1 It was actually worse for the Dems after 2004.  They didn't control one House of Congress. 

2 Thanks Ace. That was pretty sobering.

3 Also, Allen. Thanks Allen.

4 Everything happened before; that's why it's in the Past


Far out, man

5 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a malignant traitor.

6 If I may mix my metaphors, you are scraping pretty deep into the bottom of the barrel to find a silver lining.

7 Make me the maddogg king, just for a year, and I will fundamentally change America. I guarantee it.

8 Thanks to a reader, Allen, who pitched this basic idea in an email.

Note that this is a different Allen than me.

For the record.

9 That said, after Kerry lost the Dems did have the comfort of knowing that long term, the country's demographics were still moving in their direction.

10 C'mon kids. Let's all sing a song!

11 How dare you attempt to inject reason and sanity into the Horde! Have you no shame, at long last, have you no shame!

12 when a very experienced, very qualified community organizer wins the White House. It was funny up until there. Nails on a freaking chalk board. Break time.

13 Nice try, but there is a major difference. The demographic weakness of Bush's 2004 winning coalition was plain to see at the time.

14

Note that this is a different Allen than me.

For the record.

 

Does he have a blog?

15 so, all we need is a Katrina?


the Flaw in your parable is that Democrats are not Republicans; that, and some other stuff like the culture is so f*cked and we're overrun with Demographic-Americans

16 Note that this is a different Allen than me. For the record. Okay. Since there's the Daves and now apparently the Allens, I'm going to demand a dance off. Daves, you get to the be the Jets. Allens, you're the Sharks. Annnnnd go! The alex contingent will sit up here and continue to lord it over all y'all.

17 Yeah, it HAS happened before. 1933.

18 "sterling, brilliant, charismatic leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid."

Dude. You didn't have to do this! /puke

19 I won't totally freak until my taxes are jacked up to the point I will be reduced to eating dog food. Living in CA, I'm not joking.

20 No, Mr. Franklin, we couldn't.

21 That's cute.

22 It's easy.

Democrats are car salesmen.  They can sell you your own mother.

Republicans couldn't sell you a Ribeye steak for $5 if you were starving.

23 We have so much to do in three short years.

I said it earlier and I truly believe this -- we MUST tackle early voting laws. It won't matter how well we message if they cheat at the polls. And I saw so much fraud it would make your head spin.

24 Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.

William Miller: Well, it was fun.

Lester Bangs: They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.

William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn't.

Lester Bangs: That's because we're uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don't have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter.

William Miller: I can really see that now.

Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love... and let's face it, you got a big head start.

William Miller: I'm glad you were home.

Lester Bangs: I'm always home. I'm uncool.

William Miller: Me too!

Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool.

William Miller: I feel better.

Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.

25 The difference in the past was the demographics. Many young white Dems grow older and become Republican. They have friends and family who are Republican. They know people personally who are good people but vote Republican. Young black Dems grow up to be old black Dems. Everyone they personally know and trust agrees that Republicans are evil racist scum. Occasionally they see a black Republican on TV, and everyone they know and trust agree that black Republican is an evil Uncle Tom. We have a shot at convincing young white Dems to change their minds. Marriage and a career often does that. We have zero change of convincing blacks to change their minds. And a minimal chance of convincing hispanics.

26

2004: W was still riding what was left of the 9/11 patriotic wave.

 

2012: Dems could count on a black president to bring out minority voters in unprecedented numbers. Will they keep voting, or is it temporary like the post-9/11 GOP wave?

27 I predicted and worried that Barack and Michelle very powerful "celebrity" caché would mean a significant portion of the voters would not hold him to account.  He'd get a pass because some voters would be completely unseriousness in their decision and just go with the guy who makes them feel good to see on TV.

McCain's campaign was right to go after him as a celebrity to undermine his appeal.  We should have picked that attack up again this election.

28

@14 - note, kids, this is what we at the AoSHQ call a "meme."  You can hear it on Ace's Greatest Hits, now available from K-Tel Records, along with such golden gassers as:

 

The Guys Get Shirts.

