What is yiour view on McCain (Republicans in particular)

this is my biggest issue with him as well. my first choice, by a mile, is Rudy G. Condi second. McCain and Romney somewhere after that. don't assume however that i'm voting for the republican no matter what. depends on who runs. i was cautiously impressed w/ obama, for instance, which is why i was so disappointed he played the race card in the ford/corker race. as it stands, he's still lonely. w/ a bit more daring, he might have had two buddies in the senate.

 

Right now, the only likely Republican candidate that I would say that absolutely would not vote for in 2008 is John McCain. I agree on the ego and his self-serving nature. But more than that, he has been a failure in everything he has tried to overtake. The worst of these was the McCain-Feingold bill. In trying to clean up election funding and make them more accessible, he succeeded in doing the opposite. Campaigns are bigger than they've ever been, and more funded by Special Interests than they have ever been.

 

I've met him a couple of times, but not in the last 2-3 years... and he does appear to have become more calculating in that time frame. He's always been gracious in person and does quite well in a small public meeting. Still, he seemed to me to be a little different than your average career pol, but not in any way that I can easily describe and I'm not even sure if it's in a positive or negative way. He's just different... almost like he's constantly battling between good, likable, somewhat crazy McCain and evil, ruthless, power-player McCain... and unlike most pols, that conflict seems to surface in ways detectable... but I'm not really comfortable with that description. I can state definitively that he has an eye for the attractive female form.

I suspect that he's looking at the election results with a bit of remorse. The Rove formula looks to be breaking down and he's spent the last 2 years positioning himself to run on that formula. If he had continued to perpetuate the Straight Talk Express myth and not shunned away from being the Republican anti-Bush, he'd be sitting very well right now. As it is, I think his time came and went.

 

McCain is ok sometimes, but he can be so full of ****.

Joe Biden should be the next president of the United States.

 

Anyone who thinks Joe Biden should be our next president is not a Republican and you asked for republicans to give their thoughts on McCain.

I think there is just something off putting about him, in an almost Manchurian Candidate way. His last year or so whenever I see him on TV he looks as if he were in a trance, so completely mellow and calculating that it scares me.

I cannot say I wouldn't vote for him, but he would not be my first choice....

 

I like McCain because he makes die-hard Republicans uncomfortable.

 

Biden is a plagarist and shouldn't even be in the Senate.

McCain is ok. I think holding his not going to war with Bush post the primaries against him is a little myopic. To be in a position to run again it wouldn't make sense to be bashing someone elected by the majority of your party for four years and then ask those same people to vote for you. He's got a temper and an ego but he also appears to be willing to compromise rather than see nothing done at all. I think he's ok and wouldn't mind at all if he was the Republican candidate. I hope the Manchurian Candidate comments were tongue in cheek.

 

What I want in a president or any leader is someone who will make up their own mind and take clear positions, as opposed to following the party machine and reciting 30 year old positions by rote. I used to think McCain had this quality, but I'm not so sure anymore. By becoming a 'party guy' he may have lost the quality that makes him worthy.

Rudy Giuliani seems to be a beter fit given the way he disagrees with the party on many fronts, but I'm not sure I like his temperment. He strikes me as more a manager than someone with vision.

 

I have a perfect situation: Hilary (or even better, Dean) wins the Democratic nomination. By some twist of fate, Cheney wins the Republican nomination. The Libertarians convince Ron Paul or John Linder (no relation) to quit the Republican Party and run as a Libertarian. Who says a third party can't win?

 

McCain is a candidate who can win it all in 2008. That's the most important thing one needs to know about him.

 

I do.

 

I do.



Keep D&D Civil.

 

Out of the potential likely choices, I much prefer that McCain is the Republican choice with a caveat for Guiliani. I'd rather be faced with a non lose-lose like Hillary vs McCain than a Dukakis vs Dole. As I pointed out earlier, it just would have made no sense for McCain to continuously bash Bush the last few years. He still has to be acceptable to the Republican base, who voted for Bush. Yes, we like the maverick streak, but to alienate the Republican base for the sake of being a maverick would result in him definitively NOT being a viable candidate in the next election.

 

I would have voted for the moderate McCain of 2000 but he's become extremely conservative since then. The flip flop on the religious right and the whole Falwell thing was sickening.

 

Biden and McCain (good friends actually) are two of the most respected men in the Senate and the country. When you see them interact on one of the talking head shows you can see how repubs and dems can actually get along and have positive dialogue.

 

Biden, McCain, Guiliani ?

Did someone put a stake in the right wing last Tuesday?

They will be back from the grave I assure you. They will be spouting "Reagan" and "smaller government" and "less taxes"! They will probably keep their flag burning admendments, gay marrige proposals and abortion stances on the QT though. Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich are already on point on every outlet they can get face time on. They will be dumping on Bush like he was the opposition party.

They may even try to take Reagan's embalmed body to Disney and have him animatized. It would be pretty much the same as his last two years in office.