Posted on 11/08/2012 10:30:53 PM PST by stillonaroll
As Republicans try to explain their Election Day losses in terms of policy, tactics, and strategy, one factor is emerging as the essential difference between the Obama and Romney campaigns on November 6: the absolute failure of Romney’s get-out-the-vote effort, which underperformed even John McCain’s lackluster 2008 turnout. One culprit appears to be “Orca,” the Romney’s massive technology effort, which failed completely.
...
Likewise, Twitchy recorded widespread real-time complaints and criticisms on Twitter by Project Orca volunteers. At one point during Election Day, the system had malfunctioned so badly that desperate volunteers wondered if the program had been hacked.
...
Before the election, there was much fear-mongering on the Democratic side about the Republicans’ supposed plans to suppress turnout among Obama voters. After the election, GOP strategist Karl Rove accused the Obama campaign of “suppressing the vote” by running a negative campaign against Romney that kept voters at home.
The truth is much worse. There was, in fact, massive suppression of the Republican vote--by the Romney campaign, through the diversion of nearly 40,000 volunteers to a failing computer program.
There was no Plan B; there was only confusion, and silence.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Gotta disagree. The figure I’ve seen is that 93 million eligible voters did not bother. A very big portion of the electorate is disengaged, but ultimately might be “reachable”, even if not at all enthusiastic. We know the Dems have a very effective turnout machine, so they probably got just about everybody they could, including a lot of voters who probably would not vote unless they had a ride, got a slice of pizza out of the deal, or whatever.
Romney was at least as “inspiring” as McCain, so if his turnout was down, something else is afoot. Personally I think the biggest factor is that Obama eroded the softer parts of the Republican base. (People who want to work but can’t find good jobs, wondering what will happen to their UE benefits, would be one example. They can’t afford to lose UE benefits and hope the economy turns around in a couple years.) That is how socialism typically gains ground. That said, other factors, like a failed GOTV effort, could certainly make things worse.
Obama’s Campaign Ran Millions of Virtual Elections to Predict the Future
I guess Team Romney never heard of Beta testing.
Yep....at one point during the final frenzy this past weekend, we were getting phone calls with recorded messages about once every twenty minutes from the Romney Campaign, the RNC, or some other GOP-affiliated group.
My wife got so frustrated and angry that she literally yanked the phone cord from the wall and dared me to reconnect it until the election was over.
You need look no further than what issue that Motivated Tea Partiers to attend town Hall Meetings across the Country 1n 2010,March on Washington by the Hundreds of thousands,that being Obamacare. What issue was taken off the Table by the Establishment Republicans as a Finger in the eye to the Tea partiers? Thats right Obamacare,when Romney was asked after his Nomination what is going to the Tea Party vote for you? he answered they will fall into line. Well Romney did not even get as many votes as McCain. So Long Mitt
Througout the entire campaign, the only direct contact I had with the Republican party was pounds of junk mail, dozens of robocalls, hundreds of emails, and countless fundraising calls. Not once did any live person contact me to urge me to go out and vote.
It’s interesting that I am still getting two to three emails daily from Paul Ryan, Ann Romney, and the Romney sons, telling me to vote on November 6. I’ve gotten one already this morning (Nov. 9) from Paul Ryan.
“Agreed. People hired by the GOP to oversee critical technology must be reliably conservative. It’s too important to allow some long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking FM type to infiltrate the system.”
(well stated, a little Rush lingo there)
...and they will - because they don’t have the imagination necessary to think like bad guys. I do, for whatever reason. I walk around my house thinking of how, if I were a bad guy, would case it and then break in. What the weak points are, how to disable the alarm, etc. For a Republican elite, it’s a major accomplishment when they can be convinced that leaving the car running, unlocked, when they buy a coffee has some level of risk.
“My wife got so frustrated and angry that she literally yanked the phone cord from the wall and dared me to reconnect it until the election was over.”
It looks like you didn’t reconnect the phone SINCE you are still alive. /s
Given that this whole Orca effort was run from Massachusetts, which is full of liberals in the tech sector just as it is everywhere else, the likelihood of deliberately shoddy design or outright sabotage is pretty high, IMO.
“Given that this whole Orca effort was run from Massachusetts, which is full of liberals in the tech sector just as it is everywhere else, the likelihood of deliberately shoddy design or outright sabotage is pretty high, IMO.”
OMG...he really was that STUPID after all.
So what does one do? You make it clear that if the app fails when it’s needed, the nerds don’t get paid. That simple. You pay out ONLY after election day, based on the contract. Prior to that, you put the money in escrow somewhere. No excuses, the program must run as advertised to get paid.
Not foolproof - but much better than simply trusting young kids from MA to be apolitical.
One of the stories that is told about my start in politics is that on the way home from law school one night in 1948, I stopped by the ward headquarters in the ward where I lived. There was a street-front, and the name Timothy O'Sullivan, Ward Committeeman, was painted on the front window. I walked in and I said "I'd like to volunteer to work for [Adlai] Stevenson and [Paul] Douglas." This quintessential Chicago ward committeeman took the cigar out of his mouth and glared at me and said, "Who sent you?" I said, "Nobody sent me." He put the cigar back in his mouth and he said, "We don't want nobody that nobody sent." This was the beginning of my political career in Chicago.[1]The essential truth in the story is that the only way to guard against betrayal is to only use people who have been vouched for by people you have known for a long time, and who have known the person for a long time. Technical ability is secondary to being able to trust the person.
This is why the original Sicilian Mafia would only take fellow Sicilians, people who could be checked up on by asking around the village they grew up in.
Not sufficient—way too easy for the other side to outbid with future jobs, etc.. Besides youthful idealism isn’t always tied to financial compensation.
Are you serious? That’s pathetic!
Truth be told, there’s darn little reasoning/mathematical/programming talent in the RINO corner of the GOP. Probably a bit more in the social conservative wing. But there’s loads of it in the libertarian/Ron Paul end of the spectrum. That’s where lots of techies reside philosophically.
If the GOP or its successor would do the right thing and fully bring them into the fold, they’d have plenty of loyal technical talent to call on.
We’re out there. We’ve volunteered our services. They refuse to realize what year we live in. I can virtually guarantee this ORCA thing was a failure to recognize why there is an echelon of world-class development teams that makes six-figures when there are ten times as many people who claim to have the same skills and make $20/hour (assuming they’re employed).
The base knew what was at stake, this was BS. People were jerks.
The base knew what was at stake, this was BS. People were jerks.
“Each state has their own rules, but however voter identification is done, the Rats do it better than us.”
True, that.
Back in the ‘70s a friend of mine went to college in the Chicago area. The second time he ever voted there, some big guy greeted him by name at the polling place. He had never seen the guy before; no clue who the guy was.
Yeah, they’ve been doing it better for decades...
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