Johnny Bear said:
OsoCoreyell said:
In 2012, the Republican Party nominated one of the most qualified and incredibly moderate candidates possible. He selected another moderate for his running mate. With the knowing assistance of virtually all of the national news media, the Democrat party of the US slandered Romney and Ryan as arch-conservatives, racists, sexists and bigots. This was the logical extension of the same treatment of every moderate Republican to run for the Presidency since 1988, though the extreme difference between the rhetoric used against Romney and Ryan and the reality of their political leanings was more extreme than had ever been used before.
As a result, the portions of the party that were capable of nominating moderates quite predictably lost power, and a reactionary/populist coalition with an extreme antipathy for the dishonest and unfair treatment by the media ascended. The results were incredibly predictable. Welcome to 2020, dip****s.
When the GOP nominates middle of the road establishment swamp creature type candidates they almost always lose. Examples include Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Even George H.W. Bush managed to not get re-elected when he couldn't run on Reagan's coattails. The previously popular notion that the GOP has to run a flaming moderate establishment insider type so they can capture enough of the independent vote to win is and always has been a myth.
And why do you think that is? It is because if you have an "R" next to your name, the media and the Dems will say that you are racits, bigots, in the bag for the rich and a war-monger. It doesn't matter how moderate you actually are. Both Bushes were moderate, to say the least, but you'd never know if from the media coverage.
80% of politics is reactive - mainly reactive to the voters, but also reactive to the perceptions created in the voters by others, mostly in the media. The media quite literally made the modern Republican Party into what it is now by abandoning any semblance of integrity in favor of making sure the candidates they liked were elected. FYI, they also created Fox News. Do you think there is a Fox News where there is a trusted media with professional journalism standards that aren't routinely ignored to "tell a story"? Nope. Rush Limbaugh's AM radio program would be the apex of conservative media.
