CONSERVATIVES - WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE ?
With the announcement by Fred Thompson that he has ended his bid for the Republican nomination for President, where does this leave conservatives in making a choice as to who to back for the GOP ?
If most of those who call themselves conservative are like me, we are conservatives first and Republicans second. While we will vote for the eventual nominee, if the platform or the candidate are not following conservatives principles our vote will be more against the Democrat than for the Republican.
Many of us who are conservatives today found our political core from the leadership of one man, President Ronald Reagan. We discovered through his unwavering stand for conservatism and the fantastic optimism that he always shared about the greatness of this country and the absolute confidence he had in the people of this nation we love, that not only did Reagan speak for us he was speaking ABOUT us. We found in him a President who understood our values, our morals and our belief in what Government should be and that the people are what make this nation great and it is we who are the ultimate voice for the nation.
Since then conservatives have been searching for another Reagan, knowing that no one could ever match his greatness or fill his shoes because God in his wisdom gave us only one. But yet we look for one who could follow in his footsteps and take the GOP back to the Reagan conservative policy and agenda that made the GOP the force that it was in the late eighties and the nineties.
We thought we had that person in Fred Thompson. He had most of the conservative credentials. He spoke eloquently and from the heart. But most of all he believed in the people and in the conservative values that we hold so dear, limited government, reduced spending, giving the money back to the people in the form of tax relief and a strong military which equates to strong national security. Fred also held strong to the moral issues that conservatives believe in. Though Fred was not Ronald Reagan, he did follow in the footsteps of Reagan and the conservatism that the GOP has fallen away from in the last few years.
His campaign never really caught on and though the Vice Presidency is still a possibility, we conservatives are now faced with settling for a candidate who may not follow our beliefs or values whether morally or politically.
Rudy Giuliani - While his campaign is struggling and after Florida, Rudy may no longer be a factor, he offers conservative points in the national security issues but in social conservatism, Rudy is far from conservative. Though he has indicated that if elected he would nominate Judges like Alito and Roberts which does calm some of the moral issues, his record is still less than stellar while he was Mayor of New York.
Mike Huckabee - Very conservative morally but extremely liberal when it comes to spending, (65% increase while Arkansas Governor), taxes, (more than $1, 000 dollar increase per taxpayer while Governor), and his record shows he favors social programs for illegals, a stance he has tried to run from while campaigning but a record none the less that he cannot hide nor run from. Plus with the loss in South Carolina he too may not be around much longer.
Mitt Romney - Romney is talking a conservative game now but his record and many of the successes he boasts of as Governor of Massachusetts speaks otherwise. Many who have backed Fred seem to be leaning toward Romney because of what he is saying on the campaign trail but I have found over the years that in most cases politically speaking, a Leopard does not change his spots.
Romney's success as Governor was more compromising with a liberal legislature than standing for conservative principles as he is trying to portray. We had enough of that in the first four years with President Bush as he tried to reach out to the Democrats and that compromise which lead to unfettered spending ended up costing the GOP the Congress in 2006.
John McCain - Of all the remaining candidates McCain has angered conservatives the most. With legislation like McCain/Feingold, the recently defeated Amnesty bill that he partnered with Ted Kennedy and the gang of 14 during the appointments of Judges Roberts and Alito, McCain has ruffled many conservative feathers. He has been one who was known to stab the GOP in the back in other instances also as he was one of only two GOP Senators to vote against the Bush tax cuts.
But McCain has been reaching out to conservatives in the past weeks and he is talking a Reagan conservative platform. One thing I can say for him is that he is one Senator who has not sought pork for his State of Arizona and his honesty is unquestionable. Good, bad or indifferent, whether it hurt him politically or not, McCain has always done exactly what he said. If that honesty holds true he may very well have seen the light and understands that the conservative approach is what this nation needs and wants. But the Leopard and the changing of spots idea may still hold true and that is why I still have much hesitation with McCain.
So where do we conservatives stand ? Honestly I do not know. Fred Thompson in the VP spot on the ticket would certainly fill conservative gaps with any of the candidates who still have a reasonable chance at the nomination which looks to be either McCain or Romney and Rudy with an outside chance though recent polls even have that diminishing.
Were it not for McCain/Feingold a full fledged, real Reagan conservative would have already been in the race and Newt Gingrich would have made this a moot point. But he cannot run without damaging the non-profit conservative think tank that he has invested so much time and effort into AND run for President.
