and I commend you for that...but I think (much as i hate to say it) your “tent” will be too small to get anyone elected.
The platform of the Republican party is designed to cater to conservatives....in general....not necessarily the far/far right.
Reagan signed the CA abortion bill....so to many...he would now be a RINO, and run out of the party (like they’re trying to do to McCain)...and that just doesn’t make sense. We can’t exclude everyone that voted/signed something we disagree with.
I personally think that the spending is what did us in. Every American is aware that Bush SPENT us into a huge hole and seemed to offer no intellengent hope for change....(and i voted for him).
The cost and size of gevernment has to be reduced...and abortion needs to be stopped....for those two things alone...I give McCain my support....but like my spouse...we may disagree on immigration and a number of other things.
I think if we stick with being anti-tax, anti big goverment/anti-pork and pro life.....we have a great platform. I think that any Republican Senator with a conservative rating of less than 60% should be run off.
So THAT’s what I will work for....not running off my own AZ Senator (with an 80% rating) that holds those particular things dear.
How is your Senator rated?
Allard rates pretty well. Salazar stinks. When Udall gets in it will be much worse.
It is not the principles that are the problem it is the abandonment of these for political expediency that is the problem. They are REPUBLICANS In Name Only - not conservatives in name only. The party supports the following:
1. A pro-life position
2. Strong national defense
3. Fiscal restraint - low taxes and responsible spending
4. Small government
5. The rule of law which includes immigration law
There are others but these certainly are part of the Republican party’s core principles. McCain has acted in direct opposition to #5 in at least 2 areas: free speech and immigration (and he has been rather squishy on 2nd amendment matters). He is opposed to #4 by virtue of his support for environmental laws and regulations that will expand government into every home and business that uses energy. His support for the “Global Warming” hysteria will also put him in opposition to #3 as increased costs of energy (a hidden tax) will result, energy tax hikes are very much a part of the “save the planet” agenda and moves to create “green” industries and technologies will result in increased government spending as efforts are made to subsidize the effort thru grants and funded mandates (Obama has already promised to spend billions on this and McCain has said he generally supports the effort).
There was little reason for any conservative - or even many Republicans - to vote FOR McCain. There was plenty of reason to vote against Obama. And not a few voted FOR Palin. The more numbers come out on this election the more it looks like plain, old-fashioned turnout was the biggest difference. The left turned out in high numbers while turnont on the right was not as good as in 2004. I read one article that said that as many as 5 million people who voted for Bush in 2004 did not vote in 2008. Maybe this would not have won the election for McCain (it depends on where they were voting) but it could well have made a difference in down-ticket races.
I am with Rush on this. Politicians who unashamedly campaign on conserative principles tend to win far more often than they lose. And if they actually try and govern according to these they do fine. It is when they abandon these that they run into trouble. Lurching left in an attempt to expand the “tent” hasn’t worked yet that I can recall.