He’s got the credentials: he’s a reasonably sane liberal-ish Democrat, he has a Harvard degree and he’s the governor of Tennessee.
Blatantly, he’s the ideal candidate; hopefully after Bush is ousted on corruption charges in 2006, following Cheney’s ouster early next year.
On similar lines, I was thinking about Virginia Governor Mark Warner (who I also thought would have been a good VP pick for Kerry), though the surrealists will be wanting him to be standing for the Senate in 2008 to create a Warner vs Warner race.
I voted for Bredesen two years ago. There isn’t any thing liberal about him. The difference between Republicans and Democrats here is fuzzy at best. For example, the General Assembly has a Republican majority for the first time since 1868 and the Lt Governor they selected was the same Democrat that has had the job since 1970. To be honest I can only think of one Democrat in this state that doesn’t get along well with Bush.
Damn. From the half-hour’s worth of articles I looked at I got the impression that while suboptimal from a liberal perspective, he’s a Bill Clinton-ish Dem rather than a Zell Miller-ish hardly-a-Dem-at-all.
I think it is a matter of perspective. If you compare the record of Zell Miller when he was governor of Georgia and of Clinton’s as governor of Arkansas I think you might find that both of them are more liberal when local conditions are considered. In Tennessee we have no income tax. Almost all revenue for the state is from user fees. About six months before he was elected, the state became insolvent and shut down for a little over a week. Considering that there are only three states with an over all lower tax burden, he got the state’s spending under control and in budget without raising taxes, so he can’t be all that liberal no matter what kind of stuff he is talking about.
It’s a pipe-dream in any event. The primary battles will most likely be between Hillary, Edwards, and New Mexico’s Bill Richardson. Hillary will probably win that race, but she would get drubbed nationally. Richardson would have a far better shot, but I wouldn’t bet on his nomination.
The Reps will most likely nominate Guliani if he runs, which is looking pretty plausible. McCain may run against him, but McCain is hobbled by his RINO stance on many issues, especially CFR and firearm legislation.
I thought McCain was more socially conservative than Guiliani, notwithstanding his friendly ties with John Kerry?
McCain authored Campaign Finance Reform, the most blatantly unconstitutional peice of crap to ever come out of Congress, and it is just unfathomable that the media fails to question something so at odds with their usual pet peeve of the First Amendment. But theoretically, it was supposed to help the Dems who historically can’t raise as much money, so I suppose they decided it wasn’t REALLY a speech threat if it was helping them (whores, anyone?). Turns out it didn’t help them at all, since most of the money Dems get are the single, big contributions that got banned (Soros, etc), while the Reps get mostly $25 or $50 donations from middle-class families in droves.
That and his support for the so-called assault weapons ban has his BS meter pegging out with the average person. You can’t claim to be a conservative and support restrictions on speech and RtKBA, nobody will take you seriously.
A lot of people seem to be really confused about the whole gay marriage issue. It’s not intolerance for gays, it’s mostly a backlash against tactics. Both mayor Newsome of San Fran, and the Massachusettes Supreme Court, at the urgings of their party, decided that gay marriage was something to be imposed upon people outside of the democratic process. Mr. Newsome did something that was patently illegal, and the MSC decided to write a law (or rather, to tell the Mass congress that they were required to write a law). Neither of these is democratic, debative, "progressive" methods of advancing ideas. They are quite simply presumptive tyrrany, I say so you do. As the Guardian found out, Americans don’t react well to being told what to do, only to being pursuaded as to what they should do.
Incidently, it’s also the reason the Dems lost more seats in the Senate as well as Minority Leader Daschle, people are fed up with the judicial appointment obstructionism he authored through fillibuster. The Senate is supposed to give an up-or-down majority vote on nominees; Dems decided to require 60 votes through fillibuster to block virtually any appointment to the right of Nancy Pelosi. Bet on this: if the new minority leadership decides to continue the filibuster tactic, Reps will gain at least another two seats in the mid-term elections, they are authoring their own demise.
Guliani is much more liberal socially than Bush, which is still much more conservative than Kerry, Hillary, Ted Kennedy, Pelosi, Feinstein, et al. But here’s the kicker: most people couldn’t give a damn less if gays are living together and committed to each other (although not all, to be sure). They are not "oppressed", discriminated against, mocked or reviled any more than anyone else for any number of reasons. Most people wish them happiness like anyone else, even in the heart of the South. Their is no civil rights injustice of any real meaning here to deal with. The thing of concern here is a strong sense that the state is trying to tell the church what it can and cannot accept. Marriage is and always has been a religious institution; it is not a secular creation. By allowing gay "marriage", it gives homosexuality a religious legitimacy that is incompatible with their teachings. What the concern is, is that what has begun happening in Canada and Sweden(?Finland?) and other left-dominated cultures will begin happening here. That preists and ministers will be threatened with jail for preaching their "hate crime" religion (i.e., homosexuality is immoral). That the government would begin forcing the Catholic Church to marry gays or lose their tax-exempt privlidges, etc. Their is a strong sense that the Democrats, through rogue mayors and judges, are sticking their noses where they don’t belong.
