Posted on 11/06/2008 6:33:12 AM PST by Sopater
As the election postmortems continue, it seems a metaphysical certitude media representatives will cast Tuesday's results as indicative of a continued national shift to the left they believe began when the Democrats took over Congress in 2006.
However, the exit polls don't reflect such a shift at all.
In fact, there has been virtually no change to the percentage of folks claiming to be liberal or conservative in their political ideology since 2004.
Here are the relevant numbers (2004 here and 2008 here):
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
McCain was repulsive to conservatives (I for one, though I voted for him as a last resort), and with Obama portraying himself as a moderate post-primaries, Conservatives could get their revenge upon McCain in particular and Republicans in general. They behaved more like drunken Democrats than conservatives!!
By the way, three states passed constitutional amendments banning homosexual marriages (one in CALIFORNIA!!!), and many of those voters also voted for Obama. Social and fiscal conservatives win. Maverick McCain moderates? Pfah!
Thanks. Note my alias. The need to vent during the bailout debacle brought me out of the shadows.
“Tell me — who are the two presidents since LBJ who have most radically expanded government?”
If you are referring to President Bush, I would remind you that the expansion of the Armed Forces and the revamping of government to form Homeland Security is where almost all of the expanded government, and the associated costs, are located. Was that necessary or not?
BS... Conservative is just a better name. I have neighbors who are hard line Dems, but they refuse to be called liberals. They like to be known as conservative Dems.
I think the big point here is that a lot of people call themselves conservatives who are not conservative.
“Are you a conservative or a liberal?” Conservative. Liberals are stupid.
“Who did you vote for?” Obama.
“Are you for or against abortion?” For.
“Do you want socialized medicine?” Yes.
“Do you support the war and occupation of Iraq?” No. (But, invariably, “But I support the troops”)
“Did you support President Bush?” No.
“Did you vote for Republicans?” No. I voted for Democrats, but they aren’t like other Democrats.
If you vote for any Democrat you are not.
Totally agree. The drop in Conservative/GOP turnout and McCain's pathetic ground game (not unrelated) were the stories of this election. If the GOP candidate got GWB levels of support from the base, he would have won.
Gov. Palin actually saved McCain from suffering a McGovern-like blowout.
And there are other “conservatives” who say “I hate abortion, hate gay marriage, and love deer hunting, but don’t mess with my gubmint benefits.”
REALLY?
So that Medicare Part D entitlement just came for free, eh?
Riiiiiiight.
Agreed.
Obama ran as a populist.
McCain cut his own political throat by running back to Washington to cast a meaningless vote that only supported the view that he was linked with Bush.
He could have supported the House Republicans against Bush and shown true independence and what it would be like under his administration.
Real security is the kind that you don't see. And the Democrats HATE that kind of security. It's their default position.
Three reasons he did not.
1 - Supporting the bailout.
2 - When you add up all the primaries up to where Romney dropped out, McCain got only 37 percent of registered Republican voters. A nominating process that can produce such a result is fatally flawed.
3 - Freepers are occasionally under the illusion that all of the GOP base is like us. This is misleading. One who lives in the world of conservative blogs and fora may not be able to understand how successfully Obama was sold as a centrist. I have no doubt there are a lot of GOP voters who disliked McCain and were given no reason by the MSM to intensely dislike Obama, and so they stayed home.
Wrong. McCain just proved that if you merely run as a conservative, you will LOSE.
If you ARE a conservative, you will win. McCain was not, and never has been, a conservative. He always has a caveat. He’s for drilling.... just not in this particular place. Or that particular place. He’s for tax cuts... but not for these particular taxpayers. Or not for that particular tax cut. He’s for smaller government... but we need to keep this, that or the other part of government.
He’s for less spending.... but he wants to bail out people who bought more house than they can afford.
McCain isn’t a conservative and didn’t run as a conservative. Neither is Bush. Neither was Dole. Or Bush Sr.
Is it any wonder why the electorate thinks candidates who claim to be ‘conservative’ are a joke?
Worse than that, McCain ran back to DC to get involved in an issue he clearly does not understand.
Where were McCain’s economic/market advisors? Nowhere to be found. McCain should have known that people vote their pocketbook, yet he had no consistent, cohesive economic plan. He clearly didn’t know anything about the state of the real economy (and like too many on FR, reads only the headline numbers) and clearly has never known jack about the financial markets.
Beautiful! Can I have that as a tagline??
Keep in mind that Jefferson did NOT create the Democrat Party. He created the Republican-Democrat Party, which existed only during the eight years of his Administration. I am certain that if you visit Charlottesville you can hear a loud whirring sound. He is spinning in his grave over what the Republic has become.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article, "President Obama: How Bad Will It Be?"
The Declaration, the Constitution, parts of the Federalist, and America's Owner's Manual, here.
“Social and fiscal conservatives win. Maverick McCain moderates? Pfah!”
I agree totally! I think McCain’s loss has more to due with conservative rebellion. Maine, a very blue state, voted for a citizens veto of a beverage tax passed by the legislature by almost the same margins that Obama had. Palin kept McCain respectable to some conservatives, but obviously not enough.
If you want it - have at it with my blessing.
did that cause the massive increase in the size of government(bodies, that is,)the poster spoke of??
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.