GOP race

[kootenay]

A question about the race that I would love to know the answer to. Why do the GOP candidates beat the crap out of each other with negative ads? It seems to me counterproductive to getting a GOP candidate elected.

[killarney_sailor]

It is a odd, but I think it is unavoidable at least in the rabid political climate of the Republican Party.. What you need to do in the primary is counter-productive to what you need to do in the general election.

I think it is reasonable to assume that Romney will win the nomination, but he will start with two serious sets of baggage. As you say his own party members have been savaging him for months. Also, he has had to make conservative commitments that I don't think he really believes in. When he faces Obama does he swing back to the middle where the votes are and where he is likely more comfortable ideologically and thereby piss off his core supporters or stay quite far right where he had to be to get the nomination and reduce his chances for election. 'Tis a problem methinks.

[WanderingStar]

And it happens on both sides. It's the nature of the business. I do think they could all find a way to set themselves apart without demeaning anyone else, but that's unlikely.

[poopdeckpappy]

Yeah, remember Hilary and Obama ? and she became SoS

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

I think it is reasonable to assume that Romney will win the nomination, but he will start with two serious sets of baggage. As you say his own party members have been savaging him for months. Also, he has had to make conservative commitments that I don't think he really believes in. When he faces Obama does he swing back to the middle where the votes are and where he is likely more comfortable ideologically and thereby piss off his core supporters or stay quite far right where he had to be to get the nomination and reduce his chances for election. 'Tis a problem methinks.

He will move towards the center - it's the only way he has a chance of winning the election. The WRW that he has to kowtow to during the primaries will not get him elected and losing them will not keep him from being elected. Despite their noise and disproportionate influence at this point, they are really just a radical fringe of an increasingly radical party.

[RobGallagher]

As an independent; if he had stuck to his compassionate conservative values in the primaries, I might trust him more.

He WAS the only electable republican.

Independents probably won't trust him now.

[Tempest]

I see what Killarney is saying. I'm not sure how much Romney can backtrack on, without having to register as a democrat.

Compared to his competition Romney is already in " The middle". I think I've seen every debate to this point..( I need a life) and, for the most part, imho, he's been handled with kid gloves by the media, and his opponents alike. If anything, his opponents have either been self-imploding like Cain and Perry and to a large extent Gingrich or going after each other like Paul and Santorum and until tecently Bachman. Romney has escaped any serious threats to this point and has done so without having to do much more than repeat his " Talking points" of
" I know how the economy works" " I was a governor" " I ran a business" I ran the olympics" From what I have seen he's already a successful politician having mastered the art of speaking without saying much of anything.

To this point he's gone up against some poorly funded and loosely organized campaigns.
( Ron Paul's probably had the most organized effort). It will be interesting to see, if he's nominated, how he'll hold up against a billion dollar campaign and some "chicago style" politics.

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by Tempest

going after each other like Paul and Santorum and until tecently Bachman.

Of ALL the questions about the GOP race, the one I am most puzzled by is how Santorum has lasted this long. Even in the context of the loony WRW's of the GOP he's a loon. He's AT LEAST as crazy stupid as Bachmann and Palin - is he still in it because he's male?

Everything I've heard from him on any sort of philosophical level tells me he'd be right at home in the Taliban or Iran or Saudi Arabia. I haven't heard him come right out in favour of stoning adulterers but much of what he supports is only one degree off that level of backwardness.

What's up with his support?

[WanderingStar]

I don't know, maybe after 3 years of Bam, they are ready someone who believes what he says.

[knothead]

If Paul is nominated, I will vote for him. If he isn't, I probably won't vote at all.
Obama is no worse that the rest of the republican offerings.
Paul, while perhaps a bit radical, is, I believe, at least a man of conviction. The rest are just politicians.