<p>thisoldman can you clarify as to what presidents you’re talking about?</p>
<p>Rick Perry will be the Republican nominee.</p>
<p>“Is a Dem Prez a virtual certainty?”</p>
<p>HAYLE NO. You will never go broke betting on the Democrats’ ability to shoot ourselves in the foot…no, the head.</p>
<p>None of them really excite me so far. McCain too old and a little flakey, Romney too slick and packaged, the rest too religion oriented or just too far out.</p>
<p>We all hate Romney here in Massachusetts and would have voted him out of office big time if he had the guts to run again. He didn’t have those guts. It would’ve been a record breaking turnout just to take the pleasure to vote him out. It was exhilarating to watch them all kick his butt in the debate. How can you respect a man who fakes left and goes right to the extent that he did. Can you just imagine what he had to say to get elected governor of Massachusetts. How can you respect a man who fires his illegal immigrant landscapers on the day of the first big snowstorm, AFTER they have finished cleaning up his leaves and are done for the season anyway. Yeah, I “fired” my landscaper until April too! Whoopdedoo. It shows a total lack of integrity. Even if you elect him, how do you know where he REALLY stands. Agree or not, it’s hard not to at least respect McCain, or Guiliani. With them, at least what you see is what you get.</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad: Agreed about Romney. But are you serious that it’s easier to respect Giuliani? What you see is what you get? I guess so, if you see all the secretive affairs and using taxpayer expenses to hide them.</p>
<p>As this Republican race gets tighter and further away from W’s wishy-washy administration, RP is complicating the selection and fund raising process. He is definitely questioning the status quo and could force the Republican into a position that is detrimental to his electability but enhancement to the Party faithful.</p>
<p>1 of 42, look at Guiliani and what he did prior to 9/11. Fed Prosecutor, cleaned up NYC (trust me that was a feat in itself for 42nd St), lower taxes, reduced crime…Your lack of respect for what he did as Mayor without bringing in his personal life is the reason I can’t support him, he is the John Kerry of the republicans (too easy to attack). I have a great deal of admiration for him (I’m an east coast girl), but he is not viable, just too easy to attack personally.</p>
<p>Found an interesting reason why McCain was not as polished as Romney or Obama for NH, he read from hand written cards not a tele-prompter as the others did…don’t be quick to judge that it was age, it was just he had a different method for delivering his speech</p>
<p>b&p: Yes, he did a lot of very excellent things. On the other hand, he did them by being a totally authoritarian thug. So that one is a mixed bag. Do I think the results are good enough to justify the means used to get them? Don’t know.</p>
<p>I didn’t really say his personal life would necessarily be a deal breaker for me - just pointing out that he is at least as shadowy in that regard as Romney.</p>
<p>RP2ry a subsidized cotton grower?</p>
<p>An authoritarian thug is at least a consistent approach. He has solid accomplishments that are actually his and he was an exceptional leader after 9/11, unlike our dumb-as-a-brick lets-go-on-vacation hire-my-golf-buddy to run homeland security Katrina-wasn’t-my-fault president. I’m not endorsing him and am still undecided on Republicans. At least with Guiliani and McCain, you know what you’re getting if that’s what you choose to vote for. I just don’t see either of them as a pathological liar like I see Romney. In both races, I see Romney as the only one totally dishonest. What’s the point of him having any position if you can’t believe it anyway. Did I mention how much we like him here in Massachusetts. He shouldn’t expect any statutes erected in his honor</p>
<p>zoosermom,fm, and vp, what exactly is McCain’s stand on immigration? I looked at his website and it seemed so general that I wasn’t sure what he proposes. There are thing I like about him, such as the anti-pork.</p>
<p>I can’t forgive Giuliani Kerik and Placa.</p>
<p>As long as H. Clinton gets the nomination and she will (I don’t remember her crying during Monicagate) it doesn’t matter who the Republican is. He will be the next president.</p>
<p>McCain has stated that he is running for a single term. Ron Paul seems to be pretty feisty for his age. Not sure how old Thompson is, but he looks the oldest of the bunch. I’d be more concerned about him than McCain or Paul.</p>
<p>RockerDad, why do you think Romney is a liar?</p>
<p>I think this is a good summary of his record from the right. </p>
<p>[The</a> Mitt Romney Deception](<a href=“MassResistance - Page not found!”>The Mitt Romney Deception)</p>
<p>From this Massachusetts independent’s point of view, he ran as a socially liberal fiscally prudent Republican in the William Weld mold, just the kind of Governor people here like to prevent the kind of one-party rule that gave us the name Taxachusetts. Once he got his eye on the presidency, he developed many changes of heart and spent his time and our money grandstanding moral issues around the country instead of fixing problems here. Our state finances are a mess and he pushed all of the problems onto the cities and towns who have more unfunded mandates than their property tax base, which can only grow by 2.5% per year, can possibly support with no hope of fiscal relief. We have sizable towns with only one operational fire truck and yes people have died in fires who didn’t have to. Our roads are in worse shape than they have ever been and many are simply irreparable and need to be replaced at a much higher cost than simply maintaining them would have entailed. One would never run their own household the way that he ran the state in the “get sick and let it fester mindset”. He basically destroyed the credibility of the Republican party here (ok Bush helped too) and Massachusetts has since decided that one-party liberal rule is better than fraud.</p>
<p>“McCain has stated that he is running for a single term”</p>
<p>That is absolutely false. When asked if he would run for one term, he said he would do no such thing because that would make him a lame duck on inauguration day. I heard him say it with my own ears.</p>
<p>"Yes, he did a lot of very excellent things. On the other hand, he did them by being a totally authoritarian thug. "</p>
<p>Maybe the best summation of Giuliani I’ve ever seen.</p>
<p>""Yes, he did a lot of very excellent things. On the other hand, he did them by being a totally authoritarian thug. "</p>
<p>Living in NYC and working in Times Square, I’m completely fine with that. Having to deal with Sheldon Silver and Joe Bruno, anyone would need to be an authoritarian to get the smallest thing done. For reference, I give you Elliot Spitzer. As a side note, the squeegee guys and mentally ill on street corners are back again. I’d definitely vote for Rudy for mayor again. The wretched Michael Bloomberg has undone a lot of the quality of life improvements that Rudy made. (Speaking of a man unsuited to the presidency)</p>
<p>Anyway, I wouldn’t support Rudy because a nation has a foreign policy which requires some diplomacy, while a city doesn’t.</p>
<p>Well Hanna, how do you feel about the current Chicago mayor? e’s cut from the same cloth and basically saved Chicago from becoming Cleveland or Detroit. It takes a tough guy to run these towns. Process and niceties ar for cities ike Seattle that have no real problems and can afford not to get anything done for 20 years of process.</p>