Posted on 03/23/2009 12:00:50 PM PDT by VinL
In the ongoing debate over the economic stimulus package, South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford has made all the right enemies. The White House has brushed aside Sanfords threat to turn down $700 million allotted for his state. Republicans in Sanfords own state have hinted that theyll override any attempt to veto the cash. Moderate California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has gently mocked Sanfords position. Ill take it, Schwarzenegger told George Stephanopolous last month. Im more than happy to take his money or any other governor in this country that doesnt want to take this money.
Sanfords public battle with the White House has won him support with a more important group of people: the Republicans who will pick their next standard-bearer in 2012. According to some big-money Republican donors, party strategists who worked on the 2008 campaign and activists who powered the quixotic presidential bid of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Sanford is emerging as the leader for the next Republican nomination.
His profile has grown dramatically over the last month, said Floyd Brown, a Republican strategist who lives in Washington state best-known for creating the 1988 Willie Horton ads against Michael Dukakis. Amongst the activists who really matter, in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in the South, there is a lot of positive talk about him. A lot of people asking, What do you know about this guy?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonindependent.com ...
Honestly, this is stunning. Some of you people need to do some studying on this man's actions rather than spouting off talking points.
And whose company holds up to your standards?
Sanford has been likened to Ron Paul because of his beliefs of nonintervention and acting only in self defense. He's against the Fed's *opaqueness* and is quietly a pro-lifer.
I've heard many of his attempts to pass bill have been vetoed by his own party and he has a weakness of leadership. My guess, he was invited to the Builderberg confer. in case he was selected as a VP choice. They wanted to set him straight before he reached the pinnacle. He's a mixed bag which doesn't bode well for his chances. Especially if he goes all *Global Warming* on us.
The immigration issue was vastly underestimated during Reagan’s time. But he was wrong on this, as he was wrong on a number of other issues. He was a great President, but he wasn’t perfect. Sanford having grave faults does neither make him a Reagan, and pointing this out does not deminish Reagan.
There is nothing “wrong” with likening Sanford’s foreign policy stance with Paul and Buchanan. These two prominent characters are proponents of a foreign policy that most closely matches that of Sanford: rejection of regime-change and preemptive measures.
What’s wrong with calling a spade a spade?
Agreed on all points. Rather than dismissing candidates when they take a single position we disagree with, I think we have to judge all Republican candidates, including Sanford, by their positions on all issues as a whole and give particular attention to the devotion they have to their ideals. A consistent ideology and a passionate belief in it is the #1 quality we should look for in a candidate. Sanford has this because he has (I hate to use the term) an intellectual curiosity and knowledge of history by which he has formed his principles.
I have met many politicians, including Sanford and put him among the few I trust and respect. One story he tells is when he was meeting with some Republican friends in his office discussing politics, one said "The name of the game is staying in the game." He told that man, "You win the war by fighting for what you believe, even if it takes you out of the game. What would have happened at Normandy if each individual soldier had been trying to stay in the game. More would have survived. But we would have lost the war." He is willing to sacrifice his own self interest for the conservative and American cause. I believe he truly means that. I only ask that you give this man another look. I didn't see it myself first until I really studied the man. But there is a promise that is deeper than can be seen with a passing glance.
“a willingness to let the media set the agenda.”
I wish I were a media mogul, but I am not. The media will do what they will do. We can complain but pretending or willing it away doesnt work.
I have resolve. I ignore the media. But most Americans do not. Decent conservatives can get Borked, Quayled, and Newt’red.
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