# GOP: You lost because Obama is a centrist; you won't win by tacking right **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488 "2012-11-09T15:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/61 "2012-11-14T14:31:20Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > This is an example of why it doesn’t pay to argue conservative points, thoughts or ideologue around here. Nor anywhere else in this world. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/62 "2012-11-14T16:01:53Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > Your being aloof if you claim otherwise. I do not think this sentence means what you think it means. Your … Your are = you’re Aloof = uninvolved and uninterested, typically through distaste. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/63 "2012-11-14T16:10:59Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > The reason it needed 1950 pages of “editing” is proof that it was a budget that was not acceptable to both sides, not even close. Given that the lead Republicans want the Democrat ringleaders’ heads on pikes and the rest of the party enslaved, I’m not so sure we can trust what they think is acceptable or not. Yes, it’s hyperbole. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/64 "2012-11-14T16:15:04Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > So, just go be clear. Obama offered up a completely “centrist liberal” budget and the 'pubs should have said, “Ah this is perfect!” and waived it through. The reason it needed 1950 pages of “editing” is proof that it was a budget that was not acceptable to both sides, not even close. Obama knew that and the dems knew that before it was submitted. Your being aloof if you claim otherwise. Jeez. OMG said that Obama’s budget garnered no support from his own side. It was then pointed out it was not Obama’s budget the Dems didn’t support, but the gutted and re-imagined House one. The only ‘proof’ his budget being gutted proved is that the House Republicans put party above country in their hatred of Obama and the ideological zeal born of their fantasy economics. And maybe that Dems try too hard to compromise with a party driven so insane by their hatred and fantasies that no compromise is possible. Honestly - it’s not that hard a point to understand. And yes - your last sentence makes no sense whatsoever. Sometimes Google Translate isn’t your friend I guess. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/65 "2012-11-14T16:46:27Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > And yes - your last sentence makes no sense whatsoever. Sometimes Google Translate isn’t your friend I guess. Senator Al Oof is the main proponent of that argument. It makes perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/66 "2012-11-14T17:04:00Z")
Everybody heard after the election that the Democrats in the house will now be fewer than 50% white male, but what I didn’t hear, and think is just as interesting, is the new Republican congressional caucus is [whiter and more male than the last one](http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/14/politics/house-diversity/index.html?hpt=hp_c1). They’re becoming whiter! :smack: How? \How much whiter could they be? And the answer is: None. None…more…whiter…\ Maybe this isn’t perfectly relevant to this thread, but I think it’s more evidence they are tacking further right, and the article I linked isn’t worth its own thread. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/67 "2012-11-14T18:36:20Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > Seriously, you guys can be real ass-jacks. It’s fun to watch if you have a sense of humor, but it can be frustrating if you’re trying to make an honest point and have a real debate. It’s not enough to have an ‘honest’ point, it has to be factual. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/68 "2012-11-14T19:02:38Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > As OMG has his own reality with his own made up facts he cannot be debated with. He’s shown that repeatedly. He’s not even here to debate in good faith, he’s here to witness. > > At this point I don’t even believe he is capable of debating. You’re giving him too much credit by suggesting he makes up his own facts. Let’s face it, he’s being fed these facts by the right wing pundits he’s chosen to follow. They tell OMG what to believe and he goes out and proselytizes in the wilderness. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/69 "2012-11-14T19:07:57Z")
> [@bup](#): > > They’re becoming whiter! :smack: How? They lost Allen West. That cut the number of black republicans in Congress in half. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/70 "2012-11-14T20:56:53Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > So, just go be clear. Obama offered up a completely “centrist liberal” budget and the 'pubs should have said, “Ah this is perfect!” and waived it through. The reason it needed 1950 pages of “editing” is proof that it was a budget that was not acceptable to both sides . . . Fallacy of the excluded middle. Both sides should have worked toward a compromise in the middle, something minimally objectionable to both sides. Instead, the Republicans altered it to fit their preferences without any concessions to the Democrats. They produced a document that was as unacceptable as the one they had been handed. This is not statesmanship. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/71 "2012-11-14T23:26:17Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Fallacy of the excluded middle. Both sides should have worked toward a compromise in the middle, something minimally objectionable to both sides. > > Instead, the Republicans altered it to fit their preferences without any concessions to the Democrats. They produced a document that was as unacceptable as the one they had been handed. This is not statesmanship. No, it’s sink or swim. I honestly think the republicans want to save this country from financial ruin with real cuts and proven tactics (yes, like lowering taxes). I honestly think the Democrats want to save this country by redistribution of wealth and shoring up the network of social programs so everyone is included. I don’t think our country is fiscally ready for the latter at this point. This is why our two parties can’t come to a deal on the budget, two completely different sets of beliefs. I would like to start with the hard cuts and then activate the social portions once the economy is back on track. I fear that doing it in reverse will cause a recession. Again. Our country isn’t robust enough right now. At some point the money just won’t be there for any programs and then we’re up shit creek. Grammar nazis can suck it. Is what I’d put in the budget. