Posted on 11/10/2012 4:14:47 AM PST by Kaslin
Let's not sugarcoat it: we got our teeth kicked in on Tuesday. Sure, we added governorships and held our ground in the House, but we went backwards in the Senate and lost to an out-of-touch, incompetent, petty man who centered his campaign around Mitt Romney's bank account and Big Bird. We didn't get beaten by Bill Clinton in a great economy; we got beaten by another Michael Dukakis in the midst of a terrible economy. On the upside, if people have ever wondered what Jimmy Carter's second term would have looked like, then they're about to find out.
Since that's where we're at, we have two choices. We can sit in the dirt for a couple of years, nursing the boo-boo on our collective knee while we moan about freeloaders and wonder what went wrong with America or we can stand up, brush ourselves off and get back in the game.
"Oh, but it's over, Hawkins! We've reached the tipping point! We're done!"
Really? It's done? It's over? What if the soldiers in George Washington's army who were suffering through a winter without shoes had that attitude? Suppose Andrew Jackson had looked at the ragtag band of pirates and mercenaries he had to defend New Orleans during the war of 1812 and said, "Screw this, it's too hard!" You think the Americans driving state-to-state, looking for work during the Depression had it easy? How about the American soldiers fighting for their lives in Korea against limitless waves of Chinese soldiers who were determined to push them into the sea so they could enslave South Korea? Remember when Reagan said, "Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose?" They laughed at him -- but, nobody's laughing now.
I can't speak for anybody else, but I have a very simple goal: I want to kick their ass.
We do that by taking back the Senate in 2014 (which is doable if we have a good year) and then, in 2016, we're going to beat whomever they run like a rented mule and step over their political corpse into the White House.
However, if we want to do that, the first thing we have to accept is that what we're doing right now isn't working and isn't likely to work if we keep doing it. There's a reason Albert Einstein said that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." It's time for the Republican Party to stop the insanity and go in a different direction. 1) We need a better get out the vote campaign: Did you notice that Romney's crowds were bigger than Obama's audiences down the stretch? Yet, Obama still won. What does that tell you? That tells me that Obama did a much better job of turning out low interest voters than Romney. It was well known that Obama had an incredibly sophisticated, well staffed GOTV campaign but the Romney campaign was supposed to match up to that with its own system, Project ORCA. Unfortunately, Project ORCA turned out to be the biggest disaster since the Hindenburg. Tens of thousands of volunteers sat idle all day because the system wasn't working and eventually it just crashed. It seems entirely possible at this point that the Romney campaign lost multiple states because of the complete and utter failure of his get out the vote campaign. This one factor alone could be the difference between victory and defeat in 2016.
2) The primary system needs to be reformed: Here's a thought: Maybe allowing our nominee to be chosen by two moderate, lily white states that seem to choose their favorite Republican candidates based on who shakes the most hands in diners and county fairs isn't the best idea. There are a lot of other workable suggestions that would break the tyrannical hold New Hampshire and Iowa have over the Republican Party's presidential nominations and it's time to start pursuing other options.
Additionally, Mitt Romney's dirty, overly negative campaign created an extremely poisonous atmosphere in both the 2008 and 2012 primary campaigns. Eventually, the other candidates and their supporters became tired of Romney's sleazy campaigning and fired back even harder, which made the entire primary season look like a piranha tank at feeding time. As primary voters, we need to punish candidates that do that in future elections instead of taking an "All's fair in love and war" approach. We also need to consider whether the long campaign season is to our advantage or whether we'd be better off having a candidate wrap it up early so he can begin defining himself and raising money for the general election.
3) The establishment doesn't get to choose the next GOP nominee: What have we been hearing over and over again from the D.C. establishment and the Old Guard in the Republican Party? We have to choose a moderate candidate who runs a bland, safe campaign and doesn't talk about social issues. Well, guess what? We just lost two straight elections against a weak opponent with candidates who fit that mold perfectly. Next time around, we need a full spectrum conservative who can actually inspire people to turn out to vote FOR HIM instead of just AGAINST the Democratic nominee.
