Posted on 03/21/2013 5:22:37 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
Not since 1984 and the landslide victory of Ronald Reagan have the Republicans had a more winnable election than the 2012 presidential election. Yet the Republican Establishment managed to lose to the worst and most vulnerable President in modern history, with historically poor approval ratings, unemployment averaging over 8.7% during his entire first term, a stagnant economy and someone who ran the smallest and most absurd of all possible re-election campaigns.
Why and how did this happen? In his new book WTF? How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost...Again, C. Edmund Wright, a frequent contributor to the American Thinker website and senior consultant to the Winning Our Future Super PAC in 2012, clearly and cogently lays out not only the factors that resulted in the ignominious defeat of Mitt Romney, but the historical reasons behind the rise and fall of the Republican Establishment and it's consultant class.
Mr. Wright accurately points out that the loss in 2012 had been in the works since 1992.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Well done. I also see that you were interviewed on the Steve Malzberg Show. Best of luck with the book.
“Mr. Wright accurately points out that the loss in 2012
had been in the works since 1992. Why? Primarily
because this is when the establishment, made up of career
politicians, deep pocket “country-club” Republicans,
a newly emerging political consultant coterie,
and an incestuous lobbyist cabal, abandoned Ronald Reagan
and what he stood for. ...
It is not a coincidence that since the presidential
election in 1988 (which was in reality a vote for
a Reagan third term) in which George H.W. Bush
won 426 electoral votes, the Republicans have
lost 4 out of 6 presidential elections and
have not been able to get beyond 286 electoral votes (2004).”
in the end... it all comes down to the candidate, and face it, we had no decent candidate in 2012 or 2008, thus Obama won.
Thanks SOTC - and yes, the Malzberg interview went very well....almost a full 20 minutes. He’s a dynamic interviewer. I think Freepers would find the two full chapters on the GOP primary process very interesting - as I noticed on a Santorum thread on FR this am that feelings still run hot on that topic.
Lee Atwater was the last of the effective political consultants. After Atwater died, the GOP stopped going on offence, assumed a “new tone” and accept the characterizations thrust upon them by the liberals.
Can't have him be eaten by the lawyers that he and his buddies sent after Palin in Alaska to ruin Alaskans....now can we?
At least Rove isn't a quitter...he has continued an agenda meant to erase conservatives from the landscape. What a stick-to-it guy.
That certainly was a factor, but even more than that, the demographic trends are rapidly turning in this country, and they don't favor conservatives.
Mr Wright PLEASE give us the diagnosis and Please give us the cure. In 2012 we had a SH!T “slate” of candidates, in my opinion.
I think that the GOP’s maladies can be boiled down to one word “Bush”. Just like in 1976 they(GOP) could have been boiled down to 2 words “Ford” and “Nixon”.
We had all the power, but we squandered it.
Oh I have - about 104 thousand words of just exactly that. The book is fast moving, conversational, sarcastically funny in spots, and is 20 years of diagnosis and ends with the proper prescription. Very well received at CPAC I might add. People loved the cover, the concept, sold a bunch there.
While the rino establishment is a sure loss, it does not help that the alternatives have been abject losers who still can’t figure out that rape is a serious subject and does not allow them any room for opinions.
Any one of the GOP candidates would have been better than BO - Romney was a better human being, executive and with a more solid background as a businessman and Governor.
Let’s face it - the Dems comprise the largest community organization that CONTROLS everything. From picking candidates to precinct manipulation. And don’t forget the MSM.
Republicans are naturally disorganised. We wait for candidates to self-select and either get behind them or pick them apart. We depend on a platform of Constitutional ideals. The Dems make promises of freebies with empty promises and catchy slogans. When Dems cannot market their product - they destroy the competition with snide slander (Harry Reid and his spiteful anti-Romney smears).
We only stoop low during the primaries. Why is that??
well said. But remember the consultants are a nameless/faceless bunch that slime around all over DC.
McCain’s scum works with lil dickie burr’s scum...and on and on it goes.
Our attacks must be at the scumbags that hire the consultants as well as the ones that listen to them.
Many years ago I heard a consultant say “forget home schoolers...they have no money and dont vote”.
Its time for normal people to fight...and fight hard!
I make the Atwater argument in the book, contrasting him to Rove, and it wasn’t pretty for Rove. One of Rove’s associates tweeted me this morning to try and sell me that Rove was an Atwater guy, becuase they had worked together. But as you pointed out, Rove ain’t no Atwater - and neither Bush was a Reagan either....
I am going to buy your book on Amazon here in about 15 minutes.
While this is very true, the message and the strategy is almost as important ... imho, even the flawed mitty should have beaten "the most vulnerable president in modern history", if he had the right message. Exhibit A - the first debate.
If you want to see what a REAL GOP “Consultant” looks like here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater
Lee knew how to fight DIRTY, and DID!
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