Steve Fritsch -  Publisher stevefritsch@thecincinnatusstandard.com
Wanted for 2008: The Anti-Bush GOP Candidate (and an All-Star closer)
To say that President Bush is popular with conservatives right now is like saying the Reds bullpen is popular with Cincinnati baseball fans. Sure, though both Bush and the Reds bullpen are on our "team" and we still secretly hope that they will come through for us in the end, recent experience has proven that both are a major disappointment and we yearn for replacements that will deliver success and meaningful results.
For conservatives looking ahead to the 2008 presidential election, just like Reds fans looking ahead to the 2008 baseball season, it is certainly a long ways off but the need for planning a new course of direction starts now. Just as the Reds will look to free agency for a new closer and setup man for an inept and bungling bullpen, conservatives will look to outsiders in the Republican Party to replace an inept and bungling presidential administration. But for conservatives, who should that outsider be?
At this point in time there is certainly no consensus pick. If you are a Reds fan (and dreaming), you want your closer to be like Trevor Hoffman and your setup man to be like Mariano Rivera, just as if you are a conservative you want your president to be like Ronald Reagan and your vice-president to be like Barry Goldwater. But in reality we are stuck with a market of available contenders who will not be our ideal candidates in a variety of ways, so we must look for the person (however imperfect they may seem to us) who can best get the job done and lead us to great successes. And for conservatives, successes we all want to see include winning the War on Terror, securing the border and fixing the immigration mess, keeping taxes low and nominating right-of-center Supreme Court nominees.
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There is probably little doubt that the current crop of leading GOP candidates, if they were in the White House, would be successful in keeping taxes as low as possible and nominate right-of-center Supreme Court nominees. But on the immigration issue and on the War on Terror, things get murkier.
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The recent defeat of the immigration bill proved to be disastrous for John McCain (one of the bill's authors) and Sam Brownback (who first voted for it before voting against it the very next day). Brownback probably had little chance of being the presidential nominee in the first place, though not an unrealistic chance at the vice-presidency before this move; however even that is unlikely now. McCain, a great war hero and honorable man who had a decent shot at the presidency is certainly the biggest loser in all this. Though he says he won't quit the race, he might as well; his support for the immigration bill may have been the final nail in the coffin for his presidential ambitions.
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Whether Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and Fred Thompson (who talk tough on immigration and the War on Terror) would actually provide tough leadership in the White House is what all conservatives seem to be wondering at the moment. All these men have great qualities about them, just as all these men have qualities that leave each conservative in curiosity and doubt. Would Romney push universal health care?  Would Giuliani nominate a pro-choice Supreme Court pick? Would Fred Thompson turn out to be a paper tiger like George W. Bush?
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Right now I think it can be said with certainty that neither Romney, Giuliani or Thompson stand out from one another. If Newt Gingrich decides to enter the race, or even Michael Bloomberg as an Independent, it will throw the entire race into a major flux. Who will be able to win a majority of the numerous conservative factions and enough independent votes to defeat the Democratic nominee (whoever it may be)? I won't sit here and tell you who that man is because I definitely don't have an idea yet who will emerge to be the consensus candidate and I most definitely don't think that anyone out there right now can say who is or will be the consensus nominee.
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What I will say is that whoever gets the GOP nomination for president must be the antithesis of George W. Bush. Because any candidate who appears to be willing to follow the same methods and principles of leadership that Bush has on important issues (immigration, Iraq, Iran) will certainly not get my vote and, I confidently predict, will not receive enough votes in 2008 to become the next president. The country is in dire need of true conservative leadership, not just paying lip service as the current occupant of the White House delivers from time to time.
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So while I wait for a real conservative leader to step forth, just as I wait for a bona fide superstar closer for the Reds to appear, I will continue to dream about the glory days of Ronald Reagan and the Nasty Boys, when victory and success always seemed to be at hand, if not inevitable.