Who Should run the Republican Party?

[Tubub]

The answer is easy for me: Colin Powell. No other Republican matches his lifetime of public service(albeit John McCain), his personal experience of what it is to be on the ground, his pragmatism, and his great success story of a patriotic Afro-American who grew up in the Bronx and went to Community College but then went onto become the first African-American Secretary of State.

The problems with the Republican party today are a matter of fact... the party prefers a goldenboy elitist like GWB or Mitt Romney over the traditional veterans like Colin Powell, Bob Dole, GHWB, or John McCain. The party prefers somebody with backbone over somebody that prizes rationality and logical thought. The party prefers idealism over pragmatism, Neo-Conservatism over Centrism... What a pathetic party it is becoming too. Numbskulls like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck are becoming party symbols... Well, this isn't much of a party at all. Doesn't seem like it anymore anyway. Its some lame personality that only goons adhere to.

What happened to little government and low taxes, not big government and low taxes? What happened to law before religion, not vice versa? What happened to Peace through Strength, not Instability through Aggression? What happened to the actual Republican Party, one formed by a coaltion of fiscals, veterans, and pragmatists? I had thought John McCain was the greatest candidate the country had seen for years, but he was forced to run some campaign that appealed to the religious nut-cases and those of the lowest intellect in the party... or is that just the Republican Party?

Anyway, who should run the Party now in this time and need of leadership?

(PS: I understand a few of the veterans listed were big Republicans(ie GWHB was President, Dole ran for President, and McCain ran for President). But those men are a dieing breed, and the people replacing them as the leaders of the party are nothing of that sort.

 

[Pinu7]

No one, I think it's great that no one person is dictating the Republican party.

Parties shouldn't have leaders; people should think for themselves.

 

[Tubub]

No one, I think it's great that no one person is dictating the Republican party.

Parties shouldn't have leaders; people should think for themselves.

That sounds like a nice way of discouraging unity and promoting a divided party.

 

[celticlord]

No one, I think it's great that no one person is dictating the Republican party.

Parties shouldn't have leaders; people should think for themselves.

What a lot people fail to realize is that no one runs either major political party in this country.

The political parties in this country are means of coalescing support and resources for various elected officials, but, in the final analysis, the self interest of each elected official is to curry the good favor of the voters in his particular state or district.

That is a major difference between republican democracy and parliamentary democracy. Ours is not a parliamentary system.

 

[DarkWizard12]

Either Romney or Huckabee, and I prefer Huckabee. Huckabee is the most legit politician in my opinion and is the only one that actually has ideas rather than just saying "no", while hypocritically takeing tainted-money from special interest groups and lobbies, and all the while just, "Doing nothing".

 

[tlmorg02]

I am a Democrat, but I vote for Colin Powell. He could pull moderate and conservative Dems easily. I also like Lindsey Graham, though you did not list him. He works well across the aisle and has the respect of many.

 

[Baralis]

How about none of the above. I think a better option is to remove all politicians from our government.

 

[Livebythesword]

no one, but if i had to pick one out of all of the Possible candidates that came forward last year I would choose Fred Thompson. But im just a foreigner living in America. What do i know.

 

[Tubub]

no one, but if i had to pick one out of all of the Possible candidates that came forward last year I would choose Fred Thompson. But im just a foreigner living in America. What do i know.

Fred Thompson's greatest attibute was looking a lot like a Conservative politician.

I only listed people who are at all plausible contendors or in the top of the Party now... Fred Thompson and Lindsay Graham would be exempted. Not putting Huckabee on the list was a mistake.

 

[Soapiestdevil]

If anyone of them were on the ballot, chalk it up to another year of me not voting!

 

[G.I. Joe]

I am a Democrat, but I vote for Colin Powell. He could pull moderate and conservative Dems easily. I also like Lindsey Graham, though you did not list him. He works well across the aisle and has the respect of many.

I'm not sure you're right about Graham having the respect of many. I am from the state he respresents and he is taking a lot of heat for his liberal stances. He is not expected to win reelection.

 

[bhkad]

The answer is easy for me: Colin Powell.

Colin Powell supported and voted for Obama, a Democrat. What better qualification to lead the GOP? :doh

What has Powell done for the GOP?

 

[bhkad]

I am a Democrat, but I vote for Colin Powell. He could pull moderate and conservative Dems easily. I also like Lindsey Graham, though you did not list him. He works well across the aisle and has the respect of many.

Before the 08 election the NYT and others lauded the Republican, John McCain as the kind of moderate they could support. Yet when the time came all those so-called moderate voices (like Colin Powell) came out against McCain.

 

[mikhail]

when China starts taking over American national parks people will start voting for any republican.Is America serious about ever getting round to paying back this money they are borrowing? i see no long term plan to do so.

 

[Tubub]

Colin Powell supported and voted for Obama, a Democrat. What better qualification to lead the GOP? :doh

What has Powell done for the GOP?