4) Stop losing votes to fraud and count those military ballots: We have such a third grade, stick your vote in the shoebox style voting system in this country that it's hard to even figure out how much fraud is occurring. While it's important to make sure every eligible American has a right to vote, it's JUST AS IMPORTANT to insure that no one has his legitimate vote cancelled out by fraud. Making sure that both Democrats and Republicans are confident in the integrity of our elections needs to be a higher priority than leaving the system open to fraud in order to make it as easy as possible to vote.
Additionally, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of military votes aren't being counted every year because the same military that can coordinate a bombing run anywhere on earth within twenty four hours can't manage to get our troops' ballots to the polls in time for an election. It's a disgrace that the same soldiers who risk their lives to ensure our freedom can't even be sure that their own votes will be counted. The Democrats may not care about that because the military leans heavily to the right, but it's time for the GOP to start caring, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because we're leaving tens of thousands of votes on the table in every election.
5) We need to start doing some REAL minority outreach: For the Republican Party to continue to be viable over the long term, we're going to have to do better with minority voters. Period. Unfortunately, the primary way most people seem to be suggesting that we do that is by backing amnesty to bring in Hispanics or Affirmative Action to draw black voters.
Let me be extremely blunt: That is a desperate and stupid argument that flies directly in the face of reality.
Take an issue that conservatives care about dearly -- like the 2nd Amendment. If the Democrats suddenly became a pro-2nd Amendment party, would half of conservatives vote for them en masse? Of course not. Do Jews vote for the GOP because we're the pro-Israel party? No, they don't. So, why would anybody think Hispanics are going to go for the GOP if we support amnesty? The Democrats certainly don't think that. The reason they support amnesty is because they think it will bring in millions of new Hispanic votes for them. They're right about that.
The reason some Republicans take this dumb position is because the real fix would be playing the same game that Democrats do with minority voters and they've had decades to get ahead of us at it. The fact of the matter is that we need to create, fund, and support our own La Raza, our own NAACP, and our own NOW. Groups like that already exist, but they get minimal amounts of support. What we need are Hispanic Republicans on Hispanic radio shows making our case, black Republicans pointing out racism in the Democratic Party and prominent conservative women's groups slamming the Democrats as sexist for reducing them to nothing more than the sum of their "lady parts." The truth is that no matter how much Republicans may cherish the notion that we should all be "judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin," a lot of Americans don't agree and the GOP is going to die in the political wilderness waiting for everyone to come around to our way of thinking.
6) It's time to refresh our agenda and messaging: Principles may stay the same over time, but agendas should change.
For example, it may make sense to oppose tax increases for middle class Americans, but it no longer makes political sense to push tax cuts. The 47% of Americans who pay no income taxes certainly aren't going to be swayed by that and although we should certainly defend the rich on principle, fighting tooth and nail to make sure the wealthy never pay a dime more in taxes when we have a trillion dollar deficit is a dead dog loser of an issue.
Also, although I believe we should be doing more to promote our stands on social issues, not less, it's time to ask whether candidates that oppose abortion for victims of rape and incest are making perfect the enemy of the good. Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock both lost on that issue and there's a better chance that the American people will make the cockroach our national bug than there is that they will go along with banning abortions after rape or incest. So, why shouldn't politicians focus on what's politically possible instead of taking a position based on what we'd like to see happen in a perfect world?
Last but not least, our messaging has gotten way too wonky as a party. We talk about Supreme Court cases to people who've never heard of Antonin Scalia, free trade issues to people who think NAFTA is a government agency, and we talk about the size of the debt to people whose eyes glaze over when they try to figure out how to split a check at a restaurant. We need to get back to basics with a much more simple premise when we pitch a voter: Here's what we're going to do to make your life better and here's what they're going to do to make your life worse.
7) We don't spend our money wisely: The GOP spent over a billion dollars on the 2012 campaign just to flip North Carolina and Indiana, hold our ground in the House, and lose seats in the Senate. Meanwhile, we're doing a mediocre job of voter registration, we do almost no minority outreach of consequence, we're doing very little to reach out to young voters and much of the conservative new media is withering away and dying for lack of funds. Consultant Sean Hackbarth and I don't see eye-to-eye on some issues, but his advice for conservative groups is spot-on.
