Posted on 01/27/2008 10:43:45 PM PST by gpapa
WASHINGTON -- You would never realize how big the stakes are in Tuesday's winner-take-all Florida Republican primary if you judged only the behavior of the leading presidential candidates these last few days.
Their final pre-primary debate was bland to the point of apathy. Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and even iconoclastic Ron Paul were on their best behavior -- as if oblivious to what the 57 delegates available in Florida could mean to anyone who pulls out a plurality victory.
A win could establish either McCain or Romney as the man to beat in the massive round of Feb. 5 primaries. It could launch Giuliani into a late rush for the nomination, wiping out his weak showing in the earlier contests. And an upset by Huckabee would force an upper revision in his prospects, which have been diminished since he surprised the field in Iowa.
But their televised confrontation in Boca Raton on Thursday was haunted by the spirit of the departed Fred Thompson. It was as if the actor and former senator had left a blanket of boredom behind when he exited the race after finishing third behind McCain and Huckabee in South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Sure do. "The choices are very ugly this time around. The fact we conservatives are left without a candidate to support is very frustrating, but that is politics."
You can be as furious as you want. NY is a liberal state controlled by the Democrats and they will make any effort to undermine Republicans and conservatives. What did you expect, peaches and cream? If you can't stand the heat of politics, don't get involved.
Although I think the “Fred could win a brokered convention” meme is impossible, I do wish other GOP voters could see that they lost their best candidate when Fred dropped out. Pearls before swine, I guess...
I don’t care who the polls say conservatives are backing and I don’t give a rats ass who you support either.
There isn’t a conservative left in the GOP field -— Romney, McCain, Huckabee, Giuliani -— moderates and liberals, phonies and liars.
None of those four will get my support.
Well you can’t win them all.
Hillary thanks you, though.
I can hear her cackling now...
You’re as ignorant and juvenile as you’ve ever been.
Carry on.
“Sure. Now, everybody loves Fred.”
I know, it’s so frustrating he’s getting all this great coverage now that he quit.
Fred was my choice.
There was a lot of long, hard work to do, but Fred ultimately decided to be the “last to arrive and the first to leave.” This is no winning formula for anything worth fighting for in life. And make no mistake, America is worth fighting for.
It didn’t seem to me his heart was ever really in the Presidential race. I wish him the best.
Well, Mr. Know It All; it’s because of people like you who blindly follow what they are told to do and smuggly assert that everyone else should just bow out is the reason we are in the mess we are in.
Just keep voting those RINOS in and you will, of course, drag the rest of us down with you.
Someday, I hope you will put to use the few brains God gave you and do the right thing.
“FUHGETTABOUTIT Rudy....... Conservatives don’t vote for liberals”
The heck they don’t. You are living proof of it.
“There isn’t a conservative left in the GOP field -— Romney, McCain, Huckabee, Giuliani -— moderates and liberals, phonies and liars.”
Atleast, you are on the right track here.
I suggest you get back on your MEDS, ASAP
PMSNBC was promoting Mitt because he is not electible—by far the most questions and the most facetime.
Hunter/Thompson/Huckabee cleaned Slick Mitt’s clock in earlier debates.
As usual, when you have nothing to say; you have to say a person needs meds.
You are pitiful and I might add not very smart.
There are those who think a liberal can be made into a conservative by simply repeating that he is over and over and over again. There is dishonesty in their argument and it damages what we believe in if they succeed in historical revisionism and in redefining conservatism itself.
My criticism is not directed at those who argue for their candidate based on honest assessment and presentation of his record, policies, and statements. Even though a candidate falls short as a conservative, conservatives who believe they must make a choice can still argue why they believe their choice is the best we can get based on what we've got. Others may disagree with their assessment, but they are at least presenting their case from a position of reasoned opinion and personal honesty.
Past that, we will inevitably confront the issue of whether or not we should participate in lesser of evils voting and I think we can argue with honesty and honor from both sides of that one, too.
But there is no honor or honesty in revising or redefining a candidate into the conservative he is not in an attempt to make him more palatable to others or to justify a decision to oneself. There are now no clear paths to a positive outcome in this election, but settling into denial is not the answer.
Apparently, the cross-overs were thinking, "McCain."
For the life of me, I don't know why all primaries aren't closed.
I’m so disgusted by the whole thing that I will not vote in the primary now. And since I live in Maryland... there is no point in voting in the general election either.
This doesn't make any sense. They all said Fred had no fire in the belly now it's boring without him. What the heck?
Yeah now they realize. Did you watch the Reagan Library Debate? “Horrible” is the only word that comes to mind.
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