Quote:
Originally Posted by Daldolma
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I disagree that Ron Paul would've been a net positive with independents as compared to Romney, but even granting that point, you're continuing to work from a starting point of ceding Latinos, blacks, and gays. You cannot do that and win. The country's electorate has changed. It's not 1950. If you want to take Louisiana and Alabama, you can fight for the independent vote and ignore minorities. If you want to win Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia -- the states that actually decide the election -- you MUST compete in minority demos.
I believe that you know a lot of people that are sick of the Republican party running moderates. Rush was complaining about it just the other day. But if you think the Republicans stand to gain more than they lose by shifting even further right, particularly in the states that matter, I think you're kidding yourself. The Republican party is in bad shape and it's only going to get worse. Young people are overwhelmingly Democrat and minority populations are growing by vast margins.
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Disagree. There are a huge number of people on the right that believe in economic liberty, and as a candidate moves more and more towards the center, it becomes harder to believe that candidate when they say they'll govern under economic liberty. Romney lost a lot of votes because people realized he'd govern 80% as a democrat and only throw a few bones to those who believe in liberty. As a Republican moves farther to the left, the contradictions become more and more obvious, and fewer and fewer from the right will vote for them. The general election this year was basically like another democratic primary. Romney may have talked about cutting spending and balancing the budget, but the only program he ever specifically mentioned in regards to cutting was PBS. Hell, his running mate was seen as this extreme conservative, while his budget plan only cut the rate of growth of programs, without cutting any actual spending. With this kind of team, they really only picked up the anti-Obama vote, which is not enough to win.