So you're doing it too, eh? Leaving Ron Paul out of the Republicans...

At this rate, we'll NEVER get a President in office who has actually read the Constitution.

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I didn't leave him out...he's the next to last entry on the list.

I wish he wasn't tagged as a kook by so many folks. I don't think he's got the proverbial snowball's chance of being nominated; the best we can hope for (and it's not a forlorn hope at all) is that he pulls the eventual nominee in more of a libertarian direction.

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I have heard it said that Paul's a creationist, though I have not yet attempted to ascertain whether this is actually true.

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That might be - but Paul is the one candidate I'm certain will not try to impose those views on the country.

Paul claims to be a libertarian...wonder what Eric has to say about that.

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That might be - but Paul is the one candidate I'm certain will not try to impose those views on the country.

I know next to nothing about him--what convinces you of that?

By the way, I have no idea about what esrblog thinks of Paul or of his claim to be a libertarian. I will say that the word means many different things to many people. Most people who call themselves libertarians have no ties to the Libertarian Party and no interest in creating any. Some people who use the term mean "I believe in minimal interference by government in people's lives," though what "minimal" means also differs from person to person.

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I'm convinced of that by his overall stands, which all center on sticking to what the Constitution says should be done.

Paul once ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for President. I would assume that gives him at least some libertarian cred.

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Given his 20 year history of voting in congress, I'd say he's likely to not shove it down our throats. Ron Paul may not be the most libertarian libertarian ever, but he's certainly a far sight more libertarian than the entire republican and democrat presidential field.

That said, I'm still not decided between Ron Paul and Fred Thompson. Those are the only two I could vote for with a clear conscious though... I'm worried that Fred Thompson might be a bit shaky on some things, and that he might have some backroom deal going with McCain on who gets the nomination. His record and his rhetoric are very Federalist though, and federalist is much better than what we've been getting the last hundred years or so.

Now McCain, that's one scary guy. He's more of a democrat than Lieberman.

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Now you know a litle bit how feels to be a Democrat.

Im not sure whats going with my the party other than its something about a black guy, some white chick, and a lawyer hanging around. Which is typical for us but atypical for the GOP where the nomination is usually fait accompli.

I think it shows how weak they are this year and the difficulties Republicans are going to face for some time after this administrations stewardship. You know its bad when after a two term presidency they arnt even considering running the VP or any major White House figures.

I'm looking forward to it though. The GOP plays a pretty good political game and a win here would be a total masterstroke.

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That Cheney's not running is not due to GOP maneuvering; it's because Cheney himself ruled out runinng several years ago, due largely to his health. I'm not sure any Cabinet members would be strong candidates, but that's historically been the case for all of them.

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From a personal health point of view, Cheney should probably never have agreed even to be Vice President. Given his general physical condition, the Presidency likely would be a death sentence for him.

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With Bush's utter lack of experience, he needed someone to handhold him through the first year or so of his presidency. Cheney just happened to be that someone, having been in administrations, working closely with the president before.

I suspect that if anything would have happened to Bush, that Cheney would have picked a VP and then stepped down in short order.

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Bush certainly needed handholding, but that doesn't mean that Cheney had to be the guy to supply it. If I had been him, I think I would have spent my time helping 43 find someone else for the job.

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No, but it happened to be who they picked and there's no way to go back and change that now, so Cheney just happened to be that someone. ;)

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By the way, the white chick is also a lawyer--she just hasn't actually practiced law for many years, that's all. :-)

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