Romney lost because the current GOP can’t be defended at the ‘Facebook level’. What I mean is that if you argue with the man on the street, in short, bumper sticker level phrases, you’re holding a losing hand. For instance:
“The GOP is the party of endless war.”
“If Obamacare is so bad, then why is Romneycare okay?”
“If spending is bad, why wasn’t it bad when it skyrocketed under Bush?”
“Why does the GOP only want tax breaks and subsidies for big corporations and the rich? Why not for the poor? Don’t they need it more? Why not let the free market be free, like you said works so well?”
“If domestic surveillance under Obama is so bad, why was it okay under Bush?”
“If the GOP is the party of freedom *and* responsibility, then why can’t I smoke weed, but alcohol is legal, when alcohol is objectively more dangerous? “
And so on. The problem is that the people that could be swayed away from the Big Government leviathan of the Democrats can’t be swayed by the GOP, because the GOP is short sighted and hypocritical. It’s afraid to stand up for freedom when freedom needs defending, and it’s ashamed to stand up for conservatism when conservatism needs defending. Including from when these two need to be defended from each other. (Sir, The Patriot Act is on line one.)
Now, we have a semi-rogue version of the Democrats, thanks to Bush, Romney and every other ‘compassionate conservative’, that is basically just Democrat-lite. And people don’t want Democrat-lite. They can get the real thing anytime they want. Would you buy a beer that was 50% watered down? No. That doesn’t please people that want beer, and it doesn’t please people that want water.
Those are all awesome questions. And your “watered down beer” analogy is simply perfect.
Right on the money.
“The problem is that the people that could be swayed away from the Big Government leviathan of the Democrats can’t be swayed by the GOP, because the GOP is short sighted and hypocritical.”
That’s the money quote.
I think a lot of voters asked themselves why if deficits were so bad under Obama they were ok under Bush. Same with spending and just about every other issue.
It’s not just the GOP elites either. I saw Freepers defend things Bush did that were questionable.
Now that the other side is doing pretty much the same borrow and spend, well, it’s the end of this nation and we have to secede and the revolution starts now and all kinds of other over the top rhetoric.
IMHO the moderates and the middle of the road voters are who swing eections. I think when the moderates looked at the GOP the last few years what they’ve seen is bald face hypocrisy.