Posted on 11/07/2013 6:46:41 AM PST by rhema
"You know what makes a good loser?" Ernest Hemingway once wrote. "Practice." And if you know anything about Virginia's gubernatorial race, then you understand that the real loser wasn't conservative Ken Cuccinelli. It was the Republican Party. Late last night, politicos clacked away at their computers, performing their own postmortems on a race that proved to be more unpredictable than anyone expected. Double-digit leads, the ObamaCare effect, gender gaps -- they all managed to turn the media's foregone conclusions about Democrats' invincibility on their head.
Despite his deadbeat party, lackluster fundraising, a third-party candidate (funded, it turns out, by Obama loyalists!), and a constant barrage of lies, Ken Cuccinelli finished last night's race only three points behind liberal Terry McAuliffe. He won over Independents (47-38%), outperformed expectations on women (41-52%, while handily winning among married women 51-42%), and swept the 53% of voters opposed to ObamaCare (by a whopping 81%).
By late Tuesday night, the candidate who enjoyed a double-digit lead heading into the election -- McAuliffe -- didn't even win a majority of the vote. That's not, as the media would have you believe, the result of a flawed candidate in Cuccinelli -- but a flawed campaign. Unfortunately for Virginia conservatives, Ken's biggest opponent was never Terry McAuliffe. It was his own party. While the Democrat watched millions stream in from outside groups, the state's biggest GOP donors walked away from Cuccinelli -- and took their money with them.
Outspent an estimated 10:1, Ken had neither the cash flow nor the infrastructure to beat back the Left's constant drubbing (Democrats ran more than 5,600 spots on the abortion issue alone!). Even when McAuliffe hitched his campaign to a reviled law like ObamaCare (which even the President refused to mention on the stump), Democrats rallied around their own. And what did the Republican Establishment do? It starved their candidate, who happened to be one of the most prominent leaders in the legal fight against ObamaCare. That kind of reckless abandonment is inexcusable for a party that claims its first priority is repealing the policy that Ken Cuccinelli took to the Supreme Court.
Like us,RedState's Erick Erickson knows where the finger-pointing will lead. "The GOP will take the lesson from Virginia that if they aren't suddenly socially liberal, they're going to lose nationwide. Instead, they should pay attention to how quickly the polling gap closed once Cuccinelli turned the race into a referendum on ObamaCare. And they should also note that being pro-life in Virginia was not what did in Ken Cuccinelli. McAuliffe tried to mobilize his whole base with a 'war on women' strategy and nearly lost once Cuccinelli attacked ObamaCare head on. The war on women got trumped at the end by ObamaCare."
The Republican National Committee (the same RNC that spent triple on the Governor's race in 2009) insists that it did what it could in Virginia. But when push comes to shove, NRO's Jonah Goldberg explains, it's the grassroots who come out on the losing end. "For all the talk about how the base needs to cooperate with the Establishment more, it's worth remembering that the base almost always does its part on Election Day. It's the Establishment that is less reliable in returning the favor."
Does the Republican Party resent pro-family conservatives so much that it will desert them to fit their own faulty narrative -- that social issues are losing ones? If the GOP would rather concede races to corrupt liberals than go to the mat on values that a majority of Virginians support, then it's clear who the real extremists are.
Do you remember where this number comes from? I have heard that he was outspent 2 to 1. Cuccinnelli and his allies spent about $17m. The 10 to 1 ratio you quoted seems to imply McAuliffe spent $170m. That's a pretty big number for any campaign in the country. For some perspective, in 2009, Bloomberg spent $102m to win his third mayoral term in NYC, whose population is roughly the same as all of Virginia, but is a much more expensive media market than Virginia.
The GOP didn’t just abandon Cuccinelli. Republicans appeared on ads supporting McAwful (at least on the Norfolk stations). I’ve never seen anything like it before. The GOP actively backed one of the sleaziest scum sucking ‘Rats ever, effectively handing Cankles the White House on a silver platter. Disgusting.
You don’t fight abortion by hiding or compromising.
You copy Ronald Reagan who defended the life of the unborn on national tv. You say that you’re concerned that this tiny little one is life and that if you’re going to make a mistake, Mom, then make it on the side of that little one.
And when it so obviously is a baby at birth, then we know it is, one minute before and an hour before, and a day before, and a week before, and a month before.
It’s about these precious little ones. We can argue all day long, but in the end, that little hand and that little foot is a little baby who deserves our protection.
The only thing good about being associated with the RNC is that maybe they will call, and I can blast the crap out of them.
Alas, they haven’t called me since about 2004......
It sort of seems to me that the GENUINE RINOs are the denizens of the RNC.
I’ve read every post and comment on the Virginia election and it is obvious that the election was deliberately sabotaged by the Republican Elite.
Anyone else?
1. The GOP would RATHER have the democrat win than have a conservative win. I did not say: GOP-E.
2. The GOP is no longer a home for conservatives,
We have suspected the first, but known the 2nd for some time now. Now we are certain of both.
Corollaries of this are:
a. The GOP does not want ObamaCare ended.
-— John Roberts odd decision says so
-— the attacks on Ted Cruz say so
-— the plan to bluster ineffectively while it's implemented says so.
They've decided they don't care if they ever win again, just so long as we continue to let them play. They don't mind warming the bench or riding on the bus with the rooters.
Have the Washington Generals EVER beaten the Harlem Globetrotters?
I heard 40 Million to 12 Million.
My wife and I have been called at least three times in the last two weeks or so. They were extremely rude during the phone call I received. They guy started filibustering, and wouldn’t stop talking when I tried to interrupt him twice, so I just hung up on him. My wife said she is getting the same thing.
The truth seems to be—and it pains me to say this—that abortion has become to the GOP (at least in swing states) what gun control has become to the Rats (at least in swing states), that is, a third rail that is best left alone. If you’re in a solid red state, being pro life gets you a long way; if you’re in a solid blue state being a gun grabber works well; in a purple state, hands off!
Christie is pro-life and it doesn’t seem to matter. It’s how you manage the campaign message. Our side is getting bludgeoned on this issue for the past year and a half and needs to deal with it. Not by abandoning it, but by handling the issue in a fair manner and refocusing on the real issues. Hell, Virginia just went across the board Republican 4 years ago, including Cuccinelli.
“Christie is pro-life and it doesn’t seem to matter. It’s how you manage the campaign message ... [Handle] the issue in a fair manner and refocusing on the real issues.
That’s just it. Christie gets away with his stance on social issues in NJ because he keeps them well in the background (and knows when to fold ‘em, like he did with “gay marriage”) and focuses on bread and butter issues, jobs, potholes etc. Cuccinelli was not that kind of candidate; he is no Chris Christie, which in a way is good (he’s not ashamed of his position), but also not so good (doesn’t play well in blue areas of VA).
The GOP didn’t blow it. They freely gave it away. Their only disappointment is that Herring didn’t win. They’re probably hanging out with Bill Bolling and Karl Rove right now giving each other high-fives.
Looks more and more like a globe trotter vs nationals game dont it?
Have you ever seen a Republican RINO in a primary fight against a conservative? The RINO will fight fiercely against the conservative, but will not fight like that against a Dem. Look at McCain.
GOP = SNAFU
The GOPe rather a lib win than a conservative regardless of party. They are the enemy within.
I caught Sessoms, mayor of Va Beach, shilling for McBozo and really hope that red Va Beach remembers it in the future...
I’d even come out of the western VA woods to help the opponent if they use it.
And Rigell, the worm, needs to be primaried....
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