06/10/2007 05:20:13 PM EST
The Base Republican Base
posted by Cenk
The Republican presidential candidates are running themselves off a cliff. On every issue, they try to out-right each other and every time they get a little further from the middle and a little closer to George W. Bush and oblivion. In fact, the only times they disagree with Bush is when they are to the right of him. This is a recipe for disaster.
As you can see with Bush's approval numbers and polls on issue after issue, the country is nowhere near this mean and divisive. Immigration is a fair example. Recent poll showed that the majority of Americans are very thoughtful on the issue. Fifty-five percent say that penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants is the best way to crack down on illegal immigration. That is exactly right. But what was more interesting was the number of people who thought the harshest idea was the best idea.
Only 7% of respondents thought that building more fences was the best way to go. That is a tiny number. And that is what the Republicans are running toward. On every issue, instead of having a nuanced, thoughtful answer, they are going with the simplest, angriest response. In the case of immigration, that means you yell amnesty at your opponents and argue for building bigger walls. Well, at this pace, they are going to run into that wall they're building.
Trying to appeal to the simplest, angriest 7% of the population is a disastrous way to run a presidential campaign. If this Republican primary keeps going in this direction, none of them are going to make it out alive. America is nowhere near this mean and simple-minded.
Giuliani is theoretically the "liberal" in the race (and perhaps it is not coincidence why he is leading in a race where the other nine candidates are trying to position themselves to the right of Atilla the Hun) and even he sounds maniacally right-wing on most issues. The theme of his campaign is that if he wins, we will go on the offense. As Fareed Zakaria points out in the cover story of this week's Newsweek, are we not on the offense enough? Have we not invaded enough countries?
Giuliani is Bush on steroids when it comes to foreign policy. He thinks we need to be even more aggressive in attacking Muslim countries that did not attack us on 9/11. If you thought Bush was too rigid and right-wing in foreign policy, wait till you get a load of Giuliani. Does he really believe the country is this right-wing and knuckle-headed?
I think the country is sick to death of guys this far to the right. And all these candidates are doing are running to the further right. It's bad policy, but it's also bad politics. You can't be base enough to please the Republican base. And the further they go towards that ugly base, that minuscule 7%, the further they are going to go away from having any chance of winning this election.
After 2006, how could anyone believe Karl Rove's strategy of running to the hard right-wing in the Republican base is going to work? Let alone having everyone of the Republican candidates believe that? If they want to bet their careers on Rove's misdirected and outdates strategies, be my guest, but it seems like a profoundly foolish way to go.
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