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for a presidential candidate, today?
discuss.
discuss.
The ONLY republican candidate who would stand a chance of beating Obama is Romney....and I doubt seriously that the evangelical base would stomach a mormon candidate.
i'm think someone else will rise to the top.......but i don't know who.
they have to be careful here, i believe. moderation is still the way to go.
i'm think someone else will rise to the top.......but i don't know who. they have to be careful here, i believe. moderation is still the way to go.
Who out there in GOP land is going to "rise to the top"? Jindal? Gingrich? I doubt that seriously.
As far as moderation...while I agree, its never going to happen. The current trend in the GOP is to push the party further and further to the right-wing. The smartest thing they would do, if they really want to win, is find a moderate female candidate that can appeal to independents and take away some of Obama's core voters. The GOP needs to get the female and moderate vote which is how Obama won the election....but it will be a cold day in hell before the GOP nominates a moderate female for President.
DD believes that Arlen Specter and Olmpyia Snowe are "hard right"...I'd like to see Gingrich run. I think he's redeemed himself. Like his style. Excellent speaker. He's extremely well informed. Yep, I could see him.
The reason I copied your post, Disney, is I'm very surprised that you think the GOP is moving far right. I sure don't see that at all. I don't think their stand on immigration is conservative enough, as an example.
i'm think someone else will rise to the top.......but i don't know who. they have to be careful here, i believe. moderation is still the way to go.
The reason I copied your post, Disney, is I'm very surprised that you think the GOP is moving far right. I sure don't see that at all. I don't think their stand on immigration is conservative enough, as an example.
the big question, is what are they gonna run on? the republican mantra of not spending money is, of course, a myth:
every president since WWII has increased the debt. every one. As for debt as a percentage of GDP, every republican since Nixon has increased it: (Reagan: +11/+9, Bush I: +15, GW+7/+20).
every democrat since (and including) roosevelt has reduced it. (roosevelt -24, Truman -22, Kennedy -8, Johnson -8, Carter -3, Clinton -7/-9
in terms of spending increase, democrats average 10%, republicans 12%. - in terms of increasing federal debt, democrats 4%, republicans 36%.
but... i do not think we can dispense with the 'fiscally responsible republican" myth. Myth is a powerful weapon.
Personally, I think Palin or Ron Paul would provide for a a lot of entertainment. What would be really great is if we could get them on the same ticket!
But Romney is the only one that, as a liberal, i would feel even remotely comfortable with. One the one hand, he has switched on abortion rights, on the other, he was instrumental in the Mass. Healthcare plan on which the Obama HC plan was modeled. He would pretty damned silly attempting to overturn it.
but, i think that, as we stand right now, the issue is moot. NO republican is likely to support the right to abortion - they would risk losing the T-Potty. And no one who does not is gonna get elected - even upwards of 40% of republican women support the right.
should be an interesting 2 years.
geo.
*Source: Federal Budget Office
a good summary may be found here
anyone interested in more detail, i would recommend a series of episodes of Frontline - Ten Trillion And Counting.
FRONTLINE: ten trillion and counting: defining the debt | PBS
DD believes that Arlen Specter and Olmpyia Snowe are "hard right"...
Jindel would get my vote,
I chose "other", so I sure hope you're right and someone else emerges. I'm not real gung ho on any of the current front runners.
I disagree. We don't need a moderate or centrist at this point, we need a real, hard core fiscal conservative that isn't afraid to make the tough decisions that are necessary to get this country out of debt and back on the road to prosperity.
Huckabee is a good man that I like and respect, but I think he's a little too soft and a little too religious.
Pawlenty isn't too bad, but he has to do something that makes him stand out from the rest, which he hasn't yet done.
Palin has the conservative values I'm looking for, but I just don't think she would make a good president. She is a good motivator and campaigner, but I don't think she would make a good leader. Maybe in the future that might change, but she needs to cool her jets before that could ever happen.
