Why did the Republican party choose George W Bush as their candidate?

[Ferocious]

McCain would have been awesome.....he was my pick.

But the corporations would have nothing to do with him. He's not anti- middle class enough.

 

[Fencer128]

Originally posted by: Ferocious
McCain would have been awesome.....he was my pick.

But the corporations would have nothing to do with him. He's not anti- middle class enough.

Do you know how much political experience McCain had?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[Corn]

You mean paid up members of the republican party? Its not like they know who you vote for! is it?

Paid up members? I voted for McCain in the primaries and I didn't get paid?!?!?!!? Where's my money! Oh do you mean that you think that one has to contribute to the party to get the vote? LOL

Do yourself a favor, pay better attention in your civics class. Primaries are open to all registered voters--not just those that directly working for or contributing to either party.

 

[FettsBabe]

Behind every great man is an even greater woman! Nominating him was like nominating Barbara Bush!!!!!!

Cheers!!!!

 

[wyvrn]

The risk was high for both Clinton and Bush, but the difference is nobody wants to prosecute Bush. You don't see any of his former business partners taking him to court. But Clinton was drug into court by Lewinski and was taken to task on his previous financial dealings as well. If the Democrats had known this prior to his first election, they would have never advanced Clinton as their candidate because of the public backlash that seemed to have thrown more support in the Replican camp afterwards. Lots of independents out there waiting switch their vote for a good reason.

Originally posted by: Fencer128

Originally posted by: wyvrn
It has to do with perception. Proving Bush's fault in his financial dealings would be hard. Proving Clinton cheated on his wife was much easier because people came forward. Bush's sketchy dealings are alleged, Clinton's are concrete.

True - but I would have still thought that its a big risk to take. If it is not true but enough people believe it - you could still bomb in the popularity stakes.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[jaeger66]

John McCain

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
The name was familiar, a lot of people vote on 'That sounds familiar...' alone, and why he was put forward in the first place... I presume his dad and his friends pushed him forward, always nice to have a puppet in a high place.

This is no different than John F. Kennedy or Al Gore. Both had fathers who were placed high politically and both fathers had high ambitions for their sons. Nothing new...has been going on for years.

 

[Fencer128]

Originally posted by: Corn

You mean paid up members of the republican party? Its not like they know who you vote for! is it?

Paid up members? I voted for McCain in the primaries and I didn't get paid?!?!?!!? Where's my money! Oh do you mean that you think that one has to contribute to the party to get the vote? LOL

Do yourself a favor, pay better attention in your civics class. Primaries are open to all registered voters--not just those that directly working for or contributing to either party.

Sorry - I don't live in the US - but in the UK. Here we have no primaries.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[outriding]

Originally posted by: FettsBabe
Behind every great man is an even greater woman! Nominating him was like nominating Barbara Bush!!!!!!

Cheers!!!!

thats not saying much for barbara.

 

[Kanly]

Primaries are open to all registered voters--not just those that directly working for or contributing to either party.

But just because you are a registered voter doesn't mean that you can vote in the GOP or Dem primary for your state.

Each state has an Open or Closed primary -- how that is determined is way complicated.

Open means any registered voter can vote in that Party's primary,

Closed means only those voters registered with that particular Party can vote in that Party's primary.

Some states have exceptions for Independents.

A breakdown of some of the 2000 Presidential Primaries

Open GOP primaries caused problems for the GOP in 2000 when many Democrats crossed over and voted for McCain.

There were charges that Dems were tying to hijack the process, etc.

This despite the fact that the had moved to have more Open primaries in the past.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: Fencer128
What are the "primaries"? (excuse my ignorance) and who votes in them? Party members?

Cheers,

Andy

And here we have Exibit A for why this country is going down the tubes... Our own citizens are not learning about our political system in school... Pathetic...

: ) Hopper

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
The name was familiar, a lot of people vote on 'That sounds familiar...' alone, and why he was put forward in the first place... I presume his dad and his friends pushed him forward, always nice to have a puppet in a high place.

Yep, a lot of people do... They vote either for that, or for a name that "looks right".

This is why John Smith will get elected over Zim Hussain.

: ) Hopper

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27

Originally posted by: Fencer128
What are the "primaries"? (excuse my ignorance) and who votes in them? Party members?

Cheers,

Andy

And here we have Exibit A for why this country is going down the tubes... Our own citizens are not learning about our political system in school... Pathetic...

: ) Hopper

LOL...Fencer has already stated multiple times in this thread that he is from the UK

 

[nord1899]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27

Originally posted by: Fencer128
What are the "primaries"? (excuse my ignorance) and who votes in them? Party members?

Cheers,

Andy

And here we have Exibit A for why this country is going down the tubes... Our own citizens are not learning about our political system in school... Pathetic...

