2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[PanzerJaeger]

Lot's of people have bad policy proposals and ideas. I think ron paul is out there but don't think he's poisonous. I don't look at him and say "the GOP would be better off without this libertarian element..."

I would prefer not to have bad policy proposals and ideas in the party I support. In my opinion (and it is just my opinion), the Moral Majority types have brought nothing good into the party but their votes, and they are preventing it from becoming the kind of party I would ideally like to support, which is much more libertarian. Furthermore, the policies they have pursued are damaging to lots of people and personally offensive to my sensibilities. I do not relate to or like bible thumpers. Obviously a lot of Republicans probably like the religious element, and that is fine.

One of the reasons I was initially drawn to the GOP and conservatism was because the party seemed to have a healthy respect for religious people and traditionalism as opposed to the other side which is more often dismissive toward the religious. However, there is a big difference between respecting the fact that most Americans are religious and the religious traditions of the nation and letting a bunch of fanatics write legislation that, say, protects bullies who hide behind religious belief. I would love for the GOP to be the party of religious freedom and respect, but not the party of religion.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

It would surprise me if the trend wasn't in that direction. I'm pretty sure gay marriage support has increased quite dramatically over the last few years.

Ideally the libertarians and religious groups would have a moderating effect on each other...

[ICantSpellDawg]

It would surprise me if the trend wasn't in that direction. I'm pretty sure gay marriage support has increased quite dramatically over the last few years.

Ideally the libertarians and religious groups would have a moderating effect on each other...

Agreed, the Religious Republican voters are the part of the coatlition who are worried about the health and souls of the forgotten. They have a balancing effect on the Ayn Rand types and help the party get votes with the majority of Americans. Superstitious twits, right?

Republicans need to work on their response to the allure of power. I wasn't a Republican before, now I am. I try to learn lessons from history and would like to see government's hand over the life of this country broken and money returned to the taxpayers. I need to resist the urge to support policies that sound awesome but are massively expensive.

[Strike For The South]

I like Nixon, I like Kissenger more

[PanzerJaeger]

I guess Santorum could not risk losing his home state. Congrats Mitt Romney! I hope he has prepared himself and his family, because Obama and the media will be merciless.

[Lemur]

Is this significant?

"He pointedly made no mention or endorsement of Romney, whom Santorum had derided as an unworthy standard-bearer for the GOP."

[a completely inoffensive name]

Is this significant?

"He pointedly made no mention or endorsement of Romney, whom Santorum had derided as an unworthy standard-bearer for the GOP."

He could just be a bitter man at the moment. Give him another month and see if he wants to rally around Romney to beat Obama.

[PanzerJaeger]

Is this significant?

"He pointedly made no mention or endorsement of Romney, whom Santorum had derided as an unworthy standard-bearer for the GOP."

I do not think Hillary endorsed Obama in her suspension speech. Wasn't it done later in an event of its own?

[Lemur]

Actually, the Republicans are THE Big Government party.

That's been true my entire life, and I'm over 40. The Dems have plenty of problems as well, but the cognitive dissonance of hearing from Repubs about how government must be smaller, then bigger (when they are in power), has been a constant throughout my four-plus decades. Recent illustration from the CBO (and note that the $1.4 trillion price tag on the two wars is prolly low):