Does MyDD do tip cups?

It is my honor to be the first comment on your first diary.

Highly Recommended.

and his policy papers were all the same I'd vote for Obama without a second thought.   It's the issues that matter to me, the party just happens to generally be on the right side on them.  

It might matter the Democrat he was running against however.  Against Clinton?  I'd vote Clinton.  If she were the Republican?  I'd vote Obama.  

Welcome aboard.  Don't be a stranger.

...Ma'ariv, the Israeli newspaper that "leaked" Obama's Wailing Wall note, has been in on-again/off-again buyout talks with none other than Las Vegas casino tycoon, Sheldon Adelson.  Adelson is also the owner and publisher of Israel Today, a new Israeli daily which serves as the mouthpiece for Benjamin Netanyahu's extremely hawkish Likud Party there.

Adelson is the primary financial backer of the dirty-tricks/slimeball advertising, 501(c)4 Freedom's Watch. Adelson has Karl Rove and Ari Fleischer on very hefty, six-figure consulting gigs as I write this. So far, Freedom's Watch has spent roughly $25 million, of what's anticipated to be a total of $200- to $250-million, in media and support for the Rethug's this cycle.

So, it's no surprise what's going on here. And, lo and behold, sure looks like the negative intent of invading Obama's privacy and publishing of his Wailing Wall note backfired, gaining empathy for his candidacy, worldwide.

Especially since the Republican brand is so tarnished.

I just can't even envision Obama as a Republican at all. Especially on domestic issues.

If he were a Republican he would be kicked out of the GOP.

Prior to this election, I considered myself an independent, and was open to hearing what the Republican candidates would have to say.  Would Giuliani maintain his stance as a social moderate, or pander to the base?  Would we get the same McCain who made waves in 2000, or Dubya Part II?  I was intrigued to hear a social conservative, Huckabee, talking about the moral obligations of environmentalism, even while being appalled at many of his other stances.

In other words, for me it's a very gray world...not black and white, or blue and red.  I sort of am and am not a war voter.  To clarify, I don't consider Obama's opposition to the war from the beginning to be the reason I'm voting for him, but I did use general opposition to the war like a filter.  Those who wanted us out of the war met that first primary qualification I had for choosing "my" candidate.  And, as the Republicans disappointed me greatly in this, I went from watching all the debates to watching only the Democrats.  Necessary, but not sufficient.  Getting out of the war is something we can fully expect from a Democratic President.  It's a CiC action, not legislation or anything that could be blocked by Congress.

So, anyway, I guess my point is that I came to support Obama's candidacy on issues.  If he were Republican, and had the same positions, I would imagine I would have been similarly attracted to his candidacy.

If someone like Barack Obama ran as a Republican, yes, I would strongly consider voting for him.  It would depend on a thousand other factors, not least of which would be whom the Democrats chose to run, but yeah, I'd consider it.

He's a once in a generation kind of leader.  That's not enough, in and of itself, but it does open the door.

I'm afraid I couldn't vote for Obama in this cycle if he was a Republican. The Republican politicians, as differentiated from their voters, have sold out all of the best parts of their platform and embraced the worst. I'd vote against George Washington if he ran as a Republican this year.

As others have said, it would be hard to picture him in the current GOP, but "yes" is the easiest answer.  Sen. Obama is imo singularly the best candidate either party has run in my life.

But my answer implies that not only would Obama's party affiliation have to had changed, but the GOP would have to had changed, and that's the harder thing to imagine.  If the GOP were the kind of party that could have Obama as it's nominee, it wouldn't be the GOP we know today.

Actual Republican values aren't bad things, the Republican party as enacted by its current batch of politicians is a bad thing.  "Compassionate Conservatives" as Ayn Rand would understand the phrase are wonderful, as the GOP has used the term it is pure bunkum.  Being independent and responsible enough to own your successes and failures, to realize that your quality of life is dependent on the quality of life of those around you, to independently choose to reach out and help others without condescending to them - these are the "conservative" ideals that I think very highly of (Rand wrote a single essay - the closest she ever came to answering her critics - that said much the same thing).

What the GOP has become is something entirely different.  I would vote for Lincoln in a heartbeat whatever party he belonged to, but the GOP of today is not the party that Lincoln belonged to.  If Lincoln were running for president in 2008, he would be a Democrat.

Great diary, recced!

-chris

Well said.  Well said indeed.

Why is your brother, a "conservative Republican", supporting Obama? I can understand a "liberal Republican" supporting a conservative Democrat like Obama, but Obama is still a Democrat. Much of what he plans to do is an anathema to conservative Republicans of all stripes (paleocon, neocon, theocon, etc.). I hope he hasn't fallen for the rhetoric and symbolism, like some liberals did in the primaries.

Of course it's unlikely that Obama would be the republican nominee. I think the question asks, rather, what if it were true.

What if there were enough sufficiently pragmatic GOP voters that he'd have been able to slip through with the nomination - that McCain is today the nominee makes this a distinctly non-zero possibility.

Would those of us recognize those rare, once-in-a-lifetime leadership skills and give him the benefit of the doubt? I'd like to believe that many would.

Regardless, congratulations to epiphany for making the rec list on his/her first diary!

as do many of the comments here in some users i know and respect.  you are aware that you on a democratic/progressive blog  right?  what that means is that the people here believe in progressive values and agenda to governance.

as a self-described republican - that stands to say that generally you disagree with most everything the people here do. save for wanting the democratic nominee to win.  or am i missing something?

this is why people praising you for this diary seems v. odd to me. listen democrats will gladly take your vote - but please remember that obama is a democrat and believes in liberal ideology and will govern with these principles.

please remember that obama is a democrat and believes in liberal ideology and will govern with these principles.

CG, the diarist is a self-described liberal republican. I'm puzzled why you'd think that someone with these values wouldn't find a greater confluence of ideas with Obama than with McCain?

There is no liberal republican candidate running for president. Even if there were, I'd think there was still good reasons not to back the GOP nominee this cycle, given the stranglehold that the neocons have over their party at the moment.

once again a perfectly reasonable discussion and comment gets deleted. You even answered me epiphany but now the whole exchange is missing. Good one mydd. I guess dissent will not be tolerated.

aid and abet the Kleptocracy controlling the Republican party.

In another time (say, Ike's), yeah, I would cheerfully have voted for him, irrespective of party.

Not now -- the republicans have ceased to govern and begun to steal our country blind.