Why no decent Republican candidates?

Most Republicans have basically given up on conservatism

There's one thing the left has over the right. Advertising. They are good at marketing, we suck.

Thunder Peel said:

I thought the same thing. Someone seriously needs to get out more and actually talk to Republicans about what they believe instead of just drawing on talking points and stereotypes.

The GOP has some great candidates but many of them are up-and-coming, not the current batch. Most of the current party has gone too moderate and has failed to stand on the pillars that used to define the party (low taxes, smaller government, controlled spending, etc.). Moderates are unelectable because conservatives won't vote for them, preferring to stay home or vote third party. I find it funny that Democrats keep saying we need to run a moderate in order to win. Why? Moderates lost the last two elections and Dems will always vote for each other. They're not going to vote for a moderate Republican so it's a moot point anyway.

Republicans MUST run a real, proven conservative in 2016 in order to have any chance of winning. They've been crushed in two elections with moderate candidates and they will lose again by following that same strategy. I think many Democrats want moderates to keep running because they know they're easy to beat. Why would the GOP take their advice when they're against them every step of the way? They'd be better off actually listening to what their voters want.

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Alright then. By all means run a super-religious conservative TeaPublican and see how many votes you get. I look forward to the typical excuses of "it's the media's fault!" when you lose.

TheYoungTurk said:

Whose the first one?

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Jon Huntsman. Former Ambassador to China under Obama.

Yoder777 said:

The most compelling argument for supporting pro-life candidates is that if an elected official can't be trusted on defending the rights of the unborn, how can they be trusted in defending anyone's rights?

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What exactly do you expect a pro-life candidate to do about the issue? Overturn the Supreme Court? You do realize making abortion illegal does not reduce abortions right?

The lowest abortion rates on Earth are in Western Europe - a bastion of liberalism.

Creech said:

Most Republicans have basically given up on conservatism

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So they learn from their mistakes -- my respect for them just went up a notch.

Marius27 said:

What exactly do you expect a pro-life candidate to do about the issue? Overturn the Supreme Court? You do realize making abortion illegal does not reduce abortions right?

The lowest abortion rates on Earth are in Western Europe - a bastion of liberalism.

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By that argument, murder should be legalized, since that'll lead to fewer murders.
Well, in a sense it already is: Murder of small children is perfectly legal in most of the West, the US included, but I'm sure everyone understood what I was referring to.

childofGod1 said:

There's one thing the left has over the right. Advertising. They are good at marketing, we suck.

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It also depends on the product -- you know what they say about what you can't polish...

TLK Valentine said:

So they learn from their mistakes -- my respect for them just went up a notch.

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That is actually one of the reasons why they are losing. If they adopt more liberal policies, conservatives will stop supporting them and liberals will still vote Democrat.

Creech said:

That is actually one of the reasons why they are losing. If they adopt more liberal policies, conservatives will stop supporting them and liberals will still vote Democrat.

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On the other hand: Conservatives have nowhere else to go. So the alternative is to NOT vote.
Also: Yes, die-hard liberals will still vote Democrat. But the MIDDLE group is up for graps from both sides.

ChristOurCaptain said:

On the other hand: Conservatives have nowhere else to go. So the alternative is to NOT vote.
Also: Yes, die-hard liberals will still vote Democrat. But the MIDDLE group is up for graps from both sides.

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So it's really the middle group that needs to be swayed -- there are die-hards on both sides who will vote for a Tuna Sandwich if it has the right letter (R/D) after its name; it's the moderates who need to be convinced.

And when one side of the political spectrum goes more and more extreme in order to appeal to a base who will vote for them regardless, and starts tossing around insults like "Low Information Voter" to alienate the very undecideds they need, the result is as predictable as it is sad.

TLK Valentine said:

So they learn from their mistakes -- my respect for them just went up a notch.

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If they had learned from their mistakes than McCain and Romney never would've gotten past the primaries.

TheYoungTurk said:

If they had learned from their mistakes than McCain and Romney never would've gotten past the primaries.

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I said they learned -- I didn't say they learned much.

At the moment it seems as though the Republican party is made up of two groups, the religious conservatives and the pro-corporates.
The pro corporate has spent the last few decades whipping up the religious right as a means of securing their vote. Issues like homosexuality and abortion are key in this.
However, over the last decade the power and scale of the religious conservatives has escalated greatly, to the point where they now have enough power to push forward ideas that even the pro-corporate faction is in favour of.
As a result there's a schism that all Republicans must now tightrope walk and it's only serving to polarize things even further.

