{"id":1945,"date":"2008-01-11T15:26:29","date_gmt":"2008-01-11T20:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1945"},"modified":"2008-01-11T15:26:29","modified_gmt":"2008-01-11T20:26:29","slug":"the-short-list-now-in-convenient-really-long-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1945","title":{"rendered":"The Short List:  Now In Convenient &#8220;Really Long&#8221; Form"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jeff Kouba&#8217;s piece on the upside of McCain this morning prompted me to drag out a bit I did &#8211; <em>very <\/em>obliquely &#8211; on the NARN show last weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Going through my short list based on the principles that matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There are two lists of those principles that I like:\u00a0 Hugh Hewitt&#8217;s, and the one we use over at True North.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hughhewitt.townhall.com\/blog\/g\/aade2325-422a-410e-a485-033b738ee08f\">Hugh&#8217;s list<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Win the war.<\/li>\n<li>Confirm the judges.<\/li>\n<li>Cut the taxes.<\/li>\n<li>Control the spending.<\/li>\n<li>Secure the border.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.looktruenorth.com\/about-us.html\">True North<\/a> list:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Liberty<\/li>\n<li>Security<\/li>\n<li>Prosperity<\/li>\n<li>Culture<\/li>\n<li>Limited Government<\/li>\n<li>Family<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For\u00a0the sake of &#8220;brevity&#8221;,\u00a0let&#8217;s consolidate these two lists into one.\u00a0 For argument&#8217;s sake, and with apologies to Hugh Hewitt, I&#8217;ll mash &#8217;em together like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Win the war&#8221; and &#8220;Secure the Border&#8221; are both narrow applications of &#8220;Security&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Confirm the judges&#8221; and part of &#8220;Cut the taxes&#8221; fit under &#8220;Limited Government&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Controlling the spending&#8221;, along with\u00a0 &#8220;Cutting the taxes&#8221;, fits under &#8220;Prosperity&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>Liberty<\/li>\n<li>Culture<\/li>\n<li>Family<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So let&#8217;s go through &#8217;em one at a time, candidate by candidate:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Limited Government<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Romney<\/strong> &#8211; Although being governor of Massachussetts means he&#8217;s never had to really <em>prove <\/em>it, I think Mitt makes all the right noises.\u00a0 When Ed and I interviewed him last summer, he at least talked the talk &#8211; and he was a CEO&#8217;s faith in private enterprise that I think will serve us all well.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\"><strong>Giuliani<\/strong> &#8211; On the one hand, anyone who can face down New York&#8217;s public employees&#8217; unions deserves some points.\u00a0\u00a0He has been as strict a limiter of government as anyone on the parade of candidates.\u00a0 Of course, he broke a few eggs to make the omelet that is\u00a0New York, so I&#8217;m going to dock him half a point\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Grade: <\/strong>Tough one.\u00a0 Call him a A-.\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>McCain<\/strong> &#8211; He&#8217;s always made most of the right noises here &#8211; except, of course, for McCain-Feingold.\u00a0 And while Thorley Winston is right &#8211; the BCRA is hardly alone among things we&#8217;re all willing to forgive an otherwise-better-than-the-alternative candidate for, <em>now <\/em>is the time to make our displeasure known.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: B<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thompson<\/strong> &#8211; Says the right things, but I dock a point for both McCain-Feingold <em>and <\/em>for never really having had to prove it.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: B.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huckabee<\/strong> &#8211; Bad nannystater.\u00a0 No donut.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: C.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ron Paul<\/strong> &#8211; Well, he certainly qualifies here.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hillary<\/strong> &#8211; Please.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll give her a point back if only because she might have a shred of DLC left in her pedigree &#8211; and it&#8217;s a gift, at that. \u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: D<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obama<\/strong>:\u00a0He&#8217;s got a program for everything.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>:\u00a0F\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Prosperity<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Romney<\/strong> &#8211; Probably the best, most untrammelled free-enterpriser in the bunch.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Giuliani<\/strong> &#8211; On the other hand, anyone who could create the New York of today out of the New York of the Dinkins era has got something going for him.\u00a0 Whatever Rudy&#8217;s other faults, I think he&#8217;s close enough to fiscal conservative to score.