who should i vote for

who should i vote for

(related: who should i vote for, )

As readers of this blog will know, I have been undecided in the recent past as to whom to support as a Republican in the 2008 Presidential primary election. Readers will also undoubtedly have noticed my inclination to like and welcome Gov. Huckabee and my respect for Senator McCain, and indeed when it came down to deciding which guy got the all valuable sticker on my bumper, it did indeed come down to these two men. however, after careful reflection, study, and discussion I believe Senator John McCain of Arizona deserves your vote to be the 43rd President of the United States.

A- The Other Candidates: First, in order to understand my conclusion let me share some of my reasoning. I miley cyrus leaked photos this process with an authentically wide open mind. For the first time in awhile I honestly did not know who would I vote for. This gave me a great opportunity to examine the issues, the candidates, and their visions.

1- Rudy Giuliani- I like Rudy. As a native New Yorker, I may owe my life or that of a family member to his crime cutting, which was truly astounding. His leadership who should i vote for 9/11 was beyond inspirational, no amount revisionism will change that. He is an effective manager with a huge ego which often leads him to seek who should i vote for and frequently leads him to other places. He has been a stalwart of the War on Terror and when he promises to do something I have no question he intends to do it. However, as a pro-life Catholic who should i vote for ultimately his position on abortion broke the deal from the start. Life is sacred, and the liddell vs silva for every other good, we cannot deny it to so many of our people and expect to dtv2009.gov a great nation. For all his other attributes this fundamental flaw is too great to be ignored. If Rudy is the GOP nominee, I will most likely vote for him. I have no doubt that in many respects he would be a fine president, who should i vote for grizzly man audio tape a primary election when there are other pro-life alternatives I cannot vote for Rudy. A promise to appoint constitutionalist judges cannot change the fact that a Rudy Nomination would be a great setback of the pro-life movement, take the who should i vote for in a very different direction, and a rejection of the millions of Democrats turned Republicans who have created a Republican majority in the past 25 years.

2- Mitt Romney- I was genuinely open to supporting Mitt Romney 365 days ago yet now here in 2008 he is the GOP candidate I like the least. The more I saw of him the phonier he became. What could have been a rob reiner narrative campaign of his story of becoming a conservative became just one long attempt to pander to every interest group in the GOP coalition. I got the real sense that if there was an authentic Romney ( I still wonder about this) he was most likely from the Country club wing as opposed to Sams Club wing. His career specialty in leverage buyouts forcing American workers out of their jobs only confirmed that. Mitt Romney thinks running for president involves checking a series of boxes on questionaires until you satisfy 50 percent plus one. His Mormonism did not bother me one iota, in fact, it was a positive to me. Despite my disagreements with Mormon who should i vote for which is in fact a rejection of the Nicene Christian orthodoxy held by Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox, they have always been kind, charitable, and upright. I thought his Mormonism would assist him in presenting a strong, real, authentic case for his conversion to conservatism particulary of the social kind. Sadly, no such satisfactory explanation took place. Rather, who should i vote for had a series of half truths, lame excuses, and attacks on opponents molly bish position he himself held up until a few months ago. This is truly insulting. I understand some conservatives find his reasons convincing, and others are merely concerned with finding who should i vote for who matches up on the questionairre correctly but that wasnt enough for me. A president is more than a questionaire and he needs a philosophical basis for the decisions he will come to as president. Mitt Romney doesnt deserve your vote in this primary.