: ) Hopper

LOL...Fencer has already stated multiple times in this thread that he is from the UK

And here we have Exhibit B and C for why this country is going down the tubes. Our own citizens are not learning how to spell and are lacking reading comprehension.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I heard Gore speak in person when he was VP (during his first term), he seriously pi$$ed me off when I realized the "biological resources" he kept talking about was me:|

Yeah, I know I'm a biological resource but I thought it was a damn stupid way of referring to fellow human beings, especially a roomful of his supporters.

Al Gore lost because he did many stupid things...

Did you know he went into the coal mining towns of West Virgina and then spoke about his proposed 15% tax hike on coal fired power plants?

He went into rural Missouri and talked about more gun control...

Al Gore should have walked off with the election, instead he didn't even win his own home state.

: ) Hopper

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: Fencer128
Sorry - I don't live in the US - but in the UK. Here we have no primaries.

Cheers,

Andy

Oh, sorry about that...

I forget sometimes that not everyone here lives in America, you know, the Center of the Universe.

: ) Hopper

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I heard Gore speak in person when he was VP (during his first term), he seriously pi$$ed me off when I realized the "biological resources" he kept talking about was me:|

Yeah, I know I'm a biological resource but I thought it was a damn stupid way of referring to fellow human beings, especially a roomful of his supporters.

Al Gore lost because he did many stupid things...

Did you know he went into the coal mining towns of West Virgina and then spoke about his proposed 15% tax hike on coal fired power plants?

He went into rural Missouri and talked about more gun control...

Al Gore should have walked off with the election, instead he didn't even win his own home state.

: ) Hopper

The way he sighed, huffed, and puffed during the debates along with him trying to physically intimidate Bush during the debates is what did it for me. WTF was he thinking?

 

[NightTrain]

Originally posted by: Grasshopper27

Al Gore should have walked off with the election, instead he didn't even win his own home state.

Gore's biggest problem was Clinton. Schmooze with him and you're tarred with everything from "It depends on the meaning of 'is'" to Buddist Monk fundraisers and Chinese missile launches. Distance yourself from him and you're Mr Wood with nothing to talk about the past 8 years.

It was an unenviable position and I'm surprised Gore was able to even make a race out of it.

 

[Corn]

But just because you are a registered voter doesn't mean that you can vote in the GOP or Dem primary for your state.

Each state has an Open or Closed primary -- how that is determined is way complicated.

Open means any registered voter can vote in that Party's primary,

Closed means only those voters registered with that particular Party can vote in that Party's primary.

Some states have exceptions for Independents.

A breakdown of some of the 2000 Presidential Primaries

Open GOP primaries caused problems for the GOP in 2000 when many Democrats crossed over and voted for McCain.

There were charges that Dems were tying to hijack the process, etc.

This despite the fact that the had moved to have more Open primaries in the past.

Yep. I didn't want to confuse the issue further for Fencer by trying to relate concept of open and closed primaries. Regardless, all registered voters can participate in the primaries--but in the case of states where primaries are closed, must choose carefully about deciding if they wish to support their party or cause problems for the other. Personally I'm all in favor of the system that the state of Michigan employs (not really a closed system, but close): You get the choice of 1 of 2 available ballots. One for Republican choices, the other for Democrat. This is enough of a deterrent to curb the issues you listed above because several local offices are also decided in the primaries here in Michigan, not just the Presidential candidate--thus if a Democrat chooses a Republican ballot, he cannot cast his vote for a Democrat running for a local office.

 

[arynn]

Bush was governor of Texas for six years before running for President. He had been an expected candidate at some point in the future (I think many expected him to run in 2004/2008). However, he ran in 2000. Apparently, he timed his run correctly as he won. In recent times, it doesn't seem that any candidate gets a second chance to run for office (republican or democrat). It is usually more difficult to win versus an incumbent candidate. Often, it is easier for a Washington outsider to be elected President as Washington is seen by many as politically divided and corrupt.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Fencer128

Originally posted by: Corn

As a proportion of the electorate - is partry membership quite high (ie do you think that if it was a free vote for all republicans it would of gone the same way).

Primaries are "free" votes for all registered voters. The only restriction being that most states don't allow voters who are registered as Democrats to vote in Republican primaries and vice versa.

?

You mean paid up members of the republican party? Its not like they know who you vote for! is it?

Andy

When a person registers to vote, they can register as a member of a political party (which they are free to change at any time) or as an independant. I am registered as a Republican myself, though I have voted for more than a few Democrats in actual (non-primary) elections. I am not permitted to vote in Democratic primary elections though, which makes sense. And no, they do not know for whom I have voted, they only know that I am a Republican because I tell them that I am.

ZV

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: Fencer128

Originally posted by: Garfang

Originally posted by: Ornery
We went with Dole once. Guess substance doesn't cut it, eh? Fine, then whoever can garner votes from now on!

Yup. It was all about name recognition.

I was kind of hoping that there was more to it than that.

Cheers,

Andy

We've been hoping there was more to it than that , too , Andy...<rim shot.......