2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy haven't repugs nominated a real lunatic right-winger for president?
I mean, a knuckle-dragging, drooling, eyes rolling around in his head, psycho? This idea of going with a 'moderate' and forcing him to the right for the whole election period is silly. Can't have it both ways. Just get it over with and stop playing pretend. Righties WANT a radical president.
You could see in McCain's face he was really uncomfortable with having Palin forced on him. He was not ok with the crazies trying to turn him into Glenn Beck. His jaw tightened the first time Palin joined him onstage and never unclenched. He never talked about the election afterward, he would just scowl and make a joke when asked about it.
Romney is uncomfortable in his own skin, and he's inept to boot. Unlike McCain, he has no moral compass. He's just really lousy at being a politician.
McCain got to a point where he'd had enough when the older lady (I use the term loosely) took a microphone and said "I don't trust Obama. He's, you know, Arab." McCain summoned the last bit of dignity he had left, grabbed the mic from her and said "NO". That's when I feel he lost the base.
Romney's already lost the base. His campaign is flailing around trying to find ANYONE to vote for him. In a fair fight, he loses. Bad. This is why I think the PACs will go increasingly, horribly negative. It's all they have. That, and voter suppression.
If we're able to contain the voter suppression, Obama wins in a landslide and a bunch of rich, white guys just pissed away the gdp of a third-world country.
LonePirate
(13,424 posts)russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)"lyin johnny's" dignity, as you call it was a bullshit pr stunt.
louis-t
(23,295 posts)You never heard McCain say "DEATH PANELS" or "HE WANTS TO KILL YER GRAMMA". McCain lies as much as most politicians, but there was always a limit how far he would go. I disagree with your assessment of his "pr stunt". What would he gain from it? He was stuck. He had to respond. And it WAS the last bit of dignity he had. Haven't seen any since.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)microphone" and palin's "can I call you Joe".
Laurian
(2,593 posts)They cannot win with a wingnut who will not appeal to moderate swing voters and a more moderate candidate cannot hold the base. Mitt's trying to be both and it's not working. Another cliche that comes to mind is "you reap what you sow".
riverbendviewgal
(4,253 posts)who will rubber stamp their laws and do what they command.
MyshkinCommaPrince
(611 posts)^ This.
Bonhomme Richard
(9,000 posts)real agenda. Tea baggers are loose cannons as are most true believers.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)AlinPA
(15,071 posts)The longer he is in this race the more extreme he will become. By Labor Day he will be a screaming birther and full throated teabgging racist.
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)The party regulars have been able to hold on by hook or by crook through the 2008 and 2012 primary season. If Romney loses this time the claim will be, "we tried running a liberal in 2008 and 2016 and see what happened!"
shanen
(349 posts)Actually, Goldwater was pretty smart and overall probably had more good positions on some issues than Romney. However, Goldwater was clearly far to the right side and was successfully portrayed as even farther to the right.
The amusing part is that most of Goldwater's positions would now be regarded as centrist. The political scale has been broken and decalibrated.
Overall this is why I don't understand why President Obama doesn't go after the neo-GOP extremists to drag Romney to their defense. It's been discussed several times in the cost-effective ad thread...
Amonester
(11,541 posts)The next winning chess move(s) are almost predictable at this point!