Posted on 03/28/2007 7:29:34 AM PDT by B Knotts
I would enjoy seeing Newt in the race. His debating alone would be entertaining. It would be priceless to witness him debate hillary.
I would enjoy seeing Thompson in the race. He'd have a better chance than Newt at winning.
GOP voters are smarter than your average voter
Translation: We the Rudy supporters are smarter than the rest of you idiots.
they really dont care if he doesnt please the whole party
Translation: You idiots don't know what you are talking about, and the facts don't really matter anyway.
he can beat Clinton and Obama, keep telling yourself Fred Thompson can, you'll have 4 years of Hillary to realize how wrong that is.
Translation: Doom awaits you if you don't agree with me. THere are not other viable options. You must vote for Rudy or you will get Clinton. You must, you must. How can you be so stupid as to not vote for Rudy!
Here's a little dose of reality. The election is a little under two years away. Rudy's popularity is mostly due to people looking for a hero during 9/11 and him putting on a good face, not based on his policies and definitely not based on his character.
He has good name recognition which does great in the polls early on, but doesn't mean nearly as much in the election itself if opponents can mount an effective campaign and get their names and views heard.
The only way Rudy will win the primary is if there aren't any other viable candidates. His strength is that everyone knows his name, so they think he is electable.
If another candidate enters the fray that appears electable, you have to start taking more factors into play. Stances on the issues, likability, and charisma.
Rudy's temper will flare up on the campaign trail sooner or later. He also has a lot of baggage that will effect likability He has some charisma, but not an overwhelming amount. On the issues, he's a liberal, and what he is saying now clearly contradicts with what he has done in the past. He will get torn apart on the issues, at least among conservatives.
If there is another viable Republican candidate, I don't think Rudy has a real chance of winning the primary despite his impressive starting poll numbers.
I will admit that it he does somehow get the nomination, he has a reasonably good chance of beating Hillary, though that's as much due to Hillary's lack of charisma as anything else.
The problem is, I don't think he would be a good president for our country, and while he would be better than Hillary, his stance on the majority of issues I hold dear isn't closer to her views than it is to mine.
Most republicans wouldn't be voting for Rudy, they would be voting against Hillary or whoever is the Dem candidate.
If the Dems were to put forth a candidate that is a little more likable Rudy's attraction fades quickly simply because liberals are going to vote Democrat, and conservatives wouldn't have a horse in the race.
The Dem attack machine would have a whole year after the primary to show Republicans good reason to second guess their choice, and without strong support in what is going to be a close race, the Republican party loses.
Even if we would win with Rudy, we would still lose, it might just be less of a loss.
massadvj wrote: "What was Thompson doing today? Waiting for the serfs to grovel some more. You are certainly doing it well, I must say."
Professor, it's quotes like this from you that hurt your guy more than help him. The serfs and grovelling remarks are totally unneccessarry, still you felt that you "must say" something demeaning. Whether you realize it or not, you unofficially represent Rudy on FR. What you say comes back to roost on him. Continuing to remind Republicans accross the nation of just how arrogant a Liberal professor can be won't win many new friends for Rudy.
And btw, I didn't "attack" Rudy. I merely quoted an excerpt from the Village Voice where Rudy showed his lack of respect for Ronald Reagan. Rudy attacks himself so often, no one else needs to attack him. And the diss of Reagan won't help Guiliani a bit out here in flyover country.
Again, from the article: "* Rudy Giuliani is still popular with the GOP base but he, as I may have written before, will have a growing problem as more people become better acquainted with his official positions and personal background."
Have you seen the number of people who are now saying that, if it comes down to it, they'd rather have McCain than Giuliani?
You lose some points attributing false motives to Thompson. We all know that he isn't entering yet because he has business relationships and commitments, and he's a man of his word so he won't break those commitments.
No wonder he was toying with impeachment the other day. He's looking to get some face time on the TV.
You keep saying this on just about every thread mentioning Fred Thompson. Why don't you wait until he's actually IN the race and begins campaigning before you start critiquing how he's campaigning.
I hear he doesnt have sense of humor either.....or is that you?
That brings me no comfort, also Id be willing to be Newt has higher negatives, Rudy would kill her no doubt.....
That is the fight everyone is gearing up for. It will be rough and tumble, that's for sure. Neither candidate is very appealing from a policy standpoint. But the data says these are the only two guys who can realistically beat the Dems in November, no one else can raise enough money to get themselves into the mix, so that is what we will be stuck with.
I am not particularly enthusiastic about either one of them, will support Giuliani because I think he stands a better chance of helping local conservatives win around the country. But I am no happier about it than anyone else, from the standpoint of advancing conservatives.
