Campaign briefing

I promised a while ago to post about other candidates, having been pretty open about my concerns with Huckabee. I've decided to go ahead and give the very short version of my concerns with the major GOP candidates. Any of them sparking interest I may get more in depth with later on.

John McCain: I don't trust the main, that's point number one. He has not proved a reliable conservative or libertarian vote in Congress and I don't believe he is really principled. Further, everyone I know that has worked with him on Capitol Hill has a story about his volatile temper. When McCain is upset, the story goes, his nastiness is legendary and the staff is forced to keep apology notes on hand at all times. Don't want this guy with "the button" nearby when he gets a little cranky.

Beyond these issues, is the biggest--it's got his name on it: McCain-Feingold, one of the worst pieces of legislation in history for paring back First Amendment rights. Worst, he passed this incumbent-protection act to "get money out of politics" only after his wife's family money got him elected. Of course.

Mitt Romney: Mr. Romney does have more business experience, a good thing, but his record as Governor is pretty dang liberal on a normal scale. We are told he was simply having to work with a very liberal state legislature and did the best he could. Most pundits predict the next President will face the same kind of Congress, so I'm looking for someone like a Gary Johnson who, in the face of an overwhelming Dem majority in the state legislature still set records for number of bills he vetoed, and took a hard line on key fiscal issues.

Candidly, Mr. Romney's Mormanism also scares me a little. The Romney family--from all I've heard, but have not personally verified--is not just involved in the Mormon church, they are heavily involved and invested in the leadership of the church. That scares me.

Fred Thompson: Candidly I haven't spent a great deal of time researching Fred Thompson, and I know some people I really respect that support him. Because he was instrumental in helping pass McCain-Feingold, he's off my list as an anti-First Amendment candidate. (I've heard he's changed his position here, but never seen anything to substantiate that).

NOTE: Thompson doesn't appear in my poll because for some reason that button didn't appear (I did include it originally). I can't edit it now, but apparently not a big deal since I've never heard from a Thompson supporter about it.

Rudy Giuliani: Basically I just don't trust that Rudy has a conservative or libertarian philosophy. Reason has a long story detailing his history that did not give me more comfort with him. Further, this quote scares the heck out of me: "Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it." 1994 speech by then-Mayor Giuliani.