Tuesday, May 15, 2007

An Independent Bid?

Since Chuck Hagel's appearance on Face the Nation Sunday there has been a great deal of discussion of whether or not he should run as an Independent or as a Republican.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Please share them in the comments.

14 comments:

Jzbell said...

Personally, I would love to have him make it as an independent. Party affiliation is unimportant to me. However, my fear is that there are too many voters who simply vote for their registered party, without even considering their options, for an independent candidate to have any real shot.

Anonymous said...

I think he should run with senator Jim Webb.

American Spectator said...

I like the idea and think that he should do it with Fred Thompson as a running mate. I don't know much abot Bloomberg.

Deacon Adams said...

Sure. As he implied, the party he belongs to is dead, and I agree with that completely. In 1994, moderate Rs ruled. The obnoxious people people on the fringe at that time now rule. How that was allowed to happen, who knows, but it destroyed what the party was built on. If your party doesn't exist anymore, what else is there to do?

Anonymous said...

No. I want you people to think.

I urged Hagel to run to win the Republican nomination to avoid any of the other Republican knuckleheads from having a shot at the Presidency.
But if he goes a 3rd party route, I am concerned that this increases the odds one of those knuckleheads will be our President.
We did this and been there in 2000 with all the college kids sitting down in front of the big screen whooping it up for Ralph Nader and the consequences were Bush and the corruption of our government that many are not aware of.
I don't think this country will recover from 8 years of Bush followed by more years of, for example, a Romney.
Think of the consequences of what you advocate.

Dahlia said...

The only outcome of an Independent run is that one of the other 2 parties will surely win, most likely a Republican since Hagel will likely stake out the middle ground leaving the extremes on both ends. Unfortunately, the extreme on the Republican side is larger. No, he has to run as a Republican and take back the grand ol' party from the neocon cabal and their self-righteous gaggle of followers.
The Republican party has always stood for solid economics, family values and rational, wise foreign policy, and strong security. That is Hagel. He is a Republican, the way Republicans are supposed to be!

Anonymous said...

Hagel needs to leave politics!
He is NOT a representative of the people who elected him. He needs to be 'impeached' from his current seat as a representative of Nebraska. We do NOT support him as he has betrayed our votes in Nebraska. We do not need his 'self-interest' decisions in our government by the people, for the people. Hagel is not reliable!

Anonymous said...

I think he should run in traffic with a blindfold on. Hagle is nuts and should be selling shoes and not anywhere near a seat of power.

Yeah he should run as a Republican, just so he can get a good taste of reality.

Can you say "Doesn't stand a snow ball's chance in Hell"

Anonymous said...

He should be in the Republican race. Look at the positive attention Ron Paul is getting, and he isn't a viable national candidate, which Senator Hagel would be. He needs to jump in the GOP race.

Anonymous said...

This is such a difficult call to make. Without a doubt, I think Hagel should run. My fear of him running as a republican is that the other presidential candidates within the party, will desperately try to discredit him due to him somewhat distancing himself from the party along with considering an independent ticket.
I'm equally concerned with the independent ticket. Most likely it will just allow the dems or reps to get more votes. I don't have a party affiliation but grew up in a staunch union/labor household and if anything, leaned more left than right over the years. I have been looking for Hagel to run in this race. Right now, I see him as the only viable candidate for a new forthright, honest direction. I don't know much at all about Bloomberg but it certainly sounds like an interesting ticket. Go for the independent ticket..hopefully capture the growing number of Americans that are unhappy with either party. Best of luck!

Vigilant Patriot said...

I am one of millions of Americans who are damn sick and tired of "politics as usual". We need a change and a Hagel-Bloomberg ticket sounds pretty awesome to me!

Brandon Rosty said...

I dont see how you people think a hagel independent run will increase the chances of a Republican wining. Heas a republican so naturally more GOPS will vote for him instead of the GOP candidate and recent polls including Bloomberg say the GOP will lose if an independent runs.

Anonymous said...

I think that Republican-faithful, the ones who's support is most important in the primaries and caucuses are probably the only ones still in favor of the war (just look at how hawkish all the Repub candidates have been in the debates) and so, sadly, he probably wouldn't have a ton of support. The question isn't whether he should run as an Ind or a Repub, but rather whether he should participate in the race for the Repub nomination to increase his profile or not. Also I think that when he runs as an independent, if for some reason he weren't to win, he'd probably steal more from the Republican side.

Kris said...

Do it Chuck! Chuck is hopefully just biding his time- and then will bolw the doors off these wannabes (including Thompson)

Run Chuck, Run!!!!!