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>McCain<\/strong> &#8211; I worry about his take on tax cuts; they would seem to be the biggest blemish on JMac&#8217;s pedigree.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A-<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thompson<\/strong> &#8211; Makes the right noises, again.\u00a0 Docked a minus for having never had to deliver on those noises.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A-<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huckabee<\/strong> &#8211; Nannystatist.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: C<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ron Paul<\/strong> &#8211; While I&#8217;m a small-l, free-market libertarian, burying one&#8217;s head in the sand and failing to recognize that government has a role &#8211; positive and negative &#8211; in prosperity is not what I want in a president.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: B-<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hillary<\/strong> &#8211; Not as stupid as the liberals would like her to be, but would certainly reprise her husband&#8217;s tax-jacking practices.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: D-<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obama<\/strong> &#8211; A program for everything and everyone.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: F+<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Liberty<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Romney<\/strong> &#8211; Can&#8217;t seem to find any major problems with Mitt.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Giuliani<\/strong> &#8211; Docked a point for his stances on gun control.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: B<\/li>\n<li><strong>McCain<\/strong> &#8211; Docked a point for BCRA.\u00a0Gets a plus back for having a lifetime &#8220;A&#8221; from the NRA\u00a0<strong>Grade<\/strong>: B+<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thompson<\/strong> &#8211; Again &#8211; says the right things.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huckabee<\/strong> &#8211; I can&#8217;t find a reason, off-hand, to disparage him here.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ron Paul<\/strong> &#8211; Well, if a Libertarian can&#8217;t score points on liberty, what&#8217;s he good for?\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hillary<\/strong> &#8211; The Fairness Doctrine.\u00a0 &#8217;nuff said.\u00a0 Also, would\u00a0revert to her husband&#8217;s awful policies on gun control.\u00a0<strong>Grade<\/strong>: F-<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obama<\/strong> &#8211; Relentlessly anti-gun; led the Senate in gun-control efforts.\u00a0 Supports campaign finance reform.\u00a0 No position against the &#8220;Fairness Doctrine&#8221;.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>:\u00a0F-\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Romney<\/strong> &#8211; Relentless proponent and role model for personal responsibility: <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Giuliani<\/strong> &#8211; Let&#8217;s invoke the Clinton doctrine here; what a guy does in his personal life isn&#8217;t the public&#8217;s business.\u00a0 Move On, people.\u00a0 Rudy kicked the Mafia&#8217;s ass, got New York&#8217;s welfare recipients to work, and put a gag on at least parts of the entitlement culture.\u00a0 Imperfect, but damn good about the parts that matter most to me.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>McCain<\/strong> &#8211; Our culture would benefit greatly by being led by a genuine hero.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thompson<\/strong> &#8211; Our culture would benefit greatly by being led by a genuine conservative.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huckabee<\/strong> &#8211; Our culture would benefit greatly by being led by a genuine Christian.\u00a0 However, I dock him a bit because of the focus of his single-issue supporters.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A-<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ron Paul<\/strong> &#8211; Our culture would benefit greatly by Ron Paul staying in Congress and serving as a gadfly.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: D.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hillary<\/strong> &#8211; &#8220;Stagflation&#8221; was the great historical paradox of the seventies.\u00a0 &#8220;The Authoritarian Libertine&#8221; would be the paradox of a hypothetical Hillary! era.\u00a0 Would destroy Western civilization\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: G.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obama<\/strong> &#8211; Docked many, many points for being a nanny-state ultraliberal.\u00a0 Gets one back for at least repudiating the Clinton Machine&#8217;s politics of destruction.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: D+<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Family<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Romney<\/strong> &#8211; If the Mormons have one thing going for them, it&#8217;s their focus on families.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Giuliani<\/strong> &#8211; If he holds to his promise to appoint constructionist judges, I&#8217;ll give him the benefit of the doubt.\u00a0 Suspect he&#8217;d <em>not <\/em>repudiate the Department of Education.