What can we make of the South Carolina primary? As of this writing, McCain came in first with 33%, Huckabee second with 30%, Thompson squeaked into third with 16% and Romney got 15%.
The Republican nomination is still up in the air. It's a strange situation for the GOP, one that we have not seen before. After Florida we'll have a better idea of who will win, especially with regard to Giuliani. Super Tuesday looks to be moment we'll find out the leader -- unless, of course various candidates win states and the delegate counts are close.
Thompson looks dead. Why? Quick, tell me what he stands for. Unlike the other candidates, Thompson has never defined himself clearly so that one or two issues stand out in the voters' mind when they think of him. Maybe it's the old problem of having been a Senator instead of an executive. Maybe he is lost in the crowd of candidates.
Democrats have to be loving the Republican confusion. The CW seems to be that the longer it takes for a party to select a candidate, the weaker that nominee is.
I think the most significant result of the South Carolina vote is that 30% voted for Mike Huckabee, a welfare state theocrat. 30% of South Carolina's voters are already what Leonard Peikoff fears the Republican Party is becoming. Huckabee wants to rewrite the Constitution so that it conforms to "God's standards."
That 30% of South Carolina Republicans -- voters who value religion above economic freedom (or any kind of freedom), or who might even want bigger government with Huckabee -- those voters are a dangerous faction, if not the most dangerous. It is ominous.
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"I think the most significant result of the South Carolina vote is that 30% voted for Mike Huckabee, a welfare state theocrat. 30% of South Carolina's voters are already what Leonard Peikoff fears the Republican Party is becoming. Huckabee wants to rewrite the Constitution so that it conforms to "God's standards."
That 30% of South Carolina Republicans -- voters who value religion above economic freedom, or who might even want bigger government with Huckabee -- those voters are a dangerous faction, if not the most dangerous. It is ominous.
And what makes it even scarier is when you add McCain's 33% on top of that - i.e. Mr. McCain Feingold attack on free speech. Mr. I Believe In Global Warming Fairy Tales. McCain is just as contemptuous of freedom as Huckabee, albeit more out of personal power lust than more abstract ideological/religious/philosophical reasons.
So that means that 63% of the Republican voters in that state voted for the two most explicitly pro-Statist candidates within the Republican party within my lifetime (Pat Buchanan should be included in that list as well). That means that 63% of South Carolina Republicans are either statists for one reason or another or are too utterly ignorant/stupid/naive to see through it - a distinction which is kind of irrelevant on election day.
All I can say is Go Rudy - I sure hope you can pull it off. If you get the nomination, I'll even send you a campaign contribution. And if Huckabee or McCain get the nomination - well, I'll root for the Stalinst Witch herself. Peikoff's call to vote Democratic in 2006 did not convince me - though some of the events since then have made me much more open to the notion that he might have been correct. But with Huckabee and McCain it is a no-brainer.
With the Stalinist Witch, at least there might still be some faction of the tatters of the Republican Party left to oppose her. But who will be there to oppose the statism of Huckabee and McCain? Nobody - only the Stalinst Witch and moveon.org bitching that they aren't going far enough.
My god this is scary. I'm I really going to have to live under socialized medicine? I won't even be able to do what the Canadians do and escape to America to see a doctor. Socialized medicine scares the crap out of me. I am still hoping that someone will come along with some nice wonderful medicine or medical breakthrough that will enable me to live to be at least 150. That sure as heck ain't going to happen under socialized medicine with bastards such as Huckabee, McCain and the Stalinist Witch who rabble rouse against the pharmaceutical industry. Those 63% in South Carlina deserve to live under what they are voting for. But I don't - and yet I will have no choice when they get what they want.
Disgusting.
I agree Dismuke. Further, McCain can't wait to destroy free spech in this country as McCain Feingold demonstrated. Huckabee will support that endeavor because the only speech he wants legal is out of the bible and not the Constitution. But I'm still not sure who I'll vote for in Nov.
I agree that of all the folks running for president at the moment, Huckabee scares me the most.
About the best that could be hoped for with the coming of socialized medicine, is that they leave open the option of private medical care. You'll end up with two-tier medicine, of course, with one system for the poor and one very expensive one for everyone else -- but at least that option will remain. For the most part, Canadians can't do that, as the law forbids private contract for medical services. (There was a court case in Quebec that struck down that law in that province in 2006, but I've not heard anything about any further consequnces of that decision.)
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