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tacticool wrote:

Charles L. Cotton wrote:If Obama were to get a second term, and he will not

Great. Can the Republicans party loyalists stop saying a third party vote is a vote for Obama?

Not only is it insulting, it's wrong. Candidates and parties have a choice which voters they will court, which they will antagonize, and which they will ignore. If a candidate willfully ignores (or antagonizes) a voting block, and loses the election because of the voters they ignored, the fault lies with the candidate and not the voters. That's true no matter if the candidate is Ron Paul, Rick Perry or Barack Obama. That's true no matter if the voting block is Libertarians, Greens or Unions.

A vote for a third party IS a vote for Obama if it causes you NOT to vote for the Republican candidate. This is how Clinton won in 1992 due to a large number of voters jumping to vote for Perot who would have otherwise voted for Bush. Perot won approximately 19% of the popular vote, which caused some of the states to end up giving the electoral votes to Clinton instead of Bush. Clinton ended up with 43% of the popular vote vs. Bush 37%. Had even a small portion of those that voted for Perot voted for Bush he would have won a second term.

Bottom line, when it comes to the final election, people need to vote with the candidate that has the chance of winning that will do things in their best interest. If a large portion don't vote that way, then the wrong candidate has a very good chance of being your new leader.

canvasbck wrote:

You can't be pro-abortion and pro-gay-rights and be conservative

To start off, I'm conservative, anti-abortion, and think the federal governement should stay away from the gay rights issue.

Wow Charles, I have to disagree with you here. IMO, a conservative believes that the powers of the federal govt should be limited as much as possible. I am OK with federal laws that prevent me or others from victimizing other innocent citizens (murder, fraud, theft, abortion, ect) but if Bob Denver (Gilligan) or Willie Nelson wants to light up a left handed cigarrette on his porch, who cares? If Bob and Willie want to get married, it doesn't affect me or my wife in the least. My belief system has taught me that homosexuality is wrong, but it also has taught me that God created us with free will to do wrong things. If God was OK with me having a free will to screw up and do things that damage me here on earth or in eternity, who is the government to take that free will away?

I don't really care for the conservative and liberal boxes that everyone must fit into. Being a conservative (or a liberal for that matter) isn't some exclusive club with a list of beliefs that you must conform to without fail. Just because I don't feel exactly the same was as Hannity on every issue, I still agree with at least 90% of the conservative agenda. In the areas of fiscal conservancy and entitlement and tort reform I agree with the conservative agenda 100%.

I believe you are like many out there that consider themselves as Conservatives, but have Liberal tendencies.

While I am willing turn an eye to what others are doing in some circumstances, for example gay marriage and homosexuality, I am still against it. So, while I may not chastise someone who is gay and am not a homophobic as I have multiple gay friends, I still have been taught it is wrong and my core is that it is wrong, so that puts me in the conservative side.

As for drugs, if they are deemed illegal, then they are illegal. Same with anything, so while I may feel that marijuana use is no more harmful than tobacco or alcohol use, it is still against the law and that law should be enforced. Now, if you want it changed, rally against the law, lobby for a modification and get it changed; until then, you are a criminal.

Pro choice for me is not pro-choice. I believe there are reasons for abortion, but not as a regular method of birth control. For me, rape, physical health issues, etc may justify an abortion, and that should be the choice of the individual, but just because an adult messed up and got pregnant they should not have that choice.

So I agree with Charles, you cannot at your core be pro-gay rights and pro-abortion and be a true 100% Conservative. You may be majorly Conservative, and lean to the right enough to side with the Conservatives, but you are not a true Conservative.

I can sum this up in four words: Ron Paul scares me.