The last two presidential election cycles were dominated by the "Red vs. Blue" concept - clear, unambiguous polarizations over social issues and foreign policy. Since then, the waters have become much more muddied. Long on talk and short on actual results, the Bush administration has simply not delivered on many promises made to its evangelical and pro-business supporters. This, even with a Republican-dominated Congress and a fairly conservative Supreme Court. Rising oil prices and the falling value of the dollar have only made matters worse.
The sting of broken promises and lukewarm results have caused the "red state" flock that was so tightly bound together only four years ago to scatter like a herd of cats. Democrats haven’t stuck together any better. Ron Paul has become a household name and Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s property tax cuts have received widespread public support in a state that Bush won by only a slim majority eight years previously. Roughly a third of Hillary Clinton’s supporters have moved to support McCain. Much of the conservative base sees McCain as the lesser of two evils, and are only grudgingly considering voting for him as a vote against Obama. That is not the type of party spirit that encourages significant turnout.
Some conservatives are even considering supporting Obama . Not because they necessarily agree with him, but because McCain has attempted to bank largely on the same voters that Bush tapped into previously, with a similar message. Neocons are a dying breed, and it says something about Obama’s magnetically suave appeal that he’s able to steal away the people who were considered to be loyalists.
"The untold story of the Bush administration is the deliberate annihilation of the Reaganite, small-government wing of the Republican Party," said Michael Greve, director of the Federalism Project at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "A lot of people are very bitter about it."
John McCain must reach out to conservatives of all stripes and rebuild the Big Tent of Reagan. He needs to burnish his conservative credentials by enthusiastically supporting conservative causes and making measured promises that he can actually live up to. He must spurn Bush’s big government policies and flagrant spending, condemn the recent lack of progress and give some encouraging signals about how to end the endless war in Iraq. Enlivening the conservative base is critical to a Republican victory in November, and McCain must take a decisive role in doing this, or risk an obnoxious defeat at the hands of his much less experienced colleague.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:23 am
aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh this is so confusing!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:49 am
At this point, a neo-con hand reaching out to real conservatives is only likely to get bitten. Real elephants have long memories. To put it simply, they can hang, even if it is the Democrats who bring the rope.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Who put you in charge of saying who is a real conservative?
Mitt Romney was a fucking socialist trying to pass himself off as a conservative. I’d take Obama over that lefty prick.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Sorry, this product has so many flaws and will not sell!
Not on this conservative pulse…
Please re-categorize your product appropriately…
Try wars and hells for 100 years, maybe?
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein
Educate yourself!
Admin note: Comment has been edited. Racial slurs will not be tolerated.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:24 am
It’s a sad state we are in when the Republican candidate has to reach out to conservatives.
Let’s not forget that he was asked to be Kerry’s V.P. back in ‘04.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
My point was that there’s a variety of types of conservatives. They united under Reagan and they were somewhat united under Bush, but he alienated a lot of people. McCain needs to bring back the unity.
There’s evangelical social conservatives, business-friendly econocons, business-friendly econocons who want gov’t support, Libertarian business conservatives who reject gov’t, Libertcons who aren’t necessarily into business but don’t want the government bothering them, neoconservatives who want to reinvent colonialism, “White Bread” conservatives who just want to live in the suburbs, etc.
Trying to appeal to all of these groups simultaneously is difficult. Reagan did it effectively and that’s what made him so popular. McCain must do it again, because Obama is pulling people away like a vacuum cleaner.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hehe, Libertarian business conservatives who reject government. Who do I know that would fit that bill??? hmmm…
July 8th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
LOL!
I think McCain has done well with certain groups of people, in particular “old school” military conservatives (mostly vets) and the white bread crowd - soccer moms who live in the suburbs and drive an SUV. He can’t isolate himself though; he really needs to reach out to the full spectrum and try to glue it all back together.
To really compete with Obama, McCain may need to propose a feasible way to exit Iraq - maybe an “Iraqization” concept where we train and equip a security force and then gradually tell them they’re on their own. This problem needs to move back over to their plate.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Well the stuff that he says about corporations and business in general scare the crap out of me.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I don’t particularly agree with what he’s said about “holding business accountable” as if they’re a government agency.
