I want to hear more from Pence and Ryan, and some really smart guys JS. I am tired of drones! Olympia Snowe is nice, but her problem is that she is even more liberal than I am (aka totally un-nominatable) , and I don't think she is a genius. Lugar is a fossil, and hardly an articulate speaker really, Gregg almost there in the fossil camp (but I love the man), and the rest of your list are hardly mental giants. Crist is pleasant enough, but I can tell he won't live past about 65.
You're talking about future Presidents and yes, I agree. Part of the problem with the younger Republicans is that they are so damn socially conservative. Social conservatism tends to attract religious extremists. And religious extremism is rarely rooted in academia or intellectualism. So a lot of the younger ones with the potential for success don't seem particularly bright. (Though, like The Decider, they may well be very astute in terms of winning elections.) But have hope, my friend. I can't imagine a party that produced some real giants in the past won't produce more.
Pence is interesting. I live, literally, a quarter mile from the part of his district that juts up into Allen County. He is easily smarter (and nicer) than my Congressman...Mark Souder. But both are what you would call, "nutters" on the social issues. The hope is that he can maintain those convictions without going moonbat on us. We don't know which direction Huckabee would have gone. But on economic issues, watch Pence. He might have been the biggest Republican dog in the fight against the bailout. And he made some really salient points...politely. I was impressed.
(I still supported the bailout -- kicking and screaming -- for reasons we discussed elsewhere.)
