DARK-HORSE CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT REVISITED

David D. Kirkpatrick, one of The New York Times’ finest political reporters, wrote on Sunday, September 30, that Christian conservative leaders are looking for a third-party candidate because of their discomfort with the current Republican field and liberal-left positions of the two leading Democratic contenders, Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Kirkpatrick’s story, headlined “Christian Conservatives Consider Third-Party Effort,” had received more than 224 blog comments on The New York Times’ Internet version by mid-day October 1.

One blogger made the interesting comment that Republicans were looking for an African-American candidate to counter Obama and mentioned retired General Jerry R. Curry, who since his book From Private to General was published has been on a book tour and a lot of radio talk-show and TV in major markets. So Curry is getting a lot of buzz across the country.

Actually, the general’s book, which I have read, points out that he also has significant Cherokee and Iroquois Native American as well as Irish ancestry, so there are some good genes there, as well as a lot of multi-culturalism –- more, I believe, than any other presidential candidate already out there can boast.

But having said that, the American people, I believe as a longtime national news investigative reporter, are looking for a truly proven leader-in-charge and the African-American, Native-American, Irish-American, lily-white-American, or whatever background are just added credits for our next president so long as the candidate who steps up to the plate for a national run is a fully-tested and proven leader in charge, which any American president overseeing a multi-trillion-dollar taxpayer-funded national bvudget and commander-in-chief of American military forces must be.

Kirkpatrick’s New York Times piece was most interesting and obviously well-sourced as it showed he has the confidence of highly-placed leaders of several  top strategy groups of the secular and Christian political right that have had tremendous influence on American politics since Ronald Reagan first ran in 1976 as an insurgent Republican candidate against the sitting President Gerald R. Ford. These groups helped get Reagan elected in 1980 and successor President George H.W. Bush in 1988.

The groups were the armed guard of the secular and Christian American political right after the 1992 elections throughout eight years of Bill Clinton’s presidency, and helped elect and re-elect President George W. Bush as Clinton’s successor in 2000.

We’re talking about real faith-based intellectual and political muscle when we talk about these groups.

Here is Kirkpatrick’s September 30 New York Times piece:

“Christian Conservatives Consider Third-Party Effort”
By David D. Kirkpatrick

“Alarmed at the chance that the Republican party might pick Rudolph Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate in an attempt to stop him.

“The group making the threat, which came together Saturday in Salt Lake City during a break-away gathering during a meeting of the secretive Council for National Policy, includes Dr. James Dobson of
Focus on the Family, who is perhaps the most influential of the group, as well as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, the direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie and dozens of other
politically-oriented conservative Christians, participants said.

“Almost everyone present expressed support for a written resolution that ‘if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third party candidate.’

“The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because both the Council for National Policy and the smaller meeting were secret, but they said members of the [smaller meeting] intend to publicize its resolution.

“These participants said the group chose the qualified term ‘consider’ because they have not yet identified an alternative third party candidate, but the group was largely united in its plans to bolt the party if Mr. Giuliani became the candidate.

“A revolt of Christian conservative leaders could be a significant setback to the Giuliani campaign because white evangelical Protestants make up a major portion of Republican primary voters.

“But the threat is risky for the credibility of the Christian conservative movement as well. Some of its usual grass-roots supporters could still choose to support even a pro-choice Republican like Mr. Giuliani, either because they dislike the Democratic nominee even more or because they are worried about war, terrorism and other issues.

“In recent polls by the Pew Research Center, Mr. Giuliani has received a plurality of support from white evangelical Protestant voters despite a rising chorus of complaints from Christian conservative leaders about his liberal views on social issues and his unconventional family life. Some players in the movement not present at the meeting may be open to Mr. Giuliani as the lesser of two evils.

Rev. Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcast Network, for example, has provided relatively generous coverage to Mr. Giuliani and his campaign. Gary Bauer, a Christian conservative political advocate
and a Republican primary candidate eight years ago, said that, speaking by phone to the meeting, he urged the group to proceed with caution.

“’I can’tt think of a bigger disaster for social conservatives, defense conservatives, and economic conservatives than Hillary Clinton in the White House,’_ Mr. Bauer said. Still, he added, ‘But I do believe there are certain core issues for the Republican Party -- low taxes, strong defense and pro life -- and if we nominate someone who is hostile on one of those three things it will blow up the GOP.”