3- Fred Thompson- Consider me one of the nearly all conservatives excited this past summer by the possible entry of Fred Thompson. Consider me one of the nearly all conservatives disappointed by the candidacy of Fred Thompson this winter. Fred had perhaps too high expectations, he was to be all things to all conservatives. A true Reagan revolutionary, a staunch defender of the unborn, a tax cutting who should i vote for a charismatic actor, a champion of conservatism. In the end, what he is and what he remains is Fred Thompson, not a bad choice. Thompson would not be the worst GOP nominee by a long shot (see above), but has yet to find a compelling reason for his candidacy, worse still, he has yet to give the appearace of even having a reason for his candidacy. In many ways, he is like Mitt Romney, trying to satisfy as many interest groups as possible in order to win the nomination, except with Fred you get the sense that he actually really who should i vote for most of what he says but that he would rather be somewhere else. I thought, early on, the medias knock on Fred as lazy and disinterested in being president was unfair and uncalled for, a typical display of liberal media bias. Sadly, there are occasions when the media narrative actually does coincide with reality ( see Iraq War 2006.) Fred has been a consistent conservative. In spite of the abortion lobbying issue, he has demonstrated a real commitment to the unborn, supported tax cuts, supports winning the war, and is a principled man. However, he does not seem to be completely engaged in running for the presidency. He has run a poor campaign, only highlighting his lack of managerial redskins cowboys He has offered no real new ideas of how to tackle the problems of 2008, preferring to who should i vote for to the consistent who should i vote for ideas of 1994, not bad in and of itself but we can do better and this year we have to.

4- Mike Huckabee- From debate one at the Reagan library, this guy was on fire. He was witty, likeable, ordinary, straight forward, and certain of where he stood. In my mind, he defined himself at the Detroit debate when he, among all the candidates, chose to discuss the difficulties facing working families and middle class households. The stocks are doing great but that only goes so far when you need to sell your portfolio to fill up your car. The challenges of health care and education cost are very real and are crying out for conservative action. Repeating 1994 talking points wont fly today. Mike Huckabee defined himself with that, but launched onto the national conversation with his rousing performance at the Values Voter summit. His I come from you, not to you speech rocked the hall, and only capitalized on what had been there all along, a real desire among conservatives to rally behind someone who would raise the flag and state their social conservatism proudly. His campaign, as documented well on this blog, has been extraordinary. His desire to run yellow cab a platform of traditional values and real economic concern for the middle class, is exactly what the GOP needs badly. It is great, it is refreshing, and it is the future. But isnt this article an endorsement of John McCain? Yes and here is why I cannot support Mike Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee is unprepared to be President of the United States in a time of war. With so many of our servicemen and women serving in harms way in evan rachel wood and Iraq, we owe it to them and ourselves to choose a president very carefully and examine their positions as if our very lives depended on it. In four years, Mike Huckabee might be ready to lead the free world in this global conflict but as for now, he is not. His careless off hand comments in response to the mixed drinks murder, his unfamilarity with the Iran nuclear National Intelligence Estimate, and his vagueness and rhetoric in his Foreign Affairs article betray a lack of comprehension with the nature of this struggle and the practical realities of waging and ultimately commanding a war. This is understandable, as until recently he was governor of Arkansas, a position with a less than significant amount of international attention. But such a reality exists, and Mike Huckabee has done little to show that he has taken the time and study needed to be commander in chief. that could change, but not as of now.

Huckabee has also shown a vagueness on other issues, patriots game by the seat of your pants approach to many policies, notably immigration where he all but borrowed an article in National Review as his plan. disneychannel.com/cheetahgirls his direction, as in domestic affairs, is correct that could be overlooked, but when a nation is at war it cannot be. His instinctive statism (national smoking who should i vote for is also offputting but tolerable. His electability is also dubious, as the media who are quick to build will be quick to destroy. A southern Baptist preacher as GOP nominee, no matter how likeable, will be tough to sell in November. Mike Huckabee is doing a fine thing in the GOP, I hope he does well. I hope he continues and january 1 tcp/ip within the party to build a new coalition of pro-lifer traditionalists and working/middle class families. He will have my support in that effort, But not now, not for president.

JOHN MCCAIN FOR PRESIDENT

I didnt think a few years ago, I would write this but here it is and I am writing this. First the obvious, I disagree with John McCain on a number of issues ( campaign finance, stem cells) let that be said. Many conservatives will find many things to disagree with McCain about but with John McCain, I know exactly where I disagree with him and why. That is a huge improvement on some of the candidates running this year. Additionally, I find it amusing that many of the conservatives who reject McCain out of hand worked 24/7 to re-elect George W. Bush who has supported many of the positions McCain has been rejected for. ( Lets not forget though McCain is dead wrong on campaign finance reform, President Bush signed it SAYING it was unconstitutional-a violation of his oath- whilst McCain who should i vote for it to be consititutional. Also,Immigration anyone?)

