JohnL.Burke
Gold Member
Because in each instance the far right conservatives were supporting the #2 on the ticket. In 2016 they want their candidate to be #1. They blame the losses in 2008 and 2012 on the #1 not being "conservative" enough. If they don't get a Cruz or a Paul at the top of the ticket they will see that as being a problem with the GOP itself.
I'm going to disagree with ya on that point. I don't think anybody (republican or democrat) votes for the #2. Biden proves this.
Disagreement is good. It would be a boring world if we all had the same opinions on everything.
Getting back to your point. The purpose of putting Palin and Ryan on the tickets was to solidify the support from the base since neither McCain nor Romney were confident of their votes in the general election. What subsequently happened was that it was Palin and Ryan who were attracting the crowds at the campaign events. This resulted in the perception of being "held captive" by the far right conservatives. Please note that this is the perception rather than the reality. Both elections were reasonably close but the far right conservatives on the tickets did not help to gain moderate votes. What is more is that in 2012 the GOP stood an excellent chance of taking over the Senate but failed to do so because of the far right conservative candidates who were running for those seats.
The GOP choices for 2016 include Cruze, Paul, Rubio, Ryan and Santorum. All of them stand a chance of being the Republican nominee. Of those only Rubio strikes me as being politically savvy enough to know when to move to the center. If any of the others are at the top of the ticket the GOP will have a hard time "selling" them to the moderate center in my opinion.
I agree with you that the reason McCain and Romney put up conservatives as vice president is that they wanted to attract conservatives. BUT, my point is that the conservatives stayed home because nobody votes for #2. I stand by my observation.
Why did 5 million conservatives stay home? | Political Arena