[tomder55]

Conservatives and Republicans

Does the endorsement of Mitt Romney by National Review (long time publication founded by William Buckley ) mean anything to you ? Will it have any influence on who you support ?

[Wondergirl]

Nope -- just like Oprah's endorsement of Obama means nothing to me.

I make my own decisions based on thorough research and observation.

[Tuscany]

Nope -- just like Oprah's endorsement of Obama means nothing to me.

I make my own decisions based on thorough research and observation.

I second that opinion. I don't need someone else making up my mind. I will educate myself and make what I feel is the best decision for me and my family.

[tomder55]

It seems like a strange endorsement to me .

The Editors on National Review Online

I look at Romney and conclude that he could be a competent President based on his executive and business accomplishments .But he is hardly what you would call a conservative .Not only that;but with many of his conservative positions ,he is a Johnny come lately... or as Fred Thompson said last night (paraphrase ) "he's wearing out that road to Damascus".

National Review wrote in the endorsement

Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate

.In my opinion they were more concerned with "viable" .

[Wondergirl]

They should have endorsed Huckabee.

[excon]

Hello tom:

I think you point out the primary problem with the Republicans. Which is - they don't have a candidate.

Romney is a flip flopper, Huckabee is a big government guy, Giuliani is a philanderer, McCain is too old, Fred is boring, and I can't even remember the names of the rest. Oh, Tancredo... Yeah, the Republicans like him... Bwa, ha ha.

excon

PS> You always got that Keys guy...

[nicespringgirl]

Hoesntly, it does.

I don't have previous news about any candidates since I wasn't raised here.

All the news and reviews I have read now is what helps me determine who is my favourite.

He is one of my favourite anyway, unless he is not a truly social conservative... how do I find out then?

[Edited]

Plus he ran a large enterprise, I have always believed that we need a President that has a strong business background and is well rounded.

[tomder55]

nicespringgirl

I'd say his social conservative positions are what he is a rather recent convert. However ;he has led to my knowledge a very socially conservative life.

Other problems as Excon pointed out is that he is a product of Massachusetts politics .That means that to be successful he had to at a minimum straddle moderate positions . The state medical insurance plan he instituted was very close to plans proposed by Democrats . So there is the spectre of "flip flop "that he will have to live with if he is the nominee.

I agree with you that a successful business man would be a good President but not if it was his sole accomplishment.

[tomder55]

Wondergirl

I posted about Huckabee and it got buried in the Current Events forum https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/curren...se-161536.html

I think Romney and Huckabee are two heads of the same horse. They are both vying for the anti-Rudy alternative vote. The advantage that Huckabee has gained is because the values voters (who were declared irrelevant on this board not too long ago) are standing up to be heard.

But I do not think that Huckabee is the answer . He suffers from different conversions than Romney . He was until recently less than a fiscal conservative.

Of all the candidates , Fred Thompson is perhaps the most consistent conservative. I am really surprised that National Review did not choose him.

[tomder55]

National Review gave the standard media rational about Thompson. That he has not displayed that he wants the job. (that is basically excon's critique also )

But if you got a chance to see the debate in Iowa yesterday you would see that he is getting into mid-season form. There is still a good 3 weeks before the Iowa Caucus and 2 months before Super Tuesday . I think he has plenty of time to convince primary voters he is the real deal. Huckabee's rise shows that momentum can turn quickly .

Thompson himself got a major endorsement this week . Morton Blackwell Endorses Fred Thompson for President - Standard Newswire
Among conservative circles Morton Blackwell's support is a very big plus . He carries great organizational muscle both as Republican National Committeeman and as head of the Leadership Institute, which has trained tens of thousands of conservative acvitists through the years.

[ETWolverine]

I tend to do my own research. Very rarely do I look at endorsements to make up my mind on who I support. Though endorsements tend to be good bellweathers for how a PARTY LEADERSHIP might be leaning. But I've never made decisions based on who the PARTY happens to like.

I do look at who is endorsing a particular Democratic candidate because that tends to give me an idea of which Democrat I will dislike more. For instance, if Michael Moore and George Sorros start backing Obama (and assuming he accepts such endorsements), I think that would make me dislike Obama even more than Clinton. Which would actually be fairly hard to do.

Elliot

[ETWolverine]

Wondy,

If I endorse Obama, would that make a difference? (You know me as someone else from someplace else.)

Nah... you're cool.

Elliot

[Wondergirl]

ET, blame tomder for inviting me here from that other place. I brought along my openmindedness, but Obama already stole my heart when he was hanging out only in Illinois government. (After all, how could such a cute, charismatic guy not get elected somewhere for something?? )

[Wondergirl]

Tomder, Obama is getting his seasoning during this campaign! His "lack of experience" doesn't bother me, especially when I recall what "experience" has done to (not for) our country.

Back to Mitt -- how could his religious preference impact negatively on his being President? It seems like it would be a good thing. The Mormons are very family oriented (a positive thing) and operate within set parameters (another positive). Like the NR said, "Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest."

[Dark_crow]

tomder, Obama is getting his seasoning during this campaign! His "lack of experience" doesn't bother me, especially when I recall what "experience" has done to (not for) our country.

a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest.

And which candidate denies supporting those things too?:)

[Wondergirl]

Giulinani.

[Tuscany]

... "moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest."


How does one go about preserving marriage? That seems like a more personal thing to me. I am going to work hard to preserve my marriage, but why am I worrying about anyone else's marriage?

[Dark_crow]

“Preservation of marriage” is sometimes a code phrase for being against gay marriage.

[Tuscany]

“Preservation of marriage” is sometimes a code phrase for being against gay marriage.

Then this is where I politely bow out of this discussion.

[tomder55]

The religion question is being overplayed . Huckabee denies it is coming from him . But he was also quoted in the NY Slimes Magazine questioning some of the tenets of LDS ;specifically if Mormons think that Jesus and Satan are brothers . That is inflamatory any way you look at it.

Huckabee has also been questioned rather extensively about issues of faith by the press and by so called independent questioners at these town forum like debates . ( " do you think every word in this book (bible)is the literal truth" or something similar to that ).

Amazingly and not unsurprisingly candidates on the Democrat side are not subject to the same scrutiny by the press with the possible exception of Obama's affiliation with Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ ;and issues about race ,not religion.

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.

Trinity United Church of Christ