Posted on 11/07/2012 5:02:29 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
My main concern right now is a Republican Party that can win elections and majorities again, and do that for the conservative movement. Now is the hour of our discontent, when all of the factions inside the GOP turn on each other to blame each other for the loss.
Heres what I think went wrong:
NOT social issues voters. This will be a predictable line from elite/moderates/liberals. The fact of the matter is social issues voters are still around 30% of the electorate and the GOP cant get to 50% without them. Deal with it.
NOT extremism. And may I remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! Wait, the guy who said that lost in a landslide. Urm. Uh Well. The point I want to make: theres extremism and theres extremism. Mitt Romney was down the line mainstream Republican in this campaign and he got to a hair of 50%. Americans just dont think the Republican Party platform is wildly extreme the way they thought that about Goldwater or McGovern.
By the same token, NOT moderation. A lot of people on the right of the GOP and in the grassroots will try to say that Romney lost because he was too moderate. Nope. Again, he was a down the line mainstream Republican...
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Seriously, neither of them would have won.
Seriously, neither of them would have won.
Ah, I forgot —I think we will see major arms races emerge in the Middle East and also in Asia. Seeing Iran, does anyone think Saudi Arabia and Egypt will NOT pursue nukes? I’m leaving out several others.
Will Taiwan just sit on their hands? Japan?
Both those actors understand Obama will have their backs with all the dedicated furvor as he backed Bengazi SEALs.
In my nightmare scenario Obama will suspend the Constitution and rule by decree as dictator... not as far fetched as it might seem.
Palin would have just made the split larger.
I honestly think abortion has to go from the platform. I think the fight against abortion needs to be amped up at the church level, and taken down on the political level.
I live in California and my kids go to a conservative Christian school. Most of my daughter’s friends are not buying that abortion is wrong. They just think their teachers are old and don’t get it.
If we are not very careful we will end up in burkas. My greatest fear is that we will see war on US shores. Our weakness will encourage enemies to attack. This is a country teaming with natural resources and fertile land. Things are ugly out there and we are seeing all countries, not just our own turning more dangerous and dictatorial. We could even end up in a larger war with China or Russia.
In my honest opinion, I believe there are many and the left who would welcome this with open arms. They despise American principals just that much.
Things have been unpleasent under Obama’s first four years, but now we are going to see what he is really capable of. Our enemies have been unleashed... they know he won’t lift a finger to stop them. The workforce will largely be going to 29 hour weeks so employers can avoid paying for Obamacare. Energy prices are going to triple at least as the EPA shuts down domestic energy production.
The silver lining is that Obama did enough damage in his first four years that Romney would might not have been able to fix it and four years from now the electorate would have been blaming him. Obama now owns what he has done. I guess things hadn’t got bad enough for people to swing hard in the opposite direction.
Some one who can articulate conservative, common sense message in simple language, with confidence and good humour. Like Reagan did. He got through the media filter-short and clear answers in terms that people understood.
Is there a Governor or ex Governor out there that can do that? No I don’t mean Palin - love her and she has charisma, but she does not have the same clarity when she communicates that Reagan had.
And so far she has not been able to break through the media filter/smears to connect with voters outside the base of the party.
Someone conservatives can agree on so GOPe doesn’t get to play coservatives against each other.
Who can communicate the best, who is really smart, well known that people generally like?
My college age son had a conversation with a young lady. He said - this is a win for communism. She replied, “There is nothing wrong with communism.” That is where the young generations heads are. The biggest issues among his classmates at college: abortion, contraception, gay marriage, and ... Romney is RICH! They truly believed that Romney was going to shackle women and make them leave the workplace. The ‘binder of women’ resonated as a reason to fear Romney. The young voter literally feared Romney and a return to the 1950’s.
The GOP is a Moderate party don't you know.
We can do the welfare state better and cheaper.
I am thinking Jeb Bush in 2016!
(do i need a /sarc?)
Sounds like the Tea Party folks stayed home and didn't vote in protest that their candidate wasn't nominated. I think you're right. There were certainly enough FReepers here who loudly and proudly said they were staying home. To those folks I say; "Congratulations, revel in your purity while America sinks. The tipping point is past and yesterday was our last chance."
“I think Rick Santorum was a better choice. Gingrich as VP would have rounded out the ticket.”
Romney ran as good a campaign as could have been done. He was up against the media and a stupid electorate. It didn’t matter who ran for the GOP. We could have run Santorum, Gingrich, Reagan, George Washington or Jeffrey Dahmer. It didn’t matter. The game was fixed from the beginning.
If what you’re describing is true, then the non voting Tea Partiers cut off their noses to spite their faces.
I’d guess that Ruth Bader Ginsburg will retire in the next couple years, denying the opportunity to have a solid Conservative Majority on the Court. I also think that Kennedy and/or Scalia will leave the Court (possibly feet first like Rehnquist did) meaning that there’ll be a Liberal Majority for the next generation at least.
I also don’t see the GOP taking back the White House in 2016. All the demographic numbers and trending clearly point to it. This year was the tipping point for the success of an identity politics driven national majority. There’s also no Reagan out there like after Ford lost to Carter in 1976. And the GOP House margin while large can’t really be seen as strong or permanent.
I truly believe that Obama, and the resulting destruction of our economy, is a punishment from God. A punishment caused by the murder of 3000 babies a day. How can anyone expect God to bless a country that allows that? While you may have a point politically, the issue is deeper than that. Changing hearts and minds is necessary, too. However, we don't simply try to change the hearts and minds of murderers and rapists to not kill and rape. We make it illegal to protect the potential victims.
You would wear a burka? That’s a big problem.
Personally, I’d die first. Guess that came out wrong. There are however women who wouldn’t.
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