Free Republic's (1/9) poll on Republican candidates' liberal positions that would be deal killers

Free Republic Poll ^ | 1/9/2008 | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

(1/9) If the eventual Republican presidential nominee has a record including one or more of the following non-conservative positions, would you vote for him anyway or which item specifically would most likely be a deal killer?

• Abortion/gay rights

• Open borders/amnesty

• Gun grabber

• Tax & Spender

• Nanny stater

• Untrustworthy/flip flopper

• Anti-free speech

• Two or more could kill deal

• Three or more definitely kill deal

• I'll vote "R" regardless

Click on source link above to respond to the poll.

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Three or more liberal positions on critical issues would definitely kill the deal in my book.

The way I see it:

X = Candidate holds or has record of non-conservative position. W = Weak or mixed positions.

Candidate	Abortion/ Gay Rights	Open Borders/ Amnesty	Gun Control	Tax and Spend	Nanny Stater	Untrustworthy Spinner Flip flopper	Campaign Finance Reform
Giuliani	X	X	X	-	-	X	X
Huckabee	-	X	-	X	X	X	W
Hunter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
McCain	W	X	W	W	W	X	X
Romney	X	X	W	W	X	X	X
Thompson	-	-	-	-	-	-	X

Thompson and Hunter are most conservative, but I prefer Thompson because Hunter's going to have a tough time making himself known and jumping from the House to the Presidency.

Please correct me where I'm wrong.

[unspun]

Fred has a 100% pro-life voting record. Actions speak louder than words.

Something I admire. It's going to take the ability to use words in a winning manner, to win the general -- and to do what it will take to be influential toward America's turning around our culture of degeneration and death.

[Kevmo]

I think if everyone who said that they’d vote for Hunter if he were only electable voted for him because he’s a conservative, he’d be in the top tier of the GOP candidates and then seen as electable to the presidency.
***Same here. I call it Courage-free conservatism.

Note that ‘I’ll vote “R” regardless’ is leading the pack. I call folks who vote like this UIN republicans, because they’ll vote for anything with an R in front of it, regardless what it means. Free Republic is obviously inundated with them.

[Jet Jaguar]

I think you might have a disagreement on this.

The X’s on Mike Huckabee’s record for 1. Open Borders/Amnesty, 2. Tax and Spend, 3. Nanny Stater are inappropriate.

[Route66]

Wow. If you consider that the members and readers of FR are mostly made up of the core of the conservative base, this poll is so far showing that more than 75% of that support may be gone in the general if Thompson or Hunter does not win the nomination.

I knew it going to be crucial for us to select a unifier, but this particular mix of candidates in this particular election year is presenting a potential train wreck for the GOP. It's got to be Thompson [or a miraculously propelled Hunter] or the party will be on life support by summer and we will lose our chance at the White House and any influence over the next administration. In light of this, I plan to work even harder for Fred.

[Prospero]

Free Republican Party?

Since the MSM is playing this like a basketball tournament, and they're already writing Fred off, I have to say I like the sound of that.

Can we start with a return to the smoke-flled rooms? I think Terry Sanford was probably right. The Primary System turned out to be a real disaster. Time was when New Hampshire was like a Dixville Notch all by itself, now Romney is dead because he loses to McCain by a couple of points... in a BLUE STATE?

Give me a break. This is no way to select a Presidential Nominee, and having the States... taxpayers ... pay for any Party's selection process? And these open ballots... come on!

This Game (and she really does think its a game, folks) is driving me to the Libertarians... and all I'm doing is standing in one place!

[Bob]

Hunter would be the one for me, alas.

How about two terms as Fred's VP and then two of his own as POTUS? That certainly works for me.

[do the dhue]

I have a humble opinion:

I don’t want no demorat in the White House no matter what, let that be known. But what is the difference between someone who calls them self a demorat and one who votes like one but has an R behind their name? In my book, there is none. If there is a person with an R behind their name and they don’t act like a good Republican, how do I know how they are going to act when they get in the White House? At least if a demorat is in office, you know who the enemy is and you can be prepaid to combat them. A RINO can be a tricky beast that can bamboozle us into something we don’t want. How do you combat that?

