# Things A Smart Republican Would Do Now **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 7, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247 "2012-11-07T17:20:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/61 "2012-11-08T00:17:25Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Is that the _Secret Formula_? **Kimmy\_Gibbler** , ixnay on the ecretsay ormulafa! ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/62 "2012-11-08T01:10:19Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Article in [u > > I think the ultimate problem - if this is true - may be liberal dominance of the MSM. This drove conservatives to create their own alternatives, but the overtly conservative media is more conservative than the MSM is liberal. > .) Except for the small data point that there is no liberal dominance of the MSM. That bastion of evil liberalism, NPR, for example, tilts very heavily to the right/white/male in terms of the pundits given airtime. It’s just another rightwing fantasy easily and often debunked to no effect. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/63 "2012-11-08T03:39:27Z")
Yes Sir. Or Maam, as the case may be. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/64 "2012-11-08T06:32:41Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > That’ll work; they should double down on that.😃 The thing about “doubling down” is once you do it, you only get one more card. No matter how bad your hand is after that, you’re stuck with that hand. IOW, one should only double down when they understand the game and are very sure that they’re going to win. Problem is: these days, the GOP doubles down like a drunken blackjack novice in Vegas; without any clue as to what they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/65 "2012-11-08T09:46:45Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > **Pleonast** , if you run in 2016, I am on your side. I want to be **Pleonast’s** pick for Vice-President. What he (?) proposed was SO much better than what either side is going to do. But, it is much easier when all it is, is glowing words on a flat screen display. ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/66 "2012-11-08T14:59:55Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > 1. Stimulate the economy later by starting infrastructure projects we’ve been putting off for decades. Wasn’t the Stimulus package already supposed to do that? From President Obama’s ARRA speech: [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html?pagewanted=all&\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) “Yes, we’ll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges and schools by ELIMINATING THE BACKLOG of well-planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects, but we’ll also do more to retrofit America for a global economy.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/67 "2012-11-08T15:04:34Z")
It was to supposed to do that, sure. But the stimulus wasn’t nearly the size it needed to be, so there is still a butt-load of work to be done. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/68 "2012-11-08T19:02:40Z")
The schadenfreude I’m experiencing about the Republican Party’s implosion is great indeed. However, I don’t want to see them go away since the only thing worse than a two-party system is a one-party system. Here’s what the GOP needs to do to get its legs back under it: [ol] [li] **Send Grover Norquist packing.** The tax pledge that he coerced most Republicans into signing has completely hamstrung them. They are absolutely incapable of compromise on the economy, even when they _want_ to compromise.[/li][li] **Embrace populism like the Democrats.** It need not be the Democratic brand of populism, the GOP needs to find a way to shed its image as the party of the haves where the Democrats are the party of the have-nots. Instead, the Republicans need to maintain that we’re all in this together, and the little bit of pain everyone bears now will pay dividends later. This will be particularly difficult as the GOP has done an excellent job of conditioning its party faithful to believe that populism is the same as socialism.[/li][li] **Give up the fight against gay marriage and abortion.** These worked as polarizing issues to fire up the base in 1994. Last election has proven that an increasing majority of Americans simply don’t care what others do with their own genitals.[/li][li] **Come out against racism. Right now. Immediately.** Republicans are losing a huge voting block in Hispanics, who are generally very socially conservative. What you’ll lose in Deep South rednecks you’ll more than make up for with the Hispanic vote.[/li][li] **Stop demonizing education.** Educated voters will work a lot harder for your cause than non-educated ones, which was key in Obama’s election and re-election.[/li][li] **Have your own ideas.** As proven a few days ago, the Republicans lost big because of their strategy to pound away at Obama’s so-called “failed policies” without introducing any policies of their own. Mitt Romney was the personification of this, as his plan to solve the deficit had absolutely zero substance to it, so much so that even the math behind it was disproven.[/li][li] **Last but not least, have a unified message.** The GOP has been telling their donors one thing and their voters another, hence the reason behind all of Romney’s flip-flopping. Figure out your stance on every issue and stick to it like glue.