It was effective because Republicans get a lot of mileage out of pretending to be the "everyman" - and since they can't claim it on economic grounds, they claim it based on pure vibes. But really anyone who's at all involved in Republican politics is actually a freak far beyond either your average republican voter, or even a center to left political freak. Their policies are incredibly unpopular to the point where if you even tell a conservative voter what the policies are, they think they're so outlandish that you're literally lying to make your opponents sound insane. It made cons mad because it was working. Then the Clinton people broke down the door and put a stop to it