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/72 "2012-11-14T23:33:38Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I do not think this sentence means what you think it means. > > Your … Your are = you’re > > Aloof = uninvolved and uninterested, typically through distaste. Thank you very much!! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/73 "2012-11-14T23:36:07Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > No, it’s sink or swim. I honestly think the republicans want to save this country from financial ruin with real cuts and proven tactics (yes, like lowering taxes). I honestly think the Democrats want to save this country by redistribution of wealth and shoring up the network of social programs so everyone is included. I don’t think our country is fiscally ready for the latter at this point. Oh my stars and garters! We might go back to Clinton-era tax rates! Teh socialism! ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/74 "2012-11-14T23:47:50Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Fallacy of the excluded middle. Both sides should have worked toward a compromise in the middle, something minimally objectionable to both sides. > > Instead, the Republicans altered it to fit their preferences without any concessions to the Democrats. They produced a document that was as unacceptable as the one they had been handed. This is not statesmanship. This is what happens when one party has power over the other by number. It’s what _should_ happen. Otherwise why vote? The party with the most members should get their way. It’s the way all this shit was designed to work 200+ years ago. Hey, noboby (who’s honest) votes for their politicians so they’ll go to congress and whimp out. Or make concessions to the other side. You want your guy to do what he said he’d do and stand by his word. Do you really want the democratic party to make concessions to the right? Or would you rather have them get their way so you’re completely satisfied with your party? Or do you just want to be 49% satisfied? Or 51% satisfied? Heck we should all just vote for centrists and everybody would be happy right? That’s la-la land. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/75 "2012-11-14T23:50:36Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Oh my stars and garters! We might go back to Clinton-era tax rates! Teh socialism! Really? You’re equating our current financial crisis (or situation, if you want to understate it) with Clinton’s economy wayyyy back in the last century? Blinders much? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/76 "2012-11-14T23:54:18Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > Really? You’re equating our current financial crisis (or situation, if you want to understate it) with Clinton’s economy wayyyy back in the last century? > > Blinders much? No, you said that the Democratic Party wants redistribution, which the last time I checked is usually done by taxes. I haven’t seen Democratic leadership propose anything higher than Clinton-era taxes. Therefore, you think that Clinton-era taxes were redistributionist. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/77 "2012-11-15T01:17:59Z")
It was also recently shown, systematically and scientifically, that “Supply-side” economics is bunk. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/78 "2012-11-15T03:27:46Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > No, it’s sink or swim. I honestly think the republicans want to save this country from financial ruin with real cuts and proven tactics (yes, like lowering taxes). Real cuts, like destroying the science budget…which is why so many Nobel Laureate in science and medicine [signed a letter endorsing Obama](http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/nobel-laureates-endorse-obama/). And, how is lowering taxes a proven tactic for saving the country from financial ruin? You are not one of those folks who actually believes supply side fantasies that have been proven wrong at least twice now? (Reagan and GW?) > [@](#): > > I honestly think the Democrats want to save this country by redistribution of wealth and shoring up the network of social programs so everyone is included. Actually, the way I look at it, it is the Republicans who want to redistribute wealth: In the last 40 years, wealth has been massively redistributed by our economic policies / system to those at the top. All Democrats are doing is try to slow that trend. Basically, the Republican attitude on this amounts to the proposition that “Inequality isn’t increasing fast enough.” I am just wondering how fast they would like it to increase where they would actually think that maybe we should have policies supporting the poor and middle class rather than the wealthy? ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/79 "2012-11-15T07:42:58Z")
> [@Uncommon\_Sense](#): > > I honestly think the Democrats want to save this country by redistribution of wealth and shoring up the network of social programs so everyone is included. I don’t think our country is fiscally ready for the latter at this point. Yes, you’re right, the Democrat are trying to institute a nationalist socialism. > [@](#): > > Grammar nazis can suck it. Is what I’d put in the budget. Indeed, we can stick to man by being bad grammar. Make be confused, then victory are assured. Beside, “your being aloof” is perfect sense. Very essence inside Democrat having elitist moocher. - See Sig. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488/80 "2012-11-15T09:01:34Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Yes, you’re right, the Democrat are trying to institute a nationalist socialism. Do you know what socialism is? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-you-lost-because-obama-is-a-centrist-you-wont-win-by-tacking-right/640488.md?page=5)