Specifically to conservative groups here’s some additional advice:* Hire consultants who want to transform current campaign approaches. Don’t accept tried-and-true. Or better yet, bring them in-house and let them play to their heart’s content.
* Create an environment where talented people want to join you in taking big risks and be willing to pay them.
* Scour America for savant tech-heads willing to work for the cause. Visit MIT, Stanford, and other top schools. Go to tech conferences and read tech weblogs to find top-notch talent.
* Quit expecting great content to be delivered for free from supporters. Pay people to write, tweet, make videos, make infographics, develop apps, etc. With the millions spent by super PACs we know the money is out there.
* Be willing to give credit to other groups. Don’t let your egos stop you from cooperating. We’re all on the same team.
* Share ideas that work.
* Find ways to amplify what allied groups are doing.
Maybe instead of expecting grassroots conservatives to produce miracles out of whatever pocket change they can pull out of their couch cushions, some of the deep pocketed donors could try funding them. After all, isn't it time that donors start demanding to see results out of conservative organizations, think tanks and TV ads just as they do out of government?
It’s all just pissin’ in the wind. There is nothing that anyone can say or do now that will prevent this nation from going down the crapper. It’s done.
We got Mitt because the conservatives were and still are fragmented. We got outvoted in the primary, period. We don't control the pubbies because conservatives don't have enough votes. Heck we run people that agree with us eighty percent of the time off Free Republic because they are not pure enough. Note to conservatives this is not the way to gain the necessary votes to win.
Be that as it may, we lost the election IMHO because our candidate did not forcibly attack the dims. And what attacks might be appropriate? It is past time to call lifelong welfare recipients what they are: THIEVES. It is past time to call the mainstream media what they are: PROPAGANDISTS. It is past time to identify the democrat party as the party of VOTER FRAUD. We get voter fraud because we don't enforce existing laws and cannot/will not pass the laws necessary to protect the integrity of the ballot box. It is past time to call democrat run cities what they are: LAWLESS. And it is way past time to say so FORCIBLY.
It is past time to call activist courts what they are, DICTATORS. And it is way past time to provide support to freedom loving states by supporting NULIFICATION.
In short Pubbie leadership, it is past time to stand for something and tell the truth. What do you have to loose? Your methods and moderate ideas are not winning anyway.
Let’s try running a candidate that has some balls. One that is not afraid to say what he thinks and screw what the media had to say. Call a liar a liar and thief a thief. Here we had a guy that should have crucified this Obama guy for the horrible way the situation in Libya was handled but our guy did not have the balls enough to rake his ass over the coals. This Romney guy should have hammered Libya ever day endlessly bringing up the lies and mistakes made by Obama and his cronies. But no we got a touchy feely good guy that has no balls and he was afraid to get dirty. I could have run a better campaign than the republics did this time and the last two times. The republic party has no balls and run around like a bunch of little grade school girls. Bunch of pussies if you ask me.
Given all the support for Romney here, I’m not surprised.
Agreed; the Republicrats are dead. It’s time for a true opposition party; not a “look-at-me, I-agree-with-my-friends-across-the-aisle” bunch of spineless liars.
They ARE 21st century Whigs. Let the TEA Party be a political force, nominating true Conservatives and holding them to a pledge: Lower taxes, no funding for DeathCare, no taxpayer funded abortions and above all, faithful to the Constitution.
Santorum also would most likely have lost his home state because of the massive voter fraud that took place. With 30 Republican governors, there should be a better way to combat voter fraud. We should emphasize that the purpose of voter identification measures is not to keep any eligible voter from voting, but to keep their legal vote from being canceled out by ten illegal ones.
