# The GOP isn't half the country now, don't act like they are **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 26, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115 "2009-06-26T23:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/21 "2009-06-27T04:13:22Z")
I’ll tell you what’s been bugging me. These days, I try to watch _This Week_ with George Stephanopoulos every week. And every week, there are the two Georges, Stephanopoulos & Will, with a rotating round table. Will used to write for Reagan, & takes a certain conservative position; Stephanopoulos inherited him from David Brinkley; fine. Stephanopoulos is a Democrat, but he’s the host; he doesn’t try to take a partisan position at all. Some weeks they have Paul Krugman, some weeks Donna Brazile. Some weeks Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts come back & somehow they’re expected to hold up the left side. Cokie’s neither ideological nor wonkish; Sam’s pretty much a general cynic. So that’s fun. :rolleyes: Some weeks non-George parts of the roundtable can be weighted 2 to 1 rightie, favoring various flavors of _Wall Street Journal_-type economic conservatives. And it’s a bit much. So I’ll be rooting for Krugman or the cute sad-eyed lady from the peacenik left whose name slips my mind at the moment. So much for the roundtable. The interviews often will be with a Democrat & a Republican, because that’s how it traditionally works. So Stephanopoulos will interview HHS Secretary Sebelius, then Mitt Romney will come on & give his counterspiel. Now, that’s one show. But it’s one show where the host used to work for a big man in the DLC & Democratic President! So why not pull things back leftward a little bit? I haven’t watched _Meet the Press_ since David Gregory took over, so I don’t know how it’s being run. And I don’t really have any great complaints about Bob Schieffer on _Face the Nation._ Sometimes it seems like tv shows are giving equal time to two groups understood as, “all those Democrats, including the administration,” &, “Republicans.” Well, the Republicans went corrupt & lost people. So why are we treating them like equals? And then there’s this show I want to like, with a respectable history. When I was a kid, I used to watch _This Week_ with David Brinkley. And it seems like they _favor_ the righties & the out of power now. And I think, really? Why not show how large & diverse the Democratic Party is? Now, I’ve moved leftward economically over the years, I know. But the “50/50 politics” conceit of the news media is wearing thin for me in a post-W, post-Abramoff age. When I was a kid, I used to watch _Firing Line_ with Wm. F. Buckley, & he’d do the debate specials between left & right, you know? Maybe it was a false conceit then too. But they were real debates, & . . . yeah, I miss that too. I don’t know, maybe I’ll just give up & get my commentary from comedians like everyone else… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/22 "2009-06-27T04:41:20Z")
On the rare occasions when the far-far, Pacifica Radio left get onto mainstream media panel shows, they generally mess it up grievously. I imagine many regard media-savvyness as a kind of selling out, and might actually prefer coming off dowdy and strident. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/23 "2009-06-27T05:03:43Z")
I watch _This Week_ as well, and I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Cokie is a left-moderate. So is Sam. But they’re not on that often, and there’s an excellent range of liberal commentators on that show. In the recent past, the panel has included Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Donna Brazile, Arianna Huffington, and Katrina Van den Heuval of _The Nation_. If anything, it’s often George Will alone against someone from the far left, a mainstream liberal, and then a left-moderate. The host of the show itself comes from a Democratic administration. I actually think the _This Week_ roundtable is one of the best of the many similar political round tables on TV. I think George Stephanopoulis goes out of his way to be very fair to both sides, and I think they get a very good mix of panelists from both the left and right. If it skews one way or another on any given week it probably has more to do with the availability of the panelists, last minute cancellations, and the substitution of regular ‘go-to’ people when this happens. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/24 "2009-06-27T06:11:57Z")
Any election is part the two parties’ philosophies pitted against each other, and then the two men themselves. This election was unusual in that it was mostly about neither. It was about Bush, and Iraq. The Republican Party didn’t get beat, Conservatism didn’t get beat, Bush got beat. The Democrats did a great job of framing the election as such, and they won. They also had an attractive, refreshing candidate. But it would serve them well to understand what actually got defeated. And it will serve Conservatives well in the next elections if they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/25 "2009-06-27T10:44:02Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > This from Gallup: > > “Conservatives” Are Single-Largest Ideological Group" > > "Thus far in 2009, **40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal."** > > "While a solid majority of Republicans are on the same page – 73% call themselves conservative – Democrats are more of a mixture. The major division among Democrats is between self-defined moderates (40%) and liberals (38%). **However, an additional 22% of Democrats consider themselves conservative, much higher than the 3% of Republicans identifying as liberal."