Fiorina and Faith in politics

[William Thornton]

The surest way to sour me on a candidate is not the "Democrat" label but actions which define any candidate as cravenly soliciting the vote of a block of Christians (can be libs or cons or mods) as a group and doing so out of the expectation that "I'm your kind of Christian; therefore, you should vote for me."

Huckabee lost me years ago. He's a huckster, but polished and affable. When my friend got an endless stream of screaming fundraiser materials that had Huckabee's name and photo on them, I concluded that he was running to build his brand and mailing list and that's about it.

Perry lost me when he trotted out pastors for a big splash prayer meeting to promote his candidacy. Chumps.

I know Santorum is a Catholic and his views are informed by that to a degree. I have acquired a respect for him, not that he has a chance.

Fiorina I've just watched here and there. Sunday she used the phrase "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" which got my attention. Maybe there's a candidate who has a record, has achieved things, has discipline, and appropriately expresses her faith but doesn't try and use that as a fish hook. I take Obama's word that he's a Christian but still wouldn't vote for him. I already have a pastor and aren't looking for one through an election.

Unfolding...

[Sandy]

I don't see Fiorina as a candidate that uses faith as a "fish hook" though there are some things she's said and done which do identify her politics with the "religious right," and she seems to favor their forums and gatherings as a backdrop. Wikipedia says she's Episcopalian, which doesn't necessarily square up with some of the views she claims, but briefings can certainly help.

I've got a bit of trouble buying her "I'm against big money interests" campaign, given her previous CEO status with HP, and their attempt to monopolize the market with the buyout of Compaq, a move that more or less failed to deliver the anticipated results, and got her pushed out the door as a failure, though with a $20 million golden parachute in tow. She may be around for a while, though, since it seems her primary financial support comes from the Koch brothers, though I don't think she will ultimately fare as well as Santorum, or Ben Carson.

[Tim Bonney]

Fiorina comes across to me as a failed CEO who now wants to try her hand at a yet bigger CEO job. I'm not impressed.

[William Thornton]

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

Distinguished attorney? New one on me and every dem shill I've ever heard.
Being elected doesn't count as an accomplishment but once it is concluded that such is we're really in trouble. Obama famously counted managing his campaign as experience actually running something.

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

Gonna be a great election cycle around here.

Fox...your opinion is welcome but it has to respect the topic.

[Tim Bonney]

Since I'm in a prediction mood, I'm going to predict that Hilary will be the next President of the US unless the Republicans find a better candidate AND manage to get rid of the giant slate of candidates running now rather quickly. What they have now is a formula for dividing the party and keeping a lot of Reps home when their candidate (whoever that is) ends up not being the nominee.

[ET]

Seeing the latest entries into the Dem race, I suspect some of the these guys are sensing blood in the water over Hillary and her actions as Sec. of St. I still remember the 2005 or early 2006 TIME magazine cover presuming it would be Hillary vs Rudy. Neither one of 'em made it through the primaries.

William, did you see this ...he blistered the Huckster. I never had much faith in Huckabee since hearing him pontificate some years ago about the possibility of using the federal government to limit or ban smoking. I've never smoked a day in my life, but such an egregious proposal that has no Constitutional authority got him written off in my book. I've always considered him more of a "conservative populist".

I'm like a lot of other folks - I've got Bush-Clinton fatigue.....if a Dem wins it, at least not let it be Clinton. And if a Republican wins it, let it not be Bush. I haven't really paid much attention to Fiorina and most likely won't until she makes her way through a couple of primaries.

Santorum seems to me to be someone who hopes to rally enough social conservatives around him to get him through the primary, maybe hoping that the others might split the financial, immigration or other policy issues enough to get him far enough into the process to be viable for the nomination.

I'm rather cool towards Perry. Just have to wait and see what happens to them all. I do wonder if Fiorina will make the requisite sacrifices to Big Ag and the corn gods like most of the other Republicans did not long ago. How she addresses that issue of crony capitalism and corporate welfare will tell me a lot about whether to even bother reading up on her positions or not.

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

Yeah, i saw Will's piece. I was up on Huck enough to be down on him a couple of years ago. He's running to build his mail list.

[Tim Bonney]

It is always good Sandy to keep an Irishman as a running mate.

[Chris]

I think Colin Powell is the only person who can beat Clinton. He's today's Eisenhower.

[Dave Roberts]

[Sandy]