I have been researching the various Republican candidates for a while now.  At the moment, my support is for Fred Thompson.  I'm looking for a true conservative.  We wholeheartedly supported President Bush in both elections.  In fact, we just took our W '04 sticker off the Tahoe last week!  He did appoint some good judges to the Supreme Court, he was willing to put terrorists on the offensive in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but he made the Dept. of Education more powerful than ever, passed some of the biggest spending bills in the history of the country, is in favor of the Treaty of the Seas Act, has been miserably and frustratingly obtuse in seeing the danger posed by massive illegal immigration.  He has yet to pardon Ramos and Campeon, the two border agents convicted of murder for shooting at a Mexican drug dealer trying to cross the border illegally. Would I vote for him again?  Probably, but I'd do it while holding my nose.

I'm not a single issue voter.  Abortion is an important issue, but the best a President can do, at this point, is appoint conservative judges to both Federal courts and the Supreme Court.  Another option is for individual states to begin the process of their own constitutional amendments to either limit or outlaw abortion, which is what Fred Thompson favors.  Just because a candidate is personally against abortion does not mean a whole lot if they are unable or unwilling to put the right judges in place. 

National security is another huge issue with both the war on terror and illegal immigration.  If the terrorist violence we see around the world comes to America and we live in fear the way we did the first few weeks after 9-11, what else matters?  Since 9-11 Muslim terrorists have been responsible for nearly 11,000 additional attacks around the world!  It's only by the grace of God and President Bush's intense focus on terrorism that has kept it from our shores.  I have no doubt whatsoever that there are Muslim terrorists in America at this very moment.  My own cousin has been called to work for the FBI in D.C. with their anti-terrorism unit.  He says that if Americans knew what he sees and hears all day every day, we'd be terrified.  What that knowledge, how can I vote for anyone who doesn't favor strong action against terrorism world-wide as well as cracking down on our porous borders? 

I know a lot of homeschoolers will disagree with me, but Huckabee is not all that he appears to be.  The NEA in New Hampshire has endorsed him.  I wonder what they know about him that the rest of us don't know?  When he was Governor of Arkansas, he actually opposed school choice.  He lied on stage about having a theology degree.  After Clinton and his wife, I have a HUGE, HUGE! issue with politicians who easily lie.  As Governor of Arkansas, he granted pardons to roughly one violent criminal every few days!!!  In spite of the state law requiring him to explain each pardon, he never did!  Many of those criminals went on to rape and murder additional victims.  To say Huckabee is soft on violent criminals would be an understatement. 

Huckabee currently supports a nationwide ban on smoking!  Yikes!  What other individual rights might he want to outlaw?  (I'm a non-smoker and always have been, but if one group's rights can be trampled on, then eventually my rights will be in danger as well.)  As Governor, he consistently favored illegal immigrants and wanted them to be able to vote without having any I.D .  Over and over again he wanted to give the rights of citizenship to illegals.  When the citizens of Arkansas protested, he called them racists.  (I can provide links of these examples.) He has zero experience with foreign policy, just like Jimmy Carter, and HE was Disaster #1 as President.  Oh, and he flaunted his Christianity just like Huckabee.  I am way more interested in someone demonstrating the integrity of Christianity and less in them talking the talk.  When Huckabee attacked President Bush this past week, I was stunned.  It left a bad taste in my mouth as to his judgment and character.  He sounded exactly like any left-wing radical.

I know Huckabee says he is pro-life, and he proposes to overturn Roe v. Wade and pass a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Both sound great, but he doesn't have the power to do the first, and the second can only be accomplished with huge pro-life majorities in the House and Senate.  Considering his track record as Governor, I can't vote for him just because of his pro-life rhetoric, which, when push comes to shove, is meaningless.  He's a conservative when it  comes to abortion and gay marriage, but liberal everywhere else. 

Whew!  It's a good thing that pretty much nobody reads my blog, but I love politics and can't keep my mouth shut.  The more I learn about Fred Thompson, the more I like him.  Maybe I'll opine on that topic next time!