Moderate road won’t beat Obama

Moderate road won’t beat Obama

Holly Robichaud
Boston Herald
Monday, January 2, 2012

Tomorrow less than 20 percent of registered Republicans in Iowa are going to tell us who they believe should take on President Obama. Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, who has bypassed the caucuses, said last week that Iowa picks corn, not presidents. Is he correct?

Well, if you ask Mike Huckabee, he would say yes. But on the other hand, Obama did win the state.

Iowa’s importance will be in whittling down the field of contenders. It is most likely going to claim several conservatives, which means that their voters could flock to another right-wing candidate — not necessarily the frontrunner.

If Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich gets an Iowa bump, as Huckabee did, you can expect establishment Republicans to once again pound the message that voters have to nominate a moderate to win the presidency.

This theory makes sense for the commonwealth, because we are the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. That’s why U.S. Sen. Scott Brown does not vote as conservatively as we all want.

However, the rest of the nation is not Massachusetts, so GOP voters can hold out for a Ronald Reagan conservative.

For years the Democrats believed they could not nominate an ultra-left-winger and win the presidency. That was one of the major reasons given in 2004 to end Vermont’s former Gov. Howard Dean’s candidacy. Obama trashed that hypothesis.

Compared to Barack, Hillary Clinton looks like Margaret Thatcher.

In 2008, Republicans dutifully nominated U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Despite publicly criticizing then-President George W. Bush on federal spending, McCain was otherwise an establishment moderate because of his record of being part of the Senate Gang of 14 and a supporter of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

When Republicans select a moderate, the nominee cannot run to the middle to win over voters. Actually, the candidate has to do the opposite to make sure there is no base abandonment.

Moderation can impel Republicans to stay home rather than vote, as we saw in the disastrous 2006 and 2008 elections. GOP voters were angry at our elected officials for increasing spending, growing entitlements, etc. They repaid them by refusing to vote.

Being a shrewd politician, McCain tried to motivate the base by picking Alaska’s Gov. Sarah Palin.

It wasn’t enough to retain conservative voters when he stumbled over the market meltdown, and in the end, even moderates such as Colin Powell ditched McCain.

We have been there and done this moderate candidacy against Obama. Are we going to repeat this unsuccessful model?

Being a moderate Repub is a death knell. It's been proven time and again. Each time the GOP puts one up, they get their asses kicked.

Point? Only a true conservative can win and win handily. By that, I also want to add that this had best NOT be a social conservative. Any time a candidate starts off on the religion and abortion shit, they get hammered and are made out to be a loon.

A fiscal conservative needs the nod this time. No illegal immigration amnesty talk (Perry), no abortion talk (Bachmann) and no religion talk (take your pick).

Agreed Tex. I think we are going to wind up with Romney in the end.

And while he wouldn't be my top pick, he's a damn sight better than Obama by a factor of a million!