Posted on 08/21/2011 4:18:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Perry and Romney — brash populist versus starchy elite — illustrate a perpetual Republican cultural gap that may define the GOP presidential contest.
....The cultural differences, more notable for the scarcity of policy distinctions among the Republican candidates, mirror divisions within the GOP electorate and even its dominant conservatives. On one side are the hard-liners, many of them religious, who embrace the "tea party" movement's hostility to Washington and are more likely to lack college educations. On the other are the more secular and moderate, open to government action to protect the environment and regulate business and more likely to have attended college.....
In past nominating contests, electability was a chief argument on the part of establishment candidates like Romney. In the current tea-party-influenced GOP, electability means different things to different voters. "People are enthusiastic about saying, 'Let's nominate the person who's closest to our values,'" Reed said, "'because we're no longer buying into the argument that a centrist-moderate candidate is, ipso facto, more viable.'"
The results could complicate the ultimate Republican effort in 2012 to unseat Obama. Perry would be "culturally lacking" in general-election appeal, predicted David Hill, a Republican pollster in Texas and a critic of Perry. His image as "a walking, talking symbol of Texana," Hill said, is not "a salable commodity."
That sale would be particularly hard among independent suburban women and other moderates in states outside the South and Southwest.
"I don't think the women in the Midwest, women in the West, necessarily bring to the election decision a favorable attitude toward Texas men," Hill said. "I don't think a lot of them are saying, 'I hope a rancher comes into my life.'"
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
....NOT Perry's image (policy ideas and polling numbers)....(how many times have you seen Perry in a cowboy hat?)
....going up against Obama's image (record and polling numbers)
......so they can win 4 more years and complete the destruction of the United States of America.
On the other are the more secular and moderate, open to government action to protect the environment and regulate business and more likely to have attended college.
Most of us know Romney's the establishment's pick. He's also the media's pick.
Two RINOs are hardly a “divide”.
On many issues, RomneyCARE and PerryCARE,
they are too close.
And the toughest question of the day:
Which of his two RINOs will Karl Rove choose?
I have never seen anything in Mitt Romney that would make me want to vote for him for POTUS.
****...the more secular and moderate, open to government action to protect the environment and regulate business and more likely to have attended college.....***
Where they have been brainwashed by the Marxist, progressive, socialist ‘educators’ aka ‘indoctrinators’.
If you love America - don’t let your kids become college clowns.........let them become cowboys!!!!
What this piece means is the Republicans are twice as good and twice as deep as the democrats.
The democrat divide is only Messiah deep and there is no good at all.
That’s good “bert”
I wish I’d put it so well!
Now the silent majority needs to rise up and prove it.
“Rick Perry and Mitt Romney showcase a Republican divide”
And communism solidly unites the democrats.
From the article
“The cultural differences, more notable for the scarcity of policy distinctions among the Republican candidates, mirror divisions within the GOP electorate and even its dominant conservatives. On one side are the hard-liners, many of them religious, who embrace the “tea party” movement’s hostility to Washington and are more likely to lack college educations. On the other are the more secular and moderate, open to government action to protect the environment and regulate business and more likely to have attended college.”
This has to be one of the laziest paragraphs I’ve ever read. If our author is quoting a poll he should cite it, if he’s actually trying to think and write he needs another 3 drafts. Otherwise just say the divide is between the neanderthals on the right and the smart people, almost like liberals, in the middle.
But it is interesting, last week Bachamnn was the religious maniac, this week it’s Perry. I think their heads will explode if Palin gets in.
Then again, some of our own heads might explode at that point!
I think the Romney bike ride idea is moronic. That is pure symbolism over substance. Don’t they get it? We’re sick of that stuff.
I’m not convinced yet. Perry still seems to be more of a crony capitalist than a conservative. Bush III would be almost as damaging to the country as Obama round 2.
Not quite the truth. It's swing voters we need to appeal to. This vastly huge group of Americans, largely apolitical, who vote because they feel it's their civic duty to do. They don't have deeply held political beliefs and don't really care to form any. When they step into the voting booth, they vote for the candidate they'd most like to have a beer with, the candidate they'd most like to have for a neighbor. For this group of voters, issues take a back seat to charisma and likability. This is the group of voters who decide elections. Every single time.
Romney, the Nelson Rockefeller of our time.
I know you support the idea of a Sarah Palin primary run "Diogenesis" but the idea of Karl Rove anointing Rick Perry is laugable (even to you).
Just the other day, Rove was touting the likely entry of Palin into the race. Surely Rove knows the potential of that splitting the conservative vote and launching his man Romney to the top of the ticket.
” open to government action to protect the environment and regulate business and more likely to have attended college.”
Almost makes me proud I only completed the eighth grade and avoided becoming an educated idiot such as they.
“On one side are the hard-liners, many of them religious, who embrace the “tea party” movement’s hostility to Washington and are more likely to lack college educations. On the other are the more secular and moderate, open to government action to protect the environment and regulate business and more likely to have attended college...”
Ah, smell the condescension of the MSM, everybody.
BTW, I’m willing to be the average Tea Partier is better informed about the realities of the day than Mr. West and most of his fellow hacks, er, I mean “writers.”
Great graphic!!
“That sale would be particularly hard among independent suburban women and other moderates in states outside the South and Southwest.”
Um.......That’s me... I’m an independent woman who lives in the suburbs in the very blue state of Massachusetts and Perry is my first choice.
So funny to watch the talking heads try and put us all in buckets. I don’t understand why the think someone as brash as Perry wouldn’t appeal to us northern women folk but Romney would. All we see in politics are the elites who think they know what’s best for us. I work with a lot of elites and I find they are usually the ones to screw things up at work. I think the biggest problems with elites is that they are strong on theory but weak on experience. They spend all of their time attending lectures, reading the NY times and hanging out with the champagne and art museum crowd that they become out of touch with the average American.
They just don’t get it.
Bingo! That is why millions who voted for Reagan also voted for Obama. You cannot get two candidates with more strikingly different political views.
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