Martinez, running hard and fast towards the left despite claiming to be a Republican (good solid record on National Defense – turned left on immigration and the socialization of risk by bailout) has decided to retire from the Senate at the end of his term in 2010. This is good news.
Now we will have a long vetting process for primary challengers to display their positions and be properly challenged to cement them. Among those I suspect will consider the run:
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Charlie Crist (Disaster)
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Tom Gallagher – good solid Republican
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Katherine Harris – staunch conservative that will have a tough time because of the 2000 election fiasco.
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John L. Mica, Congressman from the 7th District – solid Republican, weak on name recognition.
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Cliff Stearns, Congressman from the 6th District. A rating from National Taxpayers Union, Solid defender of Gun Rights, My personal favorite.
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John Peyton – Mayor Jacksonville – will never survive the Primary
- I am sure many more will emerge. We will see.
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
Dan Spencer
Jeff Emanuel
Neil Stevens
Caleb Howe
Good bye and good riddance Mel.
mbecker908 (Diary) Tuesday, December 2nd at 7:31PM EDT (link)We won’t miss you. And Gov Crist, just stay where you are, we don’t need another squish.
Katherine Harris may be a really nice lady but..
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Tuesday, December 2nd at 7:47PM EDT (link)she gives the appearance of someone who is not wrappped quite tight!
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
Go Jeb!
GregInFla (Diary) Tuesday, December 2nd at 8:03PM EDT (link)Florida needs Jeb Bush in the US Senate. If he runs, he gets the nomination hands down. And if he changed his last name, he’d be a great pick for POTUS.
– A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. Think about it.
– The sign outside the courthouse said no signs allowed. So I took it down.
– Atlas Shrugged is now on the non-fiction aisle at Amazon.
Jeb Bush supports comprehensive immigration reform.
conservativemusician Tuesday, December 2nd at 8:47PM EDT (link)We need REAL conservatives in power in the Senate, so with all due respect, haven’t we had enough of the Bush’s yet?
Maybe, but maybe not.
GregInFla (Diary) Tuesday, December 2nd at 9:25PM EDT (link)We won’t know for sure what his true stand is until he campaigns. I could see him taking that position to be on his brother’s good side at the dinner table in Maine. Time will tell. Jeb was an excellent executive here for eight years, especially during the four-hurricanes-in-a-month-plus 2004.
– A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. Think about it.
– The sign outside the courthouse said no signs allowed. So I took it down.
– Atlas Shrugged is now on the non-fiction aisle at Amazon.
Unfortunately, both for Jeb and for the country,
mbecker908 (Diary) Tuesday, December 2nd at 9:28PM EDT (link)he’s probably THE most competent in the family. And hell will freeze over before he’s got a shot at the Presidency.
From "The Atlantic" article linked on Drudge right now...
conservativemusician Tuesday, December 2nd at 10:13PM EDT (link)“Bush, in an interview with Newsmax this week, said that the GOP risked becoming “the old white-guy party” and that it ought to modulate the way it handles the immigration issue. Bush, who speaks fluent Spanish and won the support of a majority of Hispanic voters during his 2002 re-election bid, favors a comprehensive approach to reform. But Bush said that Republicans can’t give up on conservatism, and, in what might be interpreted as a dig at Florida’s current governor, said that Republicans “can’t be Democrat-lite. We can’t just ‘get along.” The words echo some Republican criticism of Crist, who they view as accodomationist in his politics and unwilling to push for real reforms.”
Interesting that Jeb would say that we “can’t be Democrat-lite…”, and yet he supports this awful liberal legislation. I don’t want to have to justify defending another so-called conservative when he strays from the reservation on such an important issue like this. This is how we got into the predicament we’re in now. If Jeb supports this, he will probably be susceptible to supporting other equally bad legislation.
We need someone whose insticts are throughly grounded in conservatism, first and foremost. Count me out for Jeb and in for Palin.
"Comprehensive immigration reform"
JakePrime (Diary) Tuesday, December 2nd at 10:46PM EDT (link)Doesn’t really mean anything. As far as I am concerned, comprehensive immigration reform, lacking specificity, simply means tackling the flaws of our immigration system. It requires more detail before you can pass judgment.
Lacking specificity is exactly the point...
conservativemusician Tuesday, December 2nd at 11:24PM EDT (link)It could mean anything and that is the problem. Politicians tend to complicate everything and if they were to get specific about what they really want to do, they’d have little or no support. This is way I’m always suspicious when I hear them say they want comprehensive reform because in spite of what they say on the surface, it always means bigger government and more intrustions on our freedoms in the end. As a former governor and self-proclaimed conservative, Jeb should already know this.
Why can’t we just build the stupid fence first? It seems like the best and most obvious first step in tackling the issue which many conservatives would get behind in Congress. However, the libs and RINOs won’t get behind it because the fence would effectively put an end to the more onerous parts of the “comprehensive” intitiatives, which will include the eventual granting of amnesty which they are so eager to enact…all in the search for more voters. I simply don’t trust Jeb or any other politician who is on record supporting this, no matter how good their intentions may be.
If Jeb’s views are anything like big brother GWB’s, then it further reinforces my original point that we don’t need another Bush in the White House or Senate. I really don’t think Jeb has a chance anyway, so in all likelihood, my fears about his potential candidacy are a moot point.