“In response to the Christian conservatives, a spokeswoman for the Giuliani campaign provided a statement from Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican who supports Mr. Giuliani, saying, ‘Conservatives are rallying around the one candidate with the executive experience and proven leadership our country needs.’

“Calling Mr. Giuliani strong on fighting terrorism and ‘fiscal discipline,’ Mr. Sessions said Republicans want acandidate who ‘can beat the Democratic nominee.’

“For months, Christian conservatives have been escalating their warnings about the risk that nominating Mr. Giuliani could splinter the party. Dr. Dobson wrote a column declaring that he would waste his vote before casting it for either Mr. Giuliani or a Democrat who supports abortion rights like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Richard Land, the top public policy official of the Southern Baptist Convention, has said that nominating a Republican candidate who supports abortion rights would make white evangelical votes ‘a jump ball’ between the Republicans and Democrats, with other issues taking the fore.

“Many Democrats, including Senator Clinton, are doing their best to soften the edges of their support for abortion rights, emphasizing they favor policies that might reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

“But participants in the group that endorsed the resolution said they reached their position hearing an assessment of the state of the Republican primary from Mr. Perkins, who acts as a point man in
Washington for the movement. Mr. Perkins told them that Mr. Giuliani could plausibly win the primary if he carried Florida, which is also a state with many conservative Christian voters, and now was the best-chance to stop any momentum behind the campaign.”

So where does General Jerry R. Curry, a virtual political unknown and unannounced presidential candidate, fit into this mix -- and why is he already lighting sparks across the country as noted by The New York Times blogger?

First as I said in an earlier piece, Toujours Cherchez La Femme -- which you can find on this site by scrolling down -- having attended a recent event for Mayor Giuliani at the home of actor Robert Duvall in The Plains, Virginia just a few weeks ago, the mayor was lame and turned off every conservative in the room. In other words, he is turning off the base of the Reoublican Party. He could not even push out a strong unabashed eloquent answer to the simple question, “How are you going to beat Hillary Clinton?” He just stood there and stammered out a repeat of his lame stump speech that just took him 45 minutes to deliver before a standing roomful of $1,000 obviously uncomfortable and unenthused givers. And he's got another one of these fundraising events at the farm of another wealthy family in Middleburg, Virginia, coming up shortly, so he's going for the rich folks' dough. What else is new in American politics? Read the Giuliani for President Committee's Federal Election Commision report in a few months to get all their names and addresses.

Based on the Duvall event alone, the former New York City mayor showed that he has lost it as a proven leader in charge, and his views on social, cultural and religious issues, along with his three failed marriages and taurid divorces have lost any chance he might have had to win the conservative faith-based politically active voter-turnout leader base within the Repub;ican Party. They are holding their noses right now, but watch as the current presidential political season unfolds. Giuliani, like Senator John McCain of Arizona, will be toast. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced today he will not enter the Republican race -- making too much money as a media star and political pundit for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

Here is General Jerry Curry's personal webpage link that shows why he is a proven leader in charge and a dark-horse alternative presidential candidate who could quickly sweep away all the tired political has-beens in both parties:

http://www.jerrycurry.com/

His newly-published book, From Private to General, clearly shows he is a proven leader with ancestral roots that are the basis of our American and Western culture –- and who worked with Asians in South Korea and South Vietnam as a military commander to help secure their freedom and economic opportunity in the midst of global political turmoil before he became one of President Ronald Reagan’s military stars. Watch Curry's space.

Also check out this Youtube link to see for yourself:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K-B2JgKtTIw

Curry sings opera to boot as a baritone who is as good as Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Michael Bolton, and others when it comes to singing the favorite sacred arias of all time. He has a CD out titled Generally Singing to prove it.

Curry is eloquent and attractive, but I believe does not like the concept of a third-party presidential candidate. However, national secular and faith-based conservative groups at the center of Kirkpatrick’s piece for The New York Times should open up a dialogue with this conflict-tested military general.

He would certainly make the nationally televised presidential debates more interesting and open up some eyes about world security and foreign relations issues that none of the other current candidates can address or articulate in the face of his 30 years of world experience. Anyone who has had the privilege of reading his book, hearing him on radio, or meeting and talking with him personally would come to know that quite quickly, as did this battle-scarred newspaper veteran.