Romney's New Strategy Turns Right- “This is going to be a base election.” More God, less economy.

[UCmeNdc]

Mitt Romney's campaign has concluded that the 2012 election will not be decided by elusive, much-targeted undecided voters — but by the motivated partisans of the Republican base.

This shifting campaign calculus has produced a split in Romney's message. His talk show interviews and big ad buys continue to offer a straightforward economic focus aimed at traditional undecided voters. But out stumping day to day is a candidate who wants to talk about patriotism and God, and who is increasingly looking to connect with the right's intense, personal dislike for President Barack Obama.


http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/romneys-new-strategy-turns-right

[atreides1]

1. Yeah

And this is a surprise?

[DonViejo]

2. Trying to hold the base to prevent a complete shellacking?

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Prevent a third party conservative splinter for the 2014 midterms

To shore up the base now means that they're worried the "base" will abandon the Party. You already see rumblings of this in Free republics reaction to Romney, and it will continue if he really starts losing Dole-style. They nominated him against their own wishes (preferring Gingrich and Santorum) largely because he was supposedly marketable to moderates and indies. if that proves to be false (as is rapidly becoming the case), then they will have felt cheated of their own candidates, who they will then imagine might have won. This will be a rift that may sunder the party for a decade. So Romney has no choice but to go hard right and try to salvage at least these folks, the consolation prize being that perhaps Santorum and Gingrich might have lost as well. Put plainly, it's disastrous for Romney to be courting the extreme right at this time, in damn-near late September. But he has no choice.

[railsback]

3. An interesting turn of events

Romney was supposed to be etch a sketched into a moderate after carpet bombing his competition into submission. Now he's going full Sarah Palin to shore up the base that was already his. This is what the psychos like Limbaugh have been pushing for. For me, this is a blatant admission of losing big. From what I understand, Romney gets to keep whatever is left in the campaign war chest, so this would just be a final push to line his own pockets with more of other people's money, which seems to be his only talent.

[Raven]

4. I think you're right. They can't

win with just their base

[sofa king]

7. He never won over the right-wingers.

Without their enthusiasm and unquestioning support, Romney has no chance, just as John McCain didn't have a chance because he had already been savaged by the Bush campaign in 2000 and could never repair the damage Karl Rove did to him, not even with a D-cup prop.

Right-wing authoritarians are a "solved" demographic, though. As long as they are scared and uncertain, they will file out to vote in numbers which are truly disconcerting.

This little article is particularly amusing because only this weekend it was being reported that Romney planned to turn toward the economy. But his slash-and-burn economic policy won't fly, either, so all he has left is to try to make pals with the cavemen... again.

He's even fucking that up. Politico is claiming that Romney this week is going to try to re-frame his lies as "Change versus status quo."

And what do right-wing authoritarians fear more than anything else? Change. Now Romney is for change. That ain't gonna go real far at the toy store, Elvis. But I'm glad he's trying it.

[CrispyQ]

5. Considering his religion, is this a good move?

Aren't there polls that show that many fundies are very uncomfortable with his religion?

Who's advising him? This is a campaign of desperation. If it weren't for Citizen's & electronic voting & voter disenfranchisement, I'd say we have this in the bag. Too bad our electoral system is so compromised.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. Whatever he does it won't be nice for him

[budkin]

6. Haha seriously?

Chances went from no chance to less than no chance.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Making the same desperate moves McCain did

Once McCain saw that he was making no gains on economy or foreign policy, he went hard for the God, gays, and guns standbys. It didn't work then and it won't work now.

[Generic Brad]

11. That's a winning strategy!

(For Obama's campaign).