Posted on 11/07/2012 5:32:07 AM PST by SJackson
In this election the Republican Party ran two wholly inoffensive blue state Republicans on a platform of jobs at a time when the economy was everyone’s chief concern and the incumbent had absolutely failed to fix the economy. And they lost.
The Monday — or Wednesday — morning quarterbacks will have a fine time debating what Mitt Romney should have done differently. The red Republicans will say that he should have been more aggressive and should have hit Obama on Benghazi. The blue Republicans will blame a lack of outreach to Latinos. Some will blame Sandy, others will blame Christie and many will point to voter fraud. And they will all have a point, but the makings of this defeat did not happen in the last two weeks; they happened in the last two years.
Mitt Romney won the primaries because he was electable. But, as it turned out, he really wasn’t electable after all. Not when the chief criteria of electability is having no opinion, no point of view and no reason to run for office except to win. Not when the chief criteria of being a Republican presidential nominee is being able to convince people that you’re hardly a Republican at all.
Romney was a star political athlete who had an excellent training regimen and coaching staff. But to win elections, you have to change people’s minds. It’s not enough to try hard or to fight hard; you have to fight for something besides the chance to round the bases. You have to wake people up to a cause.
The Republican comeback did not begin with innocuous candidates; it began with angry protesters in costumes and Gadsden flags marching outside ObamaCare town halls. The 2010 midterm election triumphs were not the work of a timorous establishment, but of a vigorous grassroots opposition. And once the Tea Party movement started the fire, the Republican establishment acted like the Tea Party had sabotaged their comeback and cut the ties with their own grassroots movement. Separated, the Republican grassroots and the Republican Party both withered on the vine.
The stunning 2010 midterm election victories happened because a conservative opposition loudly and vociferously convinced a majority of Americans that ObamaCare would be harmful to them. And then that fantastic engine of change was packed away and replaced with political consultants who were all focused on seizing the center and offending as few people as possible. But you don’t win political battles by being inoffensive. And you don’t win elections by avoiding conflict.
Is it any wonder that the 2012 election played out the way it did?
The Democrats in the Bush years were about as unlikable a party as could ever be conceived of. They were hostile, hateful and obstructionist. They spewed conspiracy theories at the drop of a hat and behaved in a way that would have convinced any reasonable person not to entrust them with a lawnmower, let alone political power. And not only were they rewarded for that by winning Congress, but they also went on to win the White House.
Why? Because dissatisfied people gravitate to an opposition. They don’t gravitate to a loyal opposition. They aren’t inspired by mild-mannered rhetoric, but by those who appear to channel their anger.
When the Republican Party sold out the Tea Party, it sold out its soul, and the only driving energy that it had. And there was nothing to replace it with. The Republican Party stopped being the opposition and became a position that it was willing to reposition to get closer to the center. Mitt Romney embodied that willingness to say anything to win and it is exactly that willingness to say anything to win that the public distrusts.
The elevation of Mitt Romney was the triumph of inoffensiveness. Romney ran an aggressive campaign, but it was a mechanical exercise, a smooth assault by trained professionals paid to spin talking points in dangerous directions. But, what if the voters really wanted a certain amount of offensiveness?
What if they wanted someone who mirrored their anger at being out of work, at having to look at stacks of unpaid bills and at not knowing where their next paycheck was coming from? What if they wanted someone whose anger and distrust of the government echoed their own?
Romney very successfully made the case that he would be a more credible steward of the economy. It was enough to turn out a sizable portion of the electorate, but not enough of it. He tried to be Reagan confronting Carter, but what was remarkable about Reagan, is that he had moments of anger and passion; electric flashes of feeling that stirred his audience and made them believe that he understood their frustrations. That was the source of Reagan’s moral authority and it was entirely lacking in Romney. And without that anger, there is no compelling reason to vote for an opposition party.