To make matters worse the entire US political spectrum has been moving to the right for the last half century. Without any perspective, most people assume the centre is somewhere between the two parties but in reality, the Democrats todays are centre right from a more objective view. The fact that many scream about how Obama is a communist/socialist just shows how out of touch the common view is.

I'm not sure what the answer is going to be for America, which is very scary. The relgious right are heavily loaded with fundamentalists who's only reaction to anything is to double down on their position, so things there are only going to get worse. With law changes, unlimited amounts of secret corporate money can now weigh in to elections but that only works as long as the facade holds. Once people start actually realizing how gerrymandered their states are and how hollow their democracy is, I think things could get very nasty for the U.S.

Looks like the short answer is that there are plenty of decent Republican candidates -- the problem is that the Republican party doesn't want them.

Ryal Kane said:

.....

To make matters worse the entire US political spectrum has been moving to the right for the last half century. Without any perspective, most people assume the centre is somewhere between the two parties but in reality, the Democrats todays are centre right from a more objective view. The fact that many scream about how Obama is a communist/socialist just shows how out of touch the common view is.

I'm not sure what the answer is going to be for America, which is very scary. The relgious right are heavily loaded with fundamentalists who's only reaction to anything is to double down on their position, so things there are only going to get worse. With law changes, unlimited amounts of secret corporate money can now weigh in to elections but that only works as long as the facade holds. Once people start actually realizing how gerrymandered their states are and how hollow their democracy is, I think things could get very nasty for the U.S.

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I agree, they are actually more right according to the "Political Compass" test...

But, they are going left and can go more left and liberal with enough pushing from supporters. Their policies are left and liberal, so are their ideals, but... it is actually getting the laws to pass which is the problem. They keep getting blocked by those who want to return to 1776 and who want to increase inequality and bloodshed.

When will we get a universal healthcare system on par with ALL other industrialized nations? Australia is far, far more left and liberal, their economy continues to boom. Keynesian economics always works.

Give to the poor, the sick, and the needy!!!

TheYoungTurk said:

Alright then. By all means run a super-religious conservative TeaPublican and see how many votes you get. I look forward to the typical excuses of "it's the media's fault!" when you lose.

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Running moderates hasn't worked. Do you propose that the party keep running the same kind of losing candidates over and over again? The last two lost a lot of momentum because evangelicals weren't interested. Whether the GOP wants to admit it or not, they need that vote and it makes up a healthy percentage of the party.

Like I said before, Democrats won't cross over and conservatives have lost patience with lightweight Republicans who care more about trying to be popular than doing what they were elected to do. The implication is that Republicans should just be Democrats, which defeats the entire purpose. The left continues to move further to the left; if the Republicans do that too then those of us on the right have no one to represent us, hence we'll either stop voting or go with a third party.

I don't want another fence-sitting candidate. I want someone who will do what's necessary to keep our country strong.

With a Democrat winning in 2016, and even more seats in 2014, progress and change will be locked in for certain. 8 years plus 4 more years...12 over a decade and likely 16 years.. almost 2 decades of Democrats will seal the deal.

TeaPublicans will lose, as always. They harm the republicans more than anything, though, the republicans never really had a chance with the progress, optimistic, Net Gen and Millennials.

It was over when Clinton won in the 1990's. California went fully Democrat and the Northeast.

We don't want your racism, hatred, fear doom and gloom and death anymore. Hope, Change, and Care was the rallying cry of the Net Gen.

Christian7PraiseJesus said:

With a Democrat winning in 2016, and even more seats in 2014, progress and change will be locked in for certain. 8 years plus 4 more years...12 over a decade and likely 16 years.. almost 2 decades of Democrats will seal the deal.

TeaPublicans will lose, as always. They harm the republicans more than anything, though, the republicans never really had a chance with the progress, optimistic, Net Gen and Millennials.

It was over when Clinton won in the 1990's. California went fully Democrat and the Northeast.

We don't want your racism, hatred, fear doom and gloom and death anymore. Hope, Change, and Care was the rallying cry of the Net Gen.

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So Democrats can completely wipe out greed, hate, poverty, racism, failure, and fear? Please show me one Democrat-run city that has none of these issues.

You'll have to change and get with progress or fail like in 2009 and 2012.

Racism, hatred, inequality, poor dying will no longer be tolerated. Opportunity abounds, and no doom and gloom pessimism.

Democrats agree with college students and opportunistic people who agree with technology, science, helping the environment, peace, and globalism - ONE HUMANkind.