The Perfect Republican Candidate Does Not Exist

Newsmax ^ | February 16, 2007 | Michael Reagan

[Clintonfatigued]

The philosopher Diogenes is said to have wandered around ancient Greece holding a lantern and seeking to find an honest man.

My fellow Republicans, sans lanterns, are now wandering around the political landscape seeking to find the perfect Republican presidential candidate.

I don't know if Diogenes ever found that honest man, but I do know that those Republicans are never going to find the perfect candidate, simply because one does not exist.

Some Republicans insist that the only perfect candidate would be a clone of my dad, Ronald Reagan. Aside from the fact that there is no such thing, it's important to recognize that Ronald Reagan, as he often admitted, was anything but perfect.

One of the criticisms about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney focuses on his record concerning the abortion issue. We are told by the modern day Diogenes clones that he can't be trusted to fight abortion because he once, more or less, supported a woman's right to butcher her baby.

It may come as a surprise to these purists, but Ronald Reagan once supported abortion too. Yet nobody ever questioned his strong pro-life credentials after his conversion to Republicanism. They accepted his sincerity. Why can't they accept Mitt Romney's?

Romney's record shows he should be totally acceptable to all conservatives, yet because of one dubious question concerning the validity of his conversion to the pro-life side, he is deemed unsuitable to carry the conservative banner.

[Clintonfatigued]

I think highly of Duncan Hunter, but I have yet to see evidence that he's viable. If he can prove that he is, I am willing to support him. But the burden of proof is on him, not the voters.

[onyx]

You're getting fancy, girl!

[potlatch]

Thank you onyx, my first big Rudy was pretty fancy!!

[Rakkasan1]

I've already had enough of an asshat from NYC who was once
a democrat and now calls himself a republican. His first name is Norm.

[george76]

Thanks.

Nice job with Rudi.

[potlatch]

Lol, like him or not he's the current topic!! Thanks.

[newnhdad]

To paraphrase Rick Pitino...
All the negativity that's in this place sucks.. Ronald Reagan isn't going to walk through the door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, your going to be disappointed until you're dead and buried. I've been around when John McCain was booed. I've been around when Giuliani was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest party in the world, lousy.

[bd59903]

What about Condi, i'd vote for her!

[nmh]

Duncan Hunter... been hearing allot about him.

Does he have an official website that I could read through?

Is this the one that is a Morman that now supports abortion and homo special rights? If not, which one was that? I won't won't vote for that sell out either.

[PerConPat]

All the negativity that's in this place sucks.

Well, it is becoming a bit depressing; and we, no doubt, have a lot more disporting on this subject ahead of us. Of course, there will never be a "perfect" candidate. My decision to back Hunter through the Primaries is based on the the following planks excerpted from the 2004 Republican Party Platform. He comes, IMHO, the closest to upholding these positions. I am also impressed with Duncan's stance on immigration/border security.

Since I don't see major disagreements on the WOT as being a factor in the chase for the Pub nomination, my focus is centered on which candidates are best positioned on immigration/secure borders and the following 2004 planks.

Protecting Our Rights, Fighting Criminals, and Supporting Victims (pg. 72, 2004 Republican Party Platform)

Republicans and President Bush strongly support an individual right to own guns, which is explicitly protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment. Our Party honors the great American tradition of hunting and we applaud efforts by the Bush Administration to make more public lands available to hunters, to increase access to hunting clinics and safety programs for children and adults, and to improve opportunities for hunting for Americans with disabilities.

We believe the Second Amendment and all of the rights guaranteed by it should enable law-abiding citizens throughout the country to own firearms in their homes for self-defense. To protect the rights and safety of law-abiding citizens, the Congress passed and President Bush signed the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, which allows active and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed guns in public while off-duty. We support efforts by the Administration and Congress to enhance the instant background check system for gun purchases and to ensure that records of lawful transactions are destroyed in a timely manner.

We applaud Congressional Republicans for seeking to stop frivolous lawsuits against firearms manufacturers, which is a transparent attempt to deprive citizens of their Second Amendment rights. We oppose federal licensing of lawabiding gun owners and national gun registration as a violation of the Second Amendment and an invasion of privacy of honest citizens.

Promoting a Culture of Life (pg. 92, 2004 Republican Party Platform)

As a country, we must keep our pledge to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence. That is why we say the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation to make it clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions. We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.

