By Douglas V. Gibbs
The establishment republicans do not like conservatives. They believe the more conservative the candidate, the more likely the republican party will lose in the general election. The GOP party hacks see conservatives as a part of some kind of rightwing fringe - a dangerous extreme in their party that is more like the uncle nobody talks about than a proud part of the family.
When it comes to the conventional wisdom of the establishment GOP, they have a lot in common with the democrats.
Those fears of conservatives took root in 1964 when Barry Goldwater lost big, and the media blamed it on his conservatism. The theory was that Goldwater being as conservative as he was frightened the independents right back to the democrats.
The democrats and republicans alike believe that the nation is split into three groups. Roughly 40% of the voters are republicans, roughly 40% of the voters are democrats, and the remaining 20% are moderate independents. It is those middle of the road fence sitters that everyone is after to win the election. They believe that republican voters always vote republican, and democrats will always vote democrat, so any chance to win sits squarely on attracting the moderate independents. This is why you usually see candidates try to appeal to their liberal or conservative base (depending on the party) during the primaries, and then move to the center for the general election.
A recent republican party conference call confirms the establishment's line of thinking. The call reveals fear that the moderates can easily be lost if the republicans act too conservative. In addition, the GOP feels the independents will tuck and run if the GOP candidates go after Obama.
The problem is, this line of thinking is wrong.
It is fascinating that there doesn't seem to be any concern when the democrats practice their usual destruction politics, yet the GOP believes that a single attack against the massive failure of a president, Barack Obama, will somehow send the independents running right over to Obama. Do they think that the landslide created by the Tea Party in 2010 was simply a fluke? Do they think those voters forgot why they voted that way?
I suppose if the idea that the independents were a bunch of moderates, with leftist leanings, as the democrats will tell you, was true, then one could believe such a thing. But to do so would be to suspend reality. Time and time again we have been shown that most independents are actually very conservative, but are not registered republican because the moderate leanings of the establishment angered them away from the party.
Moderate candidates lose. McCain lost because he was not conservative enough. Dole lost because he was not conservative enough. Reagan won precisely because he was conservative.
This is why the GOP and democrats have both decided that the only candidate that can beat Obama is Romney. He, aside from Huntsman, is the most moderate. If Romney wins the nomination, I am here to tell you that he will lose. The more conservative the candidate, the better the chance of a GOP win.
That is why the democrats attacked Bachmann and Cain the hardest, and why they attack Newt Gingrich, too. Romney has been left, for the most part, unscathed. The more conservative the candidate, the worst the attacks - from both parties.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
On private call, Republicans say attacking Obama personally is too dangerous - Yahoo News
GOP Frontrunner Newt Gingrich: Poor Children Have No 'Habits of Working Unless It's Illegal' - U.K. Daily Mail
Cain: Wife Didn't Know About Friendship, ‘Financial Assistance' to Ginger White - New Hampshire Union Leader
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