Republican for 2008 - Fred Thompson

[Turbo_pro]

Fred Thompson and Coni Rice would be a tough pair to draw to.
Fred is articulate, thoughtful and easily recognizable. Condi breaks the glass ceiling for women and blacks.

Here's the problem, two lawyers. Yikes

That said, certainly electable IMHO.

Barack Hussein Obama and Al Gore ?

Hillary and Richardson ?

[Sonic dB]

Lawyer, Actor, Senator... you have to give the guy credit for being
ambitious and accomplished. At 6-5, with his skills, he'd have an
international presence that has been missing from the White House since
Reagan was there. Reagan was more like 6-1, but had that actors
presence, and way with people. What really set Reagan apart though
was his geniune manner that he had with people. Like the way that he turned Gorby
into his friend despite the cold war and political differences...

[red-beard]

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Turbo_pro
Here the problem, two lawyers. Yikes

Ever look at the background of about 80% of the politicians? They are all lawyers and part of the problem. We need to get normal working stiffs in office. Term limits on everything!

[fastpat]

Originally posted by wludavid
wiki is your friend:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Dalton_Thompson

Geez, I thought I was going to have to do this, he's a former US senator, and was frequently on TV during his term. He decided not to run for a second term.

[Turbo_pro]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Ever look at the background of about 80% of the politicians? They are all lawyers and part of the problem. We need to get normal working stiffs in office. Term limits on everything!

I agree 100% with both statements.

Lawyers are generally the problem, not the solution and term limits make incumbent domination at the polls much less of an issue.
Term limits may also take some of the money out of politics. I know, wishful thinking. If the guy you want to bribe is on his way out perhaps your bribe will have far less long term effect.

[Rick Lee]

Term limits will help in that the incumbents will no longer have to spend so much time raising money for reelection. And not only that, they won't need the money in the first place, so they won't be beholden to contributors. Along with term limits needs to be a law that says once you're elected to your last eligible term, you can not raise anymore money. Better yet, we should just have one term only for all offices and no one is ever allowed to hold more than one fed. elected office in their life. That would solve a lot of problems in an instant. But it will also never happen.

[red-beard]

I hate that idea! Think of all of the people with congressional pensions and the burden on the rest of us!

[Superman]

Think of the guys that finally figured out how to accomplish stuff in DC.....just in time to go home with no chance of using that knowledge. Sure, with term limits you have no incumbancy at all. But the down side is that you have no incumbency at all. Nobody with any more than six years' exprience, with the average being something like 1.5 years.

A nation run by people with little or no experience. Sure, go ahead and pretend that's exactly what you want. Send Bubba and Billy-Bob to Washington. Just don't expect them to DO anything.

[red-beard]

Originally posted by Superman
A nation run by people with little or no experience. Sure, go ahead and pretend that's exactly what you want. Send Bubba and Billy-Bob to Washington. Just don't expect them to DO anything.

And tell me how that will be worse than what we have...

[Moses]

Originally posted by Superman
Think of the guys that finally figured out how to accomplish stuff in DC.....just in time to go home ...

The less they do the better.

I'm a HUGE fan of congressional gridlock. The less they do, the better off we are. No, I'm NOT kidding. The Republicans and Democrats both pursue their agendas with enthusiasm and the end result is always the same...the government gets bigger and I get broker.

[Superman]

I respect you a great deal Moses, so in instances like this I'm pretty sure I'm missing something. For example, if Congress just missed a budget deadline, we'd have hundreds of thousands of unemployed gubmit employees on the street. We'd have no funding for schools. Roads. Emergency services. National defense.

Rather than having a government that simply runs poorly, I'd rather someone make deliberate decisions about what to do and not do. This euphoric dream of having gubmit disappear would go away very quickly and decisively if you guys had a little time to actually live that dream.

Join with Pat. That's his agenda. Complete and utter elimination of the federal government. I wish people would/could think about what they say before they say it. I don't tend to think this about you, Moses.

[Superman]

Gubmit bashing. You know, I'm pretty sure private business fukks up at least as often and as decisively as gubmit, but 1) Their records are not "public records" so you don't hear about them and 2) They don't have as big a job. Lots of stuff goes very smoothly in your life because some gubmit office is doing its job. Every day. Then one day you have to stand in line at the local Licensing office for longer than you wanted, and all of a sudden gubmit can't do anything right.

Like I say, since my nation is pretty much in shambles now, due to gubmit-haters and their gubmit-hating Congressional delegations, so I really kinda wish you guys could get a taste of a gubmit-free lifestyle for six months or so. I think it would refocus some of the most ignorant comments I see here.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Superman
I respect you a great deal Moses, so in instances like this I'm pretty sure I'm missing something.

Maybe what you're missing is cynicism.

I really kinda wish you guys could get a taste of a gubmit-free lifestyle for six months or so.

Katrina?

[Superman]

LOL. Yeah, exactly like Katrina.

Wouldn't it be wonderful. We turn on the news in the morning to get traffic and weather and......the reporters can only tell us what they see out their windows. No National Weather Service, and no state Department of Transportation to provide that information. And if something goes wrong on the highways......I guess you'll need a good rig to drive around it. And that's just how the day STARTS.

Restaurants could perhaps serve your meal a few cents cheaper if they didn't have that pesky Health Department to deal with. And you can HOPE you're getting a full gallon of gasoline when the pump says so. Your neighbors can help you figure out how to unplug those sewer vaults under the street when they get full. Start a savings account for the paving projects. The power utility will be happily free of gubmit oversight.

And....who needs courts, anyway?

[Moses]

Yes, there's cynicism. But not completely.

Budget issues and other "meat and potatoes" goverment services are critical to a smooth running nation. It seems to me the most noble function of government is to protect our civil liberties. I have no problem with that.

My problem is that when we get a democratic led government we get high taxes and expansion of the "nanny state". With the republicans in charge we get a disastrous war in the middle east and huge deficit spending.

When we have congressional gridlock, goverment tends to resign itself to mundane tasks concerning the maintainance and repair of our great nation. I'm HAPPY with that. I'm no government hater, but I detest politicians with an agenda.

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by Moses
...but I detest politicians with an agenda.

And the agenda is fluid, based on their ability to get RE-ELECTED.

Term limits can be instituted without affecting the FF's intent, an intent that would have reviled pro-pols had they known.

[Jim Richards]

+1

[Superman]

I can get behind that. Here's a surprise: I want low taxes too. Everybody does. I would be interested in programs that, even though they may cost more up front, will reduce costs in the future. But otherwise, I'm okay with just doing a good job of maintaining what we have.....and planning for future capacity.

As far as I am concerned, it would be difficult for us to invest too much in education right now.

[wrecktech]

Originally posted by Turbo_pro
Fred Thompson and Coni Rice would be a tough pair to draw to.
Fred is articulate, thoughtful and easily recognizable. Condi breaks the glass ceiling for women and blacks.

Here's the problem, two lawyers. Yikes

That said, certainly electable IMHO.

That would certainly make a very interesting combo. Could actually be the least distasteful pair in many years. Both scandal free too. As much as I dislike most lawyers I could vote for them