Who's the last Republican politician that you truly respected?

[True Dough]

It's such a terrible lot today. Atrocious, really.

I can name very few current Republicans at the federal or the state level who I think are decent individuals (but I'm not familiar with some of them state by state).

I guess it would have to be Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney because they've seen the light, although Cheney still holds many positions that I abhor.

I cast back to perhaps John McCain because I think of that presidential campaign moment when he corrected that lady in the audience who denigrated Obama because she thought he was a Muslim. But that was just a honorable moment (and, in fairness, McCain did have years of honorable military service). But there were many things I disagreed with him on and could never vote for him.

Maybe Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California? But his fiscal performance was very poor (not to mention what he did to Maria Shriver).

There are just a lot of disgusting Republican politicians.

[Wahyee]

1. Olympia Snowe /nt

[Wahyee]

30. And my dad

I'm glad he's not alive to see what Rs have become and what they stand for.

[rickford66]

2. Abe Lincoln

[brush]

4. Ike. And he'd be a moderate Dem now.

[CrackityJones75]

5. Arne Carlson MN Governor

[PuraVidaDreamin]

6. Charlie Baker

He's my govenor, and I respect him for how he handled the crap
Trump threw at him during the early months of Covid.

He still infuriates me quite often.

[markie]

7. I don't hate

our Governor Phil Scott ...not sure how much I respect him, except he has been very vocal about his contempt for Trump (he voted for Biden) and for this draft of Alito's and he did a good job with Covid in the State

thought Hagel was ok

.............

[IngridsLittleAngel]

8. Teresa Frizzel.. Former mayor here...

And the last person involved in the city government here who seemed to care about this city. Mind you, that was close to 30 years ago now...

On a national level? Probably Ike, who would almost certainly be a Democrat if he were around today (as Brush pointed out above.)

[Jerry2144]

9. Eisenhower

[lkinwi]

10. Not technically a politician, but Betty Ford.

She’s my “go to” when someone tries to dismissively tell me that I hate all Republicans.

[Hugin]

11. Theodore Roosevelt...

MAYBE.

[JHB]

27. He qualifies as a "socialist" these days

...what with favoring progressive income taxes, old age pensions, curbs on corporate power, etc.

[Hugin]

29. He had his downside, too.

Questions like this are ridiculous after the party platforms swapped with Skinny Nixon's southern strategy.

[JHB]

34. Sure, but the point stands: a revered Republican who would be called "socialist"

Not even "would be." Some conservatives back in his day did call him that for the points I noted.

[Aristus]

12. George H. W. Bush. Back before I found out what a handsy creep he was.

At least he walked the walk. Decorated WWII combat pilot; youngest aviator in U.S. Naval history (his family used their wealth to help him get into the service, not out of it; imagine that), Ambassador to China, head of the CIA, two-term Vice President, a so-so President, and a guy who still went skydiving in his nineties.

Also the last Republican I ever voted for. Thirty years ago.

[JHB]

33. I credit him with the last wheezing gasp of Republican "fiscal responsibility"

The '86 tax cuts were unsustainable, so he agreed to a (feeble) hike. and his party's radicals crucified him for it.

Radicals like Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, and other stars of the conservative movement.

[okaawhatever]

57. Remember Bush called Reagan's economics "Voodoo economics" because he knew the trickle down

crap was just that. That position cost him a lot of voters.

He also very publicly quit the NRA when they called the Secret Service "jack booted thugs".

He pulled out of Kuwait without getting Hussein because all reports told him that getting involved in Iraq would lead to "endless war" with no real benefit for the people. (His son received the same info btw). It took a lot of courage to make that call. He was excoriated for that one.

I read something recently that he helped register African American voters during college. That surprised me.

For all his negatives or positions I disagreed with I do believe he wanted what was best for this country. Bush and Democrats just disagreed on how to get there.

[clementine613]

13. None.

There is no modern Rethug (I'm not counting anytime before the Rethugs = conservatives) that I respect. They are all garbage criminals who should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[marie999]

14. MA Senator Edward Brooke

[NNadir]

15. Gerald Ford and Jacob Javits.

I couldn't have close to voting for either - I very briefly thought about Javits for a New York second - but neither was viciously insane.

