The Top 5 Comebacks for Conservative Republicans to Use On Squishy, Moderate Republican Friends Who Tell You to Leave the GOP

Graphic is a link to graphic at Smart City Memphis

Well, they may not tell you that YOU need to leave the party, but they’ll say it like what you believe in needs to leave the party, i.e. pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, restrict immigration to legal immigrants, etc.  Those positions are “dead” they tell you.   They scream that the GOP needs to be “modernized”, by which they also mean that your positions are a thing of the past that will not get people elected anymore.

Notice how many of the people who tell you this did not like those issues to begin with.  They say they are “pro life” but


they do not want laws involved with it, which is not what “pro life” means.  They two people who love each other should be able to marry, by which they mean that traditional marriage between a man and a woman should be on even par with same-sex marriage and opens the door for the return of polygamy.

In essence they held liberal views on social issues before the November 2012 election ever occurred.  These are their personal views they are trying to impose on a political structure.  This leads to the first thing to say.

1.  "Don't Confuse Your Personal Beliefs With What Works for an Organization"

Say, "It sounds like you are imposing your personal views on the Republican party".  Remind them of their personal positions on these political issues.  Remind them that not every registered Republican shares that view.

Also, remind them that the party that is for social libertines with fiscal conservatism is the Libertarian party, not the Republican party.  The Republican party has never been a libertarian party.  It did not start over economics.  It started over slavery and the abolitionist movement, which are "social" issues.

Challenge them to read up on the history of the Republican Party.  Both dominant parties are coalitions of folks.  Not everyone who votes for one of the party candidates and who is registered to vote with that party believes the same thing as the party platform.  They hang out together because they have commonalities, not because they are monolithic.

2.  "The Data and Election Results Do Not Support Your Conclusion"

Some Republicans lost and some won.  Socially conservative and socially liberal Republicans both won and lost on November 6, 2012.

Squishy Republicans who lost:  Mitt Romney (challenger), Scott Brown (MA) (incumbent), and others.

Conservative Republicans who lost:  Mourdock (challenger), Akin (challenger), Representative Alan West (FL)

Our Nevada actually proves the whole thing wrong.  Senator Dean Heller (appointed incumbent) is considered a conservative, yet President Obama's coattails did not unseat him.

In a piece entitled "The death of the moderate Republican" Doyle McManus of the LA Times points out the disparity:

Which Republicans lost their seats? Moderates and moderate conservatives, disproportionately.

Among the incumbents who ran for reelection, 48 were members of a group called the Republican Main Street Partnership, nonradical conservatives who sometimes call themselves "center right." Seven of those 48 lost their seats — a mortality rate of 15%, more than twice as high as Republicans in general.

3.  "Your Guilty Conscience Over Not Helping Mitt Romney is Causing You to Overgeneralize and Catastrophize His Loss"

Some of the bitterest blamers are those who did nothing more than think Romney was a good candidate, Obama was a terrible leader and showed up to vote on election day, or, more lazily, cast an absentee ballot.  Chances are they did not give money, they did not volunteer at GOP headquarters, they did not walk precincts, or make get out the vote phone calls.  They were political spectators who acted like they, personally, just lost the Super Bowl when they were not even playing in it.

If you want a different result, do something different next time.  Stop telling other people who have been involved and have done all of the above to help candidates get elected what to believe and what candidates to pick.

4.  "Who Would Have Been a Better Candidate? or, Who is Your Ideal Candidate By Name, Not By Qualities?"

The problem with these folks is they do not really like the people who share their belief that the GOP should be about economic issues only.  They like to distance themselves from Republicans like Arnold Schwarzenneger, New York Mayor Bloomberg and, now, since Hurricane Sandy brought he and Obama closer together.

And, they had that option -- to vote for and support a candidate exactly like that in the Republican presidential primary, e.g. Gary Johnson, and Jon Huntsman.  Chances are, though, they voted for Romney as the "compromise" candidate.  Romney was not considered the conservative in the race.  Rather Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich (to some degree), Herman Cain and Rick Perry were considered the conservatives.

Thus, your friends probably do not have a favorite candidate who shares their exact views, or one they would admit to.  A political party has to pick somebody.  That's what a primary is for.

5.  "Adoption of Democrat Policies Will Not Cause Republicans to Win More Because Democrats Will Just Devise A New Wedge Issue and Continue to Pull the Country More Leftward"

The perfect example of this occurred in this campaign's election cycle.  Prior to one of the Republican primary debates provision of birth control pills was not an issue in the race.  Even Catholic candidates such as former Pennsylvania Governer Rick Santorum who does not believe in birth control pills was not asserting and has never asserted they should be banned.  This was a non-issue.  However, the Dems turned this into "Republicans are taking you back to the Dark Ages and are trying to make birth control illegal".

Never underestimate the skill of the left of redefining any "social" issue into a winning issue for them.  If you think otherwise, you do not know these people.

In 2016, they will turn even your friend into a "kook" for having the gall to believe that polygamy should not be a mere lifestyle choice.

Hopefully these points will start the conversation with your moderate friends about why you matter in the Republican party and are not "dead" or "antiquated".  Have any other comebacks?  Feel free to comment.