Posted on 11/10/2012 6:53:22 AM PST by BobL
Yes, it's bad, but no the country has not (yet) completely rejected us or what we stand for.
So let me start by saying the next 4 years will be terrible (if I don't say all this, I will just be attacked as a nutcase). We'll likely end up with a hard-left Supreme Court (although the current court may give us a few good rulings first). The lower federal courts will all be hard-left too. Foreign and military policy will stink - but if we're lucky, nothing fatal or permanent will happen there, and we can hopefully build out of it. Other areas will be terrible too.
Rush says we were outnumbered and it cannot get better. I don't believe that was the case, at least not in this election. Yes, we were defeated, but NO it was far from inevitable. And yes, demographics are moving away from us, but no, demographics move very slow and there are at least a few more presidential elections before it becomes very difficult to win, but there are steps that can even delay that (although it's looking unlikely that we'll get enough of them).
So, the relatively optimistic vanity - simply because this election was not won by Obama, but rather it was lost by Romney and the Republican Party, and then only at the end - the last month. We had a candidate that ran a cool, disciplined, campaign - and then BLEW IT at the very end. They had a candidate that also ran a very disciplined campaign, but did not blow it at the end.
So here are my 10 reasons that we lost. If each of them could be worth a point for Romney, he would have won in a landslide.
1) ORCA - the Republican Get Out the Vote effort TOTALLY crashed on election day. Not surprising - Romney used computer programmers that drove junkers with Obama bumper stickers (just guessing here). Maybe that was all he could get, but he still should have had both independent electronic backup and hand backup at the same time. He didn't - he figured that since his laptop always worked, ORCA would always work. He was an IDIOT. Obama's people had their version of ORCA, but the guy working there likely drove the same car, with the same Obama bumper sticker - and Obama's people would have been a bit suspicious if they saw a well-dressed programmer with a Romney bumper sticker and no facial hair. The Romney people were IDIOTS here for putting all of their cards in one place.
2) Hurricane Sandy - took the spotlight off of the campaign, which didn't help things. It was a once-in-lifetime storm, and it was timed as the perfect October surprise. It gave the president a chance to get people's minds off the economy.
3) Governor Christie - he had NO REASON to invite Obama to NJ. This alone likely cost Romney the majority vote in the election. Bloomberg, who had political reasons to help Obama, told Obama to keep out and gave GREAT political cover to Christie. There was nothing stopping Christie from inviting Obama over on Nov. 7th (after the election). Romney's people did try to stop this sabotage, but could not. (p.s., I count these as different topics, because there was no reason for the second one).
4) Not believing the Polls - They figured that the polls were off by at least 5%. It never occurred to them that that's never happened before. They (and nearly all of us) were convinced of the same. So they figured they had it in the bag at the end. This leads into a number of other points.
5) Romney was winning - Given that the polls were right, after all, then Romney was actually winning after the first debate. If demographics were so bad, then how was it that Romney EVER had any lead - as Obama would have owned his 51% right through? Obviously this election was winnable for Romney - had it been held a week after the first debate. People were ready to support Romney and reject Obama.
6) Playing a pre-vent defense at the end. Going into the first debate, Romney was in huge trouble and was further down than he ultimately lost by. So Romney was aggressive (just like when he was on the ropes during the primaries) and picked up something like 10 points in that debate, and made Obama look like a fool. But then they had Ryan back off, and then Romney gave Obama a pass, especially on foreign policy. Dems will always screw up foreign policy, but Republicans have this thing about not using it against them. STUPID. You have to win, first. This was their biggest strategic mistake - Reagan would have also lost in 1980 if he had backed off of Carter and played defense (and he nearly lost in 1984 doing the same in the first debate). Pre-vent defenses ALWAYS fail, unless you're up by 30 points at the two-minute warning, which was never the case for Romney.
