Democrats think Tancredo will be the easiest to defeat..

[roberth]

Terrific post hollohas.

[Zundfolge]

Well you see, some people do care. If it was not effective it would not keep coming up, much like "They are gonna take your guns."

That's the $64 question though ... is it effective? If hanging the pro-life lable around the necks of Republicans like an albatross actually worked then how did the recalls win? The attacks on Herpin and Rivera were almost entirely built around the "these guys are pro-life so they hate women and are too extreme for Colorado" bs.

Also if so many people (especially dems and indys) made their decision based on abortion then why did Ritter win?

Polls show that abortion is pretty much a 50/50 issue in America now, and the people that are moved by the issue have pretty much already made up their minds which way their voting already (party lines) so I don't think the issue carries nearly the weight it used to (nor does it carry the same weight as "They're gonna take your guns!").

But all that still doesn't address my original point and that is if every Republican decided to never mention abortion again and the GOP removed any reference to it from their platform all they would really do is alienate their base and not gain a single vote from so-called independents and Democrats would still act like banning abortion (and by extension ending women's suffrage, and making women into second class citizens chained to the kitchen counter, barefoot and pregnant) is the only thing that Republicans want to do and that simply electing one Republican will cause it to happen (along with the establishment of a radical Christian Theocracy that makes the Taliban look like moderate secularists).

In other words the Democrats and the media (redundant) are going to lie. Period.

[merl]

I think you are wrong there. If the GOP removed abortion from the platform, shut up or actively spoke in support of it, and most important voted against the bills that inevitably come from the fringe it would vanish as an issue. The problem is that anyone that cares about it enough to let it sway votes (women) has plenty of examples on that issue when the GOP gets a strong majority. Folks that may not be single issue (at least they don't admit it) use it as one of the many things.
Single issue voters would no longer have that issue as a divisor (among the two major parties at least) if it was dropped from the platform. Would not happen overnight, time would be needed to show that it really was gone but it would go.
Same thing applies to global warming, gays, guns, any other issue that makes people single issue voters. If there is no difference between the major parties on their issue people will either move to third parties, not vote, or find another reason to vote for one of the big two.

The people in charge of of the parties know this and the dividing issues must get enough people motivated to be worth keeping on platforms. At least I hope they are smart enough to do the math but given the recent history of gay marriage I'm not so sure.

As for why the recalls won? The anger was very fresh in the minds of the people at the time so one side was very motivated. We might have seen something very different if it had been a mail in vote, you had to be motivated enough to go vote in person on a Tuesday. Everyone also knew it would not change the control of the state so the message of anger could be sent safely without regard for any other issues. If you believed in gun rights at all you could vote for the recall and all the other issues would remain as they were.

[Gman]

They're running commercials against Tancredo and Beauprez.

Sent from my electronic leash.

[Zundfolge]

I think you are wrong there. If the GOP removed abortion from the platform, shut up or actively spoke in support of it, and most important voted against the bills that inevitably come from the fringe it would vanish as an issue.

So you're saying the pro-life position is "the fringe"? See, that's the Goebbelian "big lie" the left has been telling us for decades.



The ONLY reason it's a big issue is because Democrats keep spreading the lie that America is a staunchly pro-choice nation and they keep bringing the issue up.

The truth is if the GOP were to abandon their pro-life position (or worse, actively take a pro-choice position) they'd lose their base and never win another election again (which is why the leftist run media keeps pushing us this way).


The other "big lie" we keep hearing is that Republicans lose because they're "too conservative" or "not reaching out to the middle" when the opposite is true. Conservative Republicans win more than moderate Republicans. If I were wrong then we'd have spent 2008-2012 complaining about whatever President McCain was doing and/or from 2012 to now what President Romney was doing.

[merl]

It would be a fringe issue if the GOP disavowed it. Right now it obviously is not. If america was not split on abortion one side or the other would have had to give up on it by now. We're not pro choice we're not pro life, we're split so it becomes a divisive issue. One side wants to ban something and the other does not so those that don't care but don't like seeing the government banning stuff puts a point in the other column. Are there really that many people with that as the single issue they vote based on and would abandon the GOP for third party?

Why is the state completely controlled by the democratic party if the republicans are not too conservative for the state?

[Zundfolge]

Are there really that many people with that as the single issue they vote based on and would abandon the GOP for third party?

No, they'll just stay home (like they did in 2010 and thus we got Hick in the first place).

Why is the state completely controlled by the democratic party if the republicans are not too conservative for the state?

Colorado is controlled by Democrats because Republicans are disunited, confused, many buying the "gotta be a moderate" lie and are being out organized (and cheated) by the wealthy Democrat machine.

There is no reason why Colorado can't follow Wisconsin and put a Scott Walker (staunch conservative and staunchly pro-life) in charge.

The comparison I keep coming back to is Walker vs Christie ... both are Republican gov's of deep blue states. Walker keeps winning (beating insane opposition including a couple of recall efforts) and Christie keeps losing ... Walker sticks to conservative principals unapologetically and Christie governs as a liberal and lies saying he's a conservative.

[UrbanWolf]

Look at all the infightings we have!

[Zundfolge]

Look at all the infightings we have!

Well this is primary season, so this is the time for infighting ... problem is too many in the GOP keep the infighting up after the primaries, which is something Democrats generally don't do.