Head Strong: Ignoring suburbs doomed the GOP To win Pa., it must appeal to moderates.

Philly.com ^ | November 9, 2008 | Michael Smerconish

[gusopol3]

Head Strong: Ignoring suburbs doomed the GOP To win Pa., it must appeal to moderates. By Michael Smerconish - Inquirer

Inquirer Currents Columnist

If retail politicking alone determined the election outcome in Pennsylvania, McCain-Palin would have won in a landslide. Speaking on MSNBC election night, Gov. Rendell joked that the GOP ticket had spent so much time in the state that he was thinking of assessing them with a state income tax.

[gusopol3]

This perspective from somebody who thinks he should be helping to shape the GOP. He's right about one thing, McCain threw a lot of money down a rat hole in PA.

[Spktyr]

Hm, wasn’t it the moderates who managed, ran, and planned the entire 08 presidential campaign, promising they could deliver the centrists and independents?

How’d that work out again?

****

Before you try to appeal to indies and the moderates, first you MUST get the support of the base. Failure to do so is like building a house without a foundation - it doesn’t stay standing for long.

[rodguy911]

McCain was doomed from the start you can not be all things to all people. That's why when true conservatives use conservatism to run on they win nearly every time. That's also why Sarah will win in 2012. She is a conservative,not a stinking RINO!

[pnh102]

The Philadelphia suburbs have become infested with the same ultra-liberal human waste that doomed Philadelphia. The same has become true for most other cities.

However, I do agree that the GOP should not have bothered wasting a single penny campaigning anywhere in the northeast (Maryland on up) and instead focused more on Ohio and Florida instead.

[beagleone]

That’s true but if his message wasn’t working in PA, it wasn’t working anywhere. It was an indication of a failed message.

[Erik Latranyi]

There are many who would love to move the GOP to the left. Deep down, these people actually liked what Bush and the GOP did over the last 8 years, they were just upset these people had an ‘R’ after their name.

Once the GOP returns to its conservative roots and proves it can lead by cutting the size of gov’t, it will be a majority party again.

After all, Obama had to run on tax cuts and fiscal responsibility in order to get elected....just like Clinton did.

Conservatism has won the argument. We just can’t seem to get it implemented due to softees in our party.

[NTHockey]

Can we please ignore the tripe this turncaot has to peddle? Nobody is interested in his egotistical analysis of Republicans. The fact is, outside of Gov. Sarah Palin, there was no Conservative voice. McCain did not want Conservatives, and that’s exactly what he got.

This guy is no more qualified to comment on the Republican Party than a Mohammedan critiquing the Bible.

[gusopol3]

Money and time spent in states where there were Republican Senate seats in jeopardy might have at least been of some benefit, rather than PA. A huuuuge miscalculation.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

I do not plan to be taking any advice from an Obamatron like Smerconish.

[beagleone]

In a way, McCain's thinking was right. If he wins PA, then he probably doesn't have to worry about the rest of the country, because it would mean that his message was resonating with the voters.

PA was a battleground state he had to win if he was going to win it. But he wasn't gonna win it anywhere.

I find it interesting that Oklahoma and Tennessee voted Redder than ever in the midst of the loss. I'm thinking that those voters, Dem. and Rep., REALLY loved Sarah Palin. It sure wasn't McCain which got them to vote against the current.

[gusopol3]

This guy is no more qualified to comment on the Republican Party than a Mohammedan critiquing the Bible

I agree with you, his support of Obama has been greatly to the benefit of Bill Bennett who competes in the Philly market (not sure but I thought I heard a woman introduce herself as Smerconish's mom call in to Bennett). also note that he's still trying to sell tickets to his up-coming Book Club that usually sell out on the first day, it seems.

[Mobile Vulgus]

Smerconjob is neither a Republican, nor a moderate, nor an Obama man (even though he voted for The One).

Smerconjob is an opportunist with no principles whatsoever.

And, since he is a man without honor or principle, why should we take his “advice”?

[wita]

...and I think you have to have a message, M A V R I C K isn’t it. He was all over the same map as Mr Obama with somewhat less ability to energize anyone due to the age difference. It was obvious early on, that there wasn’t much there to recommend him as a Republican Candidate. He just happened to be a nominee of the party, the msm or whomever. There was no one to rally around until Sarah Barracuda.

What I would like to know, is if he was bitten in any way by the results of his own misguided legislation McCain/Feingold.

[counterpunch]

‘Moderate’ is just another word for self-hating Republican.
What the GOP needs to do is appeal to common sense conservatism again, tending to the business of governing while always remembering that the government that governs least governs best.

Republicans need to return to making courageous stands against the expansion of government, explaining to people why they don’t want government having more control over their lives and their decision, instead of going along with massive expansions just because they think opposing it would be “bad politics.”

[Spktyr]

Remember the RNC claiming that they could do that because they didn’t have enough money?

I wonder why that would be, considering that Republicans typically outraise Democrats by quite a bit.... Could it be that they failed to gain the support of the base by being “Democrat Lite”?

[gusopol3]

in being superficial, maybe he embodies the suburban voter that he speaks of, that the GOP has lost over the last 20 years. These people don’t know how badly the Democrat/ Socialists can hurt them.

[sergeantdave]

We need to run a canadidate that supports global warming wealth confiscation, camapaign finance reform and can reach across the aisle to moderate fascists and Marxists.

Maybe someone like McCain can run.

[igoramus08]

In a way, McCain's thinking was right. If he wins PA, then he probably doesn't have to worry about the rest of the country, because it would mean that his message was resonating with the voters.

It is because he failed to convince voters he would be a better President than Obama. He wasnt very charismatic, the campaign was incompetent, and he didnt act like a leader during the financial crisis. That is why it wasnt even close.

[dirtbiker]

It sure wasn't McCain which got them to vote against the current.

Me neither....

[gusopol3]

is if he was bitten in any way by the results of his own misguided legislation McCain/Feingold.

my guess is that he was helped by it in the primaries, where none of the competitors had a lot of money (except Romney with his own) as I remember it. On the other hand, if there were any provisions in it that limited the Obama money machine, I don't know what they were.