Huntsman strategist: If Palin and Limbaugh dominate, GOP 'headed for a blowout'

[pbrower2a]

These Huntsman people are the same breed who urged the GOP to nominate Ford or Howard Baker instead of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Most people thought of Reagan as a dumb extremist like Palin until the debate with Carter. He would never have won in a landslide without that. Palin has not proven herself to be intelligent yet.

Ronald Reagan moderated his rhetoric, as did Barack Obama. Sarah Palin didn't.  That makes all the difference in the world. Reagan never proved that he was a rocket scientist, not that such is necessary for the Presidency. Failing to moderate her rhetoric, indeed becoming decisive, Sarah Palin showed that she was unsuited to being one stoke or heart attack away from the Presidency.

[pbrower2a]

Thankfully someone people pay attention to is saying this.  Myself and others have been saying so for what feels like decades and finally there is someone of significant stature that agrees with us.

The problem is that if the base continues to move right, we might get Palin as our nominee in 2012. I want to have faith that we won't do so, but part of me still fears that we will nominate her. It all depends if our registration numbers continue to bleed before 2012 if more moderates leave.

Four years after the Goldwater debacle, the GOP ended up with Richard Nixon as its nominee. To be sure, Nixon had hidden damage that had no connection to his ideology.