What do you look for in a Candidate?

logs · 08-08-2003, 07:22 AM

What do you look for in a Political Candidate or elected government official?
There is a lot of comments about how "I don"™t vote for the party. I vote for the candidate.
Forgetting special issues, what are the specific traits, tenets or values that you seek in a candidate?

I"™ll start off with my basic guidelines.
1. Must have some type of responsible background. Whether it is a man or woman who worked and raised a family or a person who ran a business, they must understand basic working class economics as they relate to the voter.
2. They must have traditional family valves and ethics.
3. I prefer someone with a military background but if not, some form of a strict disciple training in their history.
4. They must have real work environment experience. Not some one right out of school going into politics even at the lowest entry level.
5. They must be willing to vote the peoples choice even when they believe differently. We' re the ones who elected them and pay them.

These are the basic I look for. After that I get into the issues. Like in all things there is compromise but it has to be close to the line her to get my vote.

What do you look for?

fng · 08-08-2003, 07:26 AM

I would agree with all except #5.

If you think of it in the grand scheme of things, that is akin to a pure democracy - a very dangerous thing. Vast majority of the population in this country are screaming idiots.

Hey Logs, you like those clowns retracting their allegations against Lutz ??

I can' t wait for the fingerprint analysis to come back and prove that the yard ape Nabors touched the gun -- then Pratt is getting a viscious letter from me.

I wouldn' t want to be a cop around there, damn animals on the street everywhere there.

logs · 08-08-2003, 08:26 AM

fng, off the thread but an important issue. Officer Lutz, it appears was dead on in his decision to shoot. Nabors, while in route to the hospital, made a statement, at the time he believed a dying declaration, to the effect that, Yes, my buddy toss the gun to me and I picked it up to toss it down the sewer.( Not a smart thing to do when a coppers got a glock pointed at you)

This statement was heard in part by a Fire Dpt LT who was attending to Nabors in the rig.
Well if you caught the news last night the big cow and the dirty haired rag both still wearing the same clothes from two days ago stated," I' z tout daz whatz i' z Cz"
Jon Reddin is the ADA reviewing this case and issued the charges agianst Nabors. I worked with the guy for 4 years everyday. He' s as striaght arrow as they come. Honest and only cares about the truth. If he issued the guy had the gun in his hand period.
I know Lutz from all his cases in court. He' s a hard working Officer in one of the most dangerous squad areas in the City if not the country. Everybody there is packing and the hate whitie.
It' s a rightous shoot.

fng · 08-08-2003, 08:32 AM

Quote:

It' s a rightous shoot.

I never doubted it for a second.

Dave590 · 08-08-2003, 04:52 PM

It' s hard to put a finger on exactly WHAT I look for in a candidate. But I suppose you could narrow it down to just one thing...After I hear them speak on issues I generally have an idea if I " like" them or not.

I know that sounds pretty simple minded, But at the end of the day, it tends to serve me well.

yellowlabman · 08-08-2003, 08:04 PM

How do you know when a politician is lying??? His lips are moving!!!

James B · 08-08-2003, 08:18 PM

First and foremost. What is thier stand on gun ownership. If thats wrong then nothing else matters to me. Next is if they are not a good person they can,t be a good anything else. Like bill clinton, you have do be a decent human being to qualify to be anything else. HE MISSED. They must put representing the voter ahead of party loyalty. Pretty hard to find that type of person.

PABuck_HNTR · 08-08-2003, 08:22 PM

Someone with Testicular Fortitude. Someone who is unafraid to be his own man. Someone with an In-Your-Face approach to foreign affairs. Someone who doesn' t cater to special interests, and remembers the old saying majority rules, not the squeaky wheel gets the grease type crap. Someone with strong family values. Someone who understands that Hunters and shooters have the right to Bear Arms. Someone who goes fishing with their dad instead of bashing the opposite party day and night.

BenGarrett · 08-09-2003, 04:52 AM

I don' t have any specific ' guidelines.' I just jump straight to the issues.

1. Does the candidate support abortion? If he does, I will not consider him further. If he doesn' t, my vote is still up in the air.

2. Does the candidate support gun control? If he does, my consideration stops here. If he doesn' t, I' m liking him more and more.

3. Does the candidate support gay rights? If he does, forget it, even if he is against the first two. If he doesn' t, I might have found me a winner.

Those are the three issues that I vote on. If there is no candidate who answers No, No, and No to those issues, then I will not vote for any of the candidates.

After those three issues, I can compromise on things like the economy, social security, prescription drug plans, the environment, etc.

CalHunter · 08-10-2003, 12:41 AM

My candidate requirements depend upon what level of political office the candidate is running for. One requirement I find myself evaluating much more lately is the candidate' s ability to get elected. I can agree with everything they say yet it does no good to vote for them if they don' t have a prayer of a chance of getting elected. Principles are certainly important but exercising practicality is often the difference in getting some of what you want politically or nothing at all.

Different levels of government have restrictions on what issues they can change or not and thus cause me to use different candidate evaluation criteria for their level of government. On county level races, I look for somebody who is fiscally responsible, honest and approachable. Although I' d like them to oppose gun control and other key issues, I honestly don' t research that to the extent I do for state and federal level offices because counties are unable to legislate those issues. On the state level, I look for the same qualities and focus much more on somebody who supports gunowners' rights and opposes special gay rights, excessive welfare spending and unnecessary government growth. On a federal level, gunowner rights, anti-abortion and anti-special gay rights becomes critical.