[quote]gdol wrote:
JeffR wrote:
gdol wrote:
JeffR wrote:
gDollars37 wrote:
JeffR wrote:
mick28 wrote:
Hey Jeff, do you believe independents exist, or does everyone fall into one of two camps, and cheerlead for their team, right or wrong? Just curious, do you believe in independent voters, or does everyone have to fall into one of two easy boxes for you? Saves you a lot of thinking, doesn’t it?
And I’ll happily vote for almost any of the Republicans (especially McCain, Huckabee, and Hagel) against any potential Democratic nominee. But if it’s Giuliani or Romney, I’ll be voting Libertarian.
Hey, gdol,
I believe there are independent voters. Independent voters split the vote between differing parties. They vote the person and their particular ideas. They take the time to investigate the merits of each candidate.
They never vote straight democrat in “protest.”
Far more distinguished conservatives than the internet’s “JeffR” thought the GOP deserved to be tossed out of power for how corrupt and incompetent it was. Joe Scarborough, Andrew Sullivan, Bruce Bartlett, probably Will and Buckley at heart…
I like your preemptive strike against the Republican nominee. It will be Rudy.
I sincerely doubt it, because Christian conservatives are going to wake up to the fact that this guy is as bad as the Democrats on their issues.
You’ve already removed him from consideration.
Yup, because he’s pro-choice and because he’d make Bush’s abuse of power look like kid’s stuff.
Hey, it beats thinking.
Oh, an independent would take a look at Rudy as he has many viewpoints that aren’t straight party line.
You won’t. You’ll vote for rodham.
It’s your way.
JeffR
“My way”? What do you know about my way? I honestly can’t decide whether you’re just incredibly obtuse or whether you think you’re somehow unmasking closet America-hating Democrats on the internet and saving the country. It’s got to be one or the other, idiocy or delusion. Why would I lie about my politics on a BODYBUILDING FORUM?
To save myself the time, my views mostly fit under this description, from Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher:
I am not a Democrat because I am a religious and social conservative, a Catholic, and the things that are most important to me are the things that the Democratic Party despises my kind for.
Broadly speaking, I’m most concerned about sanctity of life issues (from abortion to biotechnology), as well as various things that I consider a threat to the traditional family (gay marriage, certain economic policies, etc.). I believe, with Russell Kirk, that the family is the institution most necessary to conserve.
And I don’t believe that religious faith is something to be driven out of the public square, as the Democratic Party leadership class seems to. People like me can get a hearing in the GOP. The Dems think we’re the enemy (really, you can check it out).
That said, I am a traditionalist conservative, which is necessarily going to put me at odds with the mainstream of the Republican Party. I don’t share the mainline GOP’s reflexive fear and loathing of environmentalists and their concerns.
I’m a Hobbit-con; I am disturbed by Saruman’s hiring Jack Abramoff to buy off Republicans so that he could turn the shire into Mordor-mart. I also do not share mainline GOPdom’s exaltation of commerce; I’m a Chesterbelloc-con, and put my trust in small business owners, family farmers, and artisans.
And in any case, big business, like big government, is a thing to be viewed with suspicion, because any time you give that much power to human beings, especially those so abstracted from the lives of real people, there is danger.
And on Iraq, I have this quaint, old-fashioned belief that if we are to send young men and women away from their families to kill and maybe even to die, it should be done with utmost deliberation and care. That is not the view of the Bush administration and its Defense Secretary, wedded to his abstractions.
I’d add that I used to trust the Republicans to protect us far more than the Democrats, but this administration’s complete incompetence has made that nearly a wash.
I think that’s the last attempt I’ll make at getting through to your fevered brain, Jeffrey.
Hey, gdol.
Thanks for that (mostly) thoughtful reply.
The problem, as I’ve been pointing out, is that you’d be hard pressed to find a significant number of Conservatives who responded the way you did: voted straight democratic in 2006.
To vote for one party to the exclusion of all else, puts the lie to your “independent” claim.
It indicates that you didn’t look at individuals. You cast an entire party with a broad, unthinking brush.
Now, what would you call your actions in the voting booth?
Thoughtful? Reasoned? Informed? Independent?
JeffR
I’d call it the reaction of a conservative spurned by his party. I would have made an exception for my senator, John Sununu, whose campaign I once worked for and who has been one of the most principled conservatives on the Hill. But I think the Republican party deserved a wake up call, after their tremendous mismanagement of damn near everything, and especially the way Congress was supine in the face of Bush’s breathtaking incompetence.
I know plenty of Republicans who did just what I did, including a Vietnam vet whose son is a Marine in Iraq now, and a political consultant who works for the GOP the vast majority of the time. What’s curious is why you felt like rewarding the GOP at the polls was the best way to curb its descent into corruption and incompetence.[/quote]
gdol,
I think you’ll find many of us on the Right think the Good Guys have been FAR TOO hesitant in their agenda.
However, the modern democrat is one of the worst major parties I have ever seen. Granted, I see them through my own bias. However, I think you’ll agree that their first 100+ days have been a disaster of division and frightening conclusions.
In short, they are exactly what we all knew they’d be.
Americans vote for leadership. It seems that leadership must take into account the phrase “what have you done for me lately.” H.W. Bush in 1992 comes to mind. G.W. Bush at various times (including now). billy boy in 1994. The list goes on.
Your point is a good one. How could I encourage reform in my party by voting for them? My answer is that I believe in the majority of their stated goals.
Does the spending splurge bother me? Yes, it does.
What do the democrats stand for again? It’s a sad commentary that that is a more difficult question than it should be.
It comes down to what day you ask that question?
The only silver lining to 2006 will be that Rudy and the Republicans will learn that they have to lead consistently.
They must accept that there is still media bias and work around it.
Ronald Reagan should be the communication template for all future Republicans.
JeffR