Two recent columns by Jonathan Bernstein on the Washington Post 49 web page put forth a neat summary of Republican primary-election strategy. With the partial exception of the libertarian candidates, who probably can’t be nominated, those running are “all one version or another of standard-issue conservative.” Standard issue in this reactionary age, that is. How then does any of them break away from the field? Pandering to noisy groups such as The Club for Growth or Tea Parties is one method, but “for the most part, Republicans have already pledged to do whatever their interest groups want.”
So each candidate pushes the envelope because, as Mr. Bernstein puts it, what primary voters want “is a candidate willing to be as radical as they think of themselves as being.” Happily for the candidates, the radicalism needn’t make sense. In fact, the more a notion is ridiculed by the usual suspects, such as the “liberal” media, the better: it feeds the illusion that the right is fighting a valiant battle against the forces of darkness. “Call it the Paul Revere strategy, after the Sage of Wasilla’s skill in turning anything foolish she says into evidence that liberals and reporters are out to get her.”
Bernstein summed it up as follows: “expect to see . . . candidates . . . embrace positions, or say things, that earn them scorn and ridicule from editorial boards and people acquainted with, uh, facts.” Or, as Harold Meyerson put it, “Today’s Republican Party is so whacked, so loony, so fey in the attic, that winning its nomination requires taking positions that will render the nominee unelectable come November 2012.”50 I think that this describes the general picture well. The Republican base is, or is perceived to be, up in arms, fearful of creeping socialism, convinced that the American Way is in jeopardy, yearning for a return to Eden. Most of the candidates are adapting to this image, some because they don’t need any urging to be irrational.
However, the front-runner appears to be Mitt Romney, who hardly fits the extremist mold. True, he’s had to seek forgiveness for views held earlier, and the ultra-right may yet push him into some mild form of nuttiness; on Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh declared that Romney’s candidacy is over because he believes in man-made global warming. However, if he’s lucky he can retain a sane image and still satisfy the base by blaming everything they fear and despise on President Obama.
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49. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/santorums-2012-launch-is- only-the-beginning-of-the-craziness/2011/03/28/AG4xYIKH_blog.html; and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-paul-revere-strategy/2011/03/28/AGeamKMH_blog.html
50. http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=when_your_base_is_nuts
49. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/santorums-2012-launch-is- only-the-beginning-of-the-craziness/2011/03/28/AG4xYIKH_blog.html; and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-paul-revere-strategy/2011/03/28/AGeamKMH_blog.html
50. http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=when_your_base_is_nuts
