Reply #46: Almost the entire GOP catalog is toxic and they know it

[Spike89]

The GOP gets points, riles their base, and attracts low-info voters with general talking points. Cut taxes! Well, that is attractive to almost anyone, but when it comes time to match the tax cut to the service cut, all of a sudden voters look more closely. The repugs want to kill medicare and SS, but know that doing so (and getting blamed for it) would destroy their party. The idea that you can keep an extra $500 a year sounds good, until you, your parents, or grandparents freeze or starve to death because their retirement account was raided by corporate malfeasance and SS is gone. The same with medicare--the money saved is nothing when you, your parents, or others die because they can't afford to see a doctor.

It is very akin to the abortion issue--they may truly be anti-abortion, but they know that if they succeed in making abortion illegal again, they'll find themselves far on the wrong side of an issue that most voters would find much more wrong than they poll. In other words, most people are against, or at least uncomfortable with the issue of abortion in theory--but when it becomes a concrete issue and they, their daughters, sisters, wives, etc. are being maimed in back alley "clinics" or forced to carry a child they aren't prepared or interested in, then the polls quickly shift from theory to practical.

The GOP MUST do everything it can to keep cause and effect from being linked in the voter's minds. Ironically, one of the very best strategies for dealing with this is to call their bluff, giving them the opportunity to get what they say they want, but only if they'll put their names on the consequences as well.