The Republican Party

[Anafe]

As what I heard in Sirius radio (http://www.sirius.com/freeradio) recently, the republican party presidential candidates battled in Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday. With polls showing Mike Huckabee as the new frontrunner all of the people's attention were on him. I just wonder if his performance was enough to keep his lead.

[Archasgame5]

Support for Huckabee is definitely growing.

[BillyPilgrim]

He won't last past Iowa.

[Elrathin]

Huckabee is a Pat Robertson in disguise and nothing more. The religious right has been nothing but a plague to the Republican party, look for the Republicans to reflect that in their vote.

[ClayBarham]

The GOP will face a plague if they try to off the religiously motivated voters, and attacks on Huckabee have already shown that. The religious among us far outnumber the small, bitter, angry, envious leftists who spend their time being rude. But, I have to agree, as attractive as he might be, I would expect Romney or Rudy, because of experience to lead the field. Either one of them may ask Huckabee to run as VP, and that might be a strong ticket. They cannot worry about the Marxist-Democrat vote, as they will always lean to a more Po Pot candidate.

[ViolaLee]

The GOP will face a plague if they try to off the religiously motivated voters, and attacks on Huckabee have already shown that. The religious among us far outnumber the small, bitter, angry, envious leftists who spend their time being rude. But, I have to agree, as attractive as he might be, I would expect Romney or Rudy, because of experience to lead the field. Either one of them may ask Huckabee to run as VP, and that might be a strong ticket. They cannot worry about the Marxist-Democrat vote, as they will always lean to a more Po Pot candidate.
You're hilarious. You make a small, bitter, angry, rude post that calls us small, bitter, angry and rude.

Amazing.

[preservanation]

Huckabee is a Pat Robertson in disguise and nothing more. The religious right has been nothing but a plague to the Republican party, look for the Republicans to reflect that in their vote.
You are right on.
The religious right should form their own party or better yet not be allowed to vote.
People who vote on the basis of religious principal are definitely violating the separation of church and state.

[Buck Laser]

Seems to me that the republican candidates each have a small core constituency that's incapable of transferring its allegiance to another candidate. A couple of strange and notable exceptions have been the Guiliani endorsements by Pat Robertson and Tex Guv Rick Perry, who's since been overheard expressing his admiration for Huckabee.

But the Giuliani supporters in general don't seem to be able to visualize supporting another candidate. Huckabee apparently has great appeal to religious people, while Paul has certainly won the hearts of all with a libertarian bent. It's a bit of a reverse problem with Romney, where a significant number of people would never support him, simply because he's Mormon. One wonders if they can possible come up with a consensus candidate.

[Elrathin]

The problem is the TRUE Religious right is growing less and less, because there simply aren't a majority of Americans that follow Christianity to the exact degree they should.

The majority of Americans may SAY they are Christians, but the majority of Americans don't ACT like Christians. There is a difference in talking the talk and walking the walk.

I once asked a couple of people why they are Christian and they answered, because my parents were. They didn't know ANYTHING about the religion other than they had to go to church each Sunday and accept that Jesus Christ was their Savior. NOTHING MORE.

The religious right much like a disease that is getting controlled is growing less and less.

[Drocket]

...the Guiliani endorsements by Pat Robertson...
Pat Robertson's endorsement (as well as pretty much all of the endorsements that Guiliani has gotten) have been because he's been considered the candidate most likely to appeal to independent voters. I really haven't seen much of anyone who's endorsed Guiliani because they actually like him - it's because of his perceived "mainstream appeal". With his campaign going down in flames with the constant string of scandals, though, I don't think he has a chance in hell, and his supporters are jumping ship as fast as they humanly can.

One wonders if they can possible come up with a consensus candidate.
It'll be Huckabee. He's already got the so-called "moral majority" vote, and he's been making major inroads in getting the racist vote (with a major change in position that in a Democrat would be called a 'flip flop', but for a Republican, merely 'reexamining a former position.') To get the libertarian wing of the Republican party's vote, all he needs to do is promise to continue the disastrous failed fiscal policies of the Bush administration.

Unless there's a serious upset, like Huckabee being caught tapping his foot in the men's room (I really wouldn't be surprised at this point...) or Thompson rising from grave and actually campaigning, I think Huckabee is a fairly decent lock on the race at this point.

[NortheastCynic]

Huckabee is a very polished religious rightist who doesn't believe in any form of evolution and openly claims that his religion does come into play when he makes decisions. No thank you. The Democrats/left would not have a very hard time against him.

-NC

[Drocket]

The Democrats/left would not have a very hard time against him.

Quite true. He is, however, the only candidate who wouldn't rip the Republican party to shreds in being nominated. Pretty much everyone else so completely repulses one wing or another of the Republican party that their nomination would almost certainly fracture the party.

[NortheastCynic]

I don't think it's an issue of fracturing or uniting, I think it's a matter of showing up on Election day or not. Several other candidates, Romney in particular, would cause much of the religious right to stay at home, but I don't think it will splinter the party.

-NC

[preservanation]

Too many moderates in the field.
It is Conservatism vs liberalism. There is no compromise.
The GOP needs someone who can beat back the ooze of socialism which is seeping into the fabric of our society and gov.

[Phyxius]

Too many moderates in the field.
It is Conservatism vs liberalism. There is no compromise.

That mindset is why your party is on the ropes now and doomed to failure in the future...

[Buck Laser]

Huckabee is a very polished religious rightist who doesn't believe in any form of evolution and openly claims that his religion does come into play when he makes decisions. No thank you. The Democrats/left would not have a very hard time against him.

-NC

I'm by no means a supporter of Huckabee, and have always considered that evolution is the only rational and viable explanation of how we got here. But the fact that he doesn't believe in evolution strikes me as something that disqualifies him for office.