NationStates Jolt Archive

All right, my conservative counterparts, I've got a question for you. Massachussetts governor Mitt Romney has decided not to run for re-election in 2006, ostensibly to run for the Presidency. He's been contacting donors and fundraisers and doing all the candidate things.

So what are his chances in your book? Would you support him? If not, who looks like the big dogs in this very early part of the race? Giuliani? McCain? Brownback? Jeb!? Condi? Tancredo? Cheney (please God)? Anyone I've missed?

romney is big government, i dont like that.
i dont think tancredo has a snowballs chance in hell, i would love to see cheney-rice.

Romney, Guliani, and McCain have no hope of getting out of the primaries. Cheney's too old and prone to ill health. Tancredo would lose because of the "bomb Mecca" soundbite. Jeb won't run. Condi has a shot because she's a woman and black, but she's a Republican so that won't matter very much (If Hillary runs, expect to see dozens of newspaper with headlines like "Is America Ready?" which vaguely imply voting against her is the equivelent of delcaring women 3/5 of a human). I don't know enough about Brownback.

I can't imagine Condi would get any votes in the southern primaries. If she could get out of the primaries, she might be able to pull enough of the African-American vote to still carry those states in the general election, but African-Americans, being overwhelmingly Democrats, don't tend to vote in the Republican primaries--hard-core conservatives do, and in the deep south, there's a bit of a linkage between hard-core conservatives and the "south shall rise again" crowd.

I will only vote Democrat in 2008 if Rahm Emanuel runs. Otherwise, it's back to Independent for me.

I will only vote Democrat in 2008 if Rahm Emanuel runs. Otherwise, it's back to Independent for me.
Please tell me you'll reconsider if by some miracle Texas happens to be in play in '08. :D

In order of credibility:

Condi, in general election possible negative of Bush coat-tails (see comments on Jeb below) more than overcome by firsts for race and gender
Guiliani, who would do well in the general election but is a bit liberal for the Republican rank-and-file
Jeb a distant third, who would be popular with most Republicans but would have a hard time in the general election when the voters will be tempted to vote Democrat regardless of the candidates "just for a change". If anyone can persuade the electorate to go for three Republican administrations in a row, I doubt it's "Bush III".

Please tell me you'll reconsider if by some miracle Texas happens to be in play in '08. :D

Depends on the Candidate. Now if we get a Kinky Freidman or Anne Richards on the Democrat ticket, you can be damn sure I'll go that way. I am a believer in independents. I'd sooner vote Ventura than Kerry.

If a good, strong, socially liberal candidate from Texas gets on the Democratic ticket, then you can rest assured I'll be at the State Convention speaking my voice and raising a general ruckus.

I can't imagine Condi would get any votes in the southern primaries. ... in the deep south, there's a bit of a linkage between hard-core conservatives and the "south shall rise again" crowd.

Don't sell the South short. Reports of inbreeding and Klan membership are greatly exaggerated.

Hate to sound like an idealist elitist, but isn't it a bit premature to be talking candidates? Shouldn't we focus more on the issues that will be at hand rather than names?

in the deep south, there's a bit of a linkage between hard-core conservatives and the "south shall rise again" crowd.

I like you. I really do. Believe me.

But please .... PLEASE ... recognize that all of us in the Southern US aren't Jeff Foxworthy fans.

Texas for 120 of its 150+ year history has been socially liberal. It wasn't until the likes of GWB and Tom Delay that we started to seem "neocon". Texas has almost always had independent governors and legislators.

Texans are "rugged individualists". That means we don't give a shit who you marry or what religion you practice. As long as you're cool with barbecue, you're ok in our book. ;)

Unfortunately, we've been taken over by neocons. When you have 33-34 electoral votes, you almost have to expect asshole politicians to try to take you over. Shit, man, GWB was born in CONNECTICUT! He's about as native Texan as Soul Train is, but the world sees GWB as "Texan".

HA!

