# Ex-Republican strategist: Republican Party conservatism was always a lie **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 23, 2020, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-republican-strategist-republican-party-conservatism-was-always-a-lie/918812 "2020-08-23T10:29:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 78
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-republican-strategist-republican-party-conservatism-was-always-a-lie/918812/78 "2020-08-26T19:17:48Z")
I don’t think incumbents need a platform as guidance, at least not as badly as challengers do. I can look at the incumbent’s track record for guidance and judge them by their actions instead of cheap talk. Similarily with challengers who have a long political career, for example Rick Scott v. Bill Nelson in the last election. The more of a history they have, the less I care about what they write and say for the campaign. Contrast with Andrew Gillum v. Ron DeSantis, both of whom had a comparatively shorter history in politics, so I relied more on their platforms, interviews, and the level of detail (or lack thereof) than with the Senate race. ~Max --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ex-republican-strategist-republican-party-conservatism-was-always-a-lie/918812)._