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Mark Steyn: Romney ran a 'small, shriveled campaign' (Audio)
Daily Caller ^ | November 26, 2012 | Jeff Poor

Posted on 11/26/2012 4:18:45 PM PST by Rufus2007

Filling in on Rush Limbaugh’s Monday radio show, National Review columnist Mark Steyn said that Republicans lost big on Election Day because less engaged and more uniformed voters turned out in force.

“We do very well in off years, in the midterms — 1994, 2002,” Steyn said. “Republicans can have good years then because essentially they’re low-turnout elections — people who are engaged in politics vote. In the presidential years, people voted — a broader pool of voters comes in, and they’re basically people who swim in the broader culture. They’re not people who know the name of their congressmen or governor, and [they] aren’t terribly interested.”

Steyn, author “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon,” added that the GOP has had persistent problems getting motivated voters to the polls.

...more (w/audio)...

(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 2012issues; blame; culturewar; marksteyn; mittromney; romney2012; talkradio
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Steyn might be a little brutal with his description, but he was right that Romney focused on small potatoes in this election.

It's all Monday morning quarterbacking, but with a some sort of moral guidebook in the culture, it's going to be hard for a Republican to win again.

1 posted on 11/26/2012 4:18:50 PM PST by Rufus2007
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To: Rufus2007

Romney did better than McCain, but anyone with a pulse could have done that. Until Republicans get a better understanding of popular culture and learn how to communicate their beliefs in a modern fashion, they will lose to the democrats who have mastered the emotional manipulation of the masses.


2 posted on 11/26/2012 4:28:07 PM PST by 3Fingas (Sons and Daughters of Freedom, Committee of Correspondence)
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To: Rufus2007; All
Steyn is correct! The choice should have been well-defined as being between individual freedom (liberty) and slavery to government (tyranny).

Instead, Candidate Romney made it about mere symptoms of tyrannical government: the economy and lack of jobs.

When people are free and government is bound, the economy and jobs naturally occur, because they arise out of the optimism, freedom and creativity of free people pursuing their own happiness.

On the other hand, when government officials ignore "the chains of the Constitution" (Jefferson's term), assuuming unconstitutional and coercive power to impose restraints on the liberties of "the People," economic freedom, opportunity, prosperity and plenty fall by the wayside.

The 2012 election is history, but the long term consequences of loss of freedom will punish rising generations for years to come!

3 posted on 11/26/2012 4:31:38 PM PST by loveliberty2
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To: Rufus2007

I think Steyn (and you) are right. Another way to put it: Romney ran a “talking points” campaign without much depth and explanation. If Lincoln could make serious arguments to untutored farmers, I don’t see why contemporary candidates can’t to our more- (if ill-) schooled voters. Thomas Sowell has also argued for more substance in campaigns.


4 posted on 11/26/2012 4:31:47 PM PST by buridan
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To: Rufus2007
...the GOP has had persistent problems getting motivated voters to the polls...I guess that's my problem in understanding what happened on November 6 - I kept hearing that Republicans were way ahead in the "enthusiasm' metric, were more motivated to get out and vote against Obama and all he stood for - somehow I thought "motivated" people would be able to get themselves out to vote, not have to be cajoled or bribed or persuaded or whatever it's supposed to take to get them to the polls - my mistake.....
5 posted on 11/26/2012 4:34:38 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
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To: loveliberty2

Well said!-put!


6 posted on 11/26/2012 4:36:30 PM PST by buridan
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To: buridan

On the other hand, Obama didn’t run on any agenda except FORWARD. Not even a plan for a 2nd term. I guess he didn’t need it - instead, he just bashed Romney and made what he thought were cute remarks about Big Bird, Romnesia, etc.

Yet, people expected Romney to go into details about his plan. If he had done that - then the media would have torn him to shreds. Heck, they did anyway. And, not knowing who he would have as cabinet members or elected Senators, etc., it would be difficult to lay out specifics.

This is my opinion, for what its worth.


7 posted on 11/26/2012 4:37:20 PM PST by Catsrus
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To: Rufus2007

***”We do very well in off years...***

Mark, we luv ya, but just who do you mean by ‘we’?

If you mean those who want to live in a free, prosperous, Constitutional America, then, no, ‘we’ don’t do well in ‘off years’. Or ‘on’ years for that matter.

If you’re talking about Republicans, then I guess off years are better for them.

The Republican Party is finished, Mark. Whether or not a third party emerges, the GOP had it’s last hurrah with GWB. And it’s not the fault of those who want to preserve the Republic.