** > > “Gallup trends show **a slight increase since 2008 in the percentages of all three party groups calling themselves "conservative** ,” which accounts for the three percentage-point increase among the public at large." > > "As reported last week on [Gallup.com](http://Gallup.com), women are more likely than men to be Democratic in their political orientation. Along the same lines, women are more likely than men to be ideologically “moderate” and “liberal,” and less likely to be “conservative.” > > **Still, conservatism outweighs liberalism among both genders**." > > [bolding mine] > > [Link](http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/Conservatives-Single-Largest-Ideological-Group.aspx/) > > Now, while it’s true that ‘conservative’ doesn’t necessarily equal ‘Republican’, the fact remains that most Americans with a preference prefer conservatism. Consider that despite the Iraq war, the economy, daily hammering of the Republican Bush administration by the media, and the media’s virtual annointment of Obama as the nation’s savior, Obama still won the election by only eight percentage points. Eight percentage points! Only eight more voters out of a hundred voted for Obama, and more than a few of those were actually conservatives, but conservatives who had grown disenchanted with the direction the GOP had taken. > > So you and **eluicdator** (another poster mistakenly believing that liberals have won) are not only premature in your gloating over the demise of conservatism and Republicanism in this country, you are flat-out wrong! > > But I mean that in the nicest way. 😉 Conservative doesn’t mean conservative, liberal doesn’t mean liberal, most Americans think they’re middle class when they’re not, because that definition has also been hijacked into incomprehensibility just like liberal and conservative. Plus, most people are stupid and are completely contradictory in what they call themselves, what they believe and how they vote. If something relies upon self-identification, it is likely balderdash. People make stupid decisions everyday, like which side to throw rocks from. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/26 "2009-06-27T13:14:12Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Okay, his followers then. Don’t remember that either. > [@](#): > > Anyway, the point I was getting at is that, although Obama himself still has a 58% approval rating, almost none of his policies poll that high, and in fact most are opposed by a majority of Americans. Well, that’s what happens to Presidents. You seem to be saying that the success of Obama’s administration will determine his political fortunes. Well… yeah. When has it ever been otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![haymarketmartyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/35a633/32.png) [@haymarketmartyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haymarketmartyr)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/27 "2009-06-27T13:33:06Z")
Chuck Todd of NBC has a nice little book out called HOW BARACK OBAM WON. It is jammed pack with stats and analysis and gives you a state by state breakdown.The most amazing statistic among hundreds in its 260 pages is this one Democrats have carried 18 states plus D.C. in five straight presidential elections totaling 248 electoral votes, just 22 short of 270 to win. Republicans have carried just 13 states in five straight elections totaling a mere 95 electoral votes. If you include states where Democrats have won in four out of the last five elections the Dem floor rises to 264. How does the Republican Party deal with that undeniable trend? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/28 "2009-06-27T13:37:06Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > This from Gallup: > > “Conservatives” Are Single-Largest Ideological Group" > > "Thus far in 2009, **40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal."** > > "While a solid majority of Republicans are on the same page – 73% call themselves conservative – Democrats are more of a mixture. The major division among Democrats is between self-defined moderates (40%) and liberals (38%). **However, an additional 22% of Democrats consider themselves conservative, much higher than the 3% of Republicans identifying as liberal."** > > “Gallup trends show **a slight increase since 2008 in the percentages of all three party groups calling themselves "conservative** ,” which accounts for the three percentage-point increase among the public at large." > > "As reported last week on [Gallup.com](http://Gallup.com), women are more likely than men to be Democratic in their political orientation. Along the same lines, women are more likely than men to be ideologically “moderate” and “liberal,” and less likely to be “conservative.” > > **Still, conservatism outweighs liberalism among both genders**." > > [bolding mine] > > [Link](http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/Conservatives-Single-Largest-Ideological-Group.aspx/) > > Now, while it’s true that ‘conservative’ doesn’t necessarily equal ‘Republican’, the fact remains that most Americans with a preference prefer conservatism. Consider that despite the Iraq war, the economy, daily hammering of the Republican Bush administration by the media, and the media’s virtual annointment of Obama as the nation’s savior, Obama still won the election by only eight percentage points. Eight percentage points! Only eight more voters out of a hundred voted for Obama, and more than a few of those were actually conservatives, but conservatives who had grown disenchanted with the direction the GOP had taken. > > So you and **eluicdator** (another poster mistakenly believing that liberals have won) are not only premature in your gloating over the demise of conservatism and Republicanism in this country, you are flat-out wrong! > > But I mean that in the nicest way. 😉 So even if you assume people are capable of correctly self-identifying their political ideology, which they aren’t, you’ve put forth a bunch of statistics proving that right now many many conservative Americans would rather be Democrats or independents than Republicans. Sounds to me like a really compelling argument… in support of \*\*foolsguinea \*\*. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/29 "2009-06-27T14:03:09Z")