However, I’ve found that if I wait around for the perfect candidate, I’ll never support anyone. No one supports everyone’s exact views, particularly on detailed minutiae of specific issues.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:03 am
I can honestly say I don’t support anyone in this election.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:16 am
>Hehe, Libertarian business conservatives who reject government. Who do I know that would fit that bill??? hmmm…
Didn’t you get your entire paycheck a while back from the federal government? Libertarian my eye… how many hundreds of billions of dollars will you have people that pay taxes in the private sector sink into the Departmenent of Defense?
July 9th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Stephen,
You forgot to bring out that canard that George Bush has betrayed the conservative agenda. Isn’t this post just begging for the type tripe you pull out to defend your decision to support a man who promises to continue George Bush’s agenda that has brought us war, recession, infamy abroad, and uncertainty at home.
I told you in 2004 what reelecting this President would bring this country. If you are satisfied with what the Republican party supports and what it has brought this country than you go right ahead and vote for your party of turds. Its a good thing that most people who have their head screwed on correctly and don’t worship at the altar of cognitive dissonance are going to hand the Republican party a defeat of epic proportions.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:27 am
The republican party is not a party of dump trucks!!! it’s not just something you can dump stuff on! it’s a party of turds! ROFL
July 9th, 2008 at 2:40 am
It sure would be awesome if you all lived closer together cause that would make an awsome fistfight. i would sure enough tape it and upload to myspace.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:57 am
hahaha actually these rednecks probably carry shotguns in their cars i think ron would be dead.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:52 am
No Ron, I have been out of full active service since 1998, (that would be 10 years). From ‘94 - ‘98 I volunteered to defend the country full time, then from ‘98 - ‘06 I served in the reserves. All that time I was defending people here in this country (yes that includes you and that gay mayor of yours). That is what you call providing a service Ron. I know you’ve never run your own business, and by the looks of it, never will. Too bad, you could learn a lot.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:39 am
You make it sound like tolerance is a GOOD thing, rhombus…(OK, Stephen or Austin - where is the laughing emoticon?)
July 9th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
>You forgot to bring out that canard that George Bush has betrayed the conservative agenda.
No I didn’t…I mentioned that in the third sentence.
July 10th, 2008 at 5:42 am
You voted for him, ya dipshit. I told you in 2004 that Bush would flush this country’s economy down the toilet, and sure enough– through a combination of Bush’s arrogance and incompetence– he’s managed to screw up foreign policy and the economy.
Now you want people to believe that someone that agrees with George Bush pretty much down the line on issue after issue is somehow going to be better for this country? Yeah right. I don’t think that’s going to go over too well with the rest of the country no matter how many pictures of queers in San Francisco you manage to put on FoxNews. People are tired of Republican bullshit.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
LOL! Yea, because the President is in charge of the economy. Give me a break you dip shit.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Things will get worse with McCain.
Things will get much worse with Obama. And that is why I am voting for Obama. For things will only get worse with McCain but they need to get much worse for us to survive as a nation.
Of course a statement like that needs an explanation. And I will do so in the form of an analogy. Do you know how to cook a frog? Well, if you put it in a pot of boiling water the frog will quickly jump out. But if you put a frog in a pot of water that is warm and turn up the heat gradually up to boiling the frog will just sit there not even realizing it is being boiled alive.
Obama is the one who puts the frog into the hot water and McCain is the one who turns up the heat gradually. With Obama his extremism will cause a backlash so great that America will start electing good leaders to oppose him. It happened in 1980 and it happened in 1994. And it will happen again.
But McCain he will really be the death of the Republican Party. As I said above things will get worse with McCain and therefore he and his party will get the blame. And then America will elect a Democrat in 2012. And if history has shown us anything it has shown that the Democratic Candidate has been getting increasingly extreme. So I can’t tell you who the Democrats will put up that year but I can tell you that person will be as extreme if not more extreme than Obama. So, how long are we putting off having an Obama-like candidate? Four Years?
And meanwhile McCain has shown that he wants to drive conservatives and conservatism away from the Republican Party. For those of us who believes that conservatism is the only solution to our country’s problems, it is unacceptable that neither of the two major parties represents conservative values.
So, I am left with the ultimate act of “tough love”. Not to say there aren’t hard times ahead for there is but that is true with McCain as well. But at least with Obama there is hope that things will get better after him. With McCain all hope is lost.