Don't sell the South short. Reports of inbreeding and Klan membership are greatly exaggerated.
I grew up there--I know the situation on the ground. What I'm saying, in case I wasn't clear enough, is that there aren't enough black Republicans in those states to get Condi through the primaries, because the primaries are overwhelmingly white, and the power of groups like the CCC, while not enough to elect candidates on their own, is enough to sink a candidate, especially in a low turnout election like a primary.

I like you. I really do. Believe me.

But please .... PLEASE ... recognize that all of us in the Southern US aren't Jeff Foxworthy fans.

Texas for 120 of its 150+ year history has been socially liberal. It wasn't until the likes of GWB and Tom Delay that we started to seem "neocon". Texas has almost always had independent governors and legislators.

Texans are "rugged individualists". That means we don't give a shit who you marry or what religion you practice. As long as you're cool with barbecue, you're ok in our book. ;)

Unfortunately, we've been taken over by neocons. When you have 33-34 electoral votes, you almost have to expect asshole politicians to try to take you over. Shit, man, GWB was born in CONNECTICUT! He's about as native Texan as Soul Train is, but the world sees GWB as "Texan".

HA!
Trust me--I know. Look at the post above this one.

Don't sell the South short. Reports of inbreeding and Klan membership are greatly exaggerated.

Really? My relatives are examples that beg to differ. Well they aren't Klan members yet......

Trust me--I know. Look at the post above this one.

Hooray! Ok good...

Being a Texan *before* he's an American, I almost might have had to consider opening up a can of whoop ass.

(yeah, that's rigt, you heard me "god bless america junkies" I am TEXAN before I'm American ... why? Because ya'll fucked America up!)

Ok I'm ranting .... sorry! :D

In order of credibility:

Condi, in general election possible negative of Bush coat-tails (see comments on Jeb below) more than overcome by firsts for race and gender
Guiliani, who would do well in the general election but is a bit liberal for the Republican rank-and-file
Jeb a distant third, who would be popular with most Republicans but would have a hard time in the general election when the voters will be tempted to vote Democrat regardless of the candidates "just for a change". If anyone can persuade the electorate to go for three Republican administrations in a row, I doubt it's "Bush III".


Hmmm?

Condi will have to do something to be considered. I think the country is more ready for a black man then a woman as President.

You are right on about Jeb. I think people would vote against it just for the change.....

Hmmm?

Condi will have to do something to be considered. I think the country is more ready for a black man then a woman as President.

You are right on about Jeb. I think people would vote against it just for the change.....
Much as I dislike this administration, I have to give Condi credit--she's managed to stay fairly unscathed by it all. I don't know what it is--she looked like an idiot making those "we do not torture" statements, but for some reason, it hasn't hurt her the way it hurt Rummy or Bush, and she did well in Palestine.

Again--for her, the problem is the primaries, because she can't count on any real African-American support there, and that would seem to be her natural base.

I'm not a conservative, nor am I American (though I have lived there and I keep very up-to-date on your politics), but I think making Condolezza Rice Secretary of State has killed her chances for election. Bush's current popularity aside (since anyone with an ounce of political sense realizes that poll numbers go up and down like a toilet seat), she has said things, and will say more things, as Bush's mouthpiece to the world that would be held against her in an election. I'm not saying it's wrong for her to be Bush's mouthpiece; this is her job at the moment. My point is that not only would she be a poor primaries candidate for the reasons specified by other posters; she would also fail to attract moderates just as John Kerry failed to do in the last election. She would be neither a good primaries candidate nor a good presidential candidate. Yes, she would receive a good chunk of the African American vote, but I doubt it would be enough to outweigh those put off by her race, gender, and political background. The only reason I would ever want her to be in the race would be out of sheer curiosity about how a Rice vs. Clinton race would play out.