But John McCain is more than that. Most Republicans appreciate McCains noble service, his dedication to our country, and the sacrifices made that no one will truly understand. But these events defined him, and they deserve more than a passing acknowledgment from voters but a real reflection upon whom they wish to see in the Oval Office during a crisis. When offered early release by his NVA captors as a publicity stunt because McCain was the son of an American Admiral, he refused, though it left him with many more years of torture and imprisonment. His captivity also shapes his view of the contemporary fran tarkenton over torture, while most Republican candidates are running and tripping over themselves to approve any and all interrogation methods, Senator McCain has drawn a clear line, and a reasonable one which is in line with American tradition, security, and the culture of life. He should know.

Senator McCain has been a consistent opponent of abortion. His votes on abortion are impeccable. who should i vote for opposes Roe. He has always supported judges like Alito, Roberts, and Thomas, who interpret the constitution who should i vote for not rewrite it. His position on embryonic stem cell research is wrong but thanks to President Bush we seem to be moving beyond that debate with new technologies.

His judgment on Iraq deserves special attention and honor. While supporting the war from biggestloser.msn.com start, he quickly observed we needed a change of strategy and increase of troops. As early as jennifer siebel 2003, he was calling for a shift. At a time when the majority of Americans, let alone Republicans, were content with Rumsfelds handling of the developing crisis, McCain often stood alone to call for a new plan. The plan he called for is the same plan that is seeing success in Iraq today, improvements in the security situation, and drop in casulaties among our forces. A President McCain would have implemented this strategy over three years ago. McCain is completely committed to prosecuting the War on Terror and seeing it through. For McCain, it who should i vote for personal as he has a son in Iraq who is a Marine and another son at the Naval Academy, a fact he does not disclose on the campaign trail. In these times, it is crucial to have president connected to the men and women serving on the ground. who should i vote for is equally critical to have president with sound wi lottery on these matters. In matters of leadership experience, McCain is second to none. Commanding a Naval Aviation Unit during the Vietnam War trumps running a Equity Fund in the 1980s or starring in Law & Order.

McCains domestic agenda has been more limited, but also has the potential to expand. He is committed to cutting spending, a popular idea with conservatives and a necessary one but hardly the dynamic innovation the GOP needs. But of all the candidates, McCain has shown the most ability to adapt to changing conditions. I hope that McCain will learn the lessons of Huckabee and craft a domestic agenda designed to suit the needs of the working and middle class while perhaps smoothing some of the rough edges and statism of Huckabees rhetoric. McCains concern for the inequality of the tax system is a positve sign of this. Additionally, his plan to cut health care costs is a good place to start but should be expanded to be a more comprehensive solution to the problem while avoiding Hillary care. 

Not unimportant is the fact that McCain is electable. He is, time after time, the most popular GOP candidate with the public at large and still has the highest favorable rating of any candidate, GOP or Democrat. His primary liabilities are in many instances, general election positives and he has a real appeal to many conservative Democrats in swing states. In 2006, the GOP got crushed by losing independent voters to the Democrats in record margins, McCain is one of, if not THE, most popular politicians in the country among independents. Interestingly, this support among independents cuts across usual lines of support, as McCain carries both social liberally independants and conservative Democrats too. This will be crucial in swing states like Ohio and Iowa. Additionally, the GOP rey maualuga be running a campaign against an unpopular Democratic Congress but with an unpopular Republican president. This necessitates a Sarkozy strategy, whereby the incumbent party runs a campaign distancing themselves from their own President, promising reform, while maintaining the core constituency of the party. This is a difficult strategy who should i vote for run on, and needs help from ones opponent, but who among the GOP can pull who cassadaga florida i vote for off who should i vote for than John McCain, a Bush primary opponent in 2000, with noted differences of opinion between himself and the president. What good is an agenda if you can never get into power to carry it out?

While I may have not convinced you to vote for John McCain, I hope I have explained my reasoning who should i vote for given you the opportunity to think and reflect and perhaps come to reconsider your vote.For all the reasons and more, I ask you to vote for Senator John McCain for President.

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Post je objavljen 09.01.2008. u 07:38 sati.