It’s not even February, and it seems the media types have already appointed a candidate for the Republican ticket. We’re barely done with a handful of primaries, and if you listen to the pundits, John McCain is the man. And so far he’s only won in one state, and that by only 3 percent.
The South Dakota Primary won’t happen until June 3, and who knows who will even still be in the running by that time. To be honest, I’m not terribly excited about any of them, but any of them would be far preferable to Hillarious Clinton or Barack Obama.
My pick for the Republican ticket would be Fred Thompson, but that all changed just yesterday when he threw in the towel. Even the commentators on the political right didn’t see much chance for him to prevail in the primaries, and his “fire in the belly” speech did nothing to help him in anybody’s eyes. So he’ll likely be off to his next acting gig (although you can still buy Fred ’08 stuff on his website; I might just pick up a coffee mug!)
Mit Romney is my second pick (I guess he’s first now), but he has that Mormon thing going against him. I think he’d lead well and keep his goofy, um, cult… thing… at bay; but at the end of the day, the fact that he buys into the Mormon teachings makes one question his judgement. Some might argue that Mormonism isn’t much different than mainline Christianity, but that someone wouldn’t be me. Christianity takes faith to comprehend, but makes sense when viewed historically; Mormonism is just plain off-the-charts weird. What I like about Romney is that he’s squeaky clean and he’s closer to the Reagan Conservative model than the alternatives. He’s not a dead-on Reagan Conservative, but he’s darn close. If only he didn’t have that Mormon thing to drag him down.
Rudy Giuliani is RINO, even more so than McCain. Even though I think he’d be a good leader, I’d have trouble voting for him.
And that leaves us with Mike Huckabee, the former Baptist minister from Arkansas. Of the whole bunch, he’s probably got the most experience that would help him in the White House, but even considering that and the fact that he’s a Christian, I still don’t know if he’d be the best guy for the job. His record on economic issues is less than stellar; from what I understand, he governs more like a moderate or a liberal when it comes to money.
Why oh why can’t we get another true Reagan Conservative to run for the presidency? Someone who knows economics and is able to lead with that knowledge and educate the people to understand and accept the truths of conservative economics. Someone with the charisma and the financial backing to make a successful go of it. There is someone out there who fits that description; he just isn’t running for office this year. Maybe in 2012?
Can I nominate John Thune?
It’s funny how much of a fuss is made by so many in the mainstream media over the failure of the GOP constituency to come together behind any of the Republican candidates. The problem is that I’m not the only one who has trouble getting excited over any of these guys. But one thing I do know is that no matter who wins, Republicans will be rooting for whoever is nominated, because regardless of how unexcited we might be about the candidates, we will most assuredly come together to defeat the Democrats, regardless of who is nominated on that ticket. Any of the guys on the Republican side would be preferable to Hillary or Obama.
And all that amid news of a looming recession and stock markets plunging worldwide… Could it be the markets are shuddering at even the thought of Obama or Clinton in the White House this time next year?