Ron Paul: This is pretty damning.
Mitt Romney: Re Jason's comment to the post below, I wouldn't deride Romney as squishy so much as phony. My intuition is that the candidates who pander and posture the most turn into the presidents who are least effective in foreign policy situations. On the other hand, Bill Clinton was about as phony as they come, yet (aside from what you think of any given ideology or policy chose) he was just keeping-it-in-his-pants away from being a fine executive.
John McCain: Kaus is still tearing apart his immigration plan, seemingly deservedly. McCain is wrong about immigration now; he was wrong about steroids in baseball a couple years ago (more specifically he was wrong about whether it's worth Congress's time); and most of all he was utterly wrong about campaign finance reform. He also gets an astonishing amount of free passes from the mainstream press, and above all he's a cranky old fart.
In presidential politics I have a surprising soft spot for cranky old farts (c.f. Bob Dole), so long as they're not ideological kooks. I think it's just that my worst-case scenario for McCain is significantly more benign than for any other candidate.
(Obviously a lot of people would strongly disagree with McCain's foreign policy, or mine, or my opinion of his, etc.)
I ought to say something about Thompson, Giuliani, Huckabee, or a Democrat. But it looks like Obama has things well in hand; I've already opined about Huckabee; and it's odd to think of Thompson as a nominee since I can't picture him taking first place in any given primary/caucus. (He'd be at best a brokered convention candidate.) I like the gamble Giuliani took with his campaign strategy (concede Iowa & NH, focus on big-delegate states) but he needs to be sure people don't forget he exists (without also being a jackass).
Posted by Matt Bruce at January 8, 2008 12:41 PM