There is no wisdom associated with “going with a moderate”.
The party went with a moderate in 1976 (Ford) and lost. We went with a moderate in 1988 (Bush 41) who was elected only because of the coattails of the “unelectable right winger Reagan”. He promptly raised taxes and gave us Billy Jeff Clinton for 8 years. (If the party had gone with Jack Kemp, who was the conservative alternative in 1988, he never would have hiked taxes and would have easily been reelected in 1992). But the GOP went with the moderate, because he was “electable”. The polls said so.
Now people are allegedly lining up to vote for Rudy because he is electable. The polls all say so. I doubt if he will win the nomination, but if he does, the GOP will once again deserve the moniker “the Stupid Party” because Rudy will take the party down to a crashing defeat. It is so obvious that I cannot believe there are people who do not see it.
I agree 100 percent with that post. Jaguar may very well be right, however, in that the Sheeple who vote will behave as he describes. In that only I “agree” with him, admittedly a poor word choice, but I’m writing quick. You’re right, though, going with a moderate may be the way it’s going to play out, but it wouldn’t be wise.
“I doubt if he will win the nomination, but if he does, the GOP will once again deserve the moniker “the Stupid Party” because Rudy will take the party down to a crashing defeat. It is so obvious that I cannot believe there are people who do not see it.”
Neither can I.
Correction - Ford didn’t lose to Carter because he was a moderate. He lost MODERATE VOTERS because he pardoned Nixon -plain and simple. And even then he lost by a narrow margin.
George Bush 41 lost because of the downturn in the economy and Ross Perot - not because of his moderate views. He lost moderates in 1992. But he had them in 1988, when he won by a landslide. That’s because compared to Michael Dukakis, 41 looked like a conservative.
Hillary Clinton will make Michael Dukakis look like a conservative, I promise you that. She hasn’t changed an iota since her radical days back in the 1960’s....she’s only repackaged herself to appeal to moderates.
In 2008, the country is going to choose a moderate president.