If Christie is tarnished, does that impact the GOP's moderation efforts?

[Voyager]

@Zebra

Romney won. He wasn’t crazy or simulated crazy.

I can add still another objection. Remember Romney was almost never ahead in the Republican polls during the entire campaign. He won by having the resources and being the only candidate to not melt down. (Until he did when the 47% comment came out.) He might have had a chance if he moved left during the campaign, but for some reason he stayed out in right field.

[Measure_for_Measure]

@adaher

Huckabee also occupies some moderate space: while he’s a social conservative, he’s moderate on economic issues. John Huntsman could try again, although I’m not really sure I’d characterize him as a moderate. He’s actually Tea Partyish on most issues other than the environment, but his moderate temperament and lack of partisanship make him appear to be more moderate than he is.

Huntsman isn’t moderate at all: he is highly conservative. His problem is that he is way too neurotypical for the Republican primary electorate. I quote myself:

@Measure_for_Measure

[Huntsman] got maybe 2 weeks of coverage. After that he tweeted items that were not so much liberal as sane. And that’s what did him in: he was far too neurotypical for the Republican electorate. It has nothing to do with the media and everything to do with the base.

Here are his tweets: To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy. GOP Candidate Jon Huntsman Makes Waves with Tweet on Evolution and Climate Change - Scientific American Blog Network And over in South Carolina, he wouldn’t pander to the loons: One of the state’s Tea Party leaders, Chris Lawton, asks what he knows about China’s setting up “secret free-trade zones” in the American West. Huntsman politely says he hasn’t heard anything about that and moves along. There’s nothing moderate about Huntsman. It’s just that he is neither a lunatic, nor does he try to act like one. And that is electoral poison in a Republican primary.

You can accept the scientific consensus on global warming. You can accept evolution. But both at the same time? That’s a bridge too far for the Republican electorate. Add to this his foreign policy credentials such as an Ambassadorship to China under Obama combined with fluency in Chinese and his candidacy is basically hopeless.

[Measure_for_Measure]

As for Romney’s barely convincing simulation of a frothing lunatic during the Republican primaries, I’ll quote myself again:

@Measure_for_Measure

Romney’s pandering during the primaries was legion, starting with his calling himself a severe conservative. I understand there are ointments for that. The most blatant example was his contortions with regards to health care reform. This was repeated so much that it just became background noise, but honestly his position was silly. America has some long run budgetary problems connected with spiralling health care costs: the former is insolvable without health care reform. Period. And yet Romney runs away from his own plan, designed by Jonathan Gruber, also one of the key architects of Obamacare. We didn’t get Obamacare: that had a public option. Instead we got Romneycare. Which Romney promises to dismantle. And he will: otherwise the unanimity of his base will destroy his Presidency.

Romney makes his major speech on foreign policy. Doesn’t mention Al Qaeda. His approach seems to be based upon not going on an “Apology tour” that never happened. The guy just hallucinates stuff out of whole cloth. It’s loony.

America has serious problems and the Republican Party has shown absolutely no hint of trying to grapple with them. Ezra Klein: At the end of the day, the GOP will nominate somebody for president. And that individual is likely to have supported some policies that are now associated with President Obama. There will be some groveling, but eventually, Republicans will forgive such youthful indiscretions. The bigger problem will be if that individual wins.

At that point, they’ll need actual solutions for the problems facing the nation. But the Republican Party has ruled out an individual mandate to help with health-care reform, a cap-and-trade program to mitigate global warming and speed the development of renewable energy options, tax increases to help reduce the deficit, and stimulus to help boost the economy. That leaves a potential GOP president with a lot of problems to solve, but few workable policies with which to solve them. Young earth creationism, birtherism and appeals to conspiracy theories are ways of reassuring morons: they have little policy impact. The problem is that the Republicans have undergone an entire primary season with not even a nod towards sanity. The fact-based wing of the GOP has essentially disappeared. Back during the election of George Bush Jr., the hope was that with Paul O’Neill in Treasury and Alan Greenspan at the Fed, a deal could be struck whereby some of the tax cuts could be “Postponed” if the budget deficit hit a certain benchmark. That could have turned an unsustainable and irresponsible policy into a conservative but manageable one. Now that didn’t happen: GWBush declared that he wasn’t going to negotiate with himself. But there was reason to hope that it could in 2000. But now? Nothing.