The establishment had its chance with Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor was everything that they could possibly want. Moderate, bipartisan and fairly liberal. With his business background, he could make a perfect case for being able to turn the economy around. They had their perfect candidate and their perfect storm and they blew it.
The Republican Party is not going to win elections by being inoffensive. It is not going to win elections by going so far to the center that it no longer stands for anything. It is not going to win elections by throwing away all the reasons that people might have to vote for it. It is not going to win elections by constantly trying to accommodate what it thinks independent voters want, instead of cultivating and growing its base, and using them as the nucleus for an opposition that will change the minds of those independent voters.
The Republican Party has tried playing Mr. Nice Guy. It may be time to get back to being an opposition movement. And the way to do that is by relearning the lessons of the Tea Party movement. The Democratic Party began winning when it embraced the left, instead of running away from it. If the Republican Party wants to win, then it has to embrace the right and learn to get angry again.
A black woman vs. a white male when both are LDS?
No brainer as to why she didn’t win.
The Mormon church trumps ALL (even conservatism) in Utah and a priesthood holder will win over a woman. I would not be surprised to find out that some voted for the Democrat just because they think women should be home providing ‘tabernacles’ for ‘spirit babies’ than running for office.
In many ways, Utah is still stuck in the 1880’s and not in a good way.
However, had the Democrat been non-LDS she likely would have won and had the Democrat been one of those evil (in Mormon minds) ‘Christians’ then she would have won by a landslide.
IMO, Mitt was 100% better than W. or Juan. But he used the same jackasses that the other men did to run his campaign. Remember, it was only the Swiftboaters who bailed out W. in ‘04. It surely wasn’t the “architect” Karl Rove. *barf* Bob
Conservatism is on the ropes, but only b/c the Bush, McCain and Romney campaigns were afraid to attack the failures of socialism. All the Mitt team did was nibble around the edges, and hope to swoon America into voting for a new administration. With all the money they spent, they failed to drive the Punk’s negatives up by a single point. The final Rasmnussen poll that I saw had BHO at -8! It had been as low as -22 a few times. With a tough campaign, Mitt could have won by double digits, or close to it. Bob
Right, Romney never presented the truth that DEMOCRATS such as the Punk were responsible for the mortgage collapse. Bob
The Ron Paul supporters are the Youth of America. We NEED them to create the next generation.
This can be a winning coalition if the Evangelicals are willing to tone it down a bit. We can't afford another Todd Akin.
In a coalition, everyone gives some. This can work.
Go read up on the old Ward Politics of the 1920s in New York.
We're in an identical period right now, just substitute in Hispanics for Italians and you'll see it plain as day.
We know how that works.
We may not all be politicians, but we are all voters and citizens and this is OUR country. WE are in charge of the politicians and we should be calling the shots and holding the GOP accountable. Every single one of us should be assessing the situation and taking action accordingly. All of us have spheres of influence that matters. Saying, “Get over it” completely misses the point here. Now more than ever we need to figure out how we are going to deal with the consequences of this defeat and how we can win with the RIGHT PERSON in four years.
We may be in the minority here, but I agree with you. It's astonishing the flawed field that showed up for the Republican nomination.
On the other hand, the GOP hasn't picked a true Constitution-loving, limited-government republican (small "r") since Reagan. And Reagan had to fight the GOP establishment to win and implement the economic boon that followed.
We can't discount the devastating role the MSM played, but where is the quality pool of quality candidates for the next round in four years who can beat the MSM and the socialists?
Problem is Wall Street bankers and proponents of Fed Reserve do not want Ron Paul movement to take root in any major US political party. Ron Paul movement is a threat and they will apply pressure in GOP to keep them out. The GOP establishment was willing to comply and risk losing a close election. Money talks, BS walks and it applies today. How far did the GOP establishment go? State GOP replaced Ron Paul delegates he won with their own handpicked ones. Ignored caucus results favoring Ron Paul. At the convention Ron Paul delegates who were able to go were shut down and isolated. Convention even passed rules on voice vote to lower the chance of nonestablishment candidates or delegates from being selected. GOP is crazy. Honor existing rules and results attained by such rules, otherwise the integrity of the system is gone and with it the fraction that got cheated. Again, why did the GOP go to such extremes? Answer is the powers to be of our society actually control them. If they see a threat, the party chair gets a phone call. Question is do we really have a democracy or democracy is allowed to exist until it threatens the interest of the powerful bankers??
