Ten GOP Presidential Contenders Hold Joint Press Conference

Last night, 10 of the Republican Party’s big wigs turned up at the Ronald Reagan Library hoping that some of the old codger’s magic would rub off on them. No such luck. Instead, they let NBC’s Chris Matthews toss fairly easy questions at them, and each failed to knock the ball out of the park. The election is 18 months away, and already, one is tired of the GOP’s gaggle of goons. The winner was Fred Thompson because he hasn’t announced, and so he wasn’t there.

There is something sad about the GOP these days. It’s one thing to grumble about deficit spending and fiscal irresponsibility when the Democrats are in power, but America’s crippling debt is the Bush legacy. Then, there’s the lost war in Iraq-Nam. Everybody loves a winner, and that’s what Ol’ Dutch Reagan understood (even while he was trading arms for hostages). He never invaded a country that couldn’t be taken in an afternoon. Also, there’s national security and the threat posed by America’s lax border security. Once again, the problem is the GOP has been in power all these years and achieved nothing on the issue. Some in the Republican Party want to send the illegals back, and others want to get the votes of Hispanics so they welcome amnesty without saying the word.

The only Republican to actually turn up was Ron Paul of Texas. He has already run for president as the nominee of the Libertarian Party, and frankly, he’s the only one who cleaves to the traditional Republican values of small government (which means small foreign policy, too), lower taxes and general freedom for the people to make asses of themselves. Since he wants to leave Iraq-Nam, he’s got no chance for the nomination. However, if New York Mayor Bloomberg decides to run on his own nickel as a third-party candidate, Mr. Paul would be an excellent choice for VP.

On abortion, the big question among social conservatives, each tried to outdo the other while leaving wiggle room to appeal to centrist voters in the general election. Most pathetic was former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was a pro-choice politician throughout his tenure. On Roe v. Wade, he said, “It would be OK to repeal. Then, he added, “if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as precedent,” then it would be OK to leave it alone. A slogan came to mind as he said that, “Giuliani, the voice of the pro-choice, anti-gun, pro-gay Republicans – both of them.”

What became clear was that the GOP has no idea what to do so long as the Bush administration continues to mismanage the executive. While there was some criticism of the war, none except Mr. Paul said what the nation wants to hear, “voting for the Republican nominee will not be the same as voting for a third term for Mr. Bush.” Old wine in new bottles won’t work. Where Mr. Reagan really drove his point home was in being different from what had preceded him – not offering more of the same.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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