Posted on 11/14/2012 1:22:44 PM PST by jazusamo
The most successful Republican presidential candidate of the past half century— Ronald Reagan, who was elected and reelected with landslide victories— bore little resemblance to the moderate candidates that Republican conventional wisdom depicts as the key to victory, even though most of these moderate candidates have in fact gone down to defeat.
One of the biggest differences between Reagan and these latter-day losers was that Reagan paid great attention to explaining his policies and values. He was called "the great communicator," but much more than a gift for words was involved. The issues that defined Reagan's vision were things he had thought about, written about and debated for years before he reached the White House.
Reagan was like a veteran quarterback who comes up to the line of scrimmage, takes a glance at how the other team is deployed against him, and knows automatically what he needs to do. There is not enough time to figure it out from scratch, while waiting for the ball to be snapped. You have to have figured out such things long before the game began, and now just need to execute.
Very few Republican candidates for any office today show any sign of such in-depth preparation on issues. Mitt Romney, for example, inadvertently showed his lack of preparation when he indicated that he was in favor of indexing the minimum wage rate, so that it would rise automatically with inflation.
That sounds fine. But the cold fact is that minimum wage laws create massive unemployment among black teenagers. Conversely, one of the lowest rates of unemployment among black teenagers occurred in the 1940s, when inflation virtually repealed the minimum wage law passed in 1938, since even unskilled labor was paid more in inflated dollars than the minimum wage law required.
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Reagan was an actor.
His face was known, with some fondness, and he had trained to play a part. Being an actor means being able to pull your audience into the story, no matter what the script.
Most politicians are not actors. They don’t have that skill set.
In other words, it was the acting, not just ideas, that won.
GOP: a stick in the mud.
That’s true. I do think the electorate has been dumbed down even since Reagan’s day, however, so this means that more explanation is required and it’s not possible to simply refer to things, even basic things, such as the First Amendment or states’ rights, and assume that people have any idea what you’re talking about.
But most of all, they need a real conservative. Reagan was, Romney wasn’t, and that’s why he really couldn’t get the message out. No passion, no thought; conservatism can’t be reduced to simply thinking about the way it is easiest for you personally to make a buck, which was how Romney made it sound.
Please...someone in power, listen to this man!
One of the complaints most of us make about Republican candidates is, “They just don’t get it!” on topics such as the minimum wage, illegal immigration, energy, gun rights, and “global warming.”
As Dr. Sowell points out, there is plenty of good material, accessible to a general reader, available for study. (Even if the reader limited himself to Dr. Sowell’s oeuvre, he’d get an outstanding education!)
Republican candidates are not going to succeed if they don’t believe in Constitutional and free-market principles, and if they’re not able to explain why things turn out better for the citizens when these principles are followed.
Ping
Yup. Pappy Bush (CINO) lost re-election. Dole (CINO) lost. McCain (CINO) lost. Romney (CINO) lost.
Anyone incapable of learning from the examples proffered, above, is too damned stupid to be farting and wheezing in front of genuine conservatives, re: How To Win Elections.
Period. End of sentence. End of paragraph.
Your remark about Repub candidates believing in Constitutional and free-market principles is dead on the mark.
BTTT
The MSM will never tell the truth about Democrats, or Republicans.
Reagan wasn't afraid to go straight the people with his message. That he actually believed what he was saying made the message that much more powerful.
Elephants may never forget, but they don't seem to learn much either.
Gerald Ford - RINO
Ronald Reagan - Conservative
George H. W. Bush - RINO who rode Reagan's coat-tails to one term
Bob Dole - RINO
George W. Bush - Well-camouflaged RINO who lucked out
John McCain - RINO
Mitt Romney - RINO
He is copying me now. I call them losers. HA-HA
Exactly my take too. I have posted this many times.
Romney was very uninspiring and was so play-dough that O could mold him into the image of a monster. Exactly what O did.
SOWELL/WILLIAMS 2016
If you really believe in Constitutional liberty, you don’t hedge or condition or apologize or compromise. You don’t have to backtrack or mumble about “context” or “nuance.”
At this point in history, an honest candidate at the national level would have to be channeling Mark Steyn and saying, “We’re screwed, folks,” because the spending/debt bubble is going to go Kaboom ... maybe not tomorrow, but not in the long run (when we’re all dead) either.
At the county level, an honest candidate would have to take on the school board and talk about cutting county/district budget items like a person going through his own budget after a layoff. Does any of them do this? Nope. Job One is making sure every government employee keeps her job, forever.
That’s so much bullshit.
That’s too simplistic. I suggest you read up on Reagan’s bio, espeically his early days working for GE.
Love it.
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