For those Republican voters that are dead set against McCain, what is it about Romney, his positions, his record that makes you throw your hat in his corner?
I don't think it is about Romney, as much as it is laying the groundwork to say "I told you so" if McCain is elected or if McCain fails against Hillary/Obama. It is a platform to sell books and advertisements, by some. It is payback for McCain not towing the party line. I think most of them don't know who they want and, frankly, most of them are tired of playing defense. Most of the bigmouths were made during the Clinton presidency - and playing defense for George W. Bush has been difficult. Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, Jon Sterwart are their analogues on the other side. They will flounder playing defense for an Obama/Hillary when their careers were made attacking George W. Bush. For guys like Rush, Ann Coulter, Hugh Hewitt, . . . when 2012 rolls around, they want to be able to say "I told you so" - whether McCain is elected (and pursues a centrist course) or we have had four years of Hillary/Obama. They will say - we warned you, now do what we say. It is posturing - and having a guy like McCain who never towed the party line makes it easy for them to do it.
well, that's a stupid reason to not vote for McCain. If you take a look at his stance on the issues on his website, he's running a very conservative agenda. He will face opposition for at least 2 years with a Dem Congress, but campaigning for corporate tax rate cuts (down to 25% from 35%) and for making Bush's cuts permanent is hardly centrist, let alone liberal.
Romney is the smartest candidate left in the field. Top of his legal class at Harvard Law I believe. Was CEO of one of the leading consulting firms. Which means he has a consultant's savvy, to a fault. He's been governor of a state that wouldn't typically elect a Republican so he has crossover appeal. He would make a good president I would think due to his leadership/intelligence. But then I happen to have worked for Mormans and think they are good people. Some people might not have that impression. McCain will be about 30-35 percent of the vote, but at least that is still about 10X what Paul would get.
all of that makes some sense, but none of its says fiscally conservative, although Mormon says socially conservative, just the wrong brand. The knock on McCain is he's too liberal, well so then is Romney according to his "crossover appeal".
I support Romney because I think he is more fiscally conservative. I think he is more likely to keep taxes low and have some idea of how to keep/make the economy stronger. He has done some things that I might not agree with, but I would expect that from someone trying to get things done in one of the most liberal states in the US. McCain has done more things that I don't agree with and that is in national politics and in a state that, if it leans either way, probably leans slightly right.
I agree with Tropheus' first two posts and have been wondering the same thing. This morning I saw a McCain ad during which Romney stated that he voted for Paul Tsongas instead of GHWB because he didn't want a continuation of Reagan/Bush. Between that and his Teddy Kennedy gay rights statement I have no understanding how he's getting any votes in the republican party.
But that's the thing, Tropheus: everybody agrees on that, but for many who self-identify as "conservative", social issues tend to trump economic issues, and the word has come to mean "that which my friends and I agree with". The stuff they don't agree with is thus "liberal".McCain over time has put what he thought was best for America as seen through the perspective of classic western conservatism or would play the best in Arizona ahead of the party line. Some very naive people have become convinced that a lack of Republican loyalty indicates a lack of orthodoxy. That's ironic since the GOP line is more frequently out of step with conservatism than John McCain, but that's besides the point. The fact is that there a lot more Republicans than there are conservatives. Finally, whoever said Arizona "leans right" is nuts. That's like saying New Hampshire or Alaska "leans right". Arizona votes Republican. Arizona leans Arizona. The political climate of the western states isn't well understood in terms of left/right in general, and that's more true in Arizona than any other place.
I believe that McCain is a greater threat to our civil liberties than any other GOP candidate (now that Giuliani has dropped out).
I said he came to prominence "as a legislator" with his support of the McCain tobacco tax and the McCain-Feingold bill. Neither of those are conservative ideas, and both are more impositions on private behavior than permitting states to impose limits on civil licensure.
