The 1864 RAT nominee reminds me a lot of their 2004 nominee. In both cases, they tried to run on an anti-war platform and blast the Republican president as a warmonger who is destroying civil liberties, then they nominated a "war hero" who promised he'd do a better job fighting that war. So did they want a truce or did they want to double down our the U.S. effort? Who knows.
Tell the base one thing and the swing voters another.