If Obama’s policies work, the repubs will be on the outside for a long time. The repubs have been bitching about medical coverage bankrupting the country for decades. They did nothing to fix it because the lobbyists and corporations getting wealthy off it, would not allow them to. Now the dems are actually doing something about it. Most people believe the environment is rapidly getting worse. The dems are acting on it. What do the repubs bring but policies that allow the rich and powerful to loot at will? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/30 "2009-06-27T14:41:51Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > [Only 37% think the country is on the right track](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/right_direction_wrong_track/right_direction_or_wrong_track) Next time you cherry-pick some statistics to back your partisan rant, you might want to check the trend line first. 37% is only 3 points shy of the high mark on that poll over the last four years. If you had any sense of reality or context, you’d realize that the fact that it is as high as 37% despite all that’s going on in the world is a sign of Obama’s popularity. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/31 "2009-06-27T15:11:17Z")
Am I the only one who sees the hilarity in lefties saying “Yeah, we won!” and 'pubbies saying “No you haven’t!”? I mean, sure, tribal loyalties and all, but I guess all attempts at impartiality are out the window. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/32 "2009-06-27T15:25:31Z")
Quoth **foolsguinea** : > [@](#): > > I’ll tell you what’s been bugging me. > > These days, I try to watch This Week with George Stephanopoulos every week > … I, for one, expect to see bias in the media. Nay, I hope for it. It’s the media’s job to be biased, against whomever is currently in power. Since the Democrats are unquestionably in power right now, that means that I can’t help but see a Republican bias as a good thing, and Fox News is now, despite any effort on their part, finally doing their job. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/33 "2009-06-27T15:39:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **foolsguinea** :I, for one, expect to see bias in the media. Nay, I hope for it. It’s the media’s job to be biased, against whomever is currently in power. Since the Democrats are unquestionably in power right now, that means that I can’t help but see a Republican bias as a good thing, and Fox News is now, despite any effort on their part, finally doing their job. If bias means choosing critical stories over supportive ones and construing assumptions against the administration, then I’m all for anti-power bias. But I’m afraid the Fox News brand of bias is more along the lines of running stories that make their audience happy but have no political relevance or attachment to reality (e.g. most of Glenn Beck’s show) and [using misleading or false information to stir up opposition](http://mediamatters.org/research/200906260014). ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/34 "2009-06-27T16:02:42Z")
Using slanted, misleading and false information to hack on the Dems, is Fox’s job. They do that well. They feed repubs what they want to hear, like it is important or true. Mostly it is neither. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/35 "2009-06-27T17:08:31Z")
Well, typing all that out helped me get some perspective. I sound like I’m whining about not very much, & I’m definitely coming from a biased position. That said: I do think there are three dominant philosophies in the country right now. What passes for the left, what passes for the right, & the actual dominant Washington conventional wisdom, which is compromise. And sometimes I feel like I’m looking at an argument between the right & compromise. With victories like this, who needs defeats? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/36 "2009-06-27T19:14:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **foolsguinea** :I, for one, expect to see bias in the media. Nay, I hope for it. It’s the media’s job to be biased, against whomever is currently in power. Since the Democrats are unquestionably in power right now, that means that I can’t help but see a Republican bias as a good thing, and Fox News is now, despite any effort on their part, finally doing their job. And during the Bush years, the media did whatever it had to for access. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/37 "2009-06-27T19:41:23Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > Am I the only one who sees the hilarity in lefties saying “Yeah, we won!” and 'pubbies saying “No you haven’t!”