How soon until another Republican declares for President?

[Pale Blue Dot]

Is it too late? McCain could probably get up and running fairly quickly. There have to be some ambitious Republicans who see that Bush is vulnerable. Hell, even the Republican leadership has to be getting a little nervous that they may lose the White House.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because I believe that having a major Republican on the campaign trail critisizing Bush would be the final nail in his slimy little coffin. Sure, he'd win the nomination, but his credibility would be so damaged, even among his supporters, that even Lieberman could beat him.

So, when do you think the feeding frenzy starts?

[abbyhoffman]

1. No Repuke

will run other than Bush

[Skittles]

2. NO WAY

BUSH INC *NEEDS* an illiterate, moronic piece of shit as "president" so they can continue pillaging the country. So what if Bush LOSES - he lost LAST TIME, didn't he? Herr Rove can pull it off again.

[TheYellowDog]

13. hehe

I love your posts Skittles. They're always so full of energy.

[Skittles]

21. WELL THANK YA YELLA DOG

I'M F***ING ANGRY AT THIS PIECE OF SH** "PRESIDENT" AND I HAD TO PUT UP WITH HIM AS MY PIECE OF SH** GOVERNOR TOO. x(

[TheYellowDog]

26. THAT sucks

I have to put up with Pataki though.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Republicans have more discipline...

and won't pull that. Challenging an incumbant is expensive and has to get too many regulars on board. They're stuck with their stooge and have to push him. The best they could do would be to not fight an impeachment too hard, push him into resigning, and come up with a new candidate to challenge Cheney, who might also resign rather than have to explain roo many things.

Nixon redux.

Even with Democrats, where in theory one could more easily challenge an incumbant, Kennedy's attempt when he smelled Carter's blood was doomed to failure.

[Vikingking66]

4. I don't know

Assuming Bush really started to go into a tailspin,
and throwing money and mud wasn't helping - I still
think it would be a long shot.

The oval office is too powerful a thing to throw
away unless your president is a total loss; remember,
even Herbert Hoover ran for a second term.

If it did happen, I don't know if it would help;
Bush stepping aside would be an admission of
fault by the GOP and everyone would know it.

[AP]

5. I think that the Republicans will pull out Bush if his numbers look bad

He's already laid the groundwork for making an exit without making it look like the Republicans are weak.

Remember how he acted like he wanted to be the baseball commish. and he acts like he hates DC and he never spends any time there. It's just graceful exit strategy in case he can't win.

I seriously think that if the Democrats run Edwards, Bush will pull out and they'll run Frist. But the thing is, if Edwards doesn't start winning until later in the primaries, that'll be too late for Bush to drop out.

Furthermore, I think the Dems should be conscious of the fact that they can't just define themselves as being in opposition to Bush, because if Bush pulls out, the voters won't have any idea what the Dem stands for. You have to define yourself, and then contrast that with Bush. You can't just say you're the anti-Bush.

[gratuitous]

6. An attractive idea, but no way

The anthrax warnings to Leahy and Daschle, not to mention Wellstone's unfortunate "accident" have served their purpose in many ways, not least of which is a, shall we say, reluctance on the part of any Republican to challenge Poppy's eldest.

[Booberdawg]

7. Won't happen

[Clete]

8. They wouldn't dare.

Look what happened in California when Issa and Simon suddenly dropped out of the race in favor of Schwarzenegger, no doubt following orders. I found it rather disturbing that this happened with impunity right in front of everyone's eyes. There is McClintock and Ueberroth, but I am sure they will be swept aside soon, also on orders. No, the power structure of the Republican party is fascist. No one will step in unless *w has a breakdown and they have to get him out.

[TacticalPeek]

9. Chuck Hagel is getting that lean and hongry look, and has the BBV.

McCain still has some org.

Buchanan likes to make trouble.

Filing for NH primary ends 21 NOV 03. But they could wait past that, probably until March to see how low his numbers can sink.
http://www.state.nh.us/sos/presprim%202004/index.htm

KKKarl will be in federal prison, so the chimp will have to depend on the girls, Karen and Mary, and maybe Mark Racicot.

aWol won't stand up to this anyway. He'll be curled in the foetal position down on the ranch, praying that daddy and Big Jim save him again.

[opihimoimoi]

10. Tom (always late) Delay, Gary Bauer, Newt G, , etc etc

They have the Wannabe Prez bug but lack the nerve, typ.

[JackSwift]

11. No Republican will cross the BFEE

they know it means Rove dirty tricks, or "suicide" if they are lucky.

