3 posts tagged “super tuesday”
Super Tuesday has come and gone. The waters are a little less muddy but they are still muddy.
For the Democrats Hillary asserted herself as a front runner however by no means eliminated Obama from nipping at her feet.
For the Republicans the once down for the count McCain has beat the ten-count to be ahead in points. Romney had a surprisingly disappointing showing and Huckabee had a surprisingly strong showing; however that combination seems to have cancelled each other out giving the old man McCain new vigor toward a nomination win.
In politics things can change but it appears Huck's strong show may embolden him to go all the way through the primary process even if it is a loosing effort in the hope that miracles will continue to boost him toward an unlikely nomination.
Romney was seriously hurt by Super Tuesday. He has the money to stay in the race; however at this point the businessman needs to calculate the profit and loss and decide on a strategy that could make him a king maker or part of the winning nominee's team in some influential manner. Of course as I have said, politics change. Any unforeseen occurrence could rearrange the fortunes of the Republicans top three candidates at any moment.
Which Republican do I support? I just cannot come up with a clear choice; however I do not suffer from a McCain Derangement Syndrome that might lead to a certain Democratic Party victory. A Dem victory although expected is not a shoe-in and is abhorrent to me.
I cannot vote for a Mormon to win the nomination because of my religious beliefs; however I will vote for a Mormon over a Democrat any day of the week especially in November 2008.
I like Huck’s self-proclaimed Social Conservatism and his stand of not being ashamed to be a Christian; however there are elements of taxation and immigration that bother me about Huck. Still I will vote Huckabee in November above any Democrat nominated. The Democrats are simply to fringe to the Left and although I know they think they are helping Americans by denigrating military confrontation with Islamofascists they are really emboldening the Islamofascists with greater confidence to continue acts of terrorism that could once again reach the land of Purple Mountain’s Majesty.
I’ll see at the Republican Convention who I will ultimately vote for in November. And may all Republicans set aside their differences and stand united behind whoever that winner is. The Democratic Party platform of “Change” is a change to the Left and that will not be good for America.
Look today is Super Tuesday. Since Fred Thompson dropped out because of a lack of support from those who should have supported the only true Conservative in the Republican race, I have been in a disappointing funk as to who I should support.
Frankly all the remaining candidates have just as many knocks as plusses and I truly do not know who the best is.
Although McCain has a history of teaming up with Leftists, he does have a decent Senatorial voting record on Conservative causes. The many pundits that are hysterical about McCain being the front runner as of this date are way overboard on the venom if you look at McCain in balance. Some pro-McCain Republicans have called this McCain Derangement Syndrome.
Romney has a solid record as an administrative person in the private sector and in government as the Governor of Massachusetts. However as a politician he has had to comply with a mostly liberal voter constituency in the State of Massachusetts thus he has made some politically social stands that are abhorrent to the social Conservative; viz. on abortion and homosexual rights. Being a politician and seeking to gratify a larger constituency – viz. the entire USA. This has given him the appearance of a flip flopper as Romney has recanted on some of his gubernatorial stands. The issue for me about Romney though is his religious faith. Yeah I know, to the secularist it sounds bigoted; however I am a Bible believing Christian that has always viewed Mormon theology as not even close to Christian basic theology that even Catholics, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians agree on. Saying all that, if Romney was to pull out the Republican nomination, I would vote for him. Any Republican is way better that than the obviously Socially Left moral relativists who continue a Secular Humanist transformation of American society.
Then there is Mike Huckabee. At this stage Huckabee probably does not have enough money to make his case to the American people. Ironically Conservatives criticize Huckabee for being fiscally Leftist and acknowledge his Social Conservatism. Just today I ran into a website that is critical of Huckabee’s potential connection to “Reconstructionist Christianity.” The Reconstructionists (aka Dominionists) believe the Law of the land in America should be closer to that of Old Testament laws (bad news since Christ redeemed Believers from the curse of the Law in the Old Testament) than the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. That is the knock; however from actual readings of Rushdoony’s (father of Reconstructionism) writings, he appears to be more of an advocate of inserting Christian principles into the Constitution rather than abolishing the Constitution of or the Bill of Rights. One other Huckabee gaffe was a December 30, 2007 interview with Leftist Tim Russert in which Huckabee is caught saying homosexuality is a matter of personal choice. Of course anti-Huckabee people wanted to make the Christian Right aware that Huckabee might not be as Socially Conservative as he proclaims.
I call it a gaffe because what the anti-Huckabee people fail to point out is Huckabee’s explanation of his “homosexual statement.”
Although Huckabee asked Russert to understand that "when a Christian speaks of sin, a Christian says all of us are sinners," he asserted that "the perfection of God is seen in a marriage in which one man, one woman live together as a couple committed to each other as life partners."
So here’s the thing. I am voting Republican in 2008 for whoever wins the nomination. For me there is no clear cut choice. However if I was pinned down on who to vote for today, I would lean toward Christian Social Conservatism and that would be Mike Huckabee.
Here is a good clip for a Christian to vote for Huckabee:
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I owe a hat tip to the information to Jim Phelan.
My Man Fred came in a disappointing third place in South Carolina. Apparently Huck believes Fred was a spoiler for his campaign in South Carolina and would have won over McCain if Fred was not there.
For me it boggles my mind that my fellow Christian Right voters are falling for Huckabee instead of Thompson. Thompson has the proven record of the most consistent Conservative fiscally and socially of the Candidates that have a real shot in the competition for the nomination.
Apparently Huckabee’s ministerial ordination credentials and home spun ability to connect with voters is of more value than a consistent Conservative track record.
Officially Fred has not thrown in the towel after counting so much on South Carolina; however a rather dour speech that sounded like “Thanks for the Memories” provides the appearance Fred is thinking of withdrawing.
I doubt Fred will gain any traction in the touted Florida Primary coming up; however I pray Fred stays in through Super Tuesday. If Fred can lose the dourness and show the fire he had in the last few debates, Super Tuesday may prove good for Fred even if he is not the majority winner. If the Republican Convention has no clear winner of delegates, then the bargaining begins in extra ballots at the Convention. Something I have never seen in my life time, but it has happened.
So my man Fred, stiffen that back and get tough and stick it out. A Convention that decides on multiple ballots does not mean the candidate with the most delegates after the first ballot is the automatic winner. A Candidate must win a minimum of 1191 delegates to be declared the winner of the Presidential nomination. If that doesn’t happen on the first ballot, the back room deals and political wrangling to come up with magic number occurs.
Thus even a third or fourth place finish for Fred may be seen as the logical compromise choice with his consistent Conservativism.
