As I mentioned before, I lived in the South, Alabama specifically, for several years, and have great fondness for the South and for Southerners. I think perhaps the greatest issue over the next 3 days is this: will the South give Mitt Romney a fair shake and consider supporting him? This becomes more urgent, of course, due to the fact that the alternative is liberal McCain becoming the Republican nominee and the Republican Party becoming deeply divided for some time.
Please revisit my post on a call to the South: here.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Call to the South
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8 comments:
I would not label Senator McCain as liberal. I come from California, I have looked a genuine liberal in the eye, and barely escaped with my wallet intact. Granted, he is not the stereotypical "conversative", and for that he has been called a maverick. I would agree with some assesments that age is a factor for him, both phyisically, and ability to attract young voters. If he were to win, would he be able to serve two terms. If he were a one term president, his pick as VP would be critical. I think there is good possibility he would consider Huckabee. They get along well, they carry their own constituancy well. That is made even stronger if Huckabee can carry the southern block states in his back pocket. I do not see this as dividing the GOP, but a means to strengthen our numbers.
Good points, Mike, and maybe the 'liberal' label needs some explanation. If you look at the classic "3-legged stool" view of conservatism, McCain qualifies as a national security conservative, questionable but possibly OK on social issues (certainly not something he cares much about but has some flexibility), but is pretty poor on economic issues. The other problem is not in these general areas but with specific issues where he has demonstrated a tendency to "liberal instincts." You see that with McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Lieberman-Edwards, etc. My concern is that these issues loom far too large and we will get crushed come November.
Romney at least appears to be acceptable to most all Republican voters (I do think the most hesitancy is among Huckabee supporters), whereas you get vehement opposition from some quarters when you talk about McCain and Huckabee. From exit polling in Florida, among the supporters of all other candidates (except Huckabee but it was close there), Romney was the most common "second choice." That seems to be where we are most likely to find the unity we need to win, IMO.
Part of that unity we will need, will be the black vote. Please note this press release.
Star Parker likes Huckabee.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-01-2008/0004747698&EDATE=
That's really interesting. I wonder why specifically Huckabee? I've always wanted to see Republicans make a much greater effort to earn the support of black voters, so this is a big deal. Obviously as things stand the numbers of black Republicans is not large, but someone who can appeal for more support would be great, so I'll hand that to Huckabee. I don't know what the candidates have done specifically to try to gain support from the black community, to be honest.
http://catholicsforhuckabee.blogspot.com/2008/02/mccainhuckabee.html
Peter has written a very well considered post at his blog about the difficult challenge Huckabee supporters face right now. It points out how important the decisions are by Mike Huckabee in particular and by implication his supporters prior to Tuesday and possibly thereafter.
I wish we had more time to work out concerns and differences, but the moment is upon us, and conservatism for the foreseeable future lie in the balance.
I also forgot to say that I'm grateful and proud to see conservative Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons, and others joining together in the cause. I hope we have the chance to do the same on behalf of the Republican Party, if we can avoid having John McCain as our nominee.
Mike, Pete...
Sean Hannity just had both Zogby and Rasmussen on his show - two of the most prominent pollsters in America - and in their words, as they look at the poll numbers across the country, Mike Huckabee has "no chance" of becoming the Republican nominee, but he does have a very real chance of being a spoiler for Romney and handing it to McCain.
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