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: B.<\/li>\n<li><strong>McCain<\/strong> &#8211; I dock him half a point for being less-than-enthusiastic about reforming education\u00a0<strong>Grade<\/strong>: A-<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thompson<\/strong> &#8211; I think he&#8217;s making all the right noises, again. \u00a0<strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huckabee<\/strong> &#8211; Oh, what the heck: <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ron Paul <\/strong>&#8211; For his stance on schools, alone, I say <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hillary<\/strong> &#8211; The paradoxical support of both Hollywood <em>and <\/em>the Teacher&#8217;s Unions <em>and <\/em>NOW is dispositive, here.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: F<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obama<\/strong> &#8211; Like Hillary, only less oppressive. \u00a0<strong>Grade<\/strong>: D-<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Security &#8211; <\/strong>This is, of course, the make-or-break issue for me.\u00a0 Given that this is wartime, I will give it extra weight in the final grading.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Romney<\/strong> &#8211; Right noises, but no experience.\u00a0 The Olympics were impressive; they are not a war.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: B-.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Giuliani<\/strong> &#8211; Says the right things.\u00a0 Has the right experience.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A.<\/li>\n<li><strong>McCain<\/strong> &#8211; Rock solid.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thompson<\/strong> &#8211; A solid defense conservative.\u00a0 Docked a point for being a Senator rather than an executive; gets half a point back for having been the best DA in the history of <em>Law and Order<\/em>.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: A-.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huckabee<\/strong> &#8211; Are you inexperienced?\u00a0 Yes, and not\u00a0convincing even by that standard.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: C.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ron Paul <\/strong>&#8211; The second-biggest reason I left the Big-L Libertarian Party was their myopia about defense.\u00a0 Defense does <em>not <\/em>start at the border.\u00a0 Even the paladin of the Libertarians, Thomas Jefferson, realized this, and built a standing Navy and Marine Corps to project American\u00a0 power and protect our interests overseas. <strong>Grade<\/strong>: D.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hillary<\/strong> &#8211; Not as dumb as the opposition, although her husband&#8217;s record in dealing with the military counts against her, as does her relentless triangulation.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: D+<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obama<\/strong> &#8211; All of Huckabee&#8217;s inexperience, none of the wisdom.\u00a0 <strong>Grade<\/strong>: F.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Final Scores &#8211; <\/strong>Of course, the exercise only really helps if it shows any differentiation.\u00a0 Well, there is, but not in a way that helps me narrow my own choices.<\/p>\n<p>Below, I calculate each candidate&#8217;s &#8220;Grade point average&#8221; based on the grades I issued above.\u00a0 I gave Security extra weight in the grading, since it is by far the most important issue.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Romney &#8211; <\/strong>Very strong B+ (3.46), hampered by lack of foreign policy and defense experience.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Giuliani &#8211; <\/strong>An A- (3.53); could gain a few points back on civil liberties, maybe, assuming he puts some meat to the bones of his promise to appoint constructionist judges.<\/li>\n<li><strong>McCain &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>Squeaks into A- (3.53), tied with Rudy\u00a0based\u00a0largely on security.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thompson &#8211; <\/strong>Very nearly a dead heat with JMac and Rudy\u00a0(3.57) for an A-.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huckabee &#8211; <\/strong>Weak B- or strong C+ (2.74)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ron Paul &#8211; <\/strong>I call him a C+ (2.61), largely based on having a security position that&#8217;d pass muster with the Daily Kos.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hillary &#8211; <\/strong>Squeaks into D- territory by the skin on her teeth (.51), largely based on at least being able to <em>fake<\/em> being tough on security.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obama &#8211; <\/strong>F+ (.3).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Well, I know who<em>\u00a0<\/em>I <em>won&#8217;t <\/em>vote for, anyway.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeff Kouba&#8217;s piece on the upside of McCain this morning prompted me to drag out a bit I did &#8211; very obliquely &#8211; on the NARN show last weekend. Going through my short list based on the principles that matter.\u00a0 There are two lists of those principles that I like:\u00a0 Hugh Hewitt&#8217;s, and the one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campaign-08"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}