Do "Conservatives" Have A Credibility Problem With the Country?

[Cary]

Of course they do in my book, but that doesn't mean anything. I'm wondering here whether "Conservatives" are damaged goods with the American people. Is their noise making going to do them any good? Can they go from imagined scandal to imagined scandal and score any points?

Or are they just getting themselves tuned out even more than they were in November?

[Warpy]

1. I think Republicans have little credibility, which is a good thing,

but conservatives are still seen in a positive light, which is a bad thing.

It's why Blue Dogs probably won't have much of a challenge from the left, ever.

[SpiralHawk]

2. "We just don't do truth. So shut up and sit down." - Republicon Homelanders

"And by the way, don't you think it's cute how we use the word 'conservative' to describe us and our radical, anti-American borrow-and-spend FAIL policies that have driven America's economy into the crapper? Pretty funny, huh? Smirk."

- Republicon Homelanders

[Cary]

6. That's why I always use quotation marks when I discuss contemporary "conservatives"

[Wetzelbill]

3. Not really, but they are effective at P.R. and in the minority

they fit best in their natural role. They can't govern so it's hard to espouse bad policy and rail against elites when you're the ones in power and you're screwing everything up. Republicans thrive on resentment and they need an enemy to focus it on. They couldn't attack government while they were running it, they couldn't rail about the deficit while they were blowing it up etc. But in the minority they can rehash their old staple fights, like wanting to undo the New Deal and The Great Society and pretending they are underdogs fighting against the liberal media and all things liberal. They can lament family values etc etc etc. It's what they are good at. Once they got what they always wanted, which was control of all three branches of government plus their own propaganda station as was as talk radio and a powerful movement, they went out and actually enacted their crazy ideas. It hurt, but they still are good at framing the debate.

Two problems, it was worse than they thought. They knew nobody was listening, they lost two elections in a row, but they didn't know that even the old attack dog ways would be so ineffective. They think they found their voice not voting for the stimulus bill, but the American people think otherwise. Republicans don't know how to adapt, they've drank the Kool-Aid for so long on bad policy that they don't know where to go.

The second is demographics. The old whining resentful ways just don't work. Nobody is resentful of the Civil Rights era anymore. Their core base of white males just won't get it done anymore. By pushing the coded hate talk so much on immigration they lost ground with Latinos, for example. White people don't buy into the idea that black people only live off of welfare anymore either. Women look at a party who doesn't do anything for them and they vote Dems. The Republican base is dwindling and radicalized and if they keep playing to it they lose everyone else.

[ItNerd4life]

4. Republicans are not Conservatives is where the identity issues arises

Conservatives believe in a balanced budget. Republicans don't.

That is the biggest difference and it has caused Repuglicans to lose alot of credibility in many peoples eyes.

[leftofthedial]

5. If they don't,

then it proves this country is filled with idiots.

[Cary]

7. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people

But then a large majority rejected Republicans for two elections in a row. Your comment goes to the crux of my query here? Okay, so the country probably is full of idiots but how idiotic are we?

[leftofthedial]

9. Sadly, your thread title, "nobody ever went broke..." has become supremely ironic.

We've all been rendered broke by the electorate overestimating its own intelligence and by proving that there is no level beneath which one could possibly estimate their lack of intelligence.

We've all been hoodwinked, bamboozled. All it cost us was everything. Pity there is no Twain alive today to rub a little good-natured salt into our wounds. But then if there was, most Americans would be too illiterate to understand him anyway.

[Orsino]

8. It's just now sinking in that the far right has a problem.

They won't change, but they will have to rebrand.