And on the other hand, I don’t want another Vietnam. The only way to keep from having another Vietnam is to keep fighting. We won that war on the battle field. We lost it in Washington DC. I don’t want to have a demorat come in there and have us quit the fight. So, I am torn up inside. This has to be the worst election in my history. I will vote for Fred in the Primary for the same reason that JimRob announces. I like Hunter a lot, but Fred has a better chance and there is not much difference between the two.

I voted in this FReep poll that the deal could be kilt with two or more issues. On election day, will I stay away if a RINO gets the nomination? I don’t know for sure. I also feel that we have had a lot of candidates call themselves a Conservatives in the past, but when we vote them in, they get dain bramage and forget who voted them in office. I want a candidate who has proved them self. I could stay home. It would be a dang good way to teach the Republicans a lesson, but then I could be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

Also, I think the Republicans are in deep do because the demorats are motivated for change (they want change, so they are going to vote for a smooth talking politician. That is real change eh?). I am not motivated by the top tier candidates on the Republican party. And to tell the truth, I am afraid our voters are almost retarded on both sides of the fence and we are going to be going down a bad road real soon. Demorats are throwing slogans around, but they won’t tell the people where they really stand on the issues and the demoratic voters are motivated over this. If yo uare a candidate in the demoratic party, all you have to do is say you are for change and the demoratic voters start going crazy. Republican voters in the caucus and the first primary have thrown our platform that we built over the past 30 years or so right out the window. I don’t get it and I am afraid for my Country and the direction we may be forced to take.

I think about this sometimes too: what would we be doing right now, if Al Gore was President on 911?

Please allow me to lighten this up some, while I think about it some more:

Hillary was on a flight to Texas. There was a Cowboy sitting next to her on the flight. She told the Cowboy that the flights go faster if you strike up a conversation with the person next to you and asked if it was ok if she did with him. He said, 'I s'pose'. She asked if it was ok to talk about Iraq. He said, 'sure, but do you mind if I ask you a question?'. She said sure. He said, 'OK, deer, cows, and horses eat the same thing. But deer leave pellets behind, cows leave patties behind, and horses leave muffins behind. Why is that?' Hillary looked at him dumbfounded (you know, that normal look she has on her face) and said she did not know why that is. The Cowboy then says, 'how are you going to tell me something about Iraq, if you don't know $h!t?'

I gotta go to the can and think about this election thing some more. Be back later.

[Jet Jaguar]

How many of you agree with unspun that Huckabee is NOT a tax and spend nanny stater?

His taxes and fees were unprecedented in Arkansas, I believe.

“We called him [Mike Huckabee] a pro-life, pro-gun liberal, when I was in the state legislature and he was governor.” - Randy Minton, chairman of the Arkansas chapter of Phyllis Schlafly’s national Eagle Forum

“He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party in shambles.” - Phyllis Schlafly

“Mike has always sought the validation of elites.” - Pastor Rick Scarborough, head of Vision America (who is a Huckabee supporter)

“I know of no conservative he [Huckabee] appointed while he headed the Arkansas Baptist Convention.” - Paul Pressler, a former Texas judge who led the conservative Southern Baptist revolt.

“On illegal immigration, Huckabee makes George Bush sound like Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). Huckabee has compared illegal aliens to slaves brought here in chains from Africa, saying, ‘I think, frankly, the Lord is giving us a second chance to do better than we did before.’” - Ann Coulter

“By the end of his second term he had raised sales taxes 37 percent, fuel taxes 16 percent, and cigarettes taxes 103 percent, leading to a jump in total tax revenues from $3.9 billion to $6.8 billion. The Cato Institute gave him a failing grade of ‘F’ on its fiscal report card for 2006 and an only marginally better but still embarrassing ‘D’ for his entire term.” - Jennifer Rubin at the National Review

“He has been a habitual tax-hiker while in office...He also opposes school choice, and spends money like a drunken sailor (he increased spending 65.3% from 1996 to 2004).” - The Club for Growth

[RebekahT]

“4. As previously related, Huckabee has one of the more stringent border/immigration plans — basically Fred Thompson’s plan, except it has teeth”

HAH!!! I’m sorry, but to an Arkansan who lived through Huckabee supporting driver’s licenses for illegals, opposing requiring citizenship to cote, proposing in-state tuition for illegals, and calling any of his opponents on these issues racist and unchristian - believing that he all of the sudden wants to crack down on illegal immigration is preposterous!