 

How Does It Fuckin' Work?

 

Stompy Boots

 

SMOD

 

SCOAMF

 

Marco Rubio's Trash

 

. . .and many more.  So up your AoSHQ membership to Premium today!

29 Note that this is a different Allen than me.

For the record.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) All Dead Inside at November 08, 2012 01:42 PM (/eBe8 )

That's funny.

As if Ace would give you credit if it actually WERE you that sent it.

30 I won't totally freak until my taxes are jacked up to the point I will be reduced to eating dog food. Living in CA, I'm not joking.


Oh, don't be such a grumpy gus.  Dog food has changed lately and its pretty darn tasty now.  And you can eat it while you're riding on safe, efficient government-run high speed rail!

31 Obama rats eyeing that leap off the ship:

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/157344/

32 One more thing to point out. A standard rule of thumb is that the President's party loses ground in the mid terms. But there are exceptions (2002, 1962, 1934). Second term mid-terms are even worse. Here's a list of every President whose party has picked up seats in the second term mid-term: 1. Bill Clinton. That's the entire list. Even the great George Washington lost ground in his second term mid term and we didn't even have organized political parties. So don't do anything stupid like overreach on impeachment and we should be looking at some pretty good gains. Just make sure we actually screen our candidates in winnable Senate races this time. Please.

33 The caller on Rush says she's a 'fifth-generation Hispanic'.  Speaks Spanish with a Demographic accent, and works 'in the Hispanic community'


Know any fifth generation Irishmen?  Who speak Gaelic with a brogue?  Work in the 'Irish community'?  ( making Jamesons or cutting peat )

34 >Oh, don't be such a grumpy gus. Dog food has changed lately and its pretty darn tasty now. And you can eat it while you're riding on safe, efficient government-run high speed rail!


wash it down with Brawndo and you're good to go

35 Well done on this one Ace, however, my concern is that we're going to be in such bad shape with so many forced into dependence on the government by the time 2016 rolls along, it won't even matter. We weren't facing the same scary economic reality back then.

36 Holy shit look at Drudge.

37 2012: Dems could count on a black president to bring out minority voters in unprecedented numbers. Will they keep voting, or is it temporary like the post-9/11 GOP wave? We just need their names. 99% turnout in Philly? Get real...

38

well it looks like the stock market is happy Obama won...

market tanking, yet gold and oil are up, interesting.

39

That said, after Kerry lost the Dems did have the comfort of knowing that long term, the country's demographics were still moving in their direction.

 

Yup. We'd better hope Hispanics really are open to limited governent and the GOP, at least to a degree. Or it's Game Over.

40 Is this a variation of 2008's "Don't worry about Obama, it took Carter to give us Reagan" bullshit?

41 Under obamacare, if you can't afford the premiums or the co-payments, how is it affordable? People will just avoid getting medical treatment even though they are paying for it through their taxes.

42 Allen has a blog?

Who knew.

43 Does he have a blog?

Probably.

44 Ace, how DARE you try to make us all feel better! We're busy wallowing in despair here! [wallow wallow wallow]

45 you're looking ahead to 2016?? we should be looking ahead 12-20-2012 depending on what the House does, the next 6 weeks will shape our future

46 Note that this is a different Allen than me.

Yeah, I think that other Allen has a blog or something.

47 Exactly right, Ace.
Exactly fucking right.

End the doom and gloom.
Obama won, barely...barely, and now he owns this mess. 
Things are going to get much much worse for him.
The mid term election in 2014 will destroy what very little he has left.

It hurts...actually physically hurts...and still hurts me that we lost this.
But give it until January, and the country will hate this guy again.

48 I'm a natural optimist and was hugely optimistic about this election. But I'll say it - we are doomed. All empires come to an end, and I think we are all witnessing the decline and death of the American empire. My mom called me from Nigeria to commiserate because she views Obama as not a good man and knew I worked hard and was excited about Romney. She mentioned how America made her what she became and is and imparted in her so many good values that aren't shared by the majority of Nigerians. (She came here for her doctorate from one of the Ivy Leagues and also lived here for a bit after the fact.) I was always grateful for the values my parents instilled in me and for growing up so differently values-wise from others in my country. Now, I know that I have this great country to thank for that. And people urinated that away. I'm kind of dead inside about it, not even angry. America, you were good while you lasted.

