I stand by this: Conservatives are a minority in a minority party.
We either win with allies or remain outside looking in.
I don’t believe winning is everything, either. I just believe we fool ourselves when we say we can win by appealing only to ourselves.
A. Do I want to win with a Republican in Name Only? No.
B. Do I want to see a democrat win? Hell no.
C. Do I want to see a Conservative win? Hell yes.
How likely are any of these?
How many people disposed or agreeable to vote for a Republican over a democrat do you think there are? Of those, how many of them are FReepers? What percentage of them are even active in ANY Politics?
Free Republic is an echo chamber. We excel at talking to EACH OTHER.
I talked to people who vote Republican. MOST of them have never heard of Free Republic (I do introduce them to it!)... I’d say the majority don’t even think about politics because they’re too busy working and living life.
I’ve said it again and again... We need our own Network. Not Fair and Balanced like Fox news but partisan and full of fire like... Free Republic.
We’re outclassed each and every day by the LEFT in getting the word out, and getting to people viscerally. Until or unless that changes we will remain a minority in a minority party.
Talks radio does its share (Rush, Beck, Hannity, Levin, Ingraham, etc etc)
Beck is trying an on-line TV The Blaze that has placement on some cable providers. I’d like to see more of Malkin on TV. Maybe that is the future.
I respectfully disagree.
I actually remember Ronald Reagan's successful campaign quite well, without any rose colored glasses. Truth is Reagan didn't run a perfect campaign and made some stupid statements along the way (remember the killer trees?). Yet, he still won in a landslide even against an antagonistic media which did their best to label him a warmonger and a Republican party establishment that actually disliked Conservatives, even back then.
Granted, the media in the late 70's wasn't as committed to their cause as they are today. But they were still bad enough.
At the time I was working on a Democrat campaign as a consultant. I was far less ideologically driven back then, more driven by the money (the Democrats in my area paid a lot more then the Republicans). Still, I remember how surprised I was by the number of folks working on this Democrats' campaign who told me in confidence they had voted for Reagan. The underlying reason seemed to be Reagan was someone of conviction. He conveyed certain values which he wasn't ashamed of or intimidated away from by the media. In other words, even though a number of these Democrat campaign workers disagreed with him on policy, they still voted for him (for the record, so did I). A side note, I remember a now mainly forgotten Carter concession speech occurring at 6 pm west coast time. Carter was a typical Liberal who blamed his own party for his loss and decided to get even by sabotaging elections in numerous locations where the polls were still open.
I've thought a lot about that period of time and have come to believe that the reason Reagan won in such a fashion was that he was seen as a leader, not someone who chased focus group findings or public opinion. He was an unapologetic male candidate. He wasn't one to campaign for the women's vote or the Hispanic vote. Instead, he campaigned to all voters as Americans.
Fast forward to his death in 2004. The outpouring of sympathy from supporters was astounding. This nation was in mourning over a President who was a Conservative. Didn't appear Conservatives were a minority then.
I agree with you about our media today and I wish we had an actual Conservative network. Maybe in time we will. While I concede that Free Republic could be viewed as an echo chamber, I still maintain that the values we hold are the same values held by a majority. It will take the right candidate to tap that support, believing that an unafraid Conservative with half the communication skills that Reagan possessed would be successful in 2016.
In contrast to Reagan, most of the potential candidates for 2016 are laughable. They seemingly are of the same mold as the losing Republican candidates before, faux-Conservatives campaigning for media approval (good luck with that), not campaigning for the approval of the electorate. Such a candidate isn't a leader and given the number of dumb as rock voters, even they know a fraud.
No secret that I'm quite high on Ted Cruz. Thus far, he seems to be the unafraid potential Conservative candidate. Perhaps there will be others.