Rush At This Very Hour
Peter Robinson ·
March 8, 2012 at 7:13pm
"The longer this goes on, the longer Romney's going to have to sound like a conservative.
"Maybe it'll become a habit."
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Comments:
Dec '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
I am not optomistic.
Dec '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Peter,
Rush is RIGHT. But you knew that.
I am Rush Limbaugh (I was Sparticus the other day).
Regards,
Jim
Feb '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
If it tries to look like a duck, and it tries to quack like a duck, etc...
Mar '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Heh. Love ya Rush.
Jun '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
The way to win the GOP primary is to sound like a conservative.
The way to win the general is to sound like a moderate.
The longer this goes on, the more all our candidates will drop in the polls vs. Obama, and the worse our chances get in November.
Oct '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
(This is the level of discourse Rush expects on Ricochet.)
Mar '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Well, yes, but I would prefer someone who lives and breathes conservatism and is, like, you know, an actual conservative - of those remaining in the race, that would be Mr Santorum.
Oct '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Mitt has lived and governed as a conservative.
Jan '12
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Joseph Stanko: The way to win the GOP primary is to sound like a conservative.
The way to win the general is to sound like a moderate.
The longer this goes on, the more all our candidates will drop in the polls vs. Obama, and the worse our chances get in November. · 36 minutes ago
The play to the base during the primary and run to the middle in the general theory is the conventional wisdom. However, if that was the case, why did Obama win in 2008?
I think the answer doesn't rely too much on policy stances, but on marketing those policy stances. A candidate can have conservative policy positions and market them in a way that moderates will vote for them.
Romney doesn't need to change his policy issues to the right, he needs to market himself better.
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Sean,
I wonder if we can even analyze the 2008 presidential election through that prism. It seems to me that the only people who really focused on the issues that time around were those of us who were part of the irreconcilable right wing. The left was plenty comfortable with what they had and the folks in the middle -- the ones who decide elections -- were so enraptured by the music that they never stopped to listen to the lyrics.
Give Obama this: while he has utterly failed to create a transcendent presidency, he certainly ran a transcendent campaign the first time around. Happily, that option won't be available to him this time.
Sean Clough
The play to the base during the primary and run to the middle in the general theory is the conventional wisdom. However, if that was the case, why did Obama win in 2008?
Jun '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Sean Clough
The play to the base during the primary and run to the middle in the general theory is the conventional wisdom. However, if that was the case, why did Obama win in 2008?
Partly because Obama did a better job of pivoting to the middle after his primary than McCain did. Obama ran as a moderate.
But the other big reason was that Bush's approval ratings were abysmal, the public was sick of the war in Iraq, and the economy had just tanked with the GOP in charge. 2008 was heavily stacked in the Democrat's favor.
Jul '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Oh, don't worry. The second he gets the nomination he will magically transform into a rabid, foam-flecked right-wing zealot who is far too extreme right-wing to be elected.
It's funny how that always seems to happen.
Jun '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Joseph Stanko
Sean Clough
The play to the base during the primary and run to the middle in the general theory is the conventional wisdom. However, if that was the case, why did Obama win in 2008?
Partly because Obama did a better job of pivoting to the middle after his primary than McCain did. Obama ran as a moderate.
But the other big reason was that Bush's approval ratings were abysmal, the public was sick of the war in Iraq, and the economy had just tanked with the GOP in charge. 2008 was heavily stacked in the Democrat's favor. · 11 minutes ago
Don't forget that McCain was seen as soft on illegal immigration-- the main reason Bush had lost support with the base.
Apr '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Joseph Stanko
Sean Clough
The play to the base during the primary and run to the middle in the general theory is the conventional wisdom. However, if that was the case, why did Obama win in 2008?
Partly because Obama did a better job of pivoting to the middle after his primary than McCain did. Obama ran as a moderate.
But the other big reason was that Bush's approval ratings were abysmal, the public was sick of the war in Iraq, and the economy had just tanked with the GOP in charge. 2008 was heavily stacked in the Democrat's favor. · 5 minutes ago
Even in the primaries, on the single major difference between him and Hillary, as described by him and Hillary, he was on the right. Ironically, Obamacare is Hillary's campaign promise, not Obama's. Obama promised to double exports, and to halve the deficit. If Obama had done that, we'd be having to this election pretty much entirely on social issues and scandals. I think a lot of Biden's "clean, articulate" schtick was about his being non-Jesse-Jackson-scary, too. Sharpton's protestation that he washes every day highlighted the meaning.
Apr '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Joseph Stanko: The way to win the GOP primary is to sound like a conservative.
The way to win the general is to sound like a moderate.
The longer this goes on, the more all our candidates will drop in the polls vs. Obama, and the worse our chances get in November. · 1 hour ago
Don't worry too much about Mitt sounding different. His tax reform aside, there's been very new in the last year. Every now and again he has a good speech, or talks to a friendly Tea Party audience and people think they've moved him to do it, but this is a perpetually recurring phenomenon that will last into November. The problem with the primary is having millions of dollars spent on calling him a liar, but happily we've no swing states being poisoned until May. The only harm Santorum can do until then is depress fundraising and cost money. It won't do much good, but it'll give a lot of the conservative commentariat some good times ("if Mitt can't even win Mississippi, he's done for!"), and a chance to work their way through their anger and disappointment.
May '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
I'm wary of any attempts to learn from the 2008 election. Obama was a unique phenomenon then — the first black President. We can debate whether or not that will be a major factor this time around, but it's obvious his skin color and dissatisfaction with President Bush played much stronger roles in that election than the campaigns of either McCain or Obama.
As for Romney, who cares if he is pressured to defend conservative principles he might or might not actually believe? He talks like a manager at a board meeting. Just give voters pillows and bid them good night.
Oct '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
Sounding like a conservative is a nice idea, but never forget that a conservative is one who remembers.
We remember what has worked in the past, therefor we seek to conserve it.
We remember what has not worked in the past, therefor we seek to oppose it.
Most importantly, we remember what politicians have done, and we do not let emotional approval of words get in the way.
Nice that Willard is talking more like a conservative, but to walk like a duck and quack like a duck is a kindergarteners playground game.
He is either a duck, that is a conservative, or he is playing a game. And past performance is all we have to go on.
Santorum is less than ideal, but he is, at least, a duck.
Jun '10
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
I think we sometimes tend to forget that the Democrats are the majority party in this country. They have more voters, and they raise more money. For Republicans to win even 50% of Presidential elections is a major achievement, yet they are 7-4 in recent years.
Apr '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
But have lost the popular vote in four of the last five.
Apr '11
Re: Rush At This Very Hour
What Aaron touches on is actually still in play. It wasn't just Obama's race & Bush fatigue; it was, similarly to now, a very weak, moderate/center-left GOP candidate, with a bone thrown to the base (Sarah) & Obama's marketing machine & branding.
That last part about marketing and branding, coupled with the fact that many who voted for Obama did in fact vote on race, or his candidacy being a chance for folks to be history makers, makes it a truly uphill battle for practically any opponent. Many Obama voters couldn't care less about policy at all.
The GOP, for its part, is practically oblivious, insisting on repeating 2008. In other words, there's still plenty to glean from 2008, not that there's much to be done about the situation at this point.