Quote:
Originally Posted by Orruar
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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.
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The core of our disagreement is apparently over how many hardcore fiscal conservatives in swing states have grown so disencouraged that they will not vote. That is an extreme minority in my opinion. Implicit in your argument is the belief that, by getting those conservatives to the polls, and despite any subsequent loss in moderates, a Republican candidate would be able to overcome blowouts amongst Latinos, blacks, and gays. That simply doesn't work anymore. The numbers bear it out.
Unless you expect a Republican candidate to carry 65-70% of the white vote by moving even further right, you're fighting a losing battle. And winning that kind of majority with white people just doesn't happen.
I also disagree that Romney was merely attracting anti-Obama voters. He did extremely well with whites and independents. If you're beginning with a premise of getting thrashed amongst Latinos and blacks, you can't do much better than Romney did.