[toesonthenose]

16. Joe Manchin

Hah, sorry, had to. Not respected, but he is a Republican. I would have to go with Ike!

[Polly Hennessey]

17. Eisenhower.

[Solly Mack]

18. None

[Emile]

19. Eisenhower

[2naSalit]

20. Margaret Chase Smith...

First woman to represent the state of Maine in the US House and first woman to be elected to both the House and Senate and even ran for President. She openly confronted McCarthy and his crusade as well as many other milestones for women in pursuit of success outside domestic duties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Chase_Smith#Declaration_of_Conscience

Met her when I was very young at a celebration for one of my cousins who had been appointed (?) to the state's Supreme Court. She was a household name when politics was the topic in our family.

[bluedigger]

24. Old family friend.

She gave me a pair of baby shoes, lol. 👍

[2naSalit]

31. From that meeting I mostly recall...

Her asking me about my dress, I was around four or five, and that everyone wanted to talk to her and my cousin, it was a very fancy and large, for me at the time, gathering at another cousin's home.

I heard about her in the news often so I recall hearing about her more than anything.

[bluedigger]

42. I don't remember meeting her.

If I did it was probably somewhere like the Franklin County Fair before I turned 10.

[underpants]

21. Sen. John Warner and Marshall Coleman

Sen. Warner convinced Coleman to run against Ollie North which got Chuck Robb another term. Thank God. It cost Mr. Coleman his marriage but I think that was going to happen anyway.

Warner was a good guy by all accounts. Well, He and George Allen bailed the Va. GOP out (sexual harassment suits) or they would have been insolvent and couldn’t have nominated candidates.

[bluedigger]

22. Bill Cohen

Always served fairly in administrations of both parties and remains an independent conservative voice today.

[867-5309.]

23. Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney are good mentions

There are just so few these days.

[True Dough]

67. He is growing on me...

Link to tweet

[LeftInTX]

25. I voted for Ford in 1976

It was my first election

I started out as a Republican, because I was majoring in the math and felt the Republicans were better for aerospace/defense programs.
I wanted to work in that field.


When Reagan came along in 1980, I was like, "Forget that"
I never got my aerospace job anyway.
---------------------------

There are a few out there who aren't too bad, but they're mostly local judges.

[Lithos]

26. Robert Marion LaFollette

Nt

[Mad_Machine76]

28. The Late Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

Only Republican Senator I've ever voted for. McCain was ok at times and his vote against repealing ACA cannot be ignored, but his "maverickness" was always a bit overrated IMHO.

[FSogol]

35. He'd be my choice too. n/t

[hamsterjill]

32. Honestly there aren't any.

I am by nature pretty judgmental. In all honesty, since I was a teenager, my understanding has been that Republicans were against a woman’s right to choose and that has been my litmus test. I was raised a feminist and women will never, ever achieve equality without having control over their own bodies. It’s always been that simplistic to me.

I have never in my lifetime voted for a Republican because any one of them was an obstacle to my being treated equally to a man. I was raised by a father who believed in equality strongly.

Harsh? Perhaps. But that’s the way I see it. And I am ready to fight.

[True Dough]

50. Well, it seems your intuition

was well-founded today, the way things are bearing out with Roe vs. Wade.

[SKKY]

36. I think Will Hurd seems legit to me...

And although I disagreed with most of his positions, I feel like John McCain did try to do the right things for the right reasons.

[Thunderbeast]

37. Oregon Governor Tom McCall

As a journalist, he sparked the environmental movement in our state.

As governor, he attracted many Democratic votes.

[Tom Rinaldo]

38. Repsected is a far different standard than agreeing with, let alone supporting

I have some respect for Lisa Murkowski, not in every instance of course, but enough so that I'll give her an honorable mention. Can't say the same for Susan Collins. If forced to think about it long enough there may be some other Republican conservatives, beyond Liz Cheney, among the ranks of those who voted for Trump's impeachment who warrant some respect, for that act if nothing else. Those who did were among a small minority.

