Look, I'm getting utterly sick of the entire thing.
"Oh my God, we better put in a Southerner! Better yet, a gun shooting Southerner! One who drives a pickup truck! Or maybe a Midwesterner who Great Uncle came from the South, and is a Pentacostal! Wait a minute! Gum chewers went to Bush 2-1...lets get some Bazooka Joe out to our people toot suite, and make sure they blow biiig bubbles!"
Idiocy.
Look, you want to know why we lose? Go read the half million diaries I just parodied. Hell, even I'm beginning to wonder if we stand for anything. Plain and simple, few folks here seem to actually have a core of beliefs...at least a core they aren't willing to toss to the wind in exchange for a "win".
I'm not talking ideology here. Look, you wanna toss Roe v. Wade off as a loser and "moderate" your stance? You're a monkey. You wanna toss it because you think its wrong? Fine. Ditto for equal marriage rights, etc...
And no one is going to follow anyone who's lack of a core is so transparent. Seriously...look back on those diaries I alluded to, only with the eyes of a non-rabid partisan. Would you follow this group? Or would you decide that you couldn't trust them not to sell you out if it meant a few more %? People are far more willing to respect someone they know will screw them over, if its up front than they will take a chance that someone wishy-washy won't.
Lets put it this way. Did the GOP ramp up the 11 marraige amendments as a wedge? Of course. Now, for extra credit...how many of you think those operatives didn't like those amendments anyway. Raise your hands.
Wow, that's a lot of hands not being raised. The fact is that the GOP does hype or downplay things, but those things are generally in keeping with what everyone already knows they believe. They over did the marriage bit...but no one thinks they don't fundamentally oppose gays in principle. They just ramped up the degree.
On the other hand, we try and put people into things that no one buys. Sure, JK does shoot the occasional gun. But slapping him on a good 'ol boy hunt a week befoire the election? The guy is a patrician. That's what he is. And he blended into that hunt like I would blend at a Memphis Country bar.
We look like we're faking it, and everyone knows it.
So how about this radical idea? Now don't freak out...wait for it. Why don't we attempt to figure out what we really stand for, and then frame the best case for it? Crazy, I know. Why not shove forward wedge issues of degree? Instead of a wimpy minimum wage increase...why not push for a big one? Never get it, any more than the courts will allow much of those 11 amendments to stand, as they go way beyond mere anti-gay marriage. But it makes a nice wedge. I'm sure you can think of others.
Moreover, it doesn't look fake...because just like the GOP, its a matter of degree, not principles.
How about letting a bunch of people run in the primary, and decide between them based on their own merits, instead of trying to guess who your neighbor might be more likely to vote for? Wacky, eh?
Look, how many dates did you get while trying to act like your friend you thought was "really cool"? Who gets the dates, the job interviews, etc...? The person who is desperate, and will say anything, or the person who has an air of self-confdience?
It's the same thing here folks. Until you decide to stop this meta game and start standing up for beliefs, enjoy sitting home on prom night. That simple.