Ed note: This was a letter from a week ago. I've since researched Thompson more, and know Keyes positions better, and will post an update on what I've learned.
Dear Jane,
I'm so sorry about not getting back to you sooner, I lost your email address and couldn't find your phone number. In particular, you asked me to tell you when I decided on a candidate to support, and I have, so I will give you the details on that, as well as on which candidates are ok second choices and why. If you want to talk w/ me directly, my cell phone number is ----, and our home phone number is ----. My email is -----, and I have a blog (that talks about politics -- and will probably have excerpts of this letter!) at http://torial.blogspot.com .
I write this as two major endorsements have come about, Tancredo has dropped out and supported Romney, and Republican Representative Steve King endorsed Thompson. Also in the news is that Romney has been outright lying to Katie Couric about his interview with Radio Talk Show Host Jan Mickelson ( http://www.mickelson.libsyn.com/). Jan Mickelson is a phenomenal pro-life Christian Radio talk show host, and his name has been defamed by Romney because of the interview. Also in the news is Mike Huckabee rising to prominence in the polls.
So, the available candidates are: Rudy Guiliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Alan Keyes, and Duncan Hunter.
Honesty:
At a high level, I can tell you the following candidates are not trustworthy (e.g. they are willing to lie about their history or use lies to their advantage): Rudy Guiliani, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee. The best website for showing this willingness to lie is the impartial http://www.factcheck.org. For Mike Huckabee, he is also on record as saying he is the only candidate with a theology degree, and then it turns out he doesn't have a theology degree and majored in college in speech and communications.
In my opinion, Ron Paul, Alan Keyes, Duncan Hunter, and Fred Thompson are the most honest candidates.
Pro-Life:
Alan Keyes, Duncan Hunter, and Mike Huckabee are the only candidates to consider when looking at things from a pure pro-life position. They are all excellent candidates and have had a consistent history in this regard.
Ron Paul and Fred Thompson have compromise positions on abortion -- they would return that to being a State's right issue, and not decided by the Federal Government. What this means is that it would be up to each state to decide if they had their way. Fred Thompson also looks at things very much through a lawyer, and not as a representative of the people, or as someone who is required to uphold the Constitution -- this can blur his decision making in other realms (such as he didn't vote to impeach Bill Clinton for perjury, but did vote to impeach him for obstruction of justice).
Rudy Guiliani is unabashedly pro-choice and pro-gay. Romney declares that he is pro-life, but he has been a very staunch supporter of pro-choice positions in the past, and made many commitments to planned parenthood and other such organizations to uphold Roe v Wade. Some may say he has changed, but everything about him strikes me as a phony, and willing to say what he needs to get elected. The fact that he isn't able to effectively articulate his "pro-life" stance indicates that he at least shouldn't be trusted for carrying the mantle of ending it.
Safety
Ron Paul probably has the most destructive view of safety out of all the Republicans -- this is largely due to his naivety of the threat of radical Islam and his extreme anti-war rhetoric. He would bring the troops home immediately and he would let Iran pursue a nuclear program. Mike Huckabee is probably the 2nd worst out of the bunch due to his somewhat simplistic view of interacting with other countries.
John McCain, Duncan Hunter, and Rudy Guiliani are probably the best of the bunch for the safety of the country. Both John McCain and Duncan Hunter served their country in the military, and have been strong supporters of reasonable treatment and support of our troops (even if it went against the Generals in power). Duncan Hunter is alone of all the candidates realizing the military threat of China (like that they routinely talk about attacking Los Angeles), and so stands above John McCain and Rudy Guiliani.
Economy/Taxes
Each candidate is in someways a decent candidate when it comes to the economy. All but Mike Huckabee can be reliably thought to lower taxes. Huckabee has shown a propensity to lie about his financial record (confirmed by Factcheck.org), and he has a strong record of raising taxes as Governor. The most extreme tax cuts would occur under Ron Paul, and he would most likely leave the govenment looking vastly different than what we've seen before. Whether that would be good for the economy as a whole I cannot say.