McCain was for the most part "respectable" in that he at times showed the courage of his convictions even when it meant alienating major parts of his based, and he truly believed in country over party. A number of Republicans went on to become excellent Supreme Court justices. Earl Warren is at the top of that list but more recently even a David Souter turned out to be overall decent. I agree with some of the other names mentioned above. Ike for sure.

[MuseRider]

39. I was born when Eisenhower was President

and he was from my state so by the time I was actually politically aware he had been put in my head as a really great President so I figured, knowing where that was coming from, that he is OK, not great but OK.

I really spend only tiny amounts of time thinking about Republicans. From my state the politicians are mostly Republicans. I would say I did not like Bob Dole but he was not a total jackass like todays Republicans are. I do like Nancy Landon Kassebaum-Baker. She voted for the ERA and the NEA and worked to end apartheid. Yes I looked this all up because I had forgotten. She always seemed steady and still casts votes in our state, she voted for our current Governor, Laura Kelly, Democrat.

If our current R's were like her we would be nowhere close to the mess we are in.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

40. Dan Evans former Washington state governor and US Senator

He was governor when my state legalized abortion in 1970. He also tried unsuccessfully to start a state income tax.

Can't imagine a Republican doing that today.

[MineralMan]

41. Eisenhower.

[Blecht]

43. Paul Coverdell

I was in the Peace Corps when he was director. Good man.

[AZ_Latina]

44. None...

...since Reagan.

[FakeNoose]

45. Eisenhower - if he were alive today he'd be a great Democrat

Last edited Thu May 5, 2022, 01:14 PM - Edit history (1)

[MurrayDelph]

52. He would be the one I'd list

It can be argued that President Obama was an Eisenhower Democrat.

[mvd]

62. Yep, I guess he would be the best one I can think of

Also warned against the military industrial complex.

[Duncan Grant]

46. None. (nt)

[rurallib]

47. Eisenhower

No local or state level even come close.

[Midnight Writer]

48. The last Republican I ever voted for was Everett Dirksen.

I did not vote for Jim Edgar, Governor of Illinois, but I think he is a decent man deserving some respect.

[phylny]

56. I didn't see your post before I responded, and I agree, Edgar seems to be a good man. n/t

[blue neen]

49. PA Senator John Heinz.

He was killed in a plane crash in 1991.

[UnderThisLaw]

51. Pete McCloskey and Lowell Weicker

[Beautiful Disaster]

72. Pete McCloskey actually became a Democrat and cast his vote for Biden in the California EC...

[bearsfootball516]

53. Probably John McCain.

I may not have agreed with him policy-wise, but I never doubted his heart was in the right place.

[DFW]

54. Thatcher Longstreth

The only Republican for whom I ever voted--also the first time I ever voted. I was 19, and the Democrats had shamefully voted the oaf of a police commissioner, Frank Rizzo, as their candidate (he switched to the Republicans soon after winning).

During the one debate on TV, Rizzo stupidly asked Longstreth why he had said disparaging things about him, and Longstreth answered, without even blinking, "well, if the shoe fits, commissioner......" Howls of approval were to be heard all over West Philadelphia for ten minutes after that.

[phylny]

55. Jim Edgar, former Governor of Illinois.

He had his drawbacks, but overall, I think he was a good man.

[Deep State Witch]

58. Larry Hogan of Maryland

I may not agree with Governor Hogan on some issues, but I think that he's done a fine job for Maryland. He LOATHES TFG, and makes no secret of it. He's a cancer survivor, so COVID was personal for him. He stood up for science when all of the other Republican governors were touting "freedumb". Yes, he has moved to the right lately because he's running for President. However, I don't think it's going to work, because he's not in the crazy crowd. He'll probably get some Never Trumper votes, but won't get the nomination.

