I've come to accept my place as pretty much the lone conservative on the HuffPo. Which is fine; people who read the HuffPo that I meet (and there are a lot) are generally nice to me. Want to know what conservatives are thinking right now?
I do quite a bit of speaking to business groups, who are in general pretty conservative. I often ask for a show of hands on matters I'm curious about. Lately I've been asking questions about the presidential race, which my 78-year old mom tells me is the most interesting in her lifetime.
When I ask about John McCain, the response is tepid, pretty much "Yeah, if he's the nominee we'll hold our noses and vote for him." When I ask about Hillary, the consensus is she'll motivate conservatives to dredge up all the old issues and release the hounds. Witness the Wall Street Journal's examination this week of Bill Clinton's FALN pardons. She motivates us. Hillary's attitude seems to reflect that of Francis Urquhart: "(America) must be governed -- and you know who will do it best. If you will the end, you must will the means. What's the matter? You do trust me, don't you? Of course you do."
She gets the blood afoot.
Obama generates the most interesting responses in my informal polls, especially on the experience issue. Someone in an audience told me this week, "If Obama can handle Hurricane Hillary, he has the experience to handle the country."
Conservatives also seem to be anticipating with glee Hillary having to use the Bush-Gore precedent in a superdelegate fight. Overall though, most audiences I query, and remember these are hundreds of conservatives, seem resigned, but not worried, that if Obama wins the nomination, he wins the race. He seems not to motivate conservatives to expend energy against him. We're cool with him.
So do conservatives secretly want Hillary to be nominated? To quote Urquhart again, "You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment."
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As a Republican you SHOULD be thinking that in November Democrats are going to
"drink your milkshake!"
That's right, they're going to drink...it...up!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, which does tend to confirm the widely held notion that Ms. Clinton is more divisive among Americans than Mr. Obama - unfortunately, Clinton supporters are the only ones who do not appear capable or willing to accept that reality.
Any official HuffPo blogger who deigns to reply to commenters here, deserves Respect.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with being genuinely conservative on fiscal and environmental policy (which current Republicans in power are not).
They will probably say something like, George W. Bush was not a real conservative, so you cant' really judge conservative politics, by what he's done.
Next they will trot out the, keeping government small and keeping taxes low, B.S., that Republicans always use to try and get the working class to betray themselves.
Then they'll say that that Mc Cain is really a true conservative, and that conservative principals should be given a chance after all, to fix this country, because that's what people really wanted when they voted for Bush.
One things for certain, they have to be scared to death, that the Democrats might regain both the senate and house with substantial majorities.
The only thing the Republican party has to offer is lies, dressed up in new words, but still the same old lies, to cover their greed and coruption.
Unfortunatly currently Reps. do not have anyone better to offer the country. What happen to idea of small govervement? Dems are tax and spends and we became borrow and spend. We were always suppose to give power to individual not to companies in China.
Going over Obamas's history it is clear that he is very liberal. I do not want socialised medicine, I do not want unions to have more power, I do not want larger goverment.
I would agree to higher taxes if they go to re-pay the debt. Unfortunalty Obama will raise taxes and waste them...
I thought there was at least one other conservative around on HuffPost, but if you're right and you're the only one left, then I commend you for sticking your head into the lion's jaws, as it were.
"[conservatives] seem resigned, but not worried, that if Obama wins the nomination, he wins the race. He seems not to motivate conservatives to expend energy against him. We're cool with him."
That's an extraordinarily revealing comment. And it seems to be backed up by polls which show Obama doing better against McCain than Clinton does. I take your comments (at face value) to confirm this among people you talk to. While some may attack the messenger, I thank you for your insight into the conservative world-view. The conclusion I draw is if Obama is the nominee then a lot of normally-Republican voters may just stay home election day. Interesting. It's always good to get confirmation of the polls from a first-person account, especially this year when the polls have proven to be so repeatedly inaccurate.
-CW
http://thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html
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The Democrats have been the best thing for this economy since the 60's and 70's (is it a coincidence that recessions always seem to fall on Republican presidencies?), but not the best thing for the rich.
Conservatives have been fighting big government so much they were willing to inflate the government to an incredible size against the interests of EVERYBODY to keep people who have historically handled government responsibly from getting control. It's almost a fight against one side being able to say, "See, we told you so," even if it means burning the entire house down.
Yikes.
just sayin'