Different fighting methods - conservative and liberal

As I was reading some old quotes by Ronald Reagan, I began thinking about my political journey in the last 20+ years which really began with the Gipper. I have observed many politicians and many pundits. It struck me that each side approaches the great debate in different ways. Almost always the conservative approaches the great debate like an arm wrestler. Here is my arm; bring up your arm and we see who is the strongest. While there is some strategy, for the most part it is brute strength against brute strength and the one who is strongest and has the most stamina wins. A conservative will take labels with very little objection and remain constant with the goal in the end of giving their best shot and having the most stamina. This is why when you clearly and concisely place conservative ideas against liberal ideas, conservatives win every time.

A liberal on the other hand, approaches the debate like a boxer. They are constantly moving and do not want to present a constant target. They are there one moment, but when you strike they are not there anymore and you "miss". Liberals do not like labels. They want to constantly move around with fancy footwork and dodges. A label to a liberal is like having your feet glued to the floor. The goal of the liberal is stealth, dodging hoping to cause the opponents strikes to miss while coming at their opponent with unexpected blows that land.

Where the liberal makes their mistake is that political debate is not confined to the boxing analogy. Liberals try to take that approach and if they succeed in tricking the conservative into going along with it, they will win. However, most conservatives have gotten smart about this. Instead of worrying about where the liberals are trying to project that they are, conservatives continue to strike blow after blow where they know liberals to actually be. Liberals continually try to act like conservatives are building a straw man and debating against that. In actuality they are ignoring the mirage man the liberal tries to present and actually debates against the real man. This is how talk radio and the new media continues to meet with success. They just keep landing blows where they know the liberals are, rather than going after where the liberals pretend to be. The inevitable "squealing like a stuck pig" reaction is all that is usually needed to know you have landed a blow.