7) Rush falling into the Women trap. Rush had Obama's re-election plan called down to the tee, probably for over a year. Obama needed to get people's minds off of the economy, and the big group for that was single women. So what did Rush do (and sorry Rush, but this didn't help, at all) - he called Fluck (or whatever her name is) a slut. It was somewhat funny, but face it, most of his listeners cringed and the Dems had a field day making her into a victim (which she, of course, was not). Rush stuck with it and seemed more interested in showing that he could ultimately win-out over them (which he did), but the damage was done outside of his show - and the Dems thought Christmas came early.
8) Two IDIOT Senate Candidates. Again, the women trap. Is there ANYONE in the Republican Party that can train these types of candidates on how to handle questions on abortion and other sensitive social issues, or does the party just ignore them and hope they go away? Or maybe if The Establishment would support Tea Party candidates once in while at the start, they party might be able to train them a bit. A campaign is a pressure-cooker, especially for Republicans - the candidates have to be ready. A very easy answer to the abortion question regarding forcible rape is to simply say something like "It's not the baby's fault, and that's just how I feel - next question". If Akin had simply said that, him and 10 others would be taking over the Senate. But the damage, obviously, spilled over to Romney, as it got women thinking about something other than the economy.
9) The House stayed Republican. Again, if we're outnumbered, why isn't Pelosi the next Speaker?
10) Fraud and Voter ID. This is likely worth a million (or more) votes just on its own. Not easy to fix, but Voter ID would likely go most of the way. From what I could see in Texas, where we had the infrastructure in place, but was not allowed to use it - it can be very effective. Voters here had to show an approved ID (had it been in place, but we showed the ID anyway to speed things up), and then it was electronically entered. If it was a driver license or state ID, it was checked against state records and your name was checked off. If something else, not sure what happened - but passports are expensive to produce and there won't be many fake passports for one vote each.
“2. I believe would have actually helped Romney if it hit in the right area. It hit in an area that was largely irrelevant to the GOP.”
I won’t respond to all of them, but if it didn’t hurt Romney, why did Romney’s campaign do everything they could to stop Christie - and why did Rush go after Christie the way he did? This one hurt.
Better yet, when the question about such rape comes up respond with: "Why do you want to kill someone for something that their parent did? Your position makes as much sense as throwing you in prison for 20 years because your mother cheated on her taxes."
“Actually, Republicans need to STFU altogether about abortion. Abortion is to Republicans what gun control is to Democrats; a net vote loser. Pro-life accolades bring nobody new to the party. They only drive people away. “
I wouldn’t go that far...because I’m convinced that the issue has brought out millions of voters for Republicans (through the years) that otherwise would have stayed home.
But yes, short answers - maybe even give a pass on forcible rape (along with life of mother). But trying to drop it completely will leave the Republicans with a base to work from.
In 2008 we got to find out who Obama was. In 2012 we got to find out who the American people are.
This is about the electorate.
Very good summation. That is what many of us find most disheartening and depressing about this election. We have labored under the illusion of two key points:
1. The country basically has a center-right political alignment, and
2. In the end, we can trust the intelligence and judgment of the average American voter.
Both assumptions were proved false by the last election. From here on, we cannot assume either is true, and if we do, we do so at our political peril.
Say what you will about Romney, but in the end he was not a bad candidate. He embodied many of the things we believe in, self-reliance, hard work, love of God and family, personal achievement, helping ones neighbor through personal (not government) charity, and American exceptionalism. The electorate rejected that in favor of a "man" who believes in none of that, except perhaps love of family. We at least now can see what a challenge we face, and it is daunting, to say the least.
“Why do you want to kill someone for something that their parent did? Your position makes as much sense as throwing you in prison for 20 years because your mother cheated on her taxes.”
NO!! That would also get thrown in our faces. The media would say something like “Joe Shark thinks that abortion is no different than killing someone.”
At least that’s my take on how it would get twisted.
Then say goodbye to female voters (and winning elections).
I do think at least it has made abortions fewer, I think today there is a stigma associated with abortion that wasn’t there before....perhaps instead of trying to address social issues in the political realm, it’s more effective to direct those efforts outside of it, through social sanctioning.
