Good evening again, Douglas! Douglas Friedman wrote to everyone...
Ron Paul embarrassed himself again in the recent GOP debate, suggesting that our presence in Iraq was what caused the Sept. 11 attacks, a curious chronology. Even if you take him to mean our presence in the Mideast, it is clear that he fundamentally does not understand the nature of the war between the U.S. and the Islamo-fascists. I wonder how many libertarians do.
Perhaps a little more elaboration from you might be in order, and also might draw in some others who have measured ideas how we got ourselves stuck in this stinking mess in the first place.
I'm curious as to whom those of you still reading this list are supporting for the 2008 race.
You suspicions are probably worthy of consideration. I have to admit, I haven't honestly checked as to who are still around writing on this list anymore... It isn't a high charged list as it existed a decade or two ago to be sure.
I will weigh in however. the 2008 race is presently a sick joke. It is American politics however, and that compounds a great deal just what a sick joke Americans find themselves faced with in 2008. It's far too early to tell who the front runners in the early primaries will be, either in the Democrat Party, or the GOP. To confound your polarization on Ron Paul, if I did not vote for the Libertarian candidate, whoever that might be, I would probably actually vote for Ron Paul on principle alone.
If you're registered as a Republican, towards whom are you leaning? Same if you're registered as a Dem. Even if you're not, which candidate from each party would you prefer?
I don't honestly know whether the Libertarian Party will even field a candidate in 2008. Of the Demos/Rep left in the lurch right now, Ron Paul would be my obvious choice of the entire mix simply because I know more about this candidate, and trust him to keep his word, if elected, and on principle, I couldn't possibly find a way to support any of the other candidates based upon "politics by poll results", which seems to be the driving force behind almost all of them. Perhaps the only exception to that might possibly be Thompson on the GOP slate, that is, if he really runs! Newt Gingrich always sounds solid, conservative at best, and positive. BUT... he's already had his chance in the leadership of the U.S. House, and in my opinion, he WAS the problem, and he failed to deliver then... so why should anyone trust him now?
For the moment, I am reluctantly leaning towards Giuliani, though I also have at least somewhat positive views of Tommy Thompson, Tancredo, Hunter and Gilmore, though I don't really know that much about the last four, so they may actually be entirely unacceptable to me on other grounds. I don't like Romney - too slick, health care program in Mass. - Huckabee the tax and spending booster or McCain (and his backing of the disastrous immigration proposal seals that one) or Brownback (same). I'm not excited about the prospect of a Fred Thompson entry, but would give serious thought to Newt Gingrich. I think all the Democrats would be disasters, though Richardson would probably be the least disastrous. I have no clue what's going on in the LP race.
Now... the LP race is the real question mark for me. I've largely distanced myself from the LP since Ted Dunlap took over as the Oligarch of the LP of Idaho about five or six years ago. After virtually destroying the statewide Idaho LP, he remains in charge of a select group of Boise garden variety sometimes Libertarians. He ran for Idaho Governor last time, and I still voted for Butch Otter. It's the local lack of good leadership at the local level here in Idaho that has sent me packing elsewhere!
The Democrat slate is despicable. But the GOP so far at least, hasn't really fielded a dedicated candidate, other than Ron Paul, that might find a platform or way to bring the GOP back to its basic roots... such as GOP libertarian Barry Goldwater... there are no fundamentally good candidates, absent Ron Paul, that could be relied upon to really move in a very different direction from the current regime in power today. At least Tom Thompson had a pretty good voting record, over all, and I'll hold out for this questionnaire you just put out until a few months later into the fall or winter season leading up to the key primaries.
Kindest regards, Frank _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list Libnw@immosys.com List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
