Posted on 11/05/2008 7:26:34 PM PST by lasereye
When it comes to fundraising, organization and ground game, we Republicans got whipped.
Now, Republicans may criticize Sen. Barack Obama for breaking his promise to accept public funding and play by the established rules, but that doesn't take us too far. We shouldn't kid ourselves: Democrats breaking this precedent had nothing to do with their campaign-finance principles, and everything to do with the fact they could afford to. Mr. McCain could never have competed this fall without the federal funds and, in the end, Mr. Obama simply smothered McCain, outspending him in battleground states by three-to-one, with plenty left over to compete in even Republican-leaning areas.
For years, Republicans outworked Democrats at the polls. Democrats would have opulent fund-raisers with celebrities and would bask in the glow of a lapdog media. Republicans would go out on Election Day and beat them on the ground game. Their guys wrote checks; our guys wrote letters to the editor. They knocked our values; we knocked on doors. They spoke for the people; we actually got out and spoke with the people. Conservative organizations outside the official party apparatus understood their role in a large coalition: organize, energize, and mobilize. And then we won.
Victory is always the hardest thing for a successful political coalition. Economic, social and foreign-policy conservatives unite easily when brought together in opposition to tax-and-spend, pro-abortion, dovish liberals in power. After more than a decade in control of Congress and eight years in the White House, the coalition has worn thin. Conservatives of each of these stripes will always have some complaint to make against the Republican Party. But as odd as it sounds, we need not let our past victories continue to divide us.
Meanwhile, liberals of every sort are in a frenzy to get back into power, and especially to wrest the White House back from President Bush, who liberals have tried to peg as an illegitimate president all along. Democrats have not missed this golden opportunity to unite.
Liberalism's new and impressive network of organizations -- especially fund-raising, grassroots mobilization, and communications -- has left in the dust anything conservatives have ever put together. Organizations like America Votes and ACORN are so closely tied to Democrat politics that they might as well be arms of the party apparatus. The George Soros-funded Shadow Party of organizations run by former Clinton administration officials and liberal leaders -- the Center for American Progress, the Thunder Road Group, MoveOn.org, Media Matters, etc. -- has created a second left-leaning party free from restrictions imposed by official regulations -- including McCain-Feingold.
This liberal infrastructure, which now dwarfs conservatism's in size, scope, and sophistication, will be setting and helping to impose the national agenda for the coming years. The time has come for conservatives to wake up and smell the 21st century.
American politics as we know it ended the day Mr. Obama refused public funds for his presidential bid and unleashed a billion-dollar political giant. National campaigns will now operate not as individual operations designed to elect a single man, but as a cohesive, all-encompassing movement, well funded and certainly prepared for a political coup. In 2012, Mr. Obama -- whether as an incumbent or a seasoned veteran challenger -- will no doubt raise more than $1 billion for his campaign conglomerate. And that's not wrong. It's impressive -- and intimidating.
Between now and then, Republicans must come to terms with their organizational shortcomings and finally become again the kind of dynamic political party that won stirring victories in 1994 and 2000. Our party must expand its organization to include our coalition groups in the ways Democrats have with theirs. The Coalition for a Conservative Majority, an organization I helped start in 2006, is trying to pull conservative organizations back together after too many years of internecine squabbling. Only under conservative government will groups like the National Rifle Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and National Right to Life Committee receive a fair hearing of their views; it's time they started working together.
Conservatism's leading donors must look beyond contributing only to traditional channels like the RNC or campaign committees, and open up to also funding outside organizations that can do what the Democrats' Shadow Party is already doing. New resources must be tapped, and just as importantly, coordinated.
And our leaders -- in Congress and in the states -- must develop and communicate a strong, conservative agenda of reform around which conservatives of all stripes can rally with a well-organized political communication strategy.
Luckily, we are still a center-right nation. We still favor conservative approaches to taxes, spending, regulation, foreign policy and traditional values. Americans have never lost their faith in conservatism. We need now a new, 21st-century political coalition to remind them of that fact, and to restore its faith in actual conservatives.
Former Rep. Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, served as House majority leader.
They are getting whipped because they were NOT conservatives.
The liberal infrastructure is subsidized by the government itself, thanks to very scum that control congress now.
My mailman stopped me the other day and said that in his 20 years of delivering mail, the Dems send out 2-3 times the mail that the GOP does every election.
Obviously this time it worked.
read later
We only got outspent because John McCain made the decision to take public funds which limited his funds to the 84 million. How many people would have given to him hearing how much Obama was raising if we could have?
That’s exactly right!
Simple...
The problem was McCain in regards to fundraising.
Is that a guy you want to give your money to? He stood for nothing. I am not sure we really know what he stands for.
The only reason McCain got any money at all was because of Palin. He had to take public financing because what else was he going to do.
McCain made the remark that if he would known how much money he could have made he would have put Palin on the ticket earlier.
“Money, organization and demographics are moving against the GOP for the foreseeable future.”
Yeah, yeah, money, mass mailings, ground game, etc., ad nauseum.
The fact is most americans get their info from the MSM which was blatantly dishonest, leading to the dissemination of misinformation, and uninformed voters.
The entire narrative, particularly regarding one Sarah Palin, was revolting.
as long as the MSM is going to operate like Communists, it is going to be a very uphill battle. Not that the other factors arent relevant, particularly government subsidized voter fraud...
You’re a good read why, Tom... you helped ram through Bush’s RINO proposals when maybe you should have instead stood up to him as a leader of an independent branch of government.
we got out spent because million upon million was illegal
how much did Soros give in prepaid credit cards
how much did buffet give
how much came from overseas
obama won the white house because he had blitzed states and had an unheard of amounts of money
course I expect no media to actually seek where this millions came from at all as they are now kissing obama’s arse
I HOPE the Republicans have learned a lesson here about accepting public funding. McCain could have raised more than Obama if he used the same tactics and allowed the anonymous donations. Money is everything. It got Obama’s face and rhetoric everywhere!
It’s time for a name change.
Bingo. Conservative ballot initiatives did just fine (gay marriage ban in CA and FL). McCain is not a conservative. He tried to sound like one and came across as a stuttering old fool. Palin saved him from a McGovern type blowout.
I’d like to know how much of O’s “contributions” were NOT LEGAL.....crickets....
After seeing this election, it appears there could be a new blueprint for automatic victory for the dems.
Just nominate some charismatic minority, either a Black or Latino, and their respective races will vote for them with 95+% support. Along with a smokescreen of heavy promotion by the media, mindless young voters coming out, and 30% of the white vote they can’t lose....
Something else to add to the list: education
I could not believe how ignorant the population is about basic economics and the Constitution as I discussed this election with people of all backgrounds - and I live in very red Texas!
The fact that someone so far to the left looks “moderate” to so many otherwise intelligent folks is the direct result of 50 years of public school indoctrination.
Not sure how to fix it, but I am willing to try.
Americas colleges have brain washed America into socialists.. hard core(S) or soft core(S) its all the same.. its socialism.. Every semester socialists are being graduated from our colleges INFECTING America..
Capitalism creates new wealth, socialism uses wealth up.. Socialism BURNS wealth.. Socialism is merely a symptom of democracy.. Democracy is the political social disease.. but socialism is a symptom.. there are other symptoms but socialism is the most obvious..
Until some socialists are HUNG for being rabid socialists it will continue.. Communism IS socialism..
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