The American Spectator

Reader Mail

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br> Though I'm a moderate Republican, like many conservatives I would vote against McCain in a general election (easy for me, I'm from Oregon and my ballot is mailed to me. Tired of the parenthetical commentary?). I go to the Naval Academy from which he graduated, and I take many of his deviations as a too literal and exaggerated view of the leadership courses here. More precisely, he seems of the mind that if something is unpopular, it must be right. That view is a gross and inaccurate simplification of the true lesson, right is independent of popularity. McCain has systematically undermined both the constitution and the Republican Party for no good reason, other than a Bill O'Reilly-esque visceral need to have an appearance of partiality. It's disgusting. /p> p>2) Mike Huckabee. br> I refer to him as Edwards- lite . He's not as disingenuous as McCain, but equally scary. Other than being anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion, he does not belong in the Republican Party. Coincidentally, those are two views I'm moderate about. I was rooting for him in SC to put a dent in McCain, since Edwards-lite has no real shot of going much further, but I guess tonight wasn't my night. /p> p>3) Mitt Romney. br> Tied with Hillary Clinton for second in my presidential preferences. I give him some leeway on his record since he's from Massachusetts, and he's said a lot in the past few weeks I agree with, but then he pulls a stunt like promising Michigan 20 billion in federal aid. He is a panderer of the worst kind. /p> p>4) Hillary Clinton. br> A Democrat AND tied for second in my presidential preferences. Are snowballs melting in hell, too? /p> p>5) Rudy Giuliani. br> My favorite, saved for last. Has run a dumb campaign, not for waiting until Florida, but for using his small amount of time with the nationally televised debates to be generic instead of focusing on policy issues, which is his second-biggest strength. If Huckabee had beaten McCain in SC, then perhaps some McCain supports would flow to Rudy. Now I just gotta hope Floridians don't give a hoot about SC, and perhaps that early voting has already given Rudy the edge. Giuliani's biggest weakness, other than becoming seemingly irrelevant for his lack of early state showing, is his social issues. It's not that's he's pro-choice or pro-gay marriage, but he's not anti-choice or anti-gay marriage. In a head-to-head primary against any other Republican candidate I think he's a lock, but unfortunately McCain seems stronger in defense, so he loses voters there, Romney seems stronger in economy, so he loses voters there, and for social... well, we already discussed this.

topics:
Health Care, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Abortion, Hollywood, Constitution, Law