After Fred, Are My Options Dead?

[roo_ster]

I am not the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, but I seem to leave no sinking ship for the rats alone.  Matter of fact, I usually buy a ticket for the ship and pass the rats on their way out.

In 2, I backed Alan Keyes, who was gracious enough to stay in the race until I could actually vote for him. 

So, I wonder who I might throw my support to...

Hunter
Hunter is the probably closest to my views.  He also has 1/6 the current delegates of Paul, so is in no danger of getting the nomination.  If I want to keep my impeccable 100% on-the-spot record for picking a loser, Duncan is my man.
[Hunter has withdrawn and put his support (such as it is) behind the Hucker.]

Romney
"Born again (mostly) conservative" Mitt is probably the closest of the front-runners to my views.  Plus, he has really great hair...almost as good as Texas governor Rick Perry's hair:

(My nickname for Perry is, "The Weasel."  He was the best of the last bunch of Gov candidates, I am sorry to say.)

If hair is my criterion, my work is done, and I'll go support Mitt and seek refreshments from his Tab & Apple Choir, too.

Mitt's Mormonism is of no matter to me, but I reserve the right to make bigamy & Joe Smith jokes at his expense and generally rib the LDSers in a good natured way.

Mitt's flipped on just about every issue he could, to make himself a match for conservative Republicans.  The question is, "Wil he stay flipped, or flop back into Massachusetts RINO mode?" 

Also, Mitt is willing to ban "assault rifles."  NOT a way to keep me happy, you Yankee SOB.


McCain
I think I'd rather gnaw my arm off than let it pull the lever for McCain. 

CFR made me hopping mad, as did his amnesty proposals. 

He is the most consciously self-righteous of any white politician I have seen, which only makes his apostasy toward the COTUS more grating.


Huckabee
Another arm-gnawing candidate.  If the Democrats weren't completely America-hating and insane traitors to all that is right*, Huck would be a Democrat.

No Huck vote for me.


Giuliani
Another RINO in Republican clothing.  Will he stay flopped on the issues he was a liberal, or will he stay firm?

Giuliani's only real attraction is the hope he would do a lot more killing in the WOT and a lot less coddling.

He would be like unleashing a pit bull on the jihadis.  Boy, it would be fun to see him tear them a new one, but there is a pretty good chance Giuliani will bite us in the *expletive deleted*ss.


Paul
If Paul had a sane foreign policy, I would have no problem playing Don Quixote and voting for him.  He seems to attract fewer pro-liberty folks than anti-war loons, however.

Also, I would just love to see all the beltway bureaucrats and weenie NGO intellectuals *expletive deleted*it themselves in the knowledge that they will soon be given the boot, if donkeys do manage to fly and Paul wins the Republican nomination.


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I am not desperate enough to vote third party...yet. 






Bonus points if you can write your replies in Dr. Seuss-like rhymes.


* Maybe I overstate that a bit.

[SomeKid]

You can just forget rhymes from me.

I voted for Fred Thompson about 4 days before he dropped out. Sonofab...

If I had it to do over again, I would vote for Paul. A given he will lose, but I want to see someone with his views (he is mostly OK, aside from DP opposition, questionable votes occasionally, and of course, the FP) look good.

Anyway, that is what this former Thompson voter would do. I pretty much agree with everything in your OP, except you are FAR more forgiving of Mitt than I am, and you seem to despise McCain slightly less than I do.

[Dannyboy]

With Thompson out, I don't think I'll be voting at all this year.  I live in Jersey, though, so it doesn't really matter.

Duncan Hunter has already dropped out of the race.

[Manedwolf]

Romney oversaw the state next door to me.

He signed the 1998 AWB there.

He oversaw the Big Dig debacle, the biggest public works waste of money with the most graft and skimming in history.

He happily sat in his chair while MA turned into even more of a statist welfare hellhole with rising crime, sanctuary for illegals, etc.

If you think he's a "conservative", if you're actually fooled by his newly purchased Reagan hat, please...don't vote. Just don't. For anyone. Because you're not informed enough to vote.

[coppertales]

I agree, the pickings are slim.  However, look at the alternatives....rumor has it that Shrill and Obama will kill off each other and the dim party will bring in Gore....THAT is scary.  Looks like I will be voting with a clothspin on my nose like I did in 96.  That really brought the polling place down........chris3

[Tecumseh]

There is a real conservative in the race, his name is Ron Paul.  He has done a lot of good for the country, or tried to but he is blocked by other politicians.

I also dont think it is Polite to call the democrats traitors and other names.  As well as calling Hillary a shrill. 

[Werewolf]

Yep...
No options - at least no realistic options if Fred's values are important to you.