1- Supported don't ask don't tell
2- Was Secretary of State under Bush
3- Gave the rationale and garnered huge support for the 2003 Iraq war... which he understandably later regretted.

Powell supported Obama because he is a pragmatist and rational... I supported McCain because I been a fan of his for so long and hated Obama supporters, but looking with a blind eye at both candidates I can see why Obama was the better choice. We needed an opposite of GWB to re-obtain our moral leadership and regain lost prestige. Obama fit that criteria.

Case Closed.

 

[mikhail]

1- Supported don't ask don't tell
2- Was Secretary of State under Bush
3- Gave the rationale and garnered huge support for the 2003 Iraq war... which he understandably later regretted.

Powell supported Obama because he is a pragmatist and rational... I supported McCain because I been a fan of his for so long and hated Obama supporters, but looking with a blind eye at both candidates I can see why Obama was the better choice. We needed an opposite of GWB to re-obtain our moral leadership and regain lost prestige. Obama fit that criteria.

Case Closed.

When people make these arguements about him doesent it make him either a fool or a liar?

 

[Tubub]

Before the 08 election the NYT and others lauded the Republican, John McCain as the kind of moderate they could support. Yet when the time came all those so-called moderate voices (like Colin Powell) came out against McCain.

McCain shifted to the right. I supported Sarah Palin at the time because she had a 90% approval rating in Alaska and was seen as a centrist there, but the reality was that she was incapable of holding any position in the cabinet... albeit Vice President does little once the administration gets rolling, I didn't want another Bush in the White House making ridiculous comments that made no sense and was another international symbol of stupidity. McCain ran a bad campaign and abandoned his moderate voice.

 

[Tubub]

When people make these arguements about him doesent it make him either a fool or a liar?

What are you talking about...

 

[mikhail]

What are you talking about...

Well as you put it.

"3- Gave the rationale and garnered huge support for the 2003 Iraq war... which he understandably later regretted"

What are you saying about this that he knowingly lied about WMDS or was fooled into believing it?

 

[obvious Child]

Either Romney or Huckabee, and I prefer Huckabee. Huckabee is the most legit politician in my opinion and is the only one that actually has ideas rather than just saying "no", while hypocritically takeing tainted-money from special interest groups and lobbies, and all the while just, "Doing nothing".

Urgh. An anti-science, big spending liberal who justifies welfare on the basis of the bible?

No way.

The GOP should raise Goldwater and put him in charge.

 

[formerroadie]

I am a Democrat, but I vote for Colin Powell. He could pull moderate and conservative Dems easily. I also like Lindsey Graham, though you did not list him. He works well across the aisle and has the respect of many.

Agreed. I choose Powell.

 

[Goshin]

Powell is, pardon me, a RINO. He is a republican in name only. He is not particularly conservative in his political ideology and most issue positions. Frankly, I consider his leadership skills overhyped as well.

I don't find any of the names on the list especially appealing as the "leader" of the GOP, nor as the 2012 frontrunner.

I believe Palin is far better than the press has painted her. However, she has some issues and apparent gaps that would have to be dealt with, and the media-sponsored taint on her image may be too firmly embedded in the American public consciousness to alter.

From the past contenders, I always rather liked Alan Keyes, and would have preferred the first black Prez to be someone like him.

I would prefer to see a new face rise to the forefront, someone who is an actual conservative with a clean track record; Jim DeMint (Sen-SC) comes to mind.

I heard an interview recently with famous national pollster Rassmussen on the radio, who made some intresting statements. His analysis is that there are more actual Conservatives in the US than actual Liberals, and that as a result the Liberals have to appeal to moderates more in the general elections to win; while Republicans could win by appealing to the actual conservatives. In his words "There are more Democrats than Liberals, but more Conservatives than Republicans." Conservatives are also more inclined to stay home on election day if there are no actual conservatives candidates running.

The lesson for the Republicans ought to be that they are not going to win by playing the "Democrat Lite" card, but by appealing to the conservative base. The fiscal conservatives especially, but also the social conservatives to a degree. There are huge numbers of people in this country, the blue-collar Democrats especially, who live socially conservative lives but tend to vote Democrat out of tradition or family history. It was these socially-conservative Democrats who helped give Reagan such sweeping wins and such a strong mandate. That formula could still work, I do believe.

Certainly moving to the middle isn't the answer...if it were, John McCain would be President and Lindsay Graham would lead the Senate.

G.

 

[DarkWizard12]

Urgh. An anti-science,

Who doesn't believe that his so-called "anti-science" PERSONAL POV should be forced on people, and if you look at Arkansas, there is no record of him forcing that on anyone.

big spending liberal who justifies welfare on the basis of the bible?

No, and red-herring.

No way.

mhhh, yea way.

 

[RightinNYC]

In terms of people who are actually going to be involved in politics going forward, Romney is the only reasonable choice among this group.

Old Romney, if possible.

 

[DarkWizard12]

In terms of people who are actually going to be involved in politics going forward, Romney is the only reasonable choice among this group.

Old Romney, if possible.

There is an old romney?