However, Mike Huckabee is strongly in favor of replacing the income tax with the "Fair Tax", which is a 30% sales tax (or euphemistically called 23% sales tax by playing w/ the numbers). Likewise Duncan Hunter is the only other candidate in favor of the "Fair Tax". I honestly don't know enough of the "Fair Tax" proposal to say whether it is a good program, but I can say that in general a sales tax is better than an income tax for the following reasons: 1) It gets the government out of the business of knowing how and where we make our money, and 2) It encourages savings (you can give yourself a tax cut by not spending money), 3) the standard tax payer would not have to fear audits any longer.
Guiliani, McCain, Romney, Paul, and Thompson are in favor of making the Bush tax cuts permanent.
Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul are the only candidates that would be willing to get out of NAFTA.
Willingness to Work with others.
Alan Keyes and Ron Paul would be the worst in this range. Thompson and McCain would be the best.
Effectiveness / Communication Skills
This is obviously subjective. Thompson showed some skill in the last debate when he stood up against the dictator moderator. He was also pretty funny. Ron Paul Huckabee has been funny, and is quite articulate (and more interesting to listen to than Thompson). Duncan Hunter is excellent at explaining the rationale behind his positions, and seems to be the best at understanding the reason behind his position ( e.g. rather than spouting sound bites).
Immigration
The only candidate with a comprehensive immigration message is Duncan Hunter. He is the person that started building the border fence, and has fought to maintain the national sovereignty of the United States (like opposing the Law of the Sea Treaty, and the NAFTA super highway which would allow mexican semi drivers to drive in the US without any accountability).
Social Programs
Obviously the difference regarding social programs between conservatives and liberals is that liberals want the government to due what the church should be doing, and conservatives thing the church should be the one doing it. Mike Huckabee, and Rudy Guiliani are the most likely to government social programs, although Mike Huckabee is most likely the worst in this area. Huckabee was in favor of the SChip program which was nothing more than expanding socialized medicine -- even the more liberal front runners at the time opposed it.
Of the candidates left, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter and Alan Keyes are probably the best in this area. Thompson is in the 2nd tier.
Support for Israel
Every Republican candidate is on the record for supporting Israel at some level. Depending on who you talk to, Guiliani and McCain are horrible for Israel, or wonderful for Israel.
Tallying the Results (Somewhat subjective)
| Candidate\Criteria | Pro-Life | Honesty | Safety | Taxes | Work w/ Others | Comm | Immigration | Social Programs |
| Guiliani | F | D | A | C | C | C | C | D |
| Romney | C | D | C | B | C | C | C | C |
| McCain | C | B | A | C | A | D | D | C |
| Paul | B | A | F | B-A | D | B | C | A |
| Huckabee | A | C | C | D | C | B | D | D |
| Thompson | B | B | B | B | A | B | C | B |
| Hunter | A+ | A+ | A+ | B | B | B | A+ | A |
| Keyes | A+ | A+ | C | C? | D | B | B | A |
The best candidate, in my opinion is Duncan Hunter (GPA of 3.79). He is extremely strong in the issues that matter (for instance with respect to Pro-Life, he sponsored a bill that defines life to being at conception), but also not without his faults. The biggest complaint against him is that he is not polling well, or doesn't have enough money. However, I have chosen to stand on principle and fear God in this matter, rather than man. I believe that God wants me to support the best candidate for this country -- who will serve both Him and the country.
Other GPAs:
Thompson -- 3.00
Keyes -- 2.96
Paul -- 2.56 (Although F in Safety automatically rules him out in my opinion)
McCain -- 2.375
Huckabee -- 2.00
Romney -- 2.00 (If I had to pick between this tie, it would be Huckabee hands down. I trust him more, which isn't saying much).
Guiliani -- 1.75 (although his F in pro-life automatically rules him out for me)
If you find the reasoning sound, I encourage you to examine Duncan Hunter at
http://www.gohunter08.com/inner.asp?z=1 and also consider his historical records:
Organizational Ratings (in alphabetical order):
American Conservative Union: 92%
Americans for Better Immigration: A+
Americans for Tax Reform: 88.5%
Campaign for Working Families: 100%
Christian Coalition: 100%
Concerned Women for America: 100%
Citizens against Government Waste: 71%
Eagle Forum: 92%
Family Research Council: 100%
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR): 100%
Gun Owners of America: A
National Federation of Independent Business: 100%
National Rifle Association: A+
National Right to Life Committee: 100%
National Tax Limitation Committee: 73%
I hope you have a most blessed and merry Christmas,
Sean