However, one thing the Democrats want to do is to prohibit even allowing social sanctioning, by limiting free speech. But that can be framed more as a liberty issue than a social issue, which is a win for our side.
Candidates need to understand that Roe v. Wade is the Law of the Land (and is highly unlikely to get overturned) and this should be their answer.
Some of us just can't accept infantcide.
As far as “law of the land” goes, technically the actions of the NAZIs in pre WWII Germany were perfectly legal. Many cooperated because it was the politically expedient thing to do.
Your comment helps me understand the mindset of those who cooperated with the NAZIs.
“1. The country basically has a center-right political alignment, and
2. In the end, we can trust the intelligence and judgment of the average American voter.”
I do agree that Romney was a strong candidate, I was just noting that his tactics at the end (sitting on a tiny lead), and some really bad luck (hurricane and Senate candidates) cost it for him. McCain, on the other hand, was simply PATHETIC.
As to your points above: Yes, the country is slowly drifting left, given our immigration policies and inability to integrate those people. But if the country was already there, the election would have been a lost-cause from the start.
Regarding the American people - you’re right. No politician should EVER trust the American people, as a whole, to sift through the noise. The Democrats never do, but Republicans, time after time, figure that constant attacks are just brushed off. And they are for you and me, and the people surrounding Romney - but they ARE NOT for the 20% of Americans that decide elections.
Branding, and the MSM. Romney wasn’t the perfect candidate. But no one will be. Look Romney was soft on abortion and it still didn’t matter. We are still being branded as sexist old white guys.
We have got to fix our brand or at least contradict the way it’s being potrayed and we need to do that effectively. And we haven’t.
We need a powerful movement headed by someone like Deniis Prager and we need our own news channel. Fox sure isn’t it. Hell, I even hate O’Reilly and Hannity and I agree with them! But I just can’t stomach them and the wife can’t either.
“Then say goodbye to female voters (and winning elections). “
Reagan won two landslides when abortion was a much bigger issue, and he did fine with women.
NO!! That would also get thrown in our faces. The media would say something like “Joe Shark thinks that abortion is no different than killing someone.”
Abortion is killing someone!
Another good answer. Would that our candidates were as politically astute as FReepers, at least on this particular issue.
Well, that's special. In case you've been asleep for the last few days, we now have the most pro-abortion president in the history of the republic. Scalia is 77 years old. Kennedy is 78. Not only will abortion remain legal but now we're going to have to pay for it. Two solidly pro-life Senatorial candidates were leading in the polls until they opened their fat mouths.
So you can go on demanding that every Republican candidate kiss the feet of Operation Rescue and then look stupefied when their opponents win elections.
Then say goodbye to female voters (and winning elections).
A lot of women, particularly among those who regret having had an abortion, are pro life. Pro abortion women who have had about seven or eight, such as Woopie Goldberg (in her own words) tend to blur the datum.
That was 32 years ago, a mere 6 years after R v. W. Reagan won landslides when white males were the majority of voters and he won by appealing to formerly democrat white male blue-collar factory workers. Demographics have changed significantly since then.
And even more women want abortion to remain legal. And women vote more than men. So where does that leave us? With losing candidates, that's where.
Actually, Republicans need to STFU altogether about abortion
Agree.
Response should be “ its the law of the land” and that’s all I’ll comment on it.
If pressed on personal opinion answer
It’s not mine to decide.
When the voting population wants it to change I will represent their desire.
Stick to that, and don’t fall into the “ act of god” exceptions etc.....
required
“Abortion is killing someone!”
Of course, but saying exactly what you think doesn’t always win - and if you don’t win, how do your fix it. I have no doubt that there are many, many, Republican candidates that have some pretty nasty thoughts regarding blacks and Hispanics, yet they know to keep them to themselves, if they want to win. All we’re doing is saying the same here - keep the thoughts that will cost you election, but you don’t have to compromise principles to do so.
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