[Jim Robinson]

LOL

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Come on, its new hampshire.it is only 2% conservative in the first place.

[Rosemont]

Good poll JR. I prefer Hunter and Thompson. For me there are 3 main conservative issues: 1. War on Terror 2. Life 3. immigration. In your poll though, what about candidates that support the liberal position of blaming America first and not supporting the troops? for me that is also a deal breaker.

[ImpBill]

Have sent $ in five separate times now.

I will vote, if Fred is not the nominee.

I will write his name in.

My days of voting "against" are over!

All a matter of personal choice. But after voting in 20 consecutive General Election cycles I have simply decided that I will vote "for" or "write in" or "leave blank".

[mountainfolk]

My view is that party politics is at the least a two way street. If I am going to participate as a Republican then I have committed to accept the party winner of the primaries. If I, along with others of simialr attitude, am only going to vote R if my guy is chosen, then the party is fractured into as many factions as there are candidates. Hence, Republicans lose and the RATS win. With a Republican win, the voter has a strong chance of affecting the Republican administration policies thru the election of their own state administration and the election of federal senators and congress persons. I have known for a long time that no matter how much I may favor a non Republican party candidate, my vote for that person is totally wasted. The members of either party who are elected to office will have to be willing to override their own positions many times and vote with their party. A voter who chooses to sit out an election is in effect helping to elect the winner and cannot expect to have grounds for complaint about that outcome. However many Xs any one candidate has against them is nowhere near the number that can be strung after any RAT candidate. I look for the strengths in each candidate and as with other facts of life the minuses are part of the package that has to be dealt with.

[Jim Robinson]

Only one of those that I know of in the Republican field, Ron Paul. He’s a non-entity in my book.

[live+let_live]

“Who cares if the Republicans win if the result of their actions are detrimental to the country and its citizens?”
“Better to be demeaned by actual foes...”

During the amnesty battle last summer the Republicans lost me as a voter. They haven’t done anything to change my mind.

I’d rather die fighting my enemy than be stabbed in the back by my friends.

I cannot, will not, vote for those Republicans who (as it stands today) appear to have a chance to win.

[nicmarlo]

Note that ‘I’ll vote “R” regardless’ is leading the pack. I call folks who vote like this UIN republicans, because they’ll vote for anything with an R in front of it, regardless what it means. Free Republic is obviously inundated with them.

I already knew that, before the poll....it has been obvious. Pretty sad.

[processing please hold]

Aren’t Fred and Duncan polar opposites when it comes to trade with China?

[mission9]

Again you agree with my main point, of which I give Fred Thompson to you as an example, of how the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune cause us to nuance, or even change our actions with respect to our ideals.

If Fred was such a leader, and I agree with you, and I believe him to be a leader, and the Senate was such a mess, and I agree with you and Fred that it was and is a mess, then Fred had a choice - do the hardest thing for the good of the Republic, replace Trent Lott or Mike McConnell in the leadership positions of the Senate, which was a possibility. He did not for personal reasons as you say and the record shows, and the Senate and the nation suffered.

But we did get a good TV series and a part-time lobbiest.

[LibLieSlayer]

I drink well water from a 1000ft deep well. Maybe they put something in the public water supply? Sorry for the humor but I get worried and angry when I think about the truth of your statement.

For the first time in my life I fear for the survival of the America we were raised to love and gifted by GOD to be born in. Nothing and no one is trusted any longer. Even Fox is in on this power grab. Up is down and America is being sold to us as the latest, greatest hope for marxism's success.

mclame is out there today telling Michigan that because we are a great Judeo-Christian Nation, we owe it to the downtrodden and unfortunate victims of edweird's “two America’s”... to provide for them and ease their burdens. As a Judeo-Christian Nation we must embrace Globull Warming and act as true stewards of the Earth’s environment. Sunday on MTP he stated that if faced with having to vote for the Bush Tax cuts (if he had to vote all over again)... he would once again vote against them. This is who the media and moderates want to convince us is the last great hope for a Conservative President. That snake oil don’t sell!

LLS