I get really tired of people using the JFK Comparison... I took it apart in another thread, but here goes again..
I really think we're a less religiously bigoted nation now than we were in 1960, and I truly don't think that Romney's Mormonism will hurt him. However, even if it does, I remain completely convinced that he is the best hope the Republicans have of unseating Obama.
I don't buy that. Most people are by nature conservative.
"Conservative" is a word with multiple meanings. There are meanings of the word according to which most people are conservative, but the "conservative" movement in the U.S. doesn't supply one of those meanings.
Most people are pro-choice on abortion. Most people approve of marriage equality. Gays in the military has majority support. Most people are in favor of raising taxes on the rich to help balance the budget. Most people approve of labor unions and are against denying collective-bargaining rights. A single-payer health care system has majority approval. Most Americans are against teaching creationism in schools. Most Americans want more regulation of the banking industry.
I can supply poll data on all of these, and will on request.
On all of these issues, either Romney is on the right side, or Obama is equally on the wrong one, or he can probably fudge it. On most of them, every other GOP candidate will be hurt by his/her stances on these issues compared to Obama.
You see, I don't buy that. If I did, I wouldn't worry about it that much. I think whoever the GOP nominates will have a pretty decent chance, because the economy is so bad people are desperate to try anything. My biggest fear about Romney is that he can win. But Perry would probably be stronger for a lot of good reasons, despite his shaky start none of us will be talking about in two months.
Your biggest fear about Romney is that he can win? You mean you would worry if he became president, I take it.
Don't assume that Obama is highly vulnerable because of the economy. If he's perceived as doing everything he can to turn things around, and the Republicans are perceived as standing in the way of him doing it, the economy is going to hurt them, not him. And that's very likely to be the case. If you think it's automatic that a president will be turned out of office when he presides over a sluggish economy, I give you an obvious counter-example:
United States presidential election, 1936 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But Romney has the credibility to position himself apart from the Republicans in Congress, for exactly the reasons that you don't like him. He really is the most electable candidate in the GOP field right now, the only one with any chance at all of beating Obama.