[Hoppin_Mad]

12. Draft Buchanan to run as an indy

I'd love to see him split off 20 - 30 % of the repug vote

[radfringe]

14. don't think a repug will enter the race

at least not as a repug...

we may see some "conservatives" jumping in under a 3rd party banner... similar to doing a "Perot in '92"

The main similarity to '92 is the economy sucks. Couple of economists were voicing the opinion that they don't see unemployment turning around any time soon, and will probably go up a few notches by the end of the year

Reich-wing radio callers are upset with the whistleass going to the UN at this time either because they think the UN is useless, and/or it's losing face

Other reich-wingers are upset with the economy, they feel that the whistleass has no economic plan

if a conservative were to pull a "perot" and jump into the race, his/her success in siphoning off votes for the whistleass will depend on who the Democratic nominee will be - a "perot-clone" would have more success if the nominee is perceived as being a left-winger.

The whistleass, as is his pattern, will be spewing rhetoric of the "centrist" kind. This is an attempt to lure in the moderate-independent voters. But it will also turn off some reich-wingers in light of going to the UN issue.

In '92 the voter anger was directed at all politicians...i.e throw the bums out attitude, and specifically anger at the economic mess.

Today we revisit the anger at the economic mess, plus we have the Iraq mess and differing opinions about Iraq and the UN involvement.

Generally, the reich-wing hates the UN, so any UN involvement is a big no-no. A secondary problem is the perception that by going to the UN now is admitting that we can't handle things and this is losing face/credibility on the world stage. Both of these views will hurt the whistleass.

GOPers are forming their spin chorus and trying to play this as the whistleass giving the UN a "second-chance" to put up or shut up and thus diverting the image of the whistleass crawling to the UN, hat in hand and munching crow.

[Democat]

15. They don't think for themselves

They do what is good for the group, not for the individual, like evil communists. :)

[Cat Atomic]

16. Who needs a new candidate when you've got

electronic voting machines?

[Impeach Whistle Ass]

17. That old Nazi Buchanan is a perennial candidate

Not sure why he bothers.

[NNN0LHI]

18. I think Sunday nights speech is his last chance at redemption

If he can't say something tomorrow night to swing the pendulum back his way he will be replaced. I think he got the memo from the RNC after seeing his reSelect numbers at 29%. He is going to have to pull a rabbit out of his hat or he will be announcing that he wants to spend more time with the family soon afterwards. The ice is getting thin and the real power brokers in his party know it.

Don

[barbaraann]

25. I agree.

And didn't his reelect numbers fall more than 10 points in a month??!!

Heck, maybe the real power brokers ordered the pollsters to sink him so the BFEE could start regrouping.

[Donna Zen]

19. Putting out the fire

R's look at the election strategically knowing that any R in the White House benefits all of the party. There is a growing discord within some parts of the R party; country clubers, vets etc. If their polling shows a move away from the regime by any particular and significant demographic currently in their sphere, they might make a move to channel those votes away from Dems. and thus into the neutral zone. Until then, expect to the Borg to what? act like the Borg.

[Atlant]

20. I think there's a non-zero chance he'll be "assassinated".

I realize this will be viewed by many as deeply tin-foil stuff, but
early on, when he was failing pre-9/11, I started believeing that
his own people would take him out. Now that he blew the 9/11 advantage
so thoroughly, I think the odds are better than ever.

I think there's a non-zero chance he'll be "assassinated". You know,
terrorist attack, AF1 crash after missile shoot-down, crazed liberal
lone gun man, you know the sorts of things that they can come up with.

Imagine the marketing bump the Republicans would get from that?
"Stand up to the Evil Terrorists!" "Carry on Bush's grand legacy!"
The possibilities are just endless.

Cheney, of course, won't be the replacement candidate. His ticker
will prove to be "just too weak" to rise to the occasion and he'll
step aside "to spend his remaining time with his family".

Atlant

NOTE:

This posting does not call on anyone to harm the pResident of the
United States; it merely observes that the United States has a long
history of causing violent regime change when it suits the purposes
of the Powers that Be, and there's nothing to stop them from pulling
the same shenanigans here in America.

[DemPopulist]

22. Here's someone to consider

Ron Paul, Congressman from Texas. He's a Libertarian kook that switched to the Republican party to get elected to Congress, but he's been very critical of the neocons.

Here's a link to a site encouraging him to run for president:
http://www.paul2004.com/

Keep an eye out for him. He could be the new Buchanan.

[ThoughtCriminal]

23. Reagan challenged Ford

So there is precedent. But it may be more likely to come for the even more extreme lunatic right - if that is possible.

[poskonig]

24. about 2008.

They love their Shrubby.