—Moreover, he is just the kind of candidate that the Republican establishment has preferred for years: a nice, bland, moderate who offends nobody. —
I started saying, with the 2000 election that politicians are like beer: Really good beer is loved by those who appreciate it, but because it will have a strong flavor, it is not appreciated by “the masses”. That’s why you sell more Coors or Bud than Newcastle Nut Brown Ale, Alaskan Amber, or BBC Star Stout, or Goose Island, or Mac & Jack.
So every four years we get to choose between Bud and Coors for the “best” beer, because they are bland enough to not offend too many people. Meanwhile, the Mac & Jack, Alaskan Amber, etc. are loved by their followers, while never reaching real market saturation.
Good analogy.
Back in the sixties one beer was the standout favorite at roadside dives in the Carolinas, that beer sold more than all the other brands put together, in some places maybe two or three times as much as all the others together, second place was probably Budweiser and the others were “fringe candidates”. That beer was Pabst Blue Ribbon which is little known today. Playboy magazine did an article on American beers one year way back then and they selected as the best American made beer...Pabst Blue Ribbon. Did the rednecks have good taste in beer or did the Playboy judges pick the big seller? Maybe they were paid to endorse it?
I know a young man who thinks Icehouse is great beer and Budweiser is awful. I don’t get it, I think it is just considered “cool” now to knock Budweiser, the last time I checked Budweiser was something like the second most valuable brand name in the whole world. O course I pretty much quit drinking beer twenty years or so back, has something happened to Budweiser, is it different now?