So, there’s a whole host of Republicans (some RINO’s, some true Republicans) that are being speculated about for the race to the nomination and ultimately the White House in ‘08:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Gov. George Pataki, R-N.Y.
Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
The ironic thing is that these candidates are all over the map on nearly every issue that conservatives hold dear. As a result, every candidate is self-identifying as a conservative. Again, some of these are legitimate labels, others are trying to be the popular guy by invoking the name of Ronald Reagan and uttering the key phrases sanctity of human life, traditional marriage, and family values. Throw in lower taxes, enforce the boarder, and strict constructionist judicial nominees, and you’ve got a winning profile.
The only problem is that in the news sound bites, you seldom hear what the candidate means when they say these things. Then you have the supporters of the candidates, wanting their guy to get the nod at the RNC convention next summer coming to the rescue and talking about how conservative the candidate is in areas that history says the canidate is not conservative. Yes, it is happening again; conservativisim is being molded to fit hte canidate rather than the candidate being molded to fit conservativism.
In a way I’m glad that we’ve got such a variety of candidates running or speculating about it so early. It has sparked quite a discussion about “what is conservative.”Hopefully, the discussion will grow and we’ll come away with a truly conservative candidate.
In my defense, we didn’t know he’d turn out so stupid when he ran for his first term. We would’ve never voted that way again. Also, he’s good friends with McPain.