Right or wrong, the gay marriage issue is more a litany of Democrats’ arrogance and unethical methods than any kind of mass homophobia. Most people would probably care less until someone decides to rub their noses’ in it for no perceived good reason. That is why I think a lot of people would "look beyond" Guliani’s liberal social stances, they see a decent man and a strong leader, and that matters quite a bit more (and the alternative would probably be infinitely worse).
–whew– That got a bit longer than I intended…
Giuliani is disliked by many New Yorkers and strictly ‘Southernist’ republicans are just going to see him as a Northerner who doesn’t share their values. Even running against Hillary Clinton he could barely pull half of his state in the polls. He’s also got a fair amount of mud that the opposing team can sling at him from his controversial days as mayor. No way he’ll make it past the primary.
Bill Frist will be much too conservative, even given the rightward sway of the country right now.
McCain will be too old–72–so it’s unlikely he’ll run.
The Republicans that are in the blue states right now aren’t getting enough hype.
If the Dems are smart, they’ll run Evan Bayh as president and Mark Warner as VP. That will undoubtedly trounce anything the Republicans can pull out of their sleeves.
Though I don’t know very much about Bayh, I like what I see and feel as if his charisma is superior to that of John Edwards. In winning a Senate seat from Indiana, a state with just one blue county in ’04, he’s got something special working in his favor. And with some more experience over the next few years, I think he may be primed to take on a significant role alongside Phil Bredesen in 2008. A ticket that could prove extremely solid. As for the right, Bill Frist will be their man, guaranteed.
I agree; Frist will most likely be the frontrunner in ’08, which is good for the Dems, because I think he leans a bit too far to the right, a bit too choleric-Buchanan(though he’s a neo-con) for the average man or woman outside of the deep South and uber-conservative Western states.
Bayh doesn’t have the charisma that Edwards does, but he has a sort of matter-of-fact style much like Bush that will resonate with people outside of his party.
He’d be my pick, although I do believe Bredesen would clinch it for the Dems as well–but somehow I feel that he 1.)is unlikely to run in ’08, if ever and 2.)might be a little too conservative to make it past the primaries.
However, after this election cycle, I’m willing to acquiesce on a few key issues to get a Democrat back in the Whitehouse–as long as he’s pro-choice and not tangled up in the gay marriage debate.
BTW, Tim Beaux–What would you say to the proposal to separate the religious aspect of marriage from the civil aspect of marriage in terms of law?
Would you support an amendment that would make the definition of marriage a religious issue left for the church to decide and not the government, while providing civil unions for gay couples?
I’ve always thought that was a good compromise; I was wondering what your opinion was.
On the Republican side… don’t rule out a run by Condi.
Timbeaux, you have a shitload of opinions. Unfortunately, you don’t have the slightest idea what you are talking about.
1. Anyone who thinks Giuliani is the likely GOP candidate in ’08 obviously doesn’t know jackshit about the GOP. They would never nominate someone who is pro-choice. They haven’t done so since abortion became an issue. Giuliani is also a philandring adulterer, which hardly qualifies him as a "decent" man.
2. Most Dems and political commentators believed the CFR would hurt the Dems, not help them. In fact, last year the Kerry nearly matched the GOP in fundraising, mostly from small, internet-based contributions. So you got this issue completely backwards.
Agreed, Jason. I laughed at timbeaux’s assertion that Reps "get mostly $25 or $50 donations from middle-class families in droves". Completely false.
Bredesen/Bayh (Richardson) is a pretty formidable team, I know the Dean-lovers out there will hate this – but the old school 60’s liberal mantra’s just do not cut the mustard anymore. A blue-collar dem ticket is the first step to put the dems. back in the white house. Hillary will be a disaster, and frankly – like an earlier post said: "Do not rule out Condi" for the Reps. Rudy has too much baggage for southern conservatives, McCain is too old (moderate?), and Frist is a dweeb.
Personally, I like Phil Bredesen, even his politically obvious "man-of-the-people" makeover. Even though he’s a millionaire, the "I’m one of you" thing really rings true with him. He’s proving to be one tough customer when it comes to reform in the state’s Medicare system, and he’s run a very tight budget ship since taking office. One thing I like even more: he’s a businessman, not a lawyer.