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/69 "2012-11-08T19:36:29Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Obama was an extremely vulnerable president. Romney was a laughably awful candidate, way, way WAY worse than Bush. I mean, honestly, Romney just really was that bad. And Obama squeaked by. I know you were, like, four years old at the time, but Bush as a campaigner was actually a very good one. Particularly compared to Al Gore literally stalking him through the underbrush of the third debate stage or John Kerry (enough said). Since you may be too young to remember, [wonkette.com/404261](http://wonkette.com/404261) will give you some idea. So, I guess it’s true that Romney was way, way worse a candidate than Bush, but that’s not especially surprising. Saying something like Romney was a worse campaigner than Kerry, which is an interesting question, would be. P.S. Kerry is again going for SecState, which will never happen for an abundance of great reasons. Such as the current thin majority in the Senate and the fact that he is terrible and as gaffe-prone as Romney in London. P.P.S. John Kerry, just go away already. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/70 "2012-11-08T20:11:59Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Actually patrol the border. Use the army and drones if you have to. As long as they’re not recon drones, I’m up for this proposition. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/71 "2012-11-09T06:43:59Z")
Jennifer Rubin, a conservative writer for the Washington Post and big time Republican/Romney cheerleader, [has some thoughts](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/ten-fix--it-projects-for-the-gop/2012/11/08/d2b8c3e4-29d7-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_blog.html) that, on first read, actually seem halfway sane. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/72 "2012-11-09T06:51:13Z")
In addition: from reading conservative blogs (mostly for the purpose of that German word that seems overused in liberal circles these days), they (at least the ones online writing) seem to be _really_ reeling from this election. They’re seriously feeling the defeat this time, and it’ll be fascinating to see what comes out of it on a state and national level, no matter where your political preferences lie. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/73 "2012-11-09T08:15:52Z")
> [@Engineer\_Dude](#): > > Wasn’t the Stimulus package already supposed to do that? > > From President Obama’s ARRA speech: > [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html?pagewanted=all&\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/us/politics/08text-obama.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) > > “Yes, we’ll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges and schools by ELIMINATING THE BACKLOG of well-planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects, but we’ll also do more to retrofit America for a global economy.” If there were enough money to eliminate the backlog, the Republicans would really have had a fit. Part of what did get spent widened and improved a freeway I use going to work, which shaved 15 minutes off my commute, and thousands of others working in Silicon Valley. Most of whom use the time to work longer and be more productive, and help the economy. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/74 "2012-11-09T08:19:03Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > You know what, forget what I said - _ **Pleonast 2016!!** _ Good luck in the primaries, guys. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/75 "2012-11-09T08:29:50Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Of course, the counterargument is that Democrats don’t go completely off the deep end in their primaries, while Republicans do. I disagree. And that’s where it gets hopelessly subjective.I disagree with this. Romney was the best candidate available. Nobody is perfect, and it’s natural to focus on the flaws of the guy who just lost (or of the guy who won the nomination, if you happen to support the other guy). But it was going to be an uphill battle in any event. Had another candidate been nominated, there would have a been a huge focus on that guy’s flaws, and you’d be saying the lesson for the Republicans is to not nominate someone with those particular flaws. > > Romney fought a good fight and made it closer than one might have expected a year ago. Fell short in the end, but he was the right guy. Were you asleep this spring. Are you comparing that clown circus to the 2008 Democratic primary nominees? Was Santorum, the last candidate standing, the equivalent of Clinton? The candidates didn’t get beaten by Mitt, they melted down. He won not because he made anyone love him but because he was the only minimally competent candidate in the race. The weakness of the party is exactly that Romney was the best candidate available. I said in the spring Romney’s dilemma was that he had to figure out a way to tack left without pissing off the right. His solution seemed to be to have two positions in five minutes and hope that no one noticed, and to say nice things sometimes. It was clearly not convincing. The economy is still bad; he might have done better with a plan better than trust me, with a VP candidate not designed to mollify the right, and a true pull for the center. