posted on 02/20/2007 10:17:58 AM PST by Reagan Man (Conservatives don't support, promote or vote for liberals.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 385 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson

bttt


416 posted on 02/20/2007 10:28:35 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (I'm all ears.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson
Excellent as always, JimRob.

The really sad thing is that the campaign points you listed don't necessarily need to be labeled "conservative" -- they could just as easily be labeled "constitutional" or "traditional American," which ONE WOULD THINK every American would want to get behind and support. But, liberals, RINOs, Kool-Aid drinkers, etc.? Noooo, they wouldn't be caught dead supporting anything that was constitutional in nature!

Keep up the good work.....

417 posted on 02/20/2007 10:41:01 AM PST by NewJerseyJoe (Rat mantra: "Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson; nopardons
Ok, enough game playing. You are trying desperately to justify your support of the socially liberal Rudy Giuliani without admitting your betrayal of your own supposed conservative values. You will twist and turn and make yourself sick but you will not be able to convince me and you are only kidding yourself. Might just as well admit it. Spit it out and get it over with. He did. And he's ok in his own socially liberal skin now. You can do it too and regain your composure and self dignity. Repeat it after me:

I, the poster known as [state your screen name] do readily admit that Rudolph W. Giuliani is every bit the social liberal that he himself admits he is, but I, a person who claims to be more conservative than thou, openly, willingly and wholeheartedly embrace and support his liberal positions on abortion, gay unions (also known in mine own conservative circles as "gay marriage"), gun control, open borders, etc, even though it is an act of betrayal to mine own true conservative heart and soul. As all of FReeperdom is my witness, I declare this to be so.

To thine own self be true. The truth shall ease your pain and grease your slide into the socialist Utopian pits of oblivious darkness.

Go forth, my lass, and kid thy self no more.

LOL! That is hilarious and oh-so true! ;o) Why is it so hard to get people to admit that they are liberals even though everything and everyone they support is liberal? IF they are so ashamed to admit it, they should take a look at what their value system is. A little soul searching would be in order.

418 posted on 02/20/2007 12:07:33 PM PST by NRA2BFree (DUNCAN HUNTER FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008! HE IS AN HONEST CONSERVATIVE!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 385 | View Replies]

To: All
A freeper posted, and I apologize for not remembering who, stated we should stop foreign assistance(aid) and put it in our military.

We, the US, gave $20.7 billion for fiscal year 2006.

Guess how much we will give for the fiscal year 2007? $23.7 billion.

419 posted on 02/20/2007 12:12:14 PM PST by processing please hold (Duncan Hunter '08) (ROP and Open Borders-a terrorist marriage and hell's coming with them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 417 | View Replies]

To: TSchmereL

The media will not turn as hard on Giuliani even after the nomination.
***That's where we see things differently. I don't suppose there's a way to quantify it, so we're stuck with that stupid slogan of "agreeing to disagree". I really do dislike it but I don't see a way to coherently get past these 2 disparate viewpoints.

The negative press that Duncan Hunter will get will make the media criticism of Giuliani look like puff pieces.
***Negative press can be good. The media has a tendency to jump the shark without realizing it. How is it that Proposition 187 was passed in California, severely reducing benefits to illegal aliens? The media was painting supporters as UltraFarRightKooks, and didn't realize that a huge percentage of the voters in this liberal state were fed up with illegals. Once the media is calling normal, middle-class/hardworking American apple-pie voters KOOKs, that's when we win. It's much easier to do that with a candidate like Hunter than with a caricature like Giuliani. Giuliani simply splits the base and would get trounced by Hillary. His candidacy is all but over because he is making zero headway in the base. Expect to see a lot of shrillness coming from rudophiles in the next couple of months.


The problem is, I don't think Duncan Hunter has a good shot at it in 2008.
***That's fine. Watch him and learn. When the Rudybots trash his candidacy it makes lurkers wonder why they spend so much time on someone with "no chance". If they ignore him, he'll just continue to gain ground. It's like Iraqis that were sitting on their tanks in GulfWar1. If they moved, we got 'em; if they stayed still, we eventually got around to targeting 'em. It's only a matter of time and we have air supremacy.

I might change my mind before the nomination is made, but right now, it does not look that hopeful to me. So, I will not join the trashing of Giuliani.
***That's all right. You don't have to trash Giuliani; if he's your candidate, go ahead and support him. But don't expect socons to remove our socon values like yesterday's clothing, especially on this here socon website.


420 posted on 02/20/2007 12:36:38 PM PST by Kevmo (The first labor of Huntercles: Defeating the 3-headed RINO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 414 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 381-400401-420421-440 ... 701-717 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson