1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by KenH, Dec 30, 2007.

  1. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    41,907
    Likes Received:
    1,469
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid
    First, Main Candidates Urged To Plan 'Unity' Government

    [SIZE=-1]By David S. Broder
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Sunday, December 30, 2007; A04[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
    [/SIZE]New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end the gridlock in Washington.

    Those who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma say that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to "go beyond tokenism" in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president.

    Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman.

    - www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122901476_pf.html
     
  2. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2000
    Messages:
    11,170
    Likes Received:
    0
    Bizarre.

    Is there something in the water in NYC? Mayors have to interject themselves onto the national stage whether they are wanted or not?

    Robb, Boren, Whitman....a cast of characters indeed.
     
  3. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    41,907
    Likes Received:
    1,469
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Drawn from the neglected center of American politics.

    If this actually comes about I hope that Senator Hagel would be at the top of any centrist ticket. I like him a lot. When I am tempted to stray from ideologically based politics it is by the prospect of centrism.
     
    #3 KenH, Dec 30, 2007
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2007
  4. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2000
    Messages:
    11,170
    Likes Received:
    0
    Boren and Whitman aren't two people I would call centrists. Hagel and Danforth are respectable men.
    Are you saying centrism isn't idealogical?
     
  5. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    41,907
    Likes Received:
    1,469
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Yes, that is correct. Centrism involves reaching a solution that a broad base of people can agree upon, regardless of ideology. Sort of like the health care plan that Mitt Romney and the Democrats worked out in Massachusetts. Reasonable folks toward the left agreed to it as well reasonable folks toward the right, such as the Heritage Foundation.
     
    #5 KenH, Dec 30, 2007
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2007
  6. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2000
    Messages:
    11,170
    Likes Received:
    0
    I would argue that the Heritage Foundation is comprised of reasonable people, but not idealogically void people.

    So are you decrying centrism or praising it? ;)
     
  7. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    41,907
    Likes Received:
    1,469
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Neither. It just is.

    I enjoy reading about politics. Period. :)
     
  8. JustChristian

    JustChristian New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2007
    Messages:
    3,833
    Likes Received:
    0

    It's called the democratic process. What alternative do you propose.
     
  9. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2000
    Messages:
    11,170
    Likes Received:
    0
    Ken: I enjoy reading politics as well. I'm just a wonk. I like looking at all sides and forming my own ideas. That makes me unpopular around here.

    BB: You misinterpret me. I was jesting at Rudy and Bloomie's huge egos. I like to have fun with politics and politicians. And actually, I haven't heard Bloomberg campaign for anything yet, so how am I decrying democracy? I'm always suspicious of Perot-like, self-appointments masked as citizen draft efforts. Well, not suspicious....just honest about them. They have every right to interject themselves whether they are wanted or not. We can vote them up or down. But am I not democratically free to call a spade a spade? ;)

    Happy New Year, all!
     
  10. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2004
    Messages:
    25,823
    Likes Received:
    1,167
    Faith:
    Baptist

    "On human rights, civil rights and environmental quality, I consider myself to be very liberal. On the management of government, on openness of government, on strengthening individual liberties and local levels of government, I consider myself a conservative. And I don't see that the two attitudes are incompatible."

    —Jimmy Carter
     
Loading...