Posted on 11/24/2011 8:28:09 PM PST by rocky88
"In short, the electoral experience of the last 50 years does nothing to undermine the common-sense notion that most political battles are won by seizing and holding the ideological center. In the last two presidential elections, more than 44% of voters described themselves as "moderate," and no conservative candidate could possibly prevail without coming close to winning half of them (as George W. Bush did in his re-election).
The notion that ideologically pure conservative candidates can win by disregarding centrists and magically producing previously undiscovered legions of true-believer voters remains a fantasy. It is not a strategy. At the moment, it is easy to imagine Mitt Romney appealing to many citizens who would never consider Rick Perry or Herman Cain. It is much harder (if not impossible) to describe the sort of voter—Republican, Democrat or independent—who would refuse to support Mr. Romney (over Barack Obama!) but would somehow eagerly back Messrs. Perry, Cain or Gingrich, let alone Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul.
Conservatives, as well as their moderate and progressive neighbors, may have plenty of reasons to oppose Mitt Romney in favor of some rival candidate. Electability can't reasonably count as one of them."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Unless the country is full of crooks and lowlifes.
I once read a treatise on the subject of champagne, in which the author, a wine expert, opined that "people talk dry but drink sweet." It's the same thing here. No one wants to identify himself as extreme, which is how conservatism is often perceived. Yet the sentiments of most voters run from center-right to right. It's their sentiments, not their self-identification that rule the day in politics.
Dole and McCain ran as moderates, they lost, badly.
Michael Medved -- The notion that ideologically pure conservative candidates can win by disregarding centrists and magically producing previously undiscovered legions of true-believer voters remains a fantasy. It is not a strategy.
I’d like to have faith that if Romney is our candidate, that we would all line up behind him and give 100% of our efforts to elect him. He is not my favorite candidate, but another term of Obama will completely destroy what is left of this country. In the long run, we should all be concerned with defeating Obama and nothing less. My vote is a vote against Obama on Election Day 2012...no matter who our candidate is - what say you?
Thing is, Romney isn’t “moderate”. He is well left of center and likely willing to go even further.
Romney is Obaminist light.
Possibly. But who would you rather have as president if it came down to a choice? You may not crawl across broken glass to ‘vote for Romney’ but would you do that crawl to ‘defeat Obama?’
I would hate to see Obama win another four years, but I cannot vote for anyone who is pro-abortion. When you add in his stance on gun control, I just can’t do it. I’ll vote third party before I vote for him.
“Reagan and Bush ran as Conservatives. They won.”
Yes, and thank God for that. However, the media wasn’t back then what it is today. I don’t believe either Reagan or Bush would have won as conservatives with cable news and the 24-hour news cycle. We all know what the media does to conservatives. It’s a different time now.
You are admitting defeat and surrendering before the battle is over.
With your approach we may as well never bother to suggest any conservative candidates, just concede the whole mess to the RINOs.
Take nothing he says seriously.
NEVER
Why are you pushing him?
Are you Mormon?
In 1960, Richard Nixon ran as a moderate, picking a liberal for his running mate and giving conservative Republicans the snub. He lost.
In 1968, Nixon ran as a conservative, appealing to the “forgotten American”—and won.
No, not admitting defeat. It’s too early for that. I am hopeful that the good people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina will do us proud and pick Newt. However, in the event that doesn’t happen, I will throw my support behind Mitt 100%. Another 4 years of Obama and we are done as a country. I am surprised at the number of people on FR that are willing to just hand it to Obama (again) if the best conservatives don’t get the nod. Most Americans aren’t like us discussing this at midnight, or paying close enough attention to multiple media sources to learn about conservative candidates - instead, 80% of them are still getting their news from the MSM. Sure, we know who’s best for the GOP and the country but you can never underestimate the laziness of the general public that still gets their soundbites from MSNBC. It just shocks me that a lot of people here will just take their ball and go home if they don’t get their way, instead of rallying AGAINST Obama.
I seem to recall it was worse.
Holding the ideological center? You mean, like Obama? Whew, good thing we know he could never win since he is so far from the center.
So, now I don’t have to hear any more crap about supporting the leftist Mittens Romney because we don’t want to see the more leftist Hussein Obama get elected — because the one closer to the ideological center will win. Michael Medved said so, so it must be true.
Hey, RINOS — don’t tell me to settle for the lesser of two evils. I won’t settle for evil. Evil is bad, there is not “lesser” bad, it is just bad.
No way, guys. You want to cling to power and fear having to share that power with the people? Well, I cling to my God, guns, country, and family — to the Constitution, not to the Republican party, and never to Romney.
No, I am not Mormon.
I found the Medved article online and it spurred me to do a little digging here on FR to see who would truly stick with the party to defeat Obama if the candidate were Romney.
So far, it’s disappointing. I see a lot of people putting their own ‘feelings’ ahead of what’s good for the country - a massive Obama defeat.
And yes, I like to ruffle feathers. Must be all the turkey today...
Michael Medved overlooks the fact 40% of voters in this country are conservative. Fewer than 20% are self described liberals. The 40% of center go with whom is the candidate who promises greater freedom and prosperity. These are pragmatic pocketbook voters. What hurt Republicans in 2008 was not only a bad economy but also their reputation of spending like there is no tomorrow. Barack Obama ran as the more conservative candidate. He promised to cut spending and to reduce taxes. That’s how he won a big victory. When he governed as a liberal, the country rejected him and his big government agenda. The American people have a decided preference. Which Medved conveniently ignores and it won’t be any different in 2012.
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