Ron Paul probably comes closest - if you can get past the whole most folks won't vote for him even though he's their fav because they don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning thing. Paul is now my choice in the primary.

Or you can just do what I'm going to do now and sit the general election out (for the 1st time in 36 years). Paul probably won't get the Republican nod which leaves not a single Republican candidate out there today that I could stomach voting for because they're all RINO's (except maybe Huckabee but I just can't find it in me to vote for a preacher) and I don't believe a word any of them say. They're so close to being Dems that at least with a Dem pres we'd know exactly where they stood and what they're going to do (forewarned is forearmed and all that) instead of trying to guess with the RINO's.

[Manedwolf]

Paul is a naive, disconnected old man, easily manipulated to ranting, and either Obama or Hillary would be able to make him look like a shrill fool in moments in their first debate.

[Rocketman56]

Werewolf:

Or you can just do what I'm going to do now and sit the general election out (for the 1st time in 36 years).

Please don't ...  If you decide not to pull a lever (mark an X, click the checkbox, whatever's appropriate..) for the Presidential Race,
I understand.. but the other races are as important, if not more so..  (US Representative is the one I'm thinking of.. I started another
thread on that topic..)

Later,
Steve

[ilbob]

I will say it again. ANY of the remaining republican candidates will do less damage than any of the three remaining democratic candidates.

If you want to collude to make things worse, don't vote. its almost the same as voting democrat.

For those who hate religion so much they won't vote for Huckabee or Romney, get over it. There is zero danger of a theocracy being established. There is a lot more then a zero chance of a democrat getting into office and further eroding your rights, and not just your gun related rights.

I will probably vote RP in the Illinois primary, and than vote for whichever republican survives to run in the regular election.

The election is not about just the presidency, but the senate, and the house; and a whole host of local races. Those who do the cry baby thing and refuse to do their civic duty because their candidate did not win the primary need to take a real close look at themselves.

I do not see Rudy getting much traction, and while I expect to see him stick it out to the end, RP will probably only garner 5-10% of the delegates, so I see it as a 3 way between McCain, Romney and Huckabee. Could be close enough that no one goes into the convention with a majority.

None of the remaining 5 Republican candidates are perfect on every issue. RP is better on most issues, but suffers from serious delusions in the foreign policy area that will prevent him from getting any mainstream support. The 5 % or so of the electorate that now supports him, is about all he can get. Thats pretty good in reality. It could well be a base for a pro-liberty faction of the Republican party to work with in future elections.

Most of us just do not think much of the lightweights the political parties have given us this year. In reality, its not much different then every other election. There are very few Ronald Reagans. In fact, just one. They come about once or twice a century (Teddy Roosevelt maybe being the last one before RR), and in between those kind of leaders you have to settle for someone lesser.

Fred Thompson has the chance to go out and work for the liberty side of the Republican party for the next 4 to 8 years. maybe he can work with the less shrill RP supporters and build a coalition like Nixon and Reagan did. There is nothing easy about it, and it is an enormous personal sacrifice for little gain.

[roo_ster]

Tecumseh:

I was kidding a bit with the Dems.  See the asterisk at the bottom of the post.

------------

If someone put a gun to my head and said, "Pick a Rep candidate or I'll blow your brains out, RIGHT NOW," I think I would choose The big flip-flopper himself, Mitt, "Spatula Boy" Romney.

If I were to tick off the issues, Ron Paul would likely be the best fit, the exception being his "blame-America first*" foreign policy views.  But, Romney (currently) gets the nod because he is not McCain or Huck and is best situated to deny them the nomination.

I think I will have to do some due diligence and read up on the Constitution Party, in case I can not hold down my lunch and actually vote for any of the Republican nominees.

Oh, well, I still have some time to be ambivalent about it all, since Texas's primary does not occur for a few weeks.





*  The greatest problem with RP is not his "Come home America"-ism, but his need to parrot every "blame America first" conspiracy theory.  The second strike is all the loons that support him.  Between all the stinkin' lefties and the Stormfronters, I'd have to give both body and mind a good scrubbing, were I to rub elbows with them.

[Perd Hapley]

If I were to tick off the issues, Ron Paul would likely be the best fit, the exception being his "blame-America first*" foreign policy views.  But, Romney (currently) gets the nod because he is not McCain or Huck and is best situated to deny them the nomination.

I think I will have to do some due diligence and read up on the Constitution Party, in case I can not hold down my lunch and actually vote for any of the Republican nominees. 

My Dad is a Const. Party guy and a Ron Paul guy.  He says the CP is trying to get RP as their pres. candidate, if he does not get the Rep. nomination.  I imagine he would go with the Libertarian Party first, though.  Or form his own party, since he already has one.   

