Get real.
The polls were putting Obama ahead for months. Do you think conservatives thought that Hillary’s people would comfortably knock McCain over the top without their vote?
Democrats voted for McCain at between 15-20%, depending on state, according to exit polls.
Some of those were Hillary supporters.
Before you start blaming the PUMAs, you lost a good percentage of the “conservative” base.
We gave you quite a bit of support in many states.
Chuckle!
They didn’t fool us, we fooled ourselves. We judged macro trends by micro statements. In other words, the dozen or so PUMAs we read and cheered for, we assumed where part of a macro movement, when in reality, they where what they where at face value, a dozen or so PUMAs. We do that a lot..
but who will lead? we need someone charming on outside and
brutal enough on inside to fight these guys.
The PUMAs fooled us.And that's pretty amazing because they didn't fool anyone else. I think the case is that you fooled yourselves. Wake up and smell reality. I actually looked into the PUMA phenomenon and it was incredibly easy to find out that it didn't exist. There were no more than a few thousand PUMAs nationwide. You believed otherwise because you desperately wanted to.
It's called the Tinkerbell strategy. "If you believe hard enough, you can save Tinkerbell." Guess what? It won't work four years from now either. How about we wise up and stop blaming everyone else?
FR needs a disinformation detector ... they need it real bad!
Are you out of your mind? The PUMAs worked their butts off for the McCain campaign. They then went to the polls and voted. That’s more than I can say for many in the Repbulican Party.
How dare you try to blame the PUMAs.
Imbecile.
You are wrong here...not "working class moderates/liberals...It's NON-working class.... If you think about it, since the 1950's the democratic party has moved from the champion of the blue-collar, hard working middle-lower class American, to the no collar, non-working, lower class anti-American who just wants everything handed to them...Blame LBJ for the biggest part of this...
Next time, think before you post a vanity.
Hillary voters went 86-11 for Obama. Yes, we were fooled big time. PUMAS? More like PUTZES.
ALL votes have been compromised.. the election is and was a sham.. a ruse.. a trick..
The lack of republican outrage is deafening..
The Republican Party has good leaders, we just chose not to use them. And let's not forget Rush Limbaugh, he used his considerable pulpit to trash McCain for months; that didn't help either.
The single/divorced female voter has been killing Republicans in the last few elections. It’s going to get worse. This is a direct result of the disintegration of the American family and the secularization of America. Absent the crucial support and value systems provided by families and religious institutions these women, having marinated in a cultural stew which disparages marriage and family, naturally look to the state. Combined with their abhorrence to the use of military force and disinterest in defense funding, this is a toxic demographic for conservatives and the future of the nation.
Free Republic is Drowning in Vanity Postings—Please Stop
I would agree that the PUMA movement was probably McCain campaign astroturfing. Only 18% of Hillary supporter voted McCain, which is about 9% of dems overall. Roughly the same percentage of Reps (RINOs and Retards) voted Obama.
I think one MAJOR CHANGE that needs to be made to the Republican primary system is proportional awarding of convention delegates. The winner take all system has failed us because the “institutional” pick wins with 32% of the vote in 4 states. Letting a bunch of Proletarian Iowa farmers and New Hampshire crossover Dems pick our candidate has really screwed us since Reagan. Think about it, we really are allowing blue states to pick our candidate. Perhaps we need regional primaries. That way, the strongest candidates is/are building campaign infrastructure in each state. Why don’t republicans win in New England or in the west, but at the same time a gay marriage ban passes in CA. I am tired of this bullshit writing off of states. We have conservatives who are stuck in the closet because they think their state is totally liberal and loves welfare and taxes. The Republican Party has let these citizens down by ignoring their states. When we only fight on our turf, the enemy also only fights on our turf, AND THEY JUST WON. We need a campaign that fights for even the bluest state of Vermont. Did anyone else notice that Obama only got 6.2 million votes in CA and 4.3 million votes in New York?
Screw the conventional wisdom that we can’t win these states. There are citizens there who believe in the same conservative principles that we do. I realize the dem institutional machines are in place, but they are old and established, and I believe they can be beaten with some effort, organization, a clear conservative message, and some creativity.
Or on the other hand, we can just keep writing those states off and just try to win every future election with 270-290 electoral votes. IT IS ABSURD THAT THERE ARE NO HOUSE REPUBLICANS IN NEW ENGLAND. But if conservatives never go there, never run for office, never try to spread the message and win people over it will NEVER happen.
This loss is about bad ideas and bad organization. If we had slightly better message with much better organization, we would’ve won.
I was eating breakfast in the hotel lobby and CNN was on already stating what Obama will do.
Please, I cannot take 24/7 coverage of a man who won't take office until two months from now.
Now if you excuse me, I have to go to work to support the new middle class.
Look on the bright side. The power leeching Neocons will now return to the Democrat Party and proceed to take it over and ruin it too. The GOP can start with a clean slate of conservatives. Start with a positive 2010 Contract with America.
Why go out of our way to blame PUMAS, conservatives, the media or any other group when in reality, we do not have to go further than the McCain campaign itself?