Why Social Conservatives got behind Rudy initially;

And why they're dropping him now

Here's a hint: It's not because social conservatives are either unprincipled or willing to suspend their principles for the "greater good." This is not the way social conservatives think. It's not the way they've ever thought, and it's not the way they'll ever think. Quite the contrary.

Social conservatives got behind Rudy initially because they were mislead into believing he was a good moral person. They're dropping him now because they're learning that he's not.

In other words social conservatives have consistently judged Rudy according to their number one standard--moral character--throughout this whole campaign. Many of them got it wrong at first, which is understandable. But that doesn't negate the fact that moral character has always been priority number one with social conservatives. You economic conservatives let this be a good lesson learned.

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Who would be your second choice ... for President?

(Note: The discussion initiated by Mr. Auster's question on supporting a top tier candidate has been moved here.)

Just on a quick roundup of the relatively few blogs that I frequent, I note that all of them express a preference, or a pretty solid number one candidate for the presidency. While none of them, including this blog, seem to have a solid number two...

I'll start the roundup over at the AFB. Fellow AFBer Mike Tams seems to be leaning toward Mitt Romney as his second choice. He would probably prefer someone like Duncan Hunter to Romney, but Romney seems to appeal to Mike very much. I don't think Mike has totally committed himself to Romney as yet, but this seems to be the direction in which he is leaning.

Over at VFR, Lawrence Auster has repeatedly endorsed Tom Tancredo. In this recent VFR entry Auster mentions both Fred and Romney as preferable to Giuliani. But he doesn't tell us which of the two (Fred or Romney) he would prefer.

Meanwhile, VA has said many good things about Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. These two seem to be VA's top two candidates, but it's still a bit unclear in what order she would put them. I tend to think, from what I read at VA's, that she would place them in the order that I've placed them in the first sentence of this paragraph.

The Maritime Sentry strongly endorses the candidacy of Mike Huckabee. But I don't recall reading there an endorsement of a second choice or preference.

I'm not at all sure about Wise Man's Heart. I don't know whether Hermes has broached this topic or not. But I'll go check it out. (Hat tip to John Savage for reminding me of this post over at WMH, where Hermes expresses his like of Tancredo and Paul)

John Savage at Brave New World Watch is a strong supporter of Tom Tancredo. Don't miss his lengthy roundup of Tancredo related blog posts in his right sidebar. But like the rest of us, John has yet to name a second preference from the list of candidates.

And to complete the roundup, here at Webster's I've endorsed Tancredo on a number of occasions as my first choice. I've never said, however, who my second choice would be.

I don't think I can nail down a second choice just yet. I need to do a lot more research and reflection on the remaining candidates. I think Ron Paul is interesting, but at this point I don't think I could name him a second choice. Giuliani isn't even on my radar as someone I could ever cast a sacred vote for. And Fred doesn't rate much higher with me at this point than Giuliani. I don't think Fred can make up any ground with me either, but we'll see.

Basically I'm left to decide between Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul as secondary choices to Tom Tancredo. And like I said, I'm just going to have to commit to doing a lot more research on all three of these candidates.

In any event, I can say this. If Giuliani were to get the Republican nomination (which seems to be the general consensus at this point) I could not vote for the man. I would be forced to vote third party, or to write in a candidate. This is a scenario where someone like Ron Paul might actually get my vote. But if I were forced to write in a candidate, Tancredo not being on the ballot, then I would write in the name Tom Tancredo, and let the chips fall where they may.

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Auster expresses shock that Dobson won't support Fred

I was a little surprised to hear him say it too when I watched the interview. I reported on this earlier today here. Auster has posted the link to the FNC Transcript of the interview in this VFR entry.

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Update on Sean Hannity interview with Dr. James Dobson

(Note: I've posted more on this under the read more section of this post.)

Something Dr. Dobson said in answer to Hannity near the end of the interview struck me...

Dr. Dobson, in Lawrence Auster fashion, said that if Giuliani wins the presidency, the pro-life, pro-family movement is dead. Whereas, under a Hillary presidency it is alive because there will be a strong resistance to Hillary's anti-family policies.

I'll try to put the transcript up later, if I can locate it.

End of initial post.

Regarding Fred Thompson's presidency, as I said, Dobson refused to agree with Hannity. Hannity played a portion of his previous interview with Thompson where he raised the question of Dobson's stated disagreement with the candidacy of Thompson, after which Dobson replied. Thompson's answer to Hannity in the previous interview revealed a deeply held animus toward Dobson. But Dobson would not relent. He was standing on principle.

FNC does have posted a video of the interview for anyone who cares to watch it.

Also, I do want to note that I didn't agree with everything Dr. Dobson was saying. For instance, he asserted that non-support of the FMA (Federal Marriage Amendment) by Thompson, Giuliani, et al., preferring that the States decide the question for themselves, would destroy the institution of marriage in this country. I think Dobson fails to recognize that as many as 17 or 18 (by my last count, which has been a while now) individual States have already crafted their own Marriage amendments protecting the basic traditional concept of marriage as between one man and one woman. So, to the contrary of what Dobson asserts, I believe a stronger protection of the institution of marriage emanates from the States rather than the federal government, which can't even agree to protect our borders, much less pass a Federal Marriage Amendment.

I'll do a search later on State Marriage Amendments which have already passed. But if anyone has any information on this in the interim, please do not hesitate to post it.

Okay, I did a quick search and this is what I came up with. Sorry about the nature of this particular site, but it's the only one I could get to come up for me. I'll keep trying.

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Public Service Announcement

I received a message to my inbox from the Oklahoma GOP which informs me that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani will be making two stops in Oklahoma this Friday. And that these events are FREE and OPEN to the public.

My response?:

Whoopti-doo!!

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