So we are left with the wait and see on Super Tuesday and eventually the Convention. I do not envy any of my fellow conservatives who still have not voted in a Primary for you have an extremely difficult decision in casting your vote. But by all means vote. Remember it was conservatives staying away from the polls that helped the Democrats take power in 2006. So please make your voice heard at the polls in your State and then again in November!
As far as the Democrats are concerned Hillary, who I believe will be the nominee especially now that she is kicking the Clinton machine into high gear, is VERY beatable and polls indicate that McCain has the best chance against her.
We conservatives can only hope that in the next few months the party that has slid away from our values and Reagan beliefs will wake up and realize that returning to those principles will not only bring victory in November but will once again take this nation down the path of strength and prosperity.
Ken Taylor
If most of those who call themselves conservative are like me, we are conservatives first and Republicans second. While we will vote for the eventual nominee, if the platform or the candidate are not following conservatives principles our vote will be more against the Democrat than for the Republican.
Many of us who are conservatives today found our political core from the leadership of one man, President Ronald Reagan. We discovered through his unwavering stand for conservatism and the fantastic optimism that he always shared about the greatness of this country and the absolute confidence he had in the people of this nation we love, that not only did Reagan speak for us he was speaking ABOUT us. We found in him a President who understood our values, our morals and our belief in what Government should be and that the people are what make this nation great and it is we who are the ultimate voice for the nation.
Since then conservatives have been searching for another Reagan, knowing that no one could ever match his greatness or fill his shoes because God in his wisdom gave us only one. But yet we look for one who could follow in his footsteps and take the GOP back to the Reagan conservative policy and agenda that made the GOP the force that it was in the late eighties and the nineties.
We thought we had that person in Fred Thompson. He had most of the conservative credentials. He spoke eloquently and from the heart. But most of all he believed in the people and in the conservative values that we hold so dear, limited government, reduced spending, giving the money back to the people in the form of tax relief and a strong military which equates to strong national security. Fred also held strong to the moral issues that conservatives believe in. Though Fred was not Ronald Reagan, he did follow in the footsteps of Reagan and the conservatism that the GOP has fallen away from in the last few years.
His campaign never really caught on and though the Vice Presidency is still a possibility, we conservatives are now faced with settling for a candidate who may not follow our beliefs or values whether morally or politically.
Rudy Giuliani - While his campaign is struggling and after Florida, Rudy may no longer be a factor, he offers conservative points in the national security issues but in social conservatism, Rudy is far from conservative. Though he has indicated that if elected he would nominate Judges like Alito and Roberts which does calm some of the moral issues, his record is still less than stellar while he was Mayor of New York.
Mike Huckabee - Very conservative morally but extremely liberal when it comes to spending, (65% increase while Arkansas Governor), taxes, (more than $1, 000 dollar increase per taxpayer while Governor), and his record shows he favors social programs for illegals, a stance he has tried to run from while campaigning but a record none the less that he cannot hide nor run from. Plus with the loss in South Carolina he too may not be around much longer.
Mitt Romney - Romney is talking a conservative game now but his record and many of the successes he boasts of as Governor of Massachusetts speaks otherwise. Many who have backed Fred seem to be leaning toward Romney because of what he is saying on the campaign trail but I have found over the years that in most cases politically speaking, a Leopard does not change his spots.
Romney's success as Governor was more compromising with a liberal legislature than standing for conservative principles as he is trying to portray. We had enough of that in the first four years with President Bush as he tried to reach out to the Democrats and that compromise which lead to unfettered spending ended up costing the GOP the Congress in 2006.
John McCain - Of all the remaining candidates McCain has angered conservatives the most. With legislation like McCain/Feingold, the recently defeated Amnesty bill that he partnered with Ted Kennedy and the gang of 14 during the appointments of Judges Roberts and Alito, McCain has ruffled many conservative feathers. He has been one who was known to stab the GOP in the back in other instances also as he was one of only two GOP Senators to vote against the Bush tax cuts.
But McCain has been reaching out to conservatives in the past weeks and he is talking a Reagan conservative platform. One thing I can say for him is that he is one Senator who has not sought pork for his State of Arizona and his honesty is unquestionable. Good, bad or indifferent, whether it hurt him politically or not, McCain has always done exactly what he said. If that honesty holds true he may very well have seen the light and understands that the conservative approach is what this nation needs and wants. But the Leopard and the changing of spots idea may still hold true and that is why I still have much hesitation with McCain.