RINO File.
” - - - and became a position that it was willing to reposition to get closer to the center.”
Uh, Daniel, - - - Daniel Greenfield. Yeah, you. Your fancy words are fine and dandy, but we just keep it simple and call it “Caving In.”
I think they didn’t count all the votes, that’s why they outsourced the counting of the votes to Spain, and why so much early voting is encouraged, it’s easier to throw away ballots when they are just mailed it. I don’t think all the votes were counted, they were thrown out. Maybe that’s why Obama did so terrible his first debate perfomance, he knew he was going to win no matter what. Same with Biden, looking back, they acted like they were going to win no matter what. Face it, Dictators steal elections, Obama is a dictator. Obama didn’t act happy winning, like he knows he didn’t really win,
The argument is that Romney failed to mobilize the anger stirred by the Tea party movement. Back in 2008, Rove and the rest seemed offended by Sarah Palin because she could articulate such passion. Thus she was not exploited at all by the Romney campaign even though she is undoubtedly was the best stump speaker in among the four candidate in 2008. But in choosing his VP, he was inclined to choose Christie before picking Ryan. That he let the moderate Mr. Christie give the key note instead of Rubio is instructive. Christie delivered nothing. Rubio probably have heated up the place.
Rove blew through $100 million and achieved nothing. But he will be propped up by the Bushes because they have a new heir coming up. They are thinking ahead to the candidacy of George P. Even If Jeb doesn’t get the nomination in 2016.
“but we are all voters and citizens and this is OUR country.”
Was, in my case.
WE are in charge of the politicians and we should be calling the shots and holding the GOP accountable.
You’ll bust down the door of a smoke filled room? Good luck with that. You’re not in charge of the GOP. You should be calling the shots, but you are not. You aren’t able to hold the GOP accountable, because the people who are calling the shots have more money and influence. You want to do some grass roots agitation? OK. That was done in this election cycle, too. See how well it worked. But if you want to go once more into the breach, feel free.
Every single one of us should be assessing the situation and taking action accordingly.
I suggest taking the action of emigration. Did that almost four years ago, myself. That big land mass two oceans away from me isn’t America anymore. It’s unlikely to return to being America anytime soon, no matter how many TEA parties are held.
Expect those to be busted up by plainclothes goons, soon, and the TEA partiers who fight back arrested and put on a list. MSM will ignore it. You may lose your job. Your family might be harassed. If you’re determined to continue the struggle, at least get them out of harm’s way, and keep your guns stashed somewhere. I’m not being facetious or supercilious.
Look what they’re doing to Petraeus. Never forgave him for turning Iraq around under W. He probably knows too much about Benghazi.
And if you really are going to soldier on, bear in mind that the sheeple will mostly not support you. They’ve tasted the gravy and want the gravy train to run on time. Or they want to atone for their rapacious history, all the nasty things done to Indians and blacks, by surrendering their free will and letting their wealth get “moved around”. Even if you live in a red state, the cities will still be full of people like that.
According to surveys the most important issue was the spending and the debt.
Romney focused on jobs and not raising the taxes on the job makers.
There is one other factor that looms way above all of the reasons given and that is the overwhelming power of the people who influence the mainstream media. Who are these people??? Why is their influence over the direction the country is headed so ignored by all of the scholars analyzing the election results? What’s missing here?
http://cosmicconvergence.org/?p=2231
“Whoever Controls The Media Controls The World”
Rove should be considered a pariah for all time after blowing this election. I’ve considered him such for more than a decade now. Bob
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