Posted on 10/11/2007 9:28:30 AM PDT by pissant
i think r9etb summed up the situation, as succinctly as i have seen.
I can remember reading posts last April/May/June time period where you said something like this:
“The fact that he is still fairly obscure does not change that. He will not be obscure for long.”
This is a long time in an election cycle, and nothing has changed since I first read you saying that.
Thompson has yet to convince me he is a genuine conservative and he seems to be hiding from social conservatives ie. Christians. I am undecided on Thompson.
Huckabee is a question on his spending history.
There is no one else even worth considering in this race.
listen, you are free to believe or disbelieve me, i am not here to convince you, i am relating what i heard. i was listening to Fox and Friends on Sirius radio on the way in, she was on for a brief minute.
I agree pissant. It's getting to be a mess with the likely breakout being Guilianni. The third tier candidate that has shown the best campaign skills (unfortunately) has been Huckabee. The slow and steady (read good activity in speeches, events and debates from the candidate, terrible fundraising) approach of Hunter has apparently doubled his support from 1% to 2% . . . but this is too slow. He does need to breakout. I'm not shilling here, just sort of saying it as I see it. Hunter is ignored by the MSM, including FOX, but every conservative that looks at him comes away a supporter or one of those guys saying "I wish he could win, but he can't, so I'm supporting . . ."
Hunter should have kept quiet for as long as possible about his son running for his congressional seat to get the defense related donations from the guys that wanted influence on the Hill. Water under the bridge. Hunter acted with integrity rather than tactically.
I say we make history rather than just reading it and give Hunter a chance at the Presidency with our support and activity.
Don't forget LULAC!
FWIW, I think part of what makes a candidate qualified is that he has to have made a national name for himself before he tossed his hat into the ring.
For all his good qualities, Hunter failed to achieve that during his time in Congress. This is just my opinion, but I suspect that, like me, most people hadn't heard of him before he announced, and I imagine that most people still have never heard of him.
I would appreciate a ping to a link if you ever find one.
Yes, I did. And what has happened since then. He has since polled 2nd in a CA straw poll, handily won the Texas straw poll by 2 to 1, is now 4th in Michigan in a statewide poll, has done remarkably well in each debate, is now polling higher 5 points higher (in second place mind you) on FR’s poll, and has a solid and growing on line organization.
LOL.
...Fred and Rudy, um and uh...
LMAO
Yah, but we’ve been striking that balance for the last 18 years and we’ve had Bush I, Dole, and Bush II. It’s time to support the conservative IMO.
I was referencing this comment that you made in #21:
“The fact that he is still fairly obscure does not change that.”
You’re saying he is still fairly obscure. Just going by what you said.
LLS
I would appreciate the same ping to a link if it gets found.
B4DH
the segment was very short, the best to hope for is if someone heard it and might mention it in their own blog etc. But i will certainly let you know if i see it anywhere. she did not flat out STATE he won’t get the nomination. They were asking if she was supporting ANY of the candidates, and she said no. she said she would pick them all apart eventually. she said, i love duncan hunter but he doens’t appear to be catching on, so it will come down to Romney or Rudy. that is as close a paraphrase as i can come up with.
Where’s the Fire?....Worth repeating....
“In fact, Hunter has not only been ahead of the curve on China, he has been ahead of the curve on Reaganite Conservatism, period. And out of the gaggle of candidates vying for the mantle of the New Reagan, he is the only one that even comes close. As the Vets for Hunter spokesman said recently, he is “more of a Reaganite than Ronald Reagan”. While certainly a stretch to compare a congressman to the Gipper in this manner, only Hunter is in the same ballpark.
When it was time to act on Reagan’s commitment to get a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Court’s decision to ban school prayer – Reagan turned to Duncan Hunter.
When it was time to strong arm the defense build-up through the US House of Representatives – Reagan turned to Duncan Hunter.
When it was time to convince very skeptical European allies of the necessity and feasibility of the Strategic Defense Initiative – Reagan turned to Duncan Hunter.
When the entire weight of the Iran-Contra ‘scandal’ was tumbling down on Oliver North and President Reagan – only Duncan Hunter went toe to toe with the media and democrats.
When it was time to protect Duarte’s fragile democracy in El Salvador – Reagan relied on Duncan Hunter.
When Reagan proposed his massive tax cuts – Duncan Hunter was standing by his side.
When it was time to arm the contras and bring the Sandinistas to their knees – Reagan relied on Duncan Hunter.
When Reagan had incoming flack for his ‘evil empire’ speech from all quarters – Duncan Hunter punched them even harder, earning a place on Pravda’s enemies list.
When it was time to blunt the USSR’s power play in Europe with Pershing missiles on allied soil – Reagan had no firmer ally than Duncan Hunter.