I hate the primaries because they never turn out the party candidate that would appeal to the most mainstream voters, instead catering to the hardcore, polarized political elite. As usual, the best candidates will be weeded out by these nutcases, and this is especially true for the Republican front (not that it is exclusively a Republican problem--far from it. I just see so many more moderate Republican names that primary voters would cringe at). I can only hope that a sane candidate will manage to have enough name recognition and political clout to scrape by.

The obvious answer is that whoever throws their hat into the ring at this point isn't really running for President.. no, they're positioning themselves for a shot a VP under Jeb. :cool:

I grew up there--I know the situation on the ground.

Keeping Kerry-speak alive, are we? :p

Keeping Kerry-speak alive, are we? :p
Dude, no reason to get nasty here.

.

Again--for her, the problem is the primaries, because she can't count on any real African-American support there, and that would seem to be her natural base.

Yup. Some image work too. Over my way people would argue she is more of a "yes woman" then a leader.....

Dude, no reason to get nasty here.

Guh? Didn't mean to come off that way.. it's just, using a Kerry cliche in a Presidential Politics thread.. :)

Guh? Didn't mean to come off that way.. it's just, using a Kerry cliche in a Presidential Politics thread.. :)
Sorry--I'm just not a Kerry fan. Voted for him, but only because I was voting against Bush, and he pissed me off by leaving a good chunk of money in his campaign fund rather than going all out to take out Bush. I'd be more than pleased if all he did for the rest of his career was keep his mouth shut.

I think the extraordinary renditions scandal sink any chance of Condi as a credible candidate. I imagine by 2008, people will want to put all that behind them.

I would like to see Mike Bloomberg. He's so unoffensive, yet a highly able administrator. (In fact his low profile has allowed him to get things done that Guliani was never able to.) He'd never get the nod though.

All right, my conservative counterparts, I've got a question for you. Massachussetts governor Mitt Romney has decided not to run for re-election in 2006, ostensibly to run for the Presidency. He's been contacting donors and fundraisers and doing all the candidate things.

So what are his chances in your book? Would you support him? If not, who looks like the big dogs in this very early part of the race? Giuliani? McCain? Brownback? Jeb!? Condi? Tancredo? Cheney (please God)? Anyone I've missed?
I would estimate that Mitt Romney's chances of grabbing the Republican Party's endorsement for President are about the same as the proverbial snowball's chance in the alegorical hell.

No, I would not support him.

I would support any of the following: Guliani, McCain and Rice, out of those you mentioned. I would much prefer that Colin Powell relent and run, but the liklihood of that happening approaches zero as a limit.

Romney, Guliani, and McCain have no hope of getting out of the primaries.

That's too bad, since pretty much the only way I'm voting for the Republican ticket is if McCain is on it. Of course, he didn't do poorly in the primaries in 2000 until Bush decided to attack the war record of a freaking POW. So you may be wrong - he might make it through.

That's too bad, since pretty much the only way I'm voting for the Republican ticket is if McCain is on it. Of course, he didn't do poorly in the primaries in 2000 until Bush decided to attack the war record of a freaking POW. So you may be wrong - he might make it through.
The attack on the war record was only one part of it--the push polling in South Carolina that asked if voters cared that he had a mixed-race child had an awful lot to do with it as well. That McCain ever spoke to Bush again says to me that he's willing to suffer any indignity for power, and that his rep as a straight shooter has to be questioned.

That's too bad, since pretty much the only way I'm voting for the Republican ticket is if McCain is on it. Of course, he didn't do poorly in the primaries in 2000 until Bush decided to attack the war record of a freaking POW. So you may be wrong - he might make it through.
Strange. I don't recall that. Perhaps you have a like, you know ... source? :)

President Jeb Bush 2008
Florida Republican Governor Jeb Bush for President 2008.
In Honor of Pepe Dominguez.

Jeb Bush is a popular Florida Governor, from Miami Florida,
actually born in Midland Texas, The Cubans like him, oh well
no one is perfect, he is married to a Mexican, he speaks perfect
fluent spanish, his son looks 100 percent hispanic and speaks perfect
fluent spanish, that is a good resume in relating to the hispanic vote.

