Gov. Huckabee is included in the top tier of the Republican candidates in this Michael Medved article.
The Worst GOP Field Ever--or the Best?
By Michael Medved
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
If there’s one sentiment that seems to unite desperate Republicans in the run-up to the campaign of 2008 it would seem to be profound discomfort, if not outright disgust, with the current field of Presidential candidates.
I’ve heard literally dozens of demoralized friends and colleagues express their frustration with this crop of contenders in remarkably similar terms. The common mantra usual proclaims that this must count as “the worst group of Republican candidates in all of American history.”
Of course, this grim conclusion raises an obvious question: if this field amounts to the worst clutch of candidates ever, then which year yielded a better array of choices?
Last time (2004) there was no GOP alternative to President Bush. Does this constitute a richer spectrum of choices?
In 2000, the only serious, durable alternative to Bush was Senator McCain – and he’s an alternative once again this time. The other candidates included ego-tripping Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Smith – who, in the style of this year’s Sam Brownback, ran more for attention and publicity than with any real thought of winning anything.
The 2000 race also brought its share of hard-right fringe candidates: Gary Bauer, Alan Keyes, Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan (Buchanan eventually left the Republican Party to run on the “Reform Party” ticket, garnering a paltry 0.4% of the vote.) At least this year’s angry fringe candidates (Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter) can point to real political experience, having each won many terms in the House of Representatives. When it came to Bauer, Keyes, Forbes and Buchanan eight years ago, as well as the brief campaign of Elizabeth Hanford Dole, none of them had ever won election to public office before. Why would we consider a field full of seasoned political veterans less formidable than a group of stumbling amateurs?
Going back to other recent elections, the struggle for the ’96 nomination came down to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, columnist Pat Buchanan, and former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander—with the Buchanan and Alexander campaigns quickly collapsing in the face of Dole’s established position in the party. As in 2000, magazine publisher Steve Forbes and unemployed orator Alan Keyes also tried, without much success, to generate support and other members of the Senate and House (“B-1 Bob” Dornan, Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and Phil Gramm of Texas) briefly put their names in play before hasty withdrawal. Who, precisely, in that uninspiring field makes it tower over today’s choices of Giuliani, Thompson, Huckabee, Romney and McCain?
Read the full article here:
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MichaelMedved/2007/08/29/the_worst_gop_field_ever--or_the_best
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
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3 comments:
I don't see Michael Medved's columns as often as I should. Generally, I love the guy. He's absolutely right -- this year's candidates often more diversity and better records of accomplishment than we get in most years. I wrote a column about three weeks ago going through the Republican choices for V-P over more than 50 years. Frankly, it's a sorry lot (Nixon, once V-P, resigned later as President, although not before his V-P, Agnew, resigned in a bribery scandal. Dan Quayle? Well, you recall those days. Presidential candidates often seem to make their V-P choices out of a hat. When they're chosen to carry a particular state, the ticket ends up losing that state, as happened with Agnew and Maryland in 1968.
Yes, we do want to push somebody like Sarah Palin, an absolutely terrific candidate, on the presidential nominee. We don't need another Dan Quayle, a nice man, but as a potential President?
Huckabee passes Thompson and is tied w/Giuliani and Romney in some early primary polls!
http://huckabee08.blogspot.com/2007/08/polls-position-huckabee-passes-thompson.html
Good, post. Keep up the hard work.
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