Whoever wins I will back him up with money and help, as I always do. I just cannot bring myself to Help Hitlery or Gore or Obama usher in permanent Euro-socialism and surrender western civilization to Islam.
We just gotta stop the bleeding at this point and then try to save the patient (the party) after the election.
He isn't campaigning at all yet.
Thompson is nowhere near the heavyweight (other than physically)
Your repeated ad hominems about Thompson's weight and/or age tarnish your credibility.
I think McCain would be better at getting local conservatives elected. Although it's hard to say. Both Giuliani and McCain went around the country helping republicans in the last election. And whatever help they gave didn't help enough.
I know you discount Thompson because of logistics, I've not seen what your feelings are about him from a philosophical point of view. But I think if he was our nominee he'd do better than either Rudy or McCain in drawing out the correct type of voter that would vote for republicans down-ticket, especially conservative republicans.
I worry Rudy would bring out independents and democrats who don't like their party's anti-war stance but otherwise are liberals and would vote for the democrats down-ticket.
The Marriage Amendment in Virginia possibly sunk our conservative candidate for that reason. Webb didn't inspire blacks to come out and vote. However, they turned out in droves to vote for the marriage amendment, because they were targeted by the amendment folks.
Once at the polls, they voted straight democrat ticket.
A joke. I have also joked quite a few times about Rudy's cross-dressing, but no one complained about that. Sheesh. These guys are politicians. If we can't have a little fun at their expense, what is the point?
You guys don't think I have any credibility to begin with, so I don't see how it can be tarnished in your eyes. But whatever...
hahahahaha
OMG POOR Godzilla
I love that guy
How could you photoshop that poor Japanese resident
You may be right. I am hoping he can reassure the economic libertarians in the urban and suburban crowd that this party does not threaten the decadent, consumerist lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
They may indeed split their tickets. But rest assured they will show up one way or the other. The last two elections have established that the urban and suburban types feel the religious right and hard right conservatives in general represent a threat to their way of life, and they now show up to vote against us. We used to be able to count on their laziness, but not anymore.
2006 wasn't a particularly large turnout, but to the degree it was a different turnout it was because of the Iraq war.
If the war is winding down either because the democrats surrender, or the long-term strategy of standing up Iraq works, there will be a lot of people who will breathe a sigh of relief and go back to watching Oprah instead of showing up for the polls.
Meanwhile, 2 years of democrats running things should perk up the republican base, even if Rudy is running. But it will be a lot easier if our leader is more conservative.
And Rudy does have crossover appeal, and a certain star power that would bring out disinterested people who could just as well vote democrat as republican, since at best Rudy is a "feeling" candidate not an "issues" candidate, and at worst his issues other than Iraq are more in tune with democrats than republicans (except for the fiscal stuff).
I will note that I've never been a "never Rudy" person. Earlier I was defending Rudy against those who claimed he was so liberal he'd be worse than Hillary.
But that meant I had to read everything about Rudy, and as I did it really soured me on him. Except for his relative fiscal conservatism (I've known REAL fiscal conservatives, for example we just REALLY cut our taxes in our county, not just the "raise them less than inflation" stuff), Rudy is pretty scary to me.
But I might still vote for him simply because of the fiscal conservatism, and then pray each night that Rudy would keep his word about letting Ted Olson pick the supreme court nominees. But you know, Bush was a strong guy and in the end we had no control over who he picked. Rudy is supposedly a headstrong guy, and if he decides there some judge he connects with, there isn't a chance he'll drop that guy for a social conservative of our choosing.
That's what scares me -- there has to be some good close friends of Rudy's in all those liberals he put on the bench in New York, and one of them may just well be "qualified" to be a supreme court justics.
I have said from day one that I support him simply guided by my political judgment that he is the only Republican who can win a national election.
Lots of folks try to get me going with the "That Rudy is nothin' but a gun grabbin', baby killin', cross dressin' librul RINO" bit. As I have said, it will not matter because the American people saw on television that he was a hero. The practice of political science is not primarily about policy issues; it is primarily driven by marketing. It is a question of target marketing, segmentation and positioning. Giuliani is weakly positioned to win the primary, but strong to win the general. Ironically, his strong position as far as winning the general will be the key attribute that gets him the nomination, and will overwhelm everything else.
The anti-Rudy crowd can attack him on issues until they are blue in the face and it will not matter. His electability is driving his popularity with party insiders and that will not change until there is a conservative alternative. There will be no such alternative because Wall Street, based on similar political calculations to those I have made, has pretty much rigged the primary for him. So that is that.
I will also point out that I have been very impressed with his campaign so far. He has the best people in the party on his team, so you'd expect him not to make too many missteps, but so far no one in the race has laid a glove on the guy.
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