Romney is probably the best of the front runners. I think his business skills would be of great benefit to the American economy, and his moral standing is impeccable. The one thing that bothers me, is that he was the one who passed Massachusetts's health care law, which is about as anti-conservative as a person can be.
Gingrich is a hard core conservative, but a little too hard core for my taste. He tends to speak a little too freely, which would not bode well for our international relations. He also tends to lean toward radical solutions from time to time, which scares me a bit.
The two people I would like to see run for president, have both shown absolutely no interest in running. They are New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.
Good thread LL.
.
i got my information from the Federal Budget Office, as indicated in the link provided, and from sources who get THEIR information from the FBO and i assure you, they are quite accurate.I don't know where you received your information on Presidents and the Federal deficit, but most of your firgures are wrong. Since everyone wants the source posted here is the link: U.S. Federal Deficits and Presidents
haley barbour has the cred... but there are mississippians that well tell you horror storiesThere are still fiscal conservatives out there, but they seem to be largely ignored by the parties.
no... he is a nut job.I would love to see Ron Paul run. He would bring in actual change, not just a slogan.
Dark Horse in the race: John Thune
On he heels of 4 years of howling about how Obama is a socialist, non-citizen Kenyan illegitimate President, who is standing by letting the Arab terrorists claim victory at Ground Zero, I'm not so sure nominating THIS GUY...Jindel would get my vote,
A fair point. I can't speak to it myself, but from what I've heard, Mormonism in some parts of the country is seen as closer to Satanism than just an alternate religion.I doubt seriously that the evangelical base would stomach a mormon candidate.
And therein lies the problem. A Libertarian Goldwater Republican will never win the Republican Primary. Primaries are dominated by the bases of the parties and there's no way the social conservative base is going to support someone who take a Libertarian approach to social issues. Even a philosophy of "leave it to the states" will be seen as "tolerating immoral lifestyles and the murder of unborn babies."Actually, I don't have a problem with true fiscal conservative Republicans in the Barry Goldwater vein.
i got my information from the Federal Budget Office, as indicated in the link provided, and from sources who get THEIR information from the FBO and i assure you, they are quite accurate.
I know of the site you linked and considered linking it myself, but it deals with information that has little to do with my position on presidential spending and the myth that republicans spend less. they do not and it is actually quite well know. Even the WSJ has come out and made the point.
I never made the argument Republicans spend less. It was more a matter of your assertion that Democrats create a surplus as percentage of GDP.
You have to read a bit closer. I was not making a comment on the deficit and you will note that I do not mention the deficit. there is a good reason - the debt and the deficit are not the same thing.
The federal deficit is the difference between what the government takes in from taxes and other sources and what it spends annually. The national debt can be thought of as the accumulated debt the government owes from all those years of borrowing money to pay off the annual deficits.
The national debt encompasses the federal deficit. we can (and sometime DO) increase the difference between tax revenues and expenditures AND lower the overall debt at the same time.
haley barbour has the cred... but there are mississippians that well tell you horror stories
no... he is a nut job.
who?
geo.
On he heels of 4 years of howling about how Obama is a socialist, non-citizen Kenyan illegitimate President, who is standing by letting the Arab terrorists claim victory at Ground Zero, I'm not so sure nominating THIS GUY...
...is going to be a winning strategy.
I was not making the argument Republicans spend less. Most of them spend just as much as Democrats, if not more.
The FBO link you provided does not work. As for your other source, I remain critical. It is not a government document. I have a link that refutes your argument: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy04/pdf/hist.pdf
(go to page 23 of the report). It shows deficit as % of GDP each year since 1930.
I was hasty in my reply to your initial post. I misread it. My apologies.
Why do you think Ron Paul is a nut?
John Thune: Senator from South Dakota
Funny.. I haven't heard anything about that guy since he bombed that political speech. He was the rising star, and he suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Paul Ryan may be running, he has gotten the ball rolling in Iowa.
"Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin wonk and much-buzzed-about rising GOP star, is touting his efforts opposing health care reform in a new mailer hitting Iowa households this week."
Paul Ryan is mailing into Iowa - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com