[BumRushDaShow]

59. Locally here in Philly - our (now former)

Republican City Commissioner (he is now heading up the almost 120 year old local non-profit "Committee of 70" that monitored the corruption here in the city over those years and that also monitors elections, all as a public service).

https://seventy.org/

During the 2020 election fiasco, he was the bulwark who didn't shy away from taking on the loons of his own party who just attacked relentlessly, standing in solidarity with the 2 Democratic City Commissioners - Lisa Deeley and Omar Sabir.

Link to tweet

Al Schmidt
@Commish_Schmidt
Yesterday, the Philadelphia County Board of Elections completed the Computation of the final results from #Election2020. A record total of 749,317 ballots were cast. In just a few days, the official Certification of the 2020 Presidential Election will take place.
Image
5:42 PM · Nov 18, 2020

Link to tweet

Al Schmidt
@Commish_Schmidt
We just certified the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. Despite all the meritless litigation and misinformation targeting our electoral system, I'm proud that the birthplace of our Republic held the most transparent and secure election in the history of Philadelphia.
7:02 PM · Nov 23, 2020

And he had some choice tweets as well -

Link to tweet

Al Schmidt
@Commish_Schmidt
Fellow Republicans: You can’t coddle Confederates and also claim the Republic.
Jenna Ellis
@JennaEllisEsq
Mayor @RudyGiuliani just started playing the Battle Hymn of the Republic on Spotify our way back.

🔥🔥🔥
8:24 PM · Nov 27, 2020

He literally received death threats during and after the election.

Link to tweet

Al Schmidt
@Commish_Schmidt
While I’m frustrated that nobody has been held accountable for sending death threats to my family or my staff, I’m grateful to @PhillyPolice and @PhilaSheriff for protecting us while we were at @PAConvention counting our voters’ votes in General 2020.
Reuters
@Reuters
Campaign of fear: Law enforcement has taken little action as election officials face a wave of threats and menacing messages from backers of Donald Trump. @Reuters tracked down and interviewed nine of the harassers. Most were unrepentant https://reut.rs/3ov941l 1/7
Embedded video
1:32 PM · Nov 9, 2021

The other "local" one would be Arlen Specter, who having started his political career as a Democrat here in Philly in the mid-60s, and switching parties when he didn't get the city's Democratic committee backing to run for D.A., ended up winning as a Republican, and then later went on to get elected to the Senate for a 30-year career as a GOP Senator. But during his final year before he was up for re-election (2009), he switched parties again back to Democratic, which, along with Al Franken's final certification and swearing-in, helped Democrats reach the 60 vote threshold to get the first part of the ACA over the finish line. He eventually lost the primary in 2010 to Joe Sestak, who in turn lost that seat to teabagger Toomey.

For the current, I would give Adam Kinzinger a nod and maybe sortof Liz Cheney, although I don't know how "reformed" she really is... but at the moment, she has been helpful.

[mvd]

60. That's a hard one

I don’t think I truly respect any of them. Even “moderates” have policies that would do harm to the country. Some of them are just better than the many beyond horrible ones.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

61. Nice question

For me, I know that I'll disagree with virtually all Republicans on most issues. So to me the question becomes-- would it be good if every Republican were like this particular one?

For me, some nationally known Republicans that pass that test are (in no particular order)...

John McCain
George H.W. Bush
Mitt Romney
Dwight Eisenhower
Colin Powell
Bob Dole

People like Collins have more palatable positions, but I can't quite get a pin on their integrity.

So basically I guess the GOP went off the rails around 2000 or so, and has gotten worse and worse ever since.

[Marthe48]

63. President Eisenhower

R's in office before the likes of roger stone started their filthy stealth destruction of the U.S.

[MsLeopard]

66. Agree

The last legitimately elected R president.

[ChazII]

64. Barry Goldwater

for telling Nixon to resign.

[Coventina]

65. Abraham Lincoln. n/t

[betsuni]

68. I still feel a little guilty for thinking this was hilarious:

[smirkymonkey]

69. Don't feel guilty. It is hilarious!

The Onion has such great videos.

[smirkymonkey]

70. Don't feel guilty. It is hilarious!

The Onion has such great videos.

[Tickle]

71. Nixon

lol I’m kidding. Working third shift and I have 1 more hour to go but I’m a little punch drunk