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/76 "2012-11-09T08:32:12Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The Republicans control the House of Representatives and a lot of state houses; they are not a party in terminal decline. They simply had the inferior candidate for President. You seem to be ignoring the demographics, which are getting worse. How they are going to appeal to these growing segments without losing the angry white guy vote is not clear. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/77 "2012-11-09T08:39:35Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Amend the Constitution to prevent anchor babies yet (like in the case of Wong Kim Ark) babies born to legal residents have citizenship jus soli. Could you elaborate on how amending the constitution to prevent a myth would help the GOP? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/78 "2012-11-09T17:59:00Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Were you asleep this spring. Are you comparing that clown circus to the 2008 Democratic primary nominees? Was Santorum, the last candidate standing, the equivalent of Clinton? The candidates didn’t get beaten by Mitt, they melted down. He won not because he made anyone love him but because he was the only minimally competent candidate in the race. The weakness of the party is exactly that Romney was the best candidate available. What’s your point with all this? Do you disagree with anything I’ve said (& if so, what)? > [@](#): > > I said in the spring Romney’s dilemma was that he had to figure out a way to tack left without pissing off the right. His solution seemed to be to have two positions in five minutes and hope that no one noticed, and to say nice things sometimes. It was clearly not convincing. As observed above, all candidates that have to run primaries have to zig in the primaries and then zag in the general election. There’s no way around this. Obama didn’t have this issue this time around because he didn’t have a primary. > [@](#): > > The economy is still bad; he might have done better with a plan better than trust me, with a VP candidate not designed to mollify the right, and a true pull for the center. I don’t think he would have been helped by offering a more specific plan (besides for the fact that it would inevitably have been mostly BS, like all specific plans offered by all presidential candidates). He would not have had to answer to criticism about not having offered specifics, but the details would have been nit-picked and distorted and he would have been defending himself on a thousand fronts. I agree with the strategy. [Same dynamic applies to not releasing the tax forms, BTW. He took a hit over accusations that he had paid zero taxes, but had he released them he would have faced a death of a throusand cuts over the fact that one of his investment vehicles owned stock in a company that manufactured something at a sweatshop in Burundi etc. etc. etc.] ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/79 "2012-11-09T20:11:18Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > That’ll work; they should double down on that.😃 From your lips… Unfortunately they are probably going to conclude that they should have backed a Santorum/Ryan ticket, primary more moderate Republicans like Dick Lugar, chase out Republicans like Susan Collins, even relatively conservative Republicans like Bob Bennett. > [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Which brings to (what I understand to be) That Don Guy’s first point: > > ISTM that most of these proposals for the Republican party are so popular here because they amount pretty much to “become Democrats”. > > So I think people who believe this to not be the case need to distinguish between their proposals for the Republican party and what they see as the mainstream Democratic party positions. Otherwise the whole thing is pointless. The Democratic Party already exists. Well, maybe its the Republican party’s turn to try and become Democrats after decades of the Democratic party trying to become Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247/80 "2012-11-09T20:28:04Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > What’s your point with all this? Do you disagree with anything I’ve said (& if so, what)? > > As observed above, all candidates that have to run primaries have to zig in the primaries and then zag in the general election. There’s no way around this. Obama didn’t have this issue this time around because he didn’t have a primary.I don’t think he would have been helped by offering a more specific plan (besides for the fact that it would inevitably have been mostly BS, like all specific plans offered by all presidential candidates). He would not have had to answer to criticism about not having offered specifics, but the details would have been nit-picked and distorted and he would have been defending himself on a thousand fronts. I agree with the strategy. > > [Same dynamic applies to not releasing the tax forms, BTW. He took a hit over accusations that he had paid zero taxes, but had he released them he would have faced a death of a throusand cuts over the fact that one of his investment vehicles owned stock in a company that manufactured something at a sweatshop in Burundi etc. etc. etc.] I think the point is that Republicans can’t field electable candidates anymore because the primary pulls them so far to the right that they can’t get back anywhere near the center. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-a-smart-republican-would-do-now/640247.md?page=5)