8 posted on 11/26/2012 4:39:13 PM PST by MichaelCorleone ('We the People' can and will take this country back...starting today.)
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To: FReepers; Patriots


Some make more than one donation
Many make none


9 posted on 11/26/2012 4:39:51 PM PST by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: buridan
Your point is well taken. We might remember that the 85 essays of Madison, Hamilton and Jay, known as THE FEDERALIST, were written for consumption by farmers and ordinary citizens as explanations of the Constitution and its protections for their rights and liberties.

We must take into account, however, the depth of understanding possessed by the authors of those essays, as well as their passion and commitment to the ideas of liberty. Where are we to find candidates of such perception and devotion to liberty today?

Perhaps an appeal to Divine Providence is in order.

10 posted on 11/26/2012 4:40:36 PM PST by loveliberty2
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To: Rufus2007

Which begs the question: what the hell did Steyn expect when he was pimping Mitt hard by trashing Newt in Dec and Jan?


11 posted on 11/26/2012 4:42:52 PM PST by C. Edmund Wright ("WTF?: How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost....Again")
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To: Rufus2007
"...more uniformed voters turned out in force."

Indeed.

12 posted on 11/26/2012 4:43:13 PM PST by SnuffaBolshevik (In a tornado, even turkeys can fly.)
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To: MichaelCorleone

Well, now that you’ve made yourself feel important and elnightened by promoting a third party (yeah, that will work, since there are only about 75 parties now. I’m sure YOUR new one WILL be the one that works).....you should know that many of the good guys are elected in off years....

Now, back to the purity of your own irrelevance.


13 posted on 11/26/2012 4:45:10 PM PST by C. Edmund Wright ("WTF?: How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost....Again")
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To: 3Fingas

We are in WW3. It’s already being fought, and the enemy is winning so far.

It’s not really so much about politics as about good and evil on a prime level. There’s a reason the left and the muslims hate C.S.Lewis and Tolkien. Anyone human know what the deal is.


14 posted on 11/26/2012 4:45:10 PM PST by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com (Vendetta))
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To: MichaelCorleone

Well, now that you’ve made yourself feel important and elnightened by promoting a third party (yeah, that will work, since there are only about 75 parties now. I’m sure YOUR new one WILL be the one that works).....you should know that many of the good guys are elected in off years....

Now, back to the purity of your own irrelevance.


15 posted on 11/26/2012 4:45:19 PM PST by C. Edmund Wright ("WTF?: How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost....Again")
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To: Rufus2007

Mark is reading my posts. We do have two electorates. We win in the off years, because the dumbocrats are only motivated by their savior and haven’t a clue who their congressman and senator are.

They haven’t a clue about how a republic governs and the whole checks and balances thing.

Besides it’s too much work to actually vote two times in a four year span.

The presidential elections are for preserving their freebies and perks.


16 posted on 11/26/2012 4:46:24 PM PST by A'elian' nation (Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred. Jacques Barzun)
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To: Catsrus

I think you can be substantive without exposing yourself too much to demagoguery. Obama gutted welfare reform, one of the most successful social policies of recent times, and it go-put!t little attention in the campaign. The changes were hard to explain, but it could have been done. There were dozens of similar errors by his administration that could have been explained as taking us toward dependency instead of toward an opportunity society.


17 posted on 11/26/2012 4:48:07 PM PST by buridan
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To: Catsrus

Please excuse the extra “puts” in my posts here. I must have had the word on my clipboard-put!


18 posted on 11/26/2012 4:51:21 PM PST by buridan
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To: buridan
If Lincoln could make serious arguments to untutored farmers, I don’t see why contemporary candidates can’t to our more- (if ill-) schooled voters.

Untutored farmers could think circles around the pigs with their faces buried in the federal handout trough Republicans today have to contend with.

19 posted on 11/26/2012 4:52:27 PM PST by hopespringseternal
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To: Rufus2007
On Rush's show today Steyn said conservatives had flushed a billion dollars down the toilet on the 2012 election. He said we would have done better to spend that money on five $200 million blockbuster films that framed things according to the conservative worldview, to teach the public.

I saw Spielberg's Lincoln film this weekend and all I can say is that Steyn is right. We're simply being out-hustled by the left in terms of cultural influence. That movie is a brilliantly executed piece of liberal propaganda and we have no answer to it.

20 posted on 11/26/2012 4:53:31 PM PST by Yardstick
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