Quote:Interesting answer to the question.  I appreciate your response.  What I find interesting is that you left out Marco Rubio (my publicly stated favorite candidate).  Do you have a problem with what he says or what his vision is?  Is he "far right"?  If so, specifically how?

First off, I'm not going to sit around and dig up specific policies that each far-right candidate has pushed which get them into that category. Too many beers to drink and fingers to blow off this evening.

 

I think that Rubio falls more into the "pandering to the far right" category than actually belonging in it. Take his views on immigration, for one. He was an advocate for a more "friendly" approach to it until he threw his hat into the 2016 ring, at which point he started spouting the party line. He's strongly anti-Obamacare, but unlike many of the far-right crowd that simply shouts about how awful it is without presenting an alternative, Rubio and Scott Walker actually drew one up. Socially, he is definitely far right, but his economic views aren't the extreme "don't tax the rich, do tax the poor, increase military spending, stop all social programs" platform that some on the far right tend towards.

 

Rubio wouldn't be my first pick (or my second...or even my third...maybe not even my fourth), but given that he'll be working with much the same Supreme Court that Obama has, the odds of him getting a decision to overturn the same-sex marriage ruling are slim, at best, and a Constitutional amendment to define marriage is just not going to happen. Abortion is effectively settled law at this point, with a future Court unlikely to overturn Roe v. Wade. Socially, he's harmless. If there's any one likely nominee out there that I feel would moderate after taking office as opposed to digging in their heels, Rubio is probably the guy.

 

And since this will be your next question, if the election happened today, my vote would go to Rand Paul. I'm not a fan of the right-wing stance he's taken lately on social issues, but again, look at what he was saying before throwing his hat in the ring, and look what he's saying now. I don't consider him a likely nominee at this point because he is going up against players who are much better known with much larger followings, but he is the candidate who would, I believe, moderate right back to his original views pretty quickly upon taking office.

 

That's a common theme for me--what were these guys saying before they wanted the White House? In the case of someone like Ted Cruz, who has bordered on clinically insane for years (I mean exactly what I said: the guy is bat-crap crazy, and no, I won't provide examples), I want no part of him. If someone was fairly moderate before saying/doing whatever they had to to get the nomination, they may well moderate again once they take office. This applies at levels of government below the Presidency. Had McCain been elected in 2008, I believe he would have been a great President, as he too would likely have moderated rather than stayed with the newfound right-wing platform that got him the nomination.

---