Farewell, Fred

January 22, 2008, 4:00 pm; posted by
Filed under Articles, Featured, Steve  | 3 Comments

The candidate who topped our latest presidential poll has dropped out of the race today, leaving many of us with an uncomfortable decision. I had Fred at position 1B, so I’m not switching horses myself, but it still makes me sad to see the most consistently conservative candidate in the race depart.

If you’re wondering where to go next, I’ll give you a brief tour of the remaining major candidates, as I see them. You can click each candidate’s name to get a better idea of where they stand on each individual issue that might be important to you.

In (my own) descending order . . .

8 — John Edwards
Disadvantages: 100% pro-abortion voting record; ardently anti-business economic rhetoric; borderline-crazy expansion of public university system; thinks he can take away Congressional healthcare to encourage a mandatory universal system; opposes the war in Iraq; opposes the Patriot Act; head in the sand on Social Security (no privatization, no decrease in benefits, no increase in retirement age)
Advantages: Uh… His hair looks nice?
Why I could never vote for him: I couldn’t disagree with this man more.

7 — Hillary Clinton
Disadvantages: Named “Clinton”; many ethical problems; supports a ‘right to education’ through college; strong supporter of ‘campaign finance reform’; consistently pro-abortion; tries to take both sides of issues; wishes to end tax cuts; pushing a quick withdrawal from Iraq
Advantages: Pragmatic politician willing to compromise; (mostly) realistic foreign policy; has a certain level of experience
Why I cannot vote for her: The few areas where we agree are outweighed by the many on which we disagree. If a Democrat has to win, though, I actually hope it’s her.

6 — Barack Obama
Disadvantages: Very young and inexperienced; voted against banning partial-birth abortion (among other things); used and sold drugs as a youth; poor on foreign policy (including odd comments about invading Pakistan); attends a church with a very radical pastor; voted against both of Bush’s highly qualified Supreme Court nominees; holds almost entirely liberal positions
Advantages: Talks about changing Washington in a way that makes you actually believe him; genuinely intelligent and likeable; supports nuclear power
Why I cannot vote for him: Sometimes I think I won’t mind it when he becomes president. Then I remember that he believes in more than just hope and change, and that his principles are uniformly liberal ones.

5 — Ron Paul
Disadvantages: Absolutely loony foreign policy that involves removing troops from all overseas bases; economic plan depends on a totally unrealistic return to the gold standard; constant and continued association with many unsavory elements, some of whom apparently ghostwrote his newsletters for a period of many years; anti-Israel; opposes the Patriot Act and the Iraq War
Advantages: Wonderful (if oversimplified) understanding of the Constitution; solidly socially conservative; generally good on federalism; his election would result in four fascinating years of gridlock and government reduction
Why I cannot vote for him: I agree with him on quite a few things, maybe more than I disagree, but I absolutely cannot vote for someone with his foreign policy positions.

4 — Rudolph Giuliani
Disadvantages: Repeated and terrible scandals in personal life; moderate to liberal on social issues; often stubborn and cruel; supports increased gun control; likely to lead to a pro-life third-party candidate, electing the Democrat as a result
Advantages: Promised to nominate conservative judges; strong on crime as NYC mayor; strong leader after 9/11; will not close Guantanamo; understands the enormity of the war on terror
Why I don’t want to vote for him: He is not an honorable man, and although I could live with his election (and even vote for him), I do not wish to support it or work toward it in any way.

3 — Mike Huckabee
Disadvantages: Raised taxes and grew government as governor of Arkansas; has an absolutely unworkable plan to replace the income tax with a national sales tax; rapidly moving to the right on several issues, including immigration; seems unable to appeal to non-evangelical voters; criticized Bush’s foreign policy; highly questionable ethics as governor
Advantages: Strong pro-life record; endorsed by Chuck Norris; evangelical Christian; unwilling to cede American sovereignty; promised not to raise taxes; friendly, funny and personable
Why I don’t want to vote for him: I don’t think he rightly understands the federalist nature of our government, and I don’t want another president who wants to expand government power over our personal lives, Christian leader or not. His ideas are often good ones, but they aren’t ideas for government to impose. He should work to get the Body of Christ to do something.

2 — John McCain
Disadvantages: Co-authored terrible and unconstitutional campaign finance reform law; joined with Senate Democrats to limit Bush’s judicial nominees; supports amnesty for illegal immigrants; favors bringing enemy combatant detainees into the United States, thus granting them constitutional rights; strong proponent of American action on global warming; old and cranky; opposed Bush tax cuts
Advantages: Socially conservative; strong supporter of the war on terror; always tells you what he thinks regardless of what you think of him; appeals to independents and moderates; legitimate war hero who was tortured for his country for years; strongly supports free trade; experienced
Why I don’t plan to vote for him: I believe his desire to be a “maverick” has led him to many unnecessary and unwise compromises, and his attack on free speech through McCain-Feingold continues to be maddening. But I could certainly vote for him — if I had to.

1 — Mitt Romney
Disadvantages: Changed his mind on abortion while governor of Massachusetts; practicing Mormon; seems robotic and impersonal; associated with some big government-type programs as governor; would not support Bush tax cuts as governor; accused of pandering to voters and changing positions
Advantages: Very successful businessman; saved the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics from financial ruin; successfully governed a very liberal state; very intelligent; excellent problem-solver; strong on foreign policy; favors private Social Security accounts; favors lowered taxes; opposes abortion; favors nuclear energy; supports the Patriot Act
Why I plan to vote for him: Look, I know Mitt Romney is not nearly the perfect candidate. But his “conversion story” on the abortion issue is entirely plausible (especially since it came while he was in office, and he acted accordingly), and he is the candidate most likely to unite the party.

He is socially conservative — now — with strong family values, and he has said these beliefs will control his administration, and that he will appoint solid judges. He is economically conservative, and not only does he preach that on the campaign trail, but he governed like it, balancing his state budget while not raising taxes. And he is conservative on foreign policy, with an understanding of the threat we face and the proper ways to address it — without pandering to the media or attacking our president. Plus, he has a record of success in everything he has done, and he is unquestionably intelligent, which (to be honest) would be nice to have in a candidate.

It’s Romney for me. What do you think?


Comments

3 Comments to “Farewell, Fred”

  1. Job on January 22nd, 2008 5:01 pm

    I am sorry to see him go, truly, but I was even more sorry to never see him arrive…

  2. MC-B on January 22nd, 2008 8:53 pm

    Every time Romney talks, I cringe… he seems slimy and always sounds to me like he’s responding to some sort of attack.

    However, he has experience, sound plans, and strong core beliefs, and these traits are probably going to force me to vote for him if he’s the nominee come the general election.

  3. David on January 22nd, 2008 9:30 pm

    It’s looking more and more like 1996 to me. McCain gets the nod and we have a crossdressing conservative in his 70’s facing off against a Clinton and he just can’t get the Christian vote behind him because people are thinking “He’s a conservative? Since when?”

Leave a comment!