[Zakalwe]

@adaher

Huckabee also occupies some moderate space: while he’s a social conservative, he’s moderate on economic issues. John Huntsman could try again, although I’m not really sure I’d characterize him as a moderate. He’s actually Tea Partyish on most issues other than the environment, but his moderate temperament and lack of partisanship make him appear to be more moderate than he is. I’d also include Condi Rice in this list not because she’s likely to run, but because if she did, she’s suspected of being moderate on most domestic issues. And she’d have a shot at winning the nomination.

But conservative on social issues is what’s costing the GOP the Independents at this point. Until you learn to moderate that, you lose. Much of the country actually agrees with more conservative economics (of course until it’s their program that’s cut, but that’s true of everybody).

[kaylasdad99]

nm

[kaylasdad99]

@adaher

I thought he put forth the boldest plans. What confused people was his lack of partisan hate.

@iiandyiiii

Partisan hate, at least for Obama and his allies, seems to be required in today’s GOP.

What I see as the big problem is that Pubbies will have to keep that up for EVERY Dem in the future, just to “prove” that when it was aimed at Obama, it wasn’t about race… :dubious:

[adaher]

On the contrary, I’d think they’d want to go easy on Clinton, that way they can blame Obama for being a crappy President.

[kaylasdad99]

The cognitive dissonance, it will burn.

Barack Obama is actually a pretty good president.

[adaher]

At what? Being unaware of what’s going on and therefore avoiding accountability?

[Quartz]

@kaylasdad99

Barack Obama is actually a pretty good president.

My brother has called him ‘as bad as Bush’.

[adaher]

That would be because he’s just like Bush, only with Democratic policies instead of Republican ones. The methods are all the same: lack of transparency, spin, outright lies when necessary, along with lack of attention to the details of policy.

[BobLibDem]

At least Obama isn’t letting Biden raid the treasury on behalf of his company. There have been no more new wars and the unnecessary ones that Bush started are winding down. The deficit is falling, unemployment is falling, more Americans are getting health insurance. His Supreme Court appointees have not been raving right wingers and should any of the current stinkers retire, he has a chance to neuter the Scalito wing. All this despite an opposition that met in secret on his first Inauguration Day to try to kill his administration in the crib.

[adaher]

Well, I guess doing little does mean he’s better than Bush. ANd for a small government conservative, a do-nothing President is a relative blessing. Spending is dropping because Republicans cut his budget requests by a couple hundred billion(probably $400 billion this year), unemployment is falling because Congress can’t pass more new laws handicapping business. SO basically he has to just manage his health care law. Seems to be quite the challenge, should be taking up all his time. Yet it doesn’t seem like he spends much time doing much of anything, actually. A lot like GWB in that way. And Reagan.

[Marley23]

Stay on topic, please. The original topic was Christie and moderate Republicans.

[adaher]

My fault, sorry.

I like moderate Republicans myself, truly moderate ones anyway, as opposed to the ones who just try to straddle the issues. Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie are strong moderates. Specter was just a squish with no principles.

Christie I’ll have to wait to see the whole truth about Bridgegate before I make a judgement on whether I’d vote for him. Giuliani I’d support in a second.

[Steve_MB]

Answering the OP question: No, for the same reason it does not impact the prospects of flying to the Moon on a chariot pulled by geese.

[BobLibDem]

In order to impact a moderation effort, there must first be a moderation effort. As far as I can see, the firebrands are still ruling the roost. McConnell now says the Tea Party will be crushed and they won’t nominate any candidates, but I’m not seeing it as long as the primaries are decided by the most ardent partisans.

[adaher]

And let’s be clear about one thing: McConnell does not represent a moderate wing of the party. The K streeters are just as right wing as the Tea Party, they just can be bought. McConnell’s kinda pissed about the Tea Party reforms that made filling his pockets a little harder.

[BobLibDem]

@adaher

And let’s be clear about one thing: McConnell does not represent a moderate wing of the party. The K streeters are just as right wing as the Tea Party, they just can be bought. McConnell’s kinda pissed about the Tea Party reforms that made filling his pockets a little harder.

Naw, McConnell’s upset because he’s got to fend off a Tea Party challenge himself. McConnell doesn’t represent a moderate wing of the party because there really is no such animal. They sold their souls to the Tea Party devil to win in 2010, now they can’t buy them back.

[adaher]

I think the Tea Party can be a positive force in the GOP coalition. They just have to mature. I think baby steps have been taken in that regard. And Rand Paul certainly isn’t hurting in terms of positive media attention. Rubio too.