Rudy Giuliani and Ken Starr

In view of Rudy's use of New York tax dollars to be safe in the Hamptons while playing around, the Judith Regan allegations about Rudy and Faux News, his love for Bernard Kerik, and his connections with terrorists, I think it's time to call in Ken Starr. Wait! Never mind, Ken is busy defending Blackwater against those murder charges.

New Rankings After Youtube CNN Spat

The Republicans had a "debate" Wednesday evening and have either short-term memories or are terminally stupid or suspect us of having both maladies.

McCain, who seems to hate a demagogue when it's Romney, demagogued Ron Paul's foreign policy notions as "isolationist" and accused the United States of causing WWII by being isolationist. Some historians might attribute WWII to the awful armistice that ended WWI, to Japanese militarism, or to the end of colonialism as an effective political tool. You might not have to know any history to question McCain calling Ron Paul's notion of respect for the autonomy of other nations isolationist. Not being a bully nation does not mean being isolationist.

Some youtube questioner asked our Conservative darlings about agricultural subsidies, but was regrettably better informed on the issue than our candidates and Gloria Vanderbilt's son, Anderson. It is shocking that our fiscal conservative party acted as though they had never heard of the Grassley-Dornan amendment to the subsidy bill capping subsidies at $250,000.

The newsies are more interested in heat than light and most of the news from the encounter had to do with heat.

These are my updated rankings. I added a column for authenticity, since the only one of these guys that seemed not to be pandering was the mostly inarticulate Ron Paul and there are some concerns about the Dems in that domain. Jela of Yahoo suggested that I add zero as a possible score to more fully express the strengths of candidates, so I did so and she was right!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Au 11 totals

John Edwards 5 3 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 4 5 5 53
Barack Obama 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 4 5 48
Hillary Clinton 3 3 3 3 4 2 4 3 4 3 3 5 40
Bill Richardson 5 3 5 3 5 2 4 5 4 3 3 5 47
Dennis Kucinich 5 2 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 5 53
Chris Dodd 4 3 4 4 3 2 4 4 4 4 4 5 45
Joe Biden 4 3 3 3 3 2 4 5 3 4 5 5 44
0
Rudy Giuliani 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6
John McCain 0 3 4 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 4 0 16
Mitt Romney 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Mike Huckabee 2 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 3 0 14
Fred Thompson 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 9
Tom Tancredo 2 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 8
Ron Paul 5 5 3 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 4 1 26

Presidential Candidate Rankings

There are a possible 55 points. Below are my subjective ratings and totals for each candidate. I think the vast difference between ANY Democrat and ANY Republican is instructive.



John Edwards 5 3 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 4 5 48
Dennis Kucinich 5 2 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 48
Barack Obama 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 5 44
Bill Richardson 5 3 5 3 5 2 4 5 4 3 5 44
Chris Dodd 4 3 4 4 3 2 4 4 4 4 5 41
Joe Biden 4 3 3 3 3 2 4 5 3 4 5 39
Hillary Clinton 3 3 3 3 4 2 4 3 4 3 5 37

Ron Paul 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 15
John McCain 1 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 15
Mitt Romney 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 15
Mike Huckabee 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 15
Fred Thompson 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 14
Rudy Giuliani 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13
Tom Tancredo 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

Criteria for Evaluating Presidential Candidates

Below are things I consider when I try to choose a presidential candidate. They were more or less in order until I got to number eleven and I realized that it should probably be in the top three. My next post will be my current ranking assigning 1 to 5 points on each criterion.
1. Will this candidate get us out of war and keep us out or does he or she have to prove his or her MANhood (sorry, Sen. Clinton) by attacking some little pissant country on this or the other side of the globe? Can you say Panama, Grenada, and Iraq, you worshipers of Saints Ronnie and Dubya?

2. Will this candidate balance the budget and keep it balanced?

3. Will this candidate espouse and enforce a multifaceted approach to border security, one that is healthy for us and our neighbors?

4. Will this candidate demand that corporations who want to sell to American consumers offer safe products that are made by workers who are being treated fairly in a manner that is not polluting our globe?

5. Will this candidate have an energy policy that encourages conservation and renewable energy rather than subsidizing fossil fuels and pollution?

6. Will this candidate lead in producing new legislation that reduces the power of lobbyists in Washington, D. C?

7. Will this candidate throw out every fox Bush has put in charge of every chicken house in the federal government?

8. Will this candidate shift our relations with other nations from meddling and bullying to one characterized by respect and negotiation?

9. Will this candidate lead in the quest for a health care system that is efficient, affordable, universal, and that focuses on wellness?

10. Will this president move the United States to a more reasonable military posture that redefines defense to mean defense of Americans in America, that provides adequate pay, benefits, retirement, and educational benefits to service people, and that bases decisions on military bases, weapons programs, and research on strategic needs rather than politics?

11. Will this person appoint judges to the court system who are more moderate and may balance the fanatics Reagan and the Bushes have been packing onto the Court?