[Scout26]

I'm in the same boat.  Illinois' primary isn't until 5 Feb.

I'm tempted to pull a Democrat ballot and vote for Edwards just to screw with Hillary and Barak.

[Lennyjoe]

If Paul had a sane foreign policy,

That's the main reason I won't vote for this guy.

Since Fred's dropped out I'm trying to figure out which way I'll go.  I'm definitely going to vote this year, maybe not for a President but surely for other issues.

Definitely won't vote for any Democrat and might not vote for any Republican cause I don't like any of them.  Most of all McCain.

[Bigjake]

If Paul had a sane foreign policy,

Agreed. And he doesn't, so why do we talk about him?? 

If his groupies around here are any indicator, we're better off sitting things out anyway.

[Tecumseh]

If Paul had a sane foreign policy,

Agreed. And he doesn't, so why do we talk about him?? 

If his groupies around here are any indicator, we're better off sitting things out anyway.

  Some of us would say the same about Fred "Da Fattest Head In Tennessee" Thompson and his supporters.

[Bigjake]

  Some of us would say the same about Fred "Da Fattest Head In Tennessee" Thompson and his supporters.

 

Be quiet, grownups are talking here.

[Silver Bullet]

Sorry to hear about Fred dropping out  ; he was the only candidate besides Ron Paul I could vote for enthusiastically.

Meanwhile, some of the pro-Fred, anti-Paul zealots have painted themselves into a corner with their remarks running down Ron Paul for the silliest reasons.     Now who are they going to vote for ? Probably Huckabee, who I guess is also my next choice of the remaining candidates, but I see him as a long ways down from Paul and Thompson.

Not too late to admit you made a mistake !    Are you really going to vote for Giuliani/Romney/McCain ahead of Ron Paul if Huckabee drops out too ?   

[Paddy]

I think it's hilarious that anybody took Fred seriously from the beginning. 

[Bigjake]

Not too late to admit you made a mistake !    Are you really going to vote for Giuliani/Romney/McCain ahead of Ron Paul if Huckabee drops out too ?    

I don't get your question..... Pick one, because they all suck??

P.S.- Mike "Bring The Constitution to heel with The Bible" Huckabee,  surely you jest....

[Tecumseh]

  Some of us would say the same about Fred "Da Fattest Head In Tennessee" Thompson and his supporters.

 

Be quiet, grownups are talking here.

  That is not very polite.  Maybe its my good moral uprbringing but making fun of others becuase they disagree with you is not something that would please a certain little 8 lb. 6 oz deity.

Either way I will be polite and take the high road. 

I am happy that Fred is gone.  He never had any traction and all he did was take money from good honest Americans to fund his little chili cookout tour.

[Bigjake]

That is not very polite.  Maybe its my good moral uprbringing but making fun of others becuase they disagree with you is not something that would please a certain little 8 lb. 6 oz deity.

Either way I will be polite and take the high road. 

I am happy that Fred is gone.  He never had any traction and all he did was take money from good honest Americans to fund his little chili cookout tour.

Sigh.  Some points make themselves.  You make me tired.

[HankB]

Romney, Giuliani, Huckabee . . . if any of them win, the GOP remnants in the House & Senate will be content to keep acting as Democratic Party Lite. (Forget what they SAY today - just consider what they've actually DONE in the past.) The ONLY possibility of some good coming out of one of their administrations is that we might (if we're lucky!) get a better SCOTUS appointment than we would from any Democrat. It's a long shot, to be sure, but there's NO chance of a good appointment from any of the Democrats that are running.

Hillary, Obama, Edwards . . . as disdainful as they are of American values, they would be disasterous for the country . . . but maybe, just maybe, the GOP legislators would start acting the way they ought to. A dose of bitter medicine might be just what they need . . . but at what point does bitter medicine actually become poison?

[Manedwolf]

Sorry to hear about Fred dropping out  ; he was the only candidate besides Ron Paul I could vote for enthusiastically.

Meanwhile, some of the pro-Fred, anti-Paul zealots have painted themselves into a corner with their remarks running down Ron Paul for the silliest reasons.     Now who are they going to vote for ? Probably Huckabee, who I guess is also my next choice of the remaining candidates, but I see him as a long ways down from Paul and Thompson.

Not too late to admit you made a mistake !    Are you really going to vote for Giuliani/Romney/McCain ahead of Ron Paul if Huckabee drops out too ?   

Yes, because a shrill Jimmy Carter redux with an arbitrary "R" stuck to his head would do nothing good for foreign policy. Iran would probably take a bunch of hostages just because they knew they could.

[Silver Bullet]

We'll see if foreign policy differences are so important to you when McCain/Romney/Giuliani sign a new AWB with no grandfathering and no sunset clause.