Our goal is to ensure that women with problem pregnancies have the kind of support, material and otherwise, they need for themselves and for their babies, not to be punitive towards those for whose difficult situation we have only compassion. We oppose abortion, but our pro-life agenda does not include punitive action against women who have an abortion. We salute those who provide alternatives to abortion and offer adoption services, and we commend Congressional Republicans for expanding assistance to adopting families and for removing racial barriers to adoption. We join the President in supporting crisis pregnancy programs and parental notification laws. And we applaud President Bush for allowing states to extend health care coverage to unborn children. We praise the President for his bold leadership in defense of life. We praise him for signing the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. This important legislation ensures that every infant born alive – including an infant who survives an abortion procedure – is considered a person under federal law.

We praise Republicans in Congress for passing, with strong bipartisan support, a ban on the inhumane procedure known as partial birth abortion. And we applaud President Bush for signing legislation outlawing partial birth abortion and for vigorously defending it in the courts.

In signing the partial birth abortion ban, President Bush reminded us that “the most basic duty of government is to defend the life of the innocent. Every person, however frail or vulnerable, has a place and a purpose in this world...

[sergeantdave]

Finding a candidate that believes in the US Constitution and supports individual rights is not a "nuts" position.

We are not a country established for Marxist collectivist rights, as determined by the state. And too many candidates, in my opinion, are collectivists from the New York Rockefeller socialist school.

Incidentally, the fight between Rockefeller socialists (We call them RINOs now)and western conservatives has been an ongoing war for 40 years or more. Books and articles about this battle would fill a library.

So, no, I won't support a candidate who isn't in favor of the sovereignty of the individual, as outlined in our Constitution. If I wanted to be ruled by unelected collectivists, I'd buy a white French surrender flag and sail to some EU shore.

[sergeantdave]

BEFORE YOU BASH THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO CAN BEAT HER.

Put up or shut up.

What proof do you have that Rudy can beat hillary? The latest poll shows Rudy losing in a landslide to Hillary in his home state of New York.

[George W. Bush]

Dupe threads only count if they are within 4 hrs of the original, so there aren't multiple threads of the same story on the board simultaneously.

Really? Official policy? I didn't know. I always thought a dupe was a dupe. [...avoiding cheap shot anti-Rudy puns with considerable effort...trying...struggling...whew...]

[George W. Bush]

Good post about all the different motivations GOP voters have. The only bright side is the Dims are even more muddled.

[savedbygrace]

Straw man alert. We conservatives are not looking for the 'perfect candidate', but rather the BEST candidate. The best combination of conservative positions and voting record is important.

[CyberAnt]

Geeeeeee .. just throw the guy off the train!!

And .. who will you be voting FOR! Let me guess .. Hillary ..??

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Statement: "The Perfect Republican Candidate Does Not Exist"

Response:"The time in which we live is very great; but the people are very small, and as yet I see no one with whom I would care to go aboard ship." MIRABEAU

[UnChained]

I agree with the title of this thread.

There is no candidate on the scene that has the name regognition, gravitas, charisma, and solid conservative ideals to carry the flag. The most electables are basically Democrat-Lite.

We knew this election was coming. Why didn't the RNC and GWB prepare for this day? Perhaps if Cheney steps down "for health reasons" Bush could appoint a suitable GOP candidate.

Unless something bold is done, Hillary is unstoppable.

Every member of congress and every officer in the military, (including GWB) have taken this oath:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

I believe that Hillary should be considered a domestic enemy of the US Constitution and I would have expected the RNC and Bush to a least try to do something to prevent her from running essentially unopposed.

She just needs to dispose of Obama and it will be a cake walk.

[UnChained]

Duncan Hunter for Vice-President '07

[Sun]

Duncan Hunter is not known by everyone - YET!! My brother just told me there was a large article in his small 26,000 poupulation hometown newspaper in upstate New York in yesterday's paper.

Giuliani has been duping the public for years, and despite that, is behind Hillary in the polls in NEW YORK STATE.

Duncan Hunter has MOMENTUM, and we have an entire YEAR before the primaries.

Naysay is not in my vocabulary. The country NEEDS Duncan Hunter, not a liberal like Rudy.

Rome is burning.