The Republicans have two problems with regards to finding someone who sounds rational to take the 2010 nomination. First the two Republicans who have made the most sense lately are unlikely to win the nomination and secondly neither is constitutionally eligible.
I”ve already noted sensible comments from Arnold Schwarzenegger in posts such as here. These ideas make it unlikely he could win the nomination. He might have a shot due to his celebrity status except he is note eligible due to not being a natural born American citizen.
While I’m not seriously proposing her as a candidate, Meghan McCain is also making far more sense than most of the Republicans around. Even if the Republicans would nominate her, which is far less likely than Schwarzenegger, she is too young to be eligible. She was interviewed by Larry King. Here’s a portion:
King: Do you consider yourself a moderate? Are you moderate liberal?
McCain: I consider myself a progressive Republican. I am liberal on social issues. And I think that the party is at a place where social issues shouldn’t be the issues that define the party. And I have taken heat, but in fairness to me, I am a different generation than the people that are giving me heat. I’m 24 years old. I’m not in my 40s, I’m not in my 50s and older.
King: Therefore, you must, based on what you said, disagree with your father? … Do you discuss it?
McCain: We have a very big generation gap between me and my father. Yes, we discuss them. He’s very open-minded. I was raised in an open-minded home. I was raised a Christian, but I was raised open-minded Christian — one to accept people, love people, not pass judgment. …
I believe in gay marriage. … I personally am pro-life, but I’m not going to judge someone that’s pro-choice. It is not my place to judge other people and what they do with their body.
I do give Meghan some slack for her presidential vote in 2008. We really can’t expect her to have supported anyone other than her father, and she did back John Kerry in 2004. Still, I wish she hadn’t ended the interview by attributing some of her attitudes to “having a maverick as a father.”
Yeah, well, she is a girl with a serious case of love for daddy. She originally came to attention because she was mad the GOP Old Guard for not doing a better job of running her daddy’s campaign. It really wouldn’t be realistic to expect anything less than adoration for the old dork. 🙂
If one wishes Schwarzenegger could run, one can always take a look at Charlie Crist and Tim Pawlenty. Crist is moderate on social issues, roughly comparable to Schwarzenegger. Pawlenty is more conservative on social issues, without being a blatant panderer to the religious right, but has shown a great deal of economic pragmatism during the economic crisis and appears to have shipped more firmly to the center as a result of same.
I don’t think I would vote for either of them, but both have shown a brain and are constitutionally eligible. 🙂
I like what McCain has been saying, but she will be shut out of this process soon enough. She doesn’t have a fraction of the exposure of the far-right people. I put money on her supporting Obama in 2012 against someone further to the right than her father despite what she says.
She would never survive the GOP primary process for any political office. Hell, Ahnold only made it because he was able to bypass that — it was the Davis recall vote with 70 candidates or so on the ballot. So the anti-choice, anti-gay voters did not have a death grip on the process.
the republicans will make her into a full liberal by 2010.. there is no way the ‘good old boys’ are going to let some wet dream of theirs take over the party.. lets be realistic..
either that or daddy will step in and make her the new ann cun… i mean coulter.. only time will tell..
I believe that Crist is a touch more conservative than he is being painted in this article, but you know a Republican has a brain when he’s being trashed by the American Spectator.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/24/the-specter-of-a-new-arlen
I also fear that if Crist or Pawlenty were to decide to run for the nomination they would take a sharp turn towards the right.
Meghan McCain is extremely unlikely to have a future in the GOP (unless there is a drastic change in the party). If Arnold could legally run I’m not sure if he would have any chance. He certainly could not have won the nomination for governor in a primary, but now that he is better known nationally he might have an outside chance. Obviously there would be many opposing him for his views on social issues, but perhaps he could still do ok in a divided race. We will never get a chance to see since he isn’t eligible to run for president.
I think you’re probably right, they might very well pull a Mitt Romney… though Pawlenty is already about where Romney was when he ran for president, he might not need to turn further right. He’s not really a moderate, he’s just showing a brain about the economy.
If Arnold somehow was able to run for president, he would take the same sharp turn to the right Romney did if he wished to win. Most of his original presidential support came from the right, the senator who proposed an amendment to allow naturalized citizens to run for president was Orrin Hatch.
In Arnold’s case, I think it is a combination of his Hollywood celebrity status and his tough guy image which appeal to a broader range of Republicans than anyone else with his views would appeal to.
Arnold was not born in this country and this disqualifies him for President.
battlebob,
That’s the point of the post. He’s making far more sense lately than other Republicans but he is not eligible (and it is questionable if he could win the nomination even if he was).