It seems the reigning question on the Republican side of things is now, "Where do we go from here?" One might say the race for the nomination is over, done, complete, finished, and McCain has been declared the winner. The excitement is over, if there was ever any actual excitement in the Republican nomination process. Romney couldn’t get it going standing on his wobbly “Three-Legged Stool” that was borrowed partially from Reagan and partially from the Tony Perkins far right wing Focus on the Family group. Ron Paul created excitement only among the kooky, who would vote for the likes of a cigar-chomping Texan like Kinky Friedman. There may have been some who could have stirred up some excitement, but it seems the LSM did not give them the opportunity.
Huckabee will continue to plod on with the hope that the votes he gathers will make it nearly impossible for McCain to pick any other but him for second place on the ticket. He will claim that he can carry the evangelical south, but will he be enough to overcome the animosity felt toward McCain by the rest of the more moderate conservative Republicans? Doubtful.
The Conservative Moderates in the party are tired of the religious far right being the “Kingmakers” in the party, and giving in to the Huckabee camp by declaring him VP nominee would be to yet again surrender to them. The conservative moderates, as well as the centrists, showed their displeasure with this faction of the Party in the '06 Congressional elections by weeding out some of the more right-leaning candidates who were up for re-election. Look for more to fall. Hopefully, the GOP has broken the stranglehold that the religious far right has held since ’96 and will move back to the roots of real GOP. Perhaps then they will find the unity necessary to allow them to govern once again without having to bow to the altar of the far right.
McCain walks a narrow path because he cannot win the evangelical south on his own record and his sudden “change of heart” midway into the nomination process. He must now choose an individual who will buy that voting strength he needs in his weak areas of the country. He will have to pick someone who can match the excitement in the Democrat camp with the Hillary/Obama battle. The battle between a White woman and a Black man is the thing that has created the excitement and brought out more Democrat voters than any election in the last 30 years. If the Democrats sustain that type of turnout in November, it will spell victory for them and a devastating defeat for the Republicans.
Has Howard Dean realized that in order to maintain the Dems' excitement, he will have to broker a Hillary/Obama or Obama/Hillary ticket? With only one of them in the running, the excitement fades. With Hillary running, it falls apart. Obama can continue to create the excitement in the rich Black community and the more liberal left of the Party, but will that be enough? He doesn’t seem to be able to carry the Hispanic vote at all nor the women’s vote. However, the excitement is still there, and we are only halfway through the season of nomination.
So far, the Republicans have not created that kind of excitement and voting has been lukewarm, to say the least. Not a good sign. So where does McCain go? Does he pick Huckabee and divide the Party even more, or does he pick someone outside of the loop and hope they can build the enthusiasm needed to bring the factions within the Party together? Who would you pick if you were McCain?
5 comments:
Well Tic, seems as if one must guess what the Democrats are going to do, and if it's black/white, man/woman, what choice does that leave? Condi Rice to show balance?
I think McCain has split the party. I also think we are in for a "Jimmy Carter" experience while the Republicans reform; possibly into a more traditionally patriotic set of goals and truly espouse fiscal responsibility.
Thanks for the entry G-hogg. I agree that there is a split in the party but I will put no more blame on McCain as I do the religious right. The wedge issue driven agenda plus their fervor against Romney and his faith have further split the GOP and I see no healing as long as the religious farright demands to be the Kingmakers. I will be suggesting soon in an upcoming thread that perhaps if they are so disquited with the GOP then perhaps they should form another party. The religious right in Australia did so and it has certainly helped the situation there. It seems that they have won a couple of seats in Parliment during each election and thus they have their voice in government heard.
As an alternative to Huckabee what about Duncan Hunter of California>
He wins the Hispanic vote in California. He would sell well to the religious right since he is a Southern Baptist and pro life. He is a veteran of Vietnam like McCain. His son served in Iraq as a 1st Lt in the USMC and he is a man of his word who said if he failed in his run for office he would not seek re-election and didn’t. He was Chairman of the House Armed Forces Committee which gives him credibility when it comes to military budget and spending. He broke the back of the overpayment for equipment such as $20 ice trays and $20K refrigerators. He is strong on immigration and supported building a fence on the California boarder. He did not suffer in Hispanic votes from his stand on this as he won his election with 65% of the vote in a heavy Hispanic district. He consistently got 60% of the Hispanic vote and 70% of the Democrat vote in his district in the San Diego area. Just a suggestion what say you?
________________________________________
You are the Teacher and I am the student. I just haven't researched enough to have an opinion. As a matter of fact, I hadn't even given it any thought until reading your post today.
I do think Huckabee just isn't a good fit for exactly the same reason you stated in your first reply.
g-hogg there are several others out there that I have not had the opporunity to do much research on as yet. I have eliminated Brownback because he is much the same or more than Huckabee. He of course was another darling of the religious right. Frankly I believe there are some who are now sitting in Congress who would make a great running mate .
Huckabee continues to show his behind and is dividing the GOP more than ever. I have a post written on his comment. "I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles." That was enough for most Republicans and even conservative types to write him off even if he would be the candidate. He won't be but he can kill any chances the GOP may have in defeating Hillary or Obama. At this point Hillary would be the easiest to defeat. She has too much baggage and it would all get dumped out just like going through high risk sercurity customs.
Post a Comment