49

Posted by: Dems at November 08, 2012 01:50 PM (FcR7P)

 

It was all just a scam? Interesting....

50 Know any fifth generation Irishmen? Who speak Gaelic with a brogue? Work in the 'Irish community'?


The "Irish Community" is a code word for alcoholics, isn't it?

51 All eyes on the Boner. All. Eyes. On. The Boner.

52 From Yahoo of all places:

More than 55 million Americans receive Social Security benefits, annually, making it the nation's largest social welfare program.  725 billion dollars of your payroll and income taxes last year went to Social Security disbursements  -- That's about 60 billion dollars in benefits each month.  It's no wonder politicians on both sides of the aisle are always trying to convince voters that they have the plan to keep Social Security intact.

The problem is Social Security, as we know it, is currently living on borrowed time.

For the first time in thirty years, Social Security payouts exceeded non-interest income in 2010 and 2011.  The difference between the money coming out and going in was about $45 billion dollars in 2011.





Funny how AFTER the election the MFM is now running articles about the fiscal cliff and SS running out of money. When Paul Ryan talked about it he was out to kill granny

53 I was gonna say 'Snap out of it ACE', but I am glad to see you have. Welcome back.

As for Demographics Shift, as more info is coming out, it is not as bad as the media is trying to spin it. Don't buy the post election operation 'depress GOP'.

One more thing. Be prepared to loose everything (I am talking about savings, houses, etc, etc.). Pledge your lives and fortunes to this. Unless of course you'd rather the lick someone's boots.

54 This really was the mirror of 2004.

55 I think also, that Obamacare is probably more vulnerable to a 2016 action than we think. However, the voter fraud that led to the losses of many swing state Senate candidates is crippling. If ace thinks talk of voter fraud is cuckoo, then let's at least push hard on voter ID for the 30 states that have GOP governors. I think one reason Indiana swung back to Red was because it had voter ID.

56 Okay. Since there's the Daves and now apparently the Allens, I'm going to demand a dance off.


Daves, you get to the be the Jets. Allens, you're the Sharks. Annnnnd go!


The alex contingent will sit up here and continue to lord it over all y'all.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 08, 2012 01:45 PM (VtjlW)

Don't forget to wave your imperial paw. 

57
11 How dare you attempt to inject reason and sanity into the Horde! Have you no shame, at long last, have you no shame!

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 08, 2012 01:43 PM (VtjlW)

No, no I do not.

http://tinyurl.com/a4h3pg2

58

What I simply dont get is, where did this defeatist attitude came from? Republicans went into this campaign ignoring half of their own principles as if they were ashamed of them. Bush was only elected because he was a friggin culture warrior in 2004 and suddenly the whole movement act as if we must hide our believes. I just dont friggin get it. Since when are we the party that plays nice? Remember what we did to Kerry in 04 or what Rove did to McCain in 2000 in South Carolina? Where did this compulsion to be nice come from?

 

This was a narrow win for the Democrats because Republicans thought that it would be impressive if they waged a half-assed, apologetic Minnesota-nice campaign. Back to the roots and then we will win elections again.

59 I can't believe I'm writing this, but... Mr Boner is the most important man in the world, right now, for us and for the GOP. It is what he does or does not do that will shape the future of the GOP.

60

It's happened before.

It's all happened before.

Are you a  Cylon hybrid?

61 Hi. OT, but has anyone else emailed FOX to ask them to formally and finally dump Rove and Morris? Rove has outlived his usefulness, and Morris never really had any. Same with the Barones, Barneses and Kristols. I think it is time for the Gutfelds, Goldbergs and Aces to step into the fore.

62 non-voting Republican on Rush 'just wants to get IT over with'


"It" is Armageddon, etc

63 Does this mean we can get Senate GOP minority to fillibuster all SCAOAMF judges for next 4 years too?

64 How do you get to Allen's porn blog?

65

All eyes on the Boner.

