How did the GOP fuck up so bad as to let this election become about pills and rubber?

[Political Junky]

GOP prez candidates facing unexpected headwinds  | ajc.com

WASHINGTON — It's not a happy time for Republicans seeking the White House.

On the eve of key Super Tuesday contests, they find themselves on the defensive over birth control, embarrassed by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and tripped up by subjects bearing little relation to the day-to-day concerns of Americans. All the while, President Barack Obama's ratings are climbing.

There's still a long way ahead, for sure, but this isn't how GOP leaders had pictured things.

Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment about saying no evil about a fellow Republican is in shreds in what's become a scorched-earth primary contest.

Contenders for the GOP nomination are trying to win the White House with a gloomy economic message, while Obama seeks to project reassuring optimism amid fresh signs of a growing — if still fragile — economy.

Some GOP pundits seem to be already bracing for an Obama re-election victory, even though Election Day is still eight months off.

Conservative columnist George Will has raised the specter of a repeat of the 1964 race, when "conservatives got their way" and the GOP chose Barry Goldwater as its nominee. He lost in a landslide to incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In a weekend column, Will wrote that neither Mitt Romney nor Rick Santorum — the two leading GOP contenders — "seems likely to be elected." Instead, he suggests that conservatives focus more energy on retaking control of the Senate and retaining the GOP majority in the House.

Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, recently wrote that "the Republican nominee will emerge so bloodied his victory will hardly be worth having; the Republicans are delving into areas so extreme and so off point that by the end Mr. Obama will look like the moderate."
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[Old Rocks]

Time to hang the nonsense the GOP has been participating in on every GOP candidate, federal and state level. That would actually do the party a favor. Maybe by 2016, they can return to sanity.

 

[Cuyo]

I agree. Obama knows that he can't run on policy and certainly not the economy. Thus the question became, 'how to turn this to social issues to divide and conquer?' The focus from the right should be on health care reform that is going to tank the economy further.

This seems to be the prevailing wisdom from the GOPers in this thread, but I must ask...WTF are you talking about? Your dopey candidates were led by no one. They; and frothy in particular; are choosing their own path.

And what do they do when they find themselves in a hole? KEEP DIGGING...

 

[Cuyo]

I didn't realize we were talking about Obama. Deflection noted.

Obama and his handlers started this topic...to detract from his abysmal performance as a man, A world leader....as YOU bought right into it.

That's how.

See how it works assclown?

Sure you do.

Thank Me.

Gawd, you're stupid

It's true Tommy. Ya are.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

We need a course correction and the one who could do it is Rubio. By removing his sponsorship of the Blunt bill. Explain that he made a mistake and fell into the trap and wants to get the discussion back on track.

You don’t know Rubio – he’s a hard-core TPM Culture Warrior:

Rubio is very conservative on most social issues. He was a strong supporter of the Blunt amendment, which would allowed employers to opt-out of providing certain types of health care coverage for moral or religious reasons. He described abortion "a definitional issue" in a February 2012 speech, and summing up his position on choice by stating that "there is no compelling argument for why a woman’s right to choose trumps a child’s right to live." Senator Rubio also opposed President Obama's decision to repeal the military's Don't Ask, Don't tell policy prohibiting openly gay soldiers from serving in the military.

Marco Rubio's Political Views

He’s as nutty as Santorum.

You’d just be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.