Red New England?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

As some above statements say, idealizing New England as some haven of the fiscally conservative that will vote GOP once we dump social conservatives is foolish indeed. I'm sure there's some myth purported and kept living by neo-secularist fiscal conservatives in the region that "once we drop those damned proles in the South, we'll win every election!" Yeah, that's a load of bees' wax as far as I'm concerned. Sure, you can count on most of them for votes, probably, in an election season where a socially "reasonable" candidate is nominated, but don't delude yourselves into believing that there's some grand coalition of people that only vote on fiscal issues (and as well only vote for the right on fiscal issues) out there that would side with you and only you. You're pumping yourselves full of happy-good-time myths to help reinforce your worldview. For God's sake, just, Jesus Christ people. I mean, just for one f#cking second consider that you sort of need a coalition of people to win an election, not just some sort of dumb "dump X group for Y group and everything will turn out hunky-dory" strategy. I mean, seriously, f#ck that.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Until the GOP drops the religious right, its gone.

The GOP doesn't have to drop the religious right, they just need to stop putting so much emphasis on social issues and governing by hostage crisis.

George HW Bush was a pragmatic conservative who won the last GOP landslide and carried much of the Northeast by convincing margins. That's what the Republican Party has to return to: pragmatic conservativism. We don't have to drop the Religious Right or become the Democratic Party. Just stop being ing insane about everything.

Winning elections and being conservative are not mutually exclusive.

That was also at a time of important electoral flux as it was the GOP's last romp in New England. His victories there probably had more to do with image, the economy, and tradition rather than his political stances, seeing how right he veered in order to make sure he had the nomination lined up for him in '88.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I could vote for a regionalist Northeast-based liberal-conservative party.

How's the one described here work for you?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Until the GOP drops the religious right, its gone.

The GOP doesn't have to drop the religious right, they just need to stop putting so much emphasis on social issues and governing by hostage crisis.

George HW Bush was a pragmatic conservative who won the last GOP landslide and carried much of the Northeast by convincing margins. That's what the Republican Party has to return to: pragmatic conservativism. We don't have to drop the Religious Right or become the Democratic Party. Just stop being ing insane about everything.

Winning elections and being conservative are not mutually exclusive.

That was also at a time of important electoral flux as it was the GOP's last romp in New England. His victories there probably had more to do with image, the economy, and tradition rather than his political stances, seeing how right he veered in order to make sure he had the nomination lined up for him in '88.

Remember that after the 1990s, "law and order" more or less disappeared as a significant electoral issue. For most of the mid- and late-20th century, Republicans had that advantage. People were worried about violent crime and domestic unrest. You had protests in the '60s, all those people trying to assassinate Gerald Ford in the '70s, the crack epidemic in the '80s. The Rodney King riots in 1992. Bill Clinton and the Democrats more or less had to play on Republican turf to win in the '90s by going on about school uniforms and having Tipper Gore talk about banning violent video games and whatever else was going on.

That's not an issue anymore. Not even uptight suburban moms are worried about being "tough on crime." Even conservatives have come around to the idea that simply throwing the book at people for minute infractions might not be the best strategy. Scaling back criminal sentencing and drug laws dovetails perfectly between social liberals who want a more lenient approach to drug use and who are concerned about high incarceration rates among minorities, and fiscal conservatives who finally realized that prisons are really expensive to run.

New Hampshire is the only true swing state in New England. 

I will forever argue to my grave that ME-2 can be in play with the right Republican. All those guys that once made Maine a red stronghold didn't all just die, did they?

That's actually very possible.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The only way New England flips to the GOP is if they become the left-wing party on all issues.

Sure, kicking the Socons to the curb might help a little. The GOP might win Plymouth County occasionally. But the truth is that New England is fundamentally, on a deep level left of center on economics too. People seem to have the erroneous idea that most of New England's voting patterns is due to Rockefeller Republican WASPs switching to Ds. They seem to have forgotten the Irish, and the mill towns, and all the various working class immigrant demographics that have historically transformed the area, and given it a permanent leftist tinge.

As well, there's the false idea that gets floated around about "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" Republicans. While their elected officials on the GOP side might've been more fiscally conservative than socially conservative, I highly doubt Lowell Weicker stands out as some grand libertarian. Nelson Rockefeller, the f#cking namesake of the term "Rockefeller Republican" could hardly be called right-of-center, and in fact probably had more fiscally liberal than socially liberal policies due to his "tough on crime" stances and opposition to the anti-war movement.