All. Eyes. On.

The Boner.

 

You got it!

66 and filibuster the commie libs that he puts in cabinet to replace holder, etc?

67 32. In 1998, Clinton gained in the House, but not in the Senate. 1998 Seante elections were a push. GOP still held 55 seats

68 "However, the voter fraud that led to the losses of many swing state Senate candidates is crippling."

-- Guys, you keep saying this, but there's still no -proof.- Remember how silly it was in 2004 when Democrats whined about Bush's Diebold voting scams? Yeah. We're going to sound like that unless you have some proof that's rock solid.

69

I disagree that this is a zero-sum game where "they got us now, but we got them last time, and we will get them next time".

The country is shifting leftwards in a significant way, and alarmingly fast.

The left has owned schools, universities, pop culture, and the media for 40-50 years.  They played the long game, and did it well.  We are seeing the long-time coming fruits of their efforts. 

70 Nicely done, Ace. Yet another pick me up. Maybe I can keep going what I started after the positive thread last night. Got up and exercised this morning at o-dark-thirty. I would limit drinking tonight, but I am going to watch my hokies get beat worse than Romney, so I think I have to have at least a glass off wine (it's a big glass). But keep the positive coming. It helps!

71 Basic point  -  both parties would be wise to not  nominate anyone from New England.

72 End the doom and gloom.
Obama won, barely...barely, and now he owns this mess.
Things are going to get much much worse for him.
The mid term election in 2014 will destroy what very little he has left.

It hurts...actually physically hurts...and still hurts me that we lost this.
But give it until January, and the country will hate this guy again.

Posted by: MrShad at November 08, 2012 01:51 PM (Xqfwb)

No.  He doesn't.  GWB will still get credit and since he still has to somewhat abide by that pesky document called The Constitution, he will blame those meddling House Republicans for at least the next two years.  In those two years, you won't BELIEVE how nasty the left will get to control both houses again.

We. Are. Fucked.

Our side has no backbone.  There is no winning strategy coming from these guys.

73 @42: AllenG has a blog? Now that's just crazy talk.

74 >> We have zero change of convincing blacks to change their minds. We've never really tried. I'm not convinced this is true.

75

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 08, 2012 01:52 PM (1Jaio)

 

 

The Media: "We build you up to beat you down." 

76 Posted by: Jerry Jack in Jacksonville at November 08, 2012 01:49 PM (Dll6b) Considering most of us came over during the potato famine, it's too early to have that kind of generational roots

77 One of your best, Ace, as much for its timeliness as anything. I might print & frame this one, and hang it next to my liquor cabinet. A little incentive, doncha know...

78 If the big crash doesn't come this x-mas, it will be next.  You can bank on it.

79 So freaking true! To do this we need to copy the Howard Dean 50 state strategy and recruit candidates who are electable in those states. Instead f blue dogs lets call the red pussies. Fiscal sanity has to win out so we make a truce with the libertarians and get our fiscal house in order then argue abortion, gay marriage, etc. To accomplish that we need to start holding our own in the messaging battle. Conservative creatives should be unleashed to create our own version of the hope poster and our own gaffe meme generators, etc. conservative text books and teaching materials need to also be produced.

80 Demographics do not worry me as much as Obamacare. We have to hope that it is a disaster

81

Ace

Maybe it could just be that Romney was as much of a progressive as Obama and maybe we dodged a bullet by having only 4 years left under progressive rule rather than 8 or 16 under RomneyRyan

Also look towards the 8 states we may easily pickup senate seats in 2 years.  In fact in one year these 8 democrat senators who carried their state by less than 53% and all went to Romney, these 8 are not going down for Reid or Obama:

Alaska (Palin?), Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina,Oregon, South Dakota

 

 

 

82 The reasons gop voters stayed home: Bush clan rhino-ism; mcconnell/boner rhino-ism, romney-rinoism. gop voters know that the pubbies will eagerly fuck them over once elected, so why bother?

