[sauropod]

Disagree. He certainly has been making fullthroated RINO noises of late.

And why do we want to “attract independents and moderates” anyway? That’s what caused the defeat in the last election.

[cripplecreek]

It’s like watching the same car crash over and over and over again. This car just happens to be brown.

[mnehring]

Blackwell is the only one actually discussing reclaiming the Conservative nature of our party instead of ‘reaching out’.

[dmz]

And why do we want to “attract independents and moderates” anyway? That’s what caused the defeat in the last election.
_______

Attracting independents and moderates caused the defeat in the last election? Doesn’t that sort of defy logic? Attracting additional voters of any ilk increases the vote count.

What am I missing? The GOP attracted moderates and independents and lost. Would that not suggest that the GOP would have lost even bigger without attracting independents and moderates?

The so-called base, by itself, does not command the numbers to win without others joining in. Some of those folks are moderates and independents. Seems counter productive to weed them out.

[Norman Bates]

And why do we want to “attract independents and moderates” anyway?

It's called winning! If we believe conservatism appeals are mainstream, then it stands to reason we need to pull inds and mods in with our message.