So where do we conservatives stand ? Honestly I do not know. Fred Thompson in the VP spot on the ticket would certainly fill conservative gaps with any of the candidates who still have a reasonable chance at the nomination which looks to be either McCain or Romney and Rudy with an outside chance though recent polls even have that diminishing.
Were it not for McCain/Feingold a full fledged, real Reagan conservative would have already been in the race and Newt Gingrich would have made this a moot point. But he cannot run without damaging the non-profit conservative think tank that he has invested so much time and effort into AND run for President.
So we are left with the wait and see on Super Tuesday and eventually the Convention. I do not envy any of my fellow conservatives who still have not voted in a Primary for you have an extremely difficult decision in casting your vote. But by all means vote. Remember it was conservatives staying away from the polls that helped the Democrats take power in 2006. So please make your voice heard at the polls in your State and then again in November!
As far as the Democrats are concerned Hillary, who I believe will be the nominee especially now that she is kicking the Clinton machine into high gear, is VERY beatable and polls indicate that McCain has the best chance against her.
We conservatives can only hope that in the next few months the party that has slid away from our values and Reagan beliefs will wake up and realize that returning to those principles will not only bring victory in November but will once again take this nation down the path of strength and prosperity.
Ken Taylor
posted by The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth | 10:13 AM
7 Comments:
I'm in a real pickle here.
My Primary is Feb. 5 and I think it's to late to take Fred off the ballot.
Well maybe not I havent heard much about it.
But who the heck do I vote for Feb. 5?
I better get my mind together and fast!
I'm slightly pissed off, I think Fred should have stayed in the race till after Feb 5 and then decided what to do.
Now he left us wondering WTF are we gonna do the 5th!
I am in a real mess.
Marie, one thing I have learned since I started following politics is that while there are no perfect candidates, ther are great principles in which we as Americans can follow in our voting and our choice of candidates.
While Reagan embodied the vast majority of those principles there will never be another like him.
The GOP though flawed still embodies the majority ofthe principles that I believe in and even though the current candidates fall short on many each still follows many of those principles.
The next step is to evealuate the candidate from a personal stand point.
I don't trust Huckabee period.
I like Rudy but he is to liberal from many social asloects and his chances are dimming by the day.
The choice is falling between McCain and Romney. Then if I still was in a position to vote, I would decide as I enetered the voting booth as to which would be best in protecting the country that I love and standing strong on the values I cherish and it would boil down to those main elements as to which candidate I would vote for.
Though he has indicated that if elected he would nominate Judges like Alito and Roberts which does calm some of the moral issues, his record is still less than stellar while he was Mayor of New York.
His record on what, as mayor? According to Rudy, abortions went down 16% & adoptions went up 133% when he was NYC mayor.
Having a pro-life conservative candidate is no guarantee that a strict constructionist will end up on the bench. Reagan got us Kennedy, and the first George Bush got us Souter.
Were it not for McCain/Feingold a full fledged, real Reagan conservative would have already been in the race and Newt Gingrich would have made this a moot point.
But how is Newt any better than Giuliani in the "moral issue", for social conservatives?
I think the anti-McCain's have gone off the deep end, in their unbridled criticism, to the point that they are having to stretch some of the truth, in order to justify it in their own minds, that McCain is not worthy of being a Republican.
You mis understood my comment and some of the post Word. My reference to rudy was concerning his social issues like gun control and some of the tax issues he had in NYC.
While I have misgivings about McCain I could vote for him if he were the nominee. My critism of him is as it has been for many years but I also noted in the post that he is seeming to understand that things like the Amnesty bill etc did upset the people.
I mentioned that if he holds true to the honesty that he has always shown then his agenda will be more in line with conservatives. Never once have I suggested that he did not belong in the GOP.
BTW the reason that Newt did not run was because restrictions within McCain/Feingold would not allow him to head his non-profit and run for President without desolving the non-profit first.
Right now I'm considering either McCain or Romney. I'm leaning toward Romney, and waiting for the next debate.
Great post here, Ken. We are indeed in a pickle!
Never once have I suggested that he did not belong in the GOP.
Ken,
I wasn't addressing you entirely, but a general mood amongst fellow conservatives. So I basically used your comments as a springboard for my own soapbox pontifications.
I'm jumping in kind of late considering this is the first time I've come near the computer in a few days. I was so upset to hear about Thompson, but can't say I didn't see it coming. At this point, I am also leaning toward Romney or McCain.....gotta do some more investigating in all their policies. Great post as usual!
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