An able administrator, a likeable nerd, and probably the smartest of the 50 governors, I say, "Go Phil, Go!"
Im from Britain and a member of the Labour Party. We had to put up a right winger (by our standards at least) called T.Blair to get Labour back into power and end years of Conservative rule. We tryed leaning left and we got crushed. If the Dean/Pelosi axis gets its way and lets the Democratic party’s Liberal core have the final say in the 08 nomination you could find a full 16 years of GOP rule. We never thought that it could happen in Britain and we got 18 years of right wing trash!!! Pragmatism has to be the motive for Dems 08. i have a tennessean friend who says Bredesen’s good but wont run.
Pragmatism was the motive for Dems 04 and, well…
Bredesen’s Tenncare policy is pure sadism against the poor. To even suggest that this Republican in Democrat clothes run for president is outrageous.
Pragmatism was the motive for Dems 04 and, well… unfortunately they were unable to see that John Kerry was not the most pragmatic choice. Hopefully by ’08 democrats will realize that pragmatism is NOT nominating an intellectual, flip-flopping goof.
i am a liberal democrat from TN and i would vote for bredesen in a heartbeat. tenncare was out of control and everyone knows that, so you need to get real marin w. so what if he put restrictions on it, tenncare needed it. our federal deficeit is what 500 600 billion (probably more). this guy has gotten out budget under control in less than four years. that is an accomplishment. he stands a better chance of winning nationally, than hillary, kerry, edwards, or any other democrat. And us dems need to get behind someone who can win, not just someone who can get the nomination.
lol well let me tell ya this im disabled and cant work yet cause of phil bredson the *** i lost my tenncare and probley my life cause i cant afford my medical care or my meds owell i hope he burns in hell
You all have just been in a state of "Dreamland or la-la land". After the sorrow and misery that Bredesen caused in Tennessee you all are betting on a cripple horse at the derby. I’ll just bet that you could not find even one in three Tennesseeans who would ever vote for him ever again even if he ran for a coal stoker in hell. He, in my judgement is a very sneaky liar of a person who should be put down rather than propted up for national attention. This person is a lying jerk from the "get go" and should be PROMPLY put out of politics for evermore. He is another of the "takers" and "users" of this good company called Democrats. I was born Democrat and raised this way but this person just travels TOO far to the extreem right. He is also very rich from his dealings with the heath care management sector. He delights in causing the most needy people to have to sell themselfs into financial slavery. He killed TennCare along with other like minded people. We Tennesseans do KNOW who they all are and will kick there asses out the next time around. Please don’t fall for his lying ways America. We all deserve MUCH better. None of us deserve him in ANY part of our government. All America… please stay away from any of these Tennessee politicians or beware of the problems that you will all face.
Sorry everyone for the strong come-on as I did get the wording very wrong in the first part of my post. I was in way too much of a hurry and I do appoligize for the mistake. I am just super "ticked off" at what someone such as baseballguy12 and many others have or will have to face. This just goes way far beyond common sense and the lack of human kindness for any person. People have gotten hurt for all time during this TennCare mess and I am one of them as well. What the so called "Gov" is really doing is handing out death sentences to completly innocent people without the due process of just law. I sure would hate to be in his (Bredesen’s) shoes when he has a "face to face" meeting with GOD sooner or later. It all catches up with everyone and his case sure is going to be a very funny one to watch , I think? I really don’t know for sure but it should be very interesting to see if Bredesen does not change his way of screwing everyone in this life just how that he eventually ends up for his evil. Just think about the stupidity of having everything that you could ever want in about 60 to 100 years here on Earth as opposed to having everything that ever would make you happy for all eternity? Seems like he made a very stupid buisness deal? He is going to get "it" coming toward him all at once. I don’t like to see anyone get hurt but this may be one of the very few exceptions that I will make for all time. Bredesen has hurt a whole lot of people to either shorten their lives or even kill them in a way. He has NOT been given this right and it will be fair and just to see him get everything for his course and actions in life.
spectre
Phil Bredesen? What a joke! Anyone who can just throw peoples lives away, the way he has with Tenncare could commit murder. If anyone dies from his actions, he should be incarcerated for murder or at least manslaughter! The man has no conscience! It’s for certain he has NO regard for the poor! Not all of us have an education and richs! There are poor people on this planet, Hey, let’s face it! We’re not all perfect! It’s like this Government is trying to eliminate the poor population! Sorry, I’m a survivor! No matter what it takes! My family and I will survive!!