Obama courted his base, over and over again. Rove and the other GOP elites ignored their base, took them for granted and expected them to follow along. After the election, they still didn’t understand what happen. They will repeat this mistake in the election as well, because they already been flouting rinos to test the waters.
The GOP should not have excluded so many conservatives to the convention. I’m no Paul fan but the GOP didn’t do enough to court his people as well.
You are wholly correct.
I’m not making the point Republicans can or should ignore the base. Rather, I am hoping Republicans will see that you make a Republican by relentlessly attacking the Liberal position, and pointing out Liberals are the enemy of the country.
If you drive that point home enough, you strip Liberalism of it’s moderates, and that only helps. Of course, if a candidate attacks Liberalism enough, he will tend to excite the base as well.