When it came to Reagan’s eloquent defense of the unborn – there was no stronger believer than Duncan Hunter.
When Reagan saw the cracks in the Soviet armor – Duncan Hunter pulled out his pry bar.
When the entire world media, the democrats and most republicans lambasted Reagan from walking away from Reykjavik without an arms deal – Only Duncan Hunter vigorously defended the President.
When it came to slashing programs in the Federal Budget – Reagan could always rely on Duncan Hunter.
When it came time for Reagan to fire the Air Traffic Controllers for their illegal strike – Duncan Hunter gave him a spirited defense.
When it came to Reagan’s strong support for the 2nd Amendment – Duncan Hunter even upped the ante.
When it came to the Border Patrol, Duncan Hunter convinced Reagan to add hundreds more agents.
One huge area of disagreement, of course, was when Reagan proposed the 1986 Amnesty for illegal aliens. Hunter did not buy into that debacle for one minute, despite some arm twisting on the part of the Administration. Reagan eventually realized his friend was right.
*******************************
When Duncan Hunter was campaigning for and with Ronald Reagan, Fred Thompson was supporting Howard Baker for the presidency in 1980. In fact, even after Reagan won the nomination, Thompson did not donate to his campaign. He did not donate to it in 1984 either. Fred did, however, subsequently donate to GHWB’s and John McCain’s efforts for the top job, even becoming McCain’s co-chairmen in 2000. But a search of the newspaper data bases and political contribution records show nothing in terms of support for Ronald Wilson Reagan.
When Hunter was standing shoulder to shoulder with Ronald Reagan defending the goals and righteousness of the Vietnam War, Ron Paul was babbling on about foolish foreign adventures and unconstitutional wars, sounding more like John Kerry than anything resembling the Gipper. In fact, sounding a lot like he does today.
When Duncan Hunter was dropping out of college to go fight the communist stooges in Vietnam, Thompson, Romney, Rudy and Tancredo had convenient ‘outs’ to keep them out of harm’s way.
When Hunter was writing legislation to prohibit the lifting of trade sanctions with communist Vietnam - until they gave us unfettered access to POW/MIA archives - John McCain and Fred Thompson voted to give them the golden carrot.
When Duncan Hunter moved to threaten all trade with China for their 2001 downing and subsequent hostage taking of our airmen, it fell on deaf ears in the Senate.
While Hunter has worked tirelessly to secure the border and enforce the internal laws regarding illegal aliens year after year, Huckabee was calling law and order republicans racists, Fred was busy voting NOT to cut off their welfare benefits, and Brownback and McCain were hard at work on an amnesty plan.
When Duncan Hunter was telling our citizens that we “are a great country because we are a good country” and that he will “never apologize for America”, McCain was fretting about the “message” Club Gitmo was sending to the world and working fastidiously to hamstring our interrogators, Huckabee was channeling Barrack Obama with his “Our prestige in the world has been marred” baloney, and Ron Paul was urging us to listen to Osama Bin Laden’s complaints.
While Hunter was supporting the NRA’s and the pro-life movement’s first amendment rights, McCain and Thompson and Brownback were shoving Campaign Finance Reform down America’s throat, while Mitt and Rudy cheered from the sidelines.
When Duncan Hunter was becoming a board member of the American Conservative Union, forming the Conservative Opportunity Society with Newt Gingrich, being selected as President of the American Security Council and becoming the most knowledgeable member of the Armed Services Committee, Sam Brownback was earning D’s from the Americans for Better Immigration, Huckabee was raising taxes and singing Bill Clinton’s praises in Arkansas, McCain was hopping in front of CNN cameras touting his Gang of 14 maverick status, Rudy was telling Tim Russert about the necessity of partial birth abortion, and Fred was joining the Senate’s ‘Centrist Coalition’ and scheming on campaign finance reform with Russ Feingold.
And when Hunter stood tall and fought valiantly against Clinton’s gun grabbing Crime Bill, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney offered high praise for the so-called ‘assault weapons ban’.
As Hunter so aptly stated during a previous debate, “We need to move away from the Kennedy wing of the Republican Party”.
Truer words have never been spoken.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1909301/posts
you are each free to search for it, i am recounting it as i heard it. if i see it mentioned somewhere i will let you know.
A good analysis, as far as it goes, but there's still something very basic that it lacks, and it's simply this:
Duncan Hunter was pretty much a complete unknown at the time he announced his candidacy. He had made no name for himself prior to that -- he had not established himself in the national consciousness. That's just a plain fact.
By comparison, look at the folks who really are "first-tier". Whatever their merits or faults, they all have something in common: people have already heard of them, and actually seen something of them in contexts other than a presidential race.
Hunter hasn't got that. It's far too late -- years too late -- for him to make up that lost ground.
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