It’s division. Division between the fiscal conservatives and the social conservatives. Everyone in the race is a fiscal conservative except Huckabee, and he’s the only certifiable social conservative. Those Freepers who are primarily social conservatives are going for Huckabee, and could care less about his liberal policies in certain areas, because all they care about is abortion and gay rights. Those Freepers who are primarily fiscal conservatives are splitting their votes among the other candidates. None of the candidates is both fically and socially liberal, except perhaps Hunter, who simply doesn’t have what it takes to be elected President.
Instead of reading 630 posts, can anyone tell me whether the big announcement has been made yet? Thanks.
You know, I really have to disagree about this notion that Huckabee is a social conservative. He is a pro-life Christian, but advocating nanny-state policies (health, education etc) is certainly NOT social conservatism as it is the antithesis to self-determination and liberty- required for freedom of religion and a moral society. Nanny-state policies and the accompanying big government are inexorably linked to secularism and socialism.
Huckster is weak on everything except abortion and gay marriage, and possibly the 2nd Am but I’m not convinced. I think he’s lying.
Romney is weak on everything except budget and family values.
Rudy is weak on everything except crime and the war.
Hunter is strong on everything except the polls.
Ron Paul has some interesting ideas and a whole lot of wacky ideas.
McCain is liked by moderates, the media, and possibly the military, but weak otherwise.
It seems to me FDT is the best overall choice for conservatives. McCain is the best overall choice if you want to ignore conservatism and play the guessing game of who can attract the most votes from the other side. Especially if he teams up with Lieberman, which in my opinion would be a good strategic move for him.
I was a tancredo fan. Normally, I think I’d go with hunter in place of tancredo, but there’s something about the way fred treats the media that I just love. He thinks they’re idiots, and doesn’t try to hide it. And he treats them like they are idiots. I really like that. I havn’t seen that kind of attitude since reagan. I also like his short simple answers. Anyone displaying a healthy disdain for the MSM is a good egg in my book.
So, why is there such a strong following for rudy and romney? You’ve done a good job making me understand the huckabee phenomenon. But the romney and rudy followers just don’t make any sense to me.