83 If you have liberals in your family, as I do, the parallels have been right there all year long. And the reactions about the same. There are even more parallels. The numbers that scared the Democrats the most coming out of that election were, 18 and 40. George Bush won 18% of the black vote and 40% of the Hispanic vote. You know why? Not because Bush did some panderpalooza to black folks in his first term, or come out for amnesty. He did it by making people feel he was a strong leader on terrorism, but also a guy who..........wait for it...........cared about them. Democrats were APOPLECTIC after this election. They knew they were Toast if Republicans kept getting that much of the minority vote. So they got the black guy to run. Obama wasn't ready, didn't want to run, feared taking on the Clinton machine. But Howard Dean convinced him and got the big liberal donors to back him. And the rest is history. Republicans simply HAVE TO be the first party to put a Hispanic on the national ticket. Let's get Brian Sandoval spruced up and ready.

84 "What I simply dont get is, where did this defeatist attitude came from?"

-- Losing. It happens. Give it a week or so, then everyone'll be back to normal. Thanksgiving, at the latest.

85 Let's give it a rest. 

I am so fucking  warn out and hung over and fat. 

I need a break. 

That is all.

86 I appreciate the optimism but....I'm not sure I buy it.

What great conservative achievement did Bush's victory in 04 preserve forever and always?

 ObamaCare is locked in now and forever. It only gets bigger and more expensive until it leads to single payer and full on government rationing.

This was probably our best chance to even make a small dent in Medicare and Medicaid. Social Security wasn't even on the table.

Will a Republican ever win the presidency again? Sure.

An actual conservative who can slow let alone reverse the slow, steady decline into statism? That hasn't happened before, so I'm not  sure it will happen in the future.

87 The good news? By the time of the next election the NY Times will probably be bankrupt.

88

They said the Republican Party was dead after Nixon and Watergate.  Obituary and everything.

Later, Reagan.

The pendulum swings, the wheel turns.  It's not easy, it's not automatic, but it's totally f'ing doable.  We didn't lose by, say, 70-30.  A lot of people all over teh country voted for Romney and Ryan, and indeed, R+R gained two states over McCain-Palin.

That's not nothing.  Neither are the House and the governorships.

89 We lost because Michelle won the First Lady debate.

90 Read Rubio already heading to IA for a funraiser.. hmm

91 note, kids, this is what we at the AoSHQ call a "meme." You can hear it on Ace's Greatest Hits, now available from K-Tel Records, along with such golden gassers as:



How Does It Fuckin' Work?


Ace's cover version is better than the original.

92 "Maybe it could just be that Romney wasas much of aprogressive as Obama"

-- If that were true, it could be right. It's not, so it isn't.

93 Losing. It happens. Give it a week or so, then everyone'll be back to normal. Thanksgiving, at the latest.

---

Of which year?

94 Obama has to fulfill his campaign promises, right?

He promised to let the Bush tax cuts expire and go back to the Clinton levels that were fair for everybody.

He claimed he didn't create the sequester and promised it wouldn't happen.

So why don't Repubicans in the House just let Obama fulfill his promises - sometime in March, say, when Obama gets desperate - agree to a deal where tax rates remain where they then are and cut deductions as Boehner suggested yesterday.

And since Obama also claimed to cut the deficit - hold him to hit - actual cuts, no cuts in rate of growth (increases).

These things are simple and clear.

Then the 47% that pay no federal taxes becomes 30% and more people will have skin in the game.

95 Yes Bush won because Republicans were motivated to get out and vote.  He then ruined the brand and Republicans have sat at home in increasing numbers because we ran Bush-II in 2008 and a Worse Bush-III in 2012.


And in 2016 the Party big wigs will call for another moderate Bush-V to lose yet again. Of course by then we will be measuring Republican turnout in the thousands instead of millions because there will be a new conservative Party.

96 We have zero change of convincing blacks to change their minds.

We've never really tried. I'm not convinced this is true.

Only a very small portion of blacks will see past the racial bullshit from the race-mongers like Al and Jesse.  It's already too far gone to be courting them after TFG