We know that our conservative ideas are the way to prosperity, but, as Rush often says, it takes some time for a uninformed, MSM, public school educated voter to grasp them. I think Rush's idea of getting his program on Spanish radio stations has some merit as well as the author's idea of supporting conservative versions of the stale, old Democrat organizations. A case in point is Pat Robinson's American Center of Law and Justice which has done an excellent job as a counterweight to the ACLU.
Democrat Underground is over there. ->
You’re correct, we are fragmented and that’s why we lost. When we have ‘conservatives’ calling Santorum as ‘sir sweater vest’, etc. We deserve to lose.
The wisdom was that they could successfully ignore conservatives since we had to vote for Romney.
That - didn’t work out too well this election.
There's a reason Albert Einstein said that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
I can find no reason to believe Einstein or Ben Franklin ever said this. It certainly doesn't sound like language they would use. The earliest attribution seems to be to a book from Narcotics Anonymous in 1982. Whenever I hear this quote (or any other quite so glib)attributed to a great thinker from the past, I lose a ton of respect for the writer.
It is a good quote, but there is no need to falsely attribute it to make it more meaningful.
The results of these were:
Iowa: Santorum
New Hampshire: Romney
South Carolina: Gingrich
If anything, I would make the case that the early primaries are inconsequential in a presidential nomination process. Didn't McCain beat Bush in New Hampshire in 2000? And didn't Dick Gephardt win Iowa a few times, too?
No different than Romney who also failed to win a single county in his home state.
Why do we have one ‘lesser standard’ for Romney, and a higher bar for Santorum?
“whose ideas are not already viewed as extreme before he even announces his candidacy.”
Do you support Abortion sir?
Yep, I remember those "St. Rick" threads well.
Lets see after Mccain got sacked they said the same sh##. Stop the bullsh##, the only thing they will respond to is competition or relinquish the riegns of power to the tea party. The latter will never see the light. I am no longer a republican!
To paraphrase one wag from a nationally syndicated radio show: Jerry Sandusky will be a special guest on Sesame Street before Rick Santorum is ever elected to the White House.
I think Santorum is a good man and brings a lot of good ideas to the table. But he's not a strong candidate who is going to win over voters outside his core supporters. This is why he lost his own Senate seat in Pennsylvania by a wide margin in 2006.
If Santorum had been nominated in 2012 by the GOP, he would simply have become just another marginal presidential candidate who couldn't even carry his own state ... like Al Gore and Mitt Romney, for example.
Romney was selected in Michigan by voters who were Democrats going on marching orders from the unions.
Until we close our primaries, this will continue to happen. For some reason, the state GOPee leadership refuses to close the primary.
If he had been sitting across the table from Biden when Biden was going into his theatrics during that VP debate, he wouldn't have ignored him ... he would have laughed at him and humiliated him right there at the table.
This is exactly the kind of thing he would have said: "Why don't you grow up and stop acting like a three year-old, Joe? You're on national television, and you're embarrassing yourself, your boss, and the entire country."
Heh...remember when the TEA party first emerged in the spring of 2009, and all the party-first hacks said 'NO!,' we have to stay with the GOP-E and work to change it from within?
Well, look where that got us (again).
What did Romney bring to the table?
We lost Senate seats, we lost house seats. He brought two states that McCain did not win - Indiana and North Carolina.
We were told, endlessly, that we had to vote for Romney because he was the only one who would not damage the Republican party. This did not happen.
“If Santorum had been nominated in 2012 by the GOP, he would simply have become just another marginal presidential candidate who couldn’t even carry his own state”
Romney failed to win PA, and he failed to win even a single county in his home state (something btw, that has NEVER HAPPENED).
So I repeat - what exactly did Mitt Romney bring to the table? What disaster did we avert by choosing Romney over Santorum?
Confronting media bias doesn’t work. Media bias was continually confronted this election. Not a night went by we didn’t hear about it in one form or another. “If Ronald Reagan had done this in Libya...” blah, blah, blah.
Instead of confronting media bias, conservatives need to find a new media better, faster, and more entertaining than the old media, or we need to own at least one more of the old media outlets.
Until that time, it will continue to be common that most voters think BenGhazi is a new icy-hot version of BenGay.
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