? I mean, sure, tribal loyalties and all, but I guess all attempts at impartiality are out the window. Speaking for myself, that’s not what I said. What I said was that you shouldn’t mistake having the Democrats win an election for a mandate to rule from the far left. Just as the Republicans controlling all three branches of government in 2000 did not give them license to govern from the far right. The trends are certainly in the Democrat’s favor - young voters are more liberal, and growing in power. As the nation becomes more urbanized, it generally becomes more liberal. But in the end, as of today the U.S. is still a center-right country. The OP could just as easily have been written as, “Even though you won, be careful, because only one American in five identifies as a liberal.” Elections are won in the center. The center in the U.S. is growing in size and importance. BOTH parties are actually shrinking, and ‘independent voters’ are the fastest growing voting bloc. Whoever gets them, wins. Right now, the advantage Obama had with independents is gone - they are back to swinging 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats. For example, in [this Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/120890/healthcare-americans-trust-physicians-politicians.aspx) from last week, 85% of Democrats have confidence that Obama can fix health care, and 70% trust the Democrats in Congress. But among independents, that number drops to 53% and 36%, respectively. Republicans are blown right out (it’s funny that only 65% of _Republicans_ have confidence in the Republicans in Congress, which tells you how damaged that party’s reputation is). Nonetheless, these polling numbers do not translate into the kind of national mandate for health care reform that Democrats claim they have. This [Pew Report](http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1534) shows that there is even less support for fundamental health care reform among non-Democrats today than there was in 1993, when ‘HillaryCare’ completely collapsed. And only 38% of independents think the health care system needs to be rebuilt - down 17% from 1993. If anything, the nation has become more conservative about health care reform in the past 16 years. Probably because the population has aged, and because more people today are covered by work-related health care plans that they actually think are quite good. There is still support for universal coverage by 74% of independents, which is good news for Democrats, but even that support is down 15% from 1993. Ini almost every measure, the gap between where Democrats are on health care and where independents are is growing. You’re moving away from them, or they are moving away from you. Health care is therefore something the Democrats need to be very careful about, or they could lose the center again. If you want to win elections, you don’t ask,“What does our liberal base want?” You ask, “How can we keep the huge bubble of non-aligned centrists?” Among that group, there is great skepticism about big government. You can see it in all the polls. The auto bailout is wildly unpopular. The stimulus plan is opposed by independent voters by a big margin. Even health care reform is iffy. Republicans lost the center, and the election, because they tried playing to their base, and because they got lazy, sloppy, and corrupt. Democrats appear to be ready to do the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/38 "2009-06-27T19:55:19Z")
Never mind. Tilting at windmills. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/39 "2009-06-27T20:18:03Z")
The reason so few Americans openly self-identify as liberal is because conservatives have co-opted the discussion and made _liberal_ a dirty word. There has been a clear (though not necessarily coordinated) campaign on the part of Limbaugh and his ilk to turn liberal into a virtual expletive. This is not to say that liberals haven’t tried to do the same thing with conservative and related words, but they’re not very good at it; when it comes to sticking to talking points, the Republican Party and conservatives in general will continue to win the battle, because they always have. _See_ “flip-flopper”, “abortionist”, “President Malaise”, “un-American”, “Godless”, etc., or most recently “socialism”. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115/40 "2009-06-27T20:43:44Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Nonetheless, these polling numbers do not translate into the kind of national mandate for health care reform that Democrats claim they have. Polling numbers aside, you mustn’t assume everyone has the same opinion with regard to what constitutes a “mandate.” IMHO, one gets a full mandate unrestricted by anything but the law by virtue of winning an election. The poll that mattered, with regards to Barack Obama, was held last November. Note that I said the same thing when Bush won the Presidency by much slimmer margins, and have always held the same after Canadian elections. You get a mandate by winning, and the opposition has no right for their opinions to be regarded by the government. > [@](#): > > If you want to win elections, you don’t ask,“What does our liberal base want?” You ask, “How can we keep the huge bubble of non-aligned centrists?” Among that group, there is great skepticism about big government. You can see it in all the polls. The auto bailout is wildly unpopular. The stimulus plan is opposed by independent voters by a big margin. Even health care reform is iffy. It’s strange that neither Presidential candidate campaigned on a policy of “no bailouts.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-isnt-half-the-country-now-dont-act-like-they-are/501115.md?page=3)