Quote:
Originally Posted by chumdawg
If McCain is not a good representative of conservatism, what the hell is the Republican Party doing nominating him? Is the party moving away from its conservative views? Or is it just sitting this one out, and McCain is the sacrificial lamb?
If the pundits or the general public had been polled two years ago--or better yet, today--on which public servant, Senator or otherwise, embodied conservatism...who would they choose? What would your list look like, KG? I'm assuming Guiliani wouldn't top the list. I'm assuming Romney would have problems, too. He's pro-choice, right? (So many litmus tests when it comes to earning your "conservative" badge these days.)
The GOP needs to get some help for its schizophrenia. It needs to figure out what its identity is going forward. I can't imagine it is going to help the party much to keep on rolling candidates out there who don't embody conservative views.
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I had a several paragraph reply typed out, and it vanished into thin air.
The gist of my reply was that I don't know what the Republican Party is doing, and I agree with you that the Party is in the midst of an identity crisis. McCain was most likely viewed as a moderate who could appeal to moderate Democrats and independent voters, and the assumption was that the base would vote for McCain rather than the alternative. Of course, the problem with throwing somebody out there that the base isn't fired up about is that you need the base to be enthusiastic if you're going to win the ground game in close elections. Then they chose Palin, who fired up the base, but her selection may well have alienated some of the moderates and independents to whom McCain was supposed to appeal.
These are interesting times. I think conservatism still has a broad appeal, but it needs better messengers.