Florida's overall unemployment rate is 3.6 percent, one of the lowest
in the nation, and Florida leads other states in job growth.

While I would love to see Jeb Bush win in 2008, I understand the chances of
another President Bush folowing President George W Bush is not good, and
right now it dosent look good, but alot can change in politics, but dont think
I am under any illusions here.

The following Text is based on a number of diffrent sources, as it is very hard to find all the information one needs with only one source, I had to put this
toghether piece by piece but I had fun with it.

Both sides agreed Jeb Bush got a majority of the hispanic vote in Florida as did W, but couldn't agree whether his percentage was in the 50s or 60s, Republicans have traditionally fared well in Florida because of Gop-leaning Cuban Americans who are now joined by a growing number of Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush is younger, smarter, taller, more articulate,
harder working and better looking than George W, Jeb Bush will be 55 in 2008
and 63 in 2016, the age his father was elected President.

Jeb Bush speaks excellent spanish, has a degree in Latin American Studies,
and a Mexican born wife, and lots of useful contacts with rich Mexican power brokers.

He did just as well with Florida's Mexican Americans who now constitute a good part of the hispanic population.

As a longtime supporter of Israel, Jeb Bush also maintains a significant
connection to Florida's Jewish voters. He was endorsed in his two winning Governor races by a national Jewish publication and won 44 percent of the state's Jewish vote in the 2002 governor's race.

A number of Black Republican clubs have sprung up in Florida, more recently he has reached out extensively to Florida's Haitian community, taking on a unique leadership role to help rebuild that neighboring country and assist its impoverished people.

In his re-election in 2002, Jeb Bush surprised critics by winning the white female vote in the swing voting battleground of Central Florida's I-4 corridor.

Strange. I don't recall that. Perhaps you have a like, you know ... source? :)

http://www.usvetdsp.com/frng_vet.htm

Strange. I don't recall that. Perhaps you have a like, you know ... source? :)
There were some Rove folks who made claims that McCain was a little nutty from his time as a POW--probably related to the same folks who made the claim recently in Newsmax.

Sam Brownback would have my vote. He's a good guy and perfect for what is needed. A moderate.

All right, my conservative counterparts, I've got a question for you. Massachussetts governor Mitt Romney has decided not to run for re-election in 2006, ostensibly to run for the Presidency. He's been contacting donors and fundraisers and doing all the candidate things.

So what are his chances in your book? Would you support him? If not, who looks like the big dogs in this very early part of the race? Giuliani? McCain? Brownback? Jeb!? Condi? Tancredo? Cheney (please God)? Anyone I've missed?

Any combination of Condoleeza Rice, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain would suit me. The two males are more or less moderates, socially liberal, and I believe would mend some of the Dubya rift. I want Condi because, although she is a Neocon, we need people of her intellectual caliber and tenacity in the upper echelons of our government.

As long as Hilary doesn't win I won't expatriate myself.

http://www.usvetdsp.com/frng_vet.htm
The post to which I was responding stated: "Bush decided to attack the war record of a freaking POW."

The article for which you provided the URL clearly indicates that it was a retired Special Forces officer named "Thomas Burch" who made the satement that "Senator McCain has abandoned the veterans. He came home from Vietnam and forgot us," which doesn't exactly sound like "an attack" to me.

In fact, the article itself goes into considerable detail about numerous incidents in which Senator McCain either opposed legislation or was late in endorsing legislation, which most veterans organizations supported.

President Jeb Bush 2008
Florida Republican Governor Jeb Bush for President 2008.
In Honor of Pepe Dominguez.

Jeb Bush is a popular Florida Governor, from Miami Florida,
actually born in Midland Texas, The Cubans like him, oh well
no one is perfect, he is married to a Mexican, he speaks perfect
fluent spanish, his son looks 100 percent hispanic and speaks perfect
fluent spanish, that is a good resume in relating to the hispanic vote.

Florida's overall unemployment rate is 3.6 percent, one of the lowest
in the nation, and Florida leads other states in job growth.

While I would love to see Jeb Bush win in 2008, I understand the chances of
another President Bush folowing President George W Bush is not good, and
right now it dosent look good, but alot can change in politics, but dont think
I am under any illusions here.

The following Text is based on a number of diffrent sources, as it is very hard to find all the information one needs with only one source, I had to put this
toghether piece by piece but I had fun with it.

Both sides agreed Jeb Bush got a majority of the hispanic vote in Florida as did W, but couldn't agree whether his percentage was in the 50s or 60s, Republicans have traditionally fared well in Florida because of Gop-leaning Cuban Americans who are now joined by a growing number of Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush is younger, smarter, taller, more articulate,
harder working and better looking than George W, Jeb Bush will be 55 in 2008
and 63 in 2016, the age his father was elected President.

Jeb Bush speaks excellent spanish, has a degree in Latin American Studies,
and a Mexican born wife, and lots of useful contacts with rich Mexican power brokers.

He did just as well with Florida's Mexican Americans who now constitute a good part of the hispanic population.

As a longtime supporter of Israel, Jeb Bush also maintains a significant
connection to Florida's Jewish voters. He was endorsed in his two winning Governor races by a national Jewish publication and won 44 percent of the state's Jewish vote in the 2002 governor's race.

A number of Black Republican clubs have sprung up in Florida, more recently he has reached out extensively to Florida's Haitian community, taking on a unique leadership role to help rebuild that neighboring country and assist its impoverished people.

In his re-election in 2002, Jeb Bush surprised critics by winning the white female vote in the swing voting battleground of Central Florida's I-4 corridor.


Official Results,
Florida Department of State,
Division of Elections.

Nov 03, 1998 General Election

Jeb Bush 2, 191,105 - 55.27 %
Buddy Mc Mackay 1,773,054 - 44.27 %
Others 282 - .01 %

_____________________________________
3,964,441 - 100 %



Florida Department of State,
Division of Elections.

Nov 05, 2002 General Election

Jeb Bush 2,856,845 - 56.01 %
Bill McBride 2,201,427 - 43.16 %
Others 42,309 - .83 %

_____________________________________
5,100,581 - 100 %

The post to which I was responding stated: "Bush decided to attack the war record of a freaking POW."

I can't provide a source. I'm running off of what I remember of that election. The attacks leveled against McCain were much like those leveled against Kerry in the last election. The difference is that McCain refused to give any credence to the attacks at all - not even to deny them. Add to that the suggestion to voters that his adopted daughter is actually an illegitimate child of his with a black woman (*gasp* - something that shouldn't matter, but does to many people and was suggested specifically for that reason), and he ended up losing the primary.

Any suggestion that Bush wasn't involved in the things said about McCain is ludicrous and naive. Politics doesn't work that way. Bush will deny up and down that he had anything to do with the attacks on McCain, but those of us with a brain know better.

but those of us with a brain know better.

If you can't provide sources or evidence for your accusations, those of us with a brain have nothing to go on.

If you can't provide sources or evidence for your accusations, those of us with a brain have nothing to go on.

Did you live through the election in question? Did you pay attention to it? If you weren't paying attention, you have nothing to go on for an opinion either way in the first place.

All right, my conservative counterparts, I've got a question for you. Massachussetts governor Mitt Romney has decided not to run for re-election in 2006, ostensibly to run for the Presidency. He's been contacting donors and fundraisers and doing all the candidate things.

So what are his chances in your book? Would you support him? If not, who looks like the big dogs in this very early part of the race? Giuliani? McCain? Brownback? Jeb!? Condi? Tancredo? Cheney (please God)? Anyone I've missed?

Romney maybe. I like most americans don't know enough about him i guess i should start studying about him. I don't get to vote in the primary though till i change my voter reg to Republican

Cheney isn't running. I pretty sure of that

Condi-everyone thinks shes the one. I guess she would be alright to carry the nomination

Jeb- Nope i don't think he's going to run either

Giuliani, McCain- I like Rudy. I would probably support him more then Condi, but i don't that he can carry the south. McCain is alright and he might get the nom if he can please the conservative base. The biggest problem for both will be trying to please the base...Condi has her work cut out for her

Did you live through the election in question? Did you pay attention to it? If you weren't paying attention, you have nothing to go on for an opinion either way in the first place.

Heh. I lived through it, alright, but being overseas I don't have the same media access you do. Expats not allowed to have an opinion?

Look, you accused Bush of being behind impugnment of McCain's military service and racist attacks while explicitly refusing to give any sources. I get enough U.S. news to know that lately Bush has been getting blamed for every evil from Original Sin onward, so please be indulgent if someone like me, who is not even a Bush partisan, takes claims of "Bush was behind it" with a grain of salt.

If you would have given me something, a link, a newspaper reference, a name, I would have looked it up and made my own decision. Instead, you berated me. Not a good strategy to make friends or influence people. ;)

Well, as long as everybody agrees that Tancredo's chances are less than a snowball's chance in hell, then good.

Seriously, as a registered voter in the 6th Colorado Congressional District (tancredo's district), I have come to basically hate the man with a passion. He is a one issue representative, his focus on immigration was tiresome not long after it started, and he seems to shoot his mouth off about various issues (the Bomb Mecca thing comes to mind). He hardly represents the interests of the district, and he reneged on a promise of a volutary term limit.

Dumb bastard.:mad:

I would prefer Giuliani of the bunch, myself. Seeing as he is the one best able to keep Hillary out of office, runs a more moderate social platform, and has a good reputation as an effective administrator in New York.

For that matter, Romney would be my second choice, though I'm afraid of what would happen when evangelicals would see "Mormon" next to his name. He's more moderate socially then you'd think, and his reputation as governor in Massachusetts is actually quite solid, with his effective programs to trim the government and reduce tax burdens. That right there makes me want him in office.

Look, you accused Bush of being behind impugnment of McCain's military service and racist attacks while explicitly refusing to give any sources.

I can't give you a source that says Bush is behind it. As with all politicians, all the dirty dealings are several times removed from him. However, those of us who aren't naive about politics don't believe for a second that any given politician isn't in on what is done by those campaigning for him.

If you would have given me something, a link, a newspaper reference, a name, I would have looked it up and made my own decision. Instead, you berated me. Not a good strategy to make friends or influence people. ;)

At least one link has already been posted that discusses some of the veteran's issues brought against him, although it does not address the fact that they also impugned his service directly.

As for the issue of racism:
http://www.paulstone.org/archives/000021.html
http://reforminstitute.org/cgi-data/article/files/180.shtml

Bush referring to McCain as "unstable" due to being a POW is mentioned here:
http://www.politicalquest.org/index.php/ccID/103/cID/107/cf/John_McCain_Primary_Presidential_Candidate/cssID/550/csf/John_Mccain_Race_for_President_2000

This is not exactly a "neutral" source, but discusses some of the many comments made:
http://bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=522

I can't give you a source that says Bush is behind it. As with all politicians, all the dirty dealings are several times removed from him. However, those of us who aren't naive about politics don't believe for a second that any given politician isn't in on what is done by those campaigning for him.

*CoughsswiftboatveterensfortruthCoughs*

Hate to sound like an idealist elitist, but isn't it a bit premature to be talking candidates? Shouldn't we focus more on the issues that will be at hand rather than names?

If issues decided elections then Bush would have lost hands down to McCain, and Howard Dean would have won the Dem primary in 04.

The last time an issue mattered in an election it was printed by Collier's.

*CoughsswiftboatveterensfortruthCoughs*

Yup, that's another one. And anyone who thinks for a second that Bush had nothing to do with that is awfully naive.

I can't imagine Condi would get any votes in the southern primaries. If she could get out of the primaries, she might be able to pull enough of the African-American vote to still carry those states in the general election, but African-Americans, being overwhelmingly Democrats, don't tend to vote in the Republican primaries--hard-core conservatives do, and in the deep south, there's a bit of a linkage between hard-core conservatives and the "south shall rise again" crowd.

I'd love to see a Colin Powell/Condi Rice ticket. Of course, Powell would have to come out of political retirement to do it.

They'd grab the votes of the Repub base (in the general election, at least), they'd pull some of the African-American vote away from the Dems, they'd likely keep the current Latino vote (or better it)... that could be a really good ticket.

With Powell's moderate stances on social issues and Condi's track record with defense (and the experience of both in State), they'd get a large share of the moderate/undecided vote.

If issues decided elections then Bush would have lost hands down to McCain, and Howard Dean would have won the Dem primary in 04.

The last time an issue mattered in an election it was printed by Collier's.

it's been that way for at least 40 years... ever since the Nixon/Kennedy debate... which Nixon won according to radio listeners, while the TV watchers saw it thought that Kennedy won.

The presidential election is now as much about character/charisma as anything else.

Bob Dole could have beaten Clinton on every issue but he still would have lost because Clinton was a far superior communicator.

Reagan/Clinton would have been a helluva race.

The post to which I was responding stated: "Bush decided to attack the war record of a freaking POW."

The article for which you provided the URL clearly indicates that it was a retired Special Forces officer named "Thomas Burch" who made the satement that "Senator McCain has abandoned the veterans. He came home from Vietnam and forgot us," which doesn't exactly sound like "an attack" to me.

In fact, the article itself goes into considerable detail about numerous incidents in which Senator McCain either opposed legislation or was late in endorsing legislation, which most veterans organizations supported.
This op-ed (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/) talks about the racist push-polling that was done, and a google search of the attacks on McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary will turn up tons of hits.

Meh ... doesn't really matter. It will be a frosty day in Hell and pigs will fly before I ever stoop to voting Republican.

As for the issue of racism:
http://www.paulstone.org/archives/000021.html
http://reforminstitute.org/cgi-data/article/files/180.shtml

Bush referring to McCain as "unstable" due to being a POW is mentioned here:
http://www.politicalquest.org/index.php/ccID/103/cID/107/cf/John_McCain_Primary_Presidential_Candidate/cssID/550/csf/John_Mccain_Race_for_President_2000

This is not exactly a "neutral" source, but discusses some of the many comments made:
http://bartcopnation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=522

Thank you.

I'm dissappointed to ready how nasty the campaigning got in the 2000 SC Republican primary. While the sources don't prove your contentions that Bush was behind the smear campaign against McCain (as you admit they don't), or that the smear campaign made a difference in the election (call me naive, but I would like to think voters can generally tell when someone is trying to manipulate them), I do think that Bush should have taken responsibility for those working on behalf of his campaign and put a stop to the dirty tricks. I would expect the same of any candidate whose boosters got out-of-control like that.

The only good Republicans are Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. All the rest suck.

Giuliani- Wont get nominated. To many liberal policies....a shame he wont though...
McCain-If nominated, dear god i cant believe im saying this but Id vote Republican if McCain was nominated.
Brownback-havent really heard of him but then again Im not a Republican...
Jeb-Oh god no! Have you seen what hes done to Florida?! I lived there my entire life and once he took over he ruined the entire eduacation system and made the state shitty all around. In conclusion, Id be forced to kill myself.
Condi-Hah! Id love to see the Republicans be the first to nominate a black person, let alone a black woman. Wont get nominated and if she is once again I will be forced to kill myself.
Tancredo-Dont know him.
Cheney-*shudders* Your kidding right? You really want to nominate the corporatist bastard that has killed over 2,000 Americans with the Iraqi war just to make a goddamn profit?! The man whos company has a Defence and FEMA contract monopoly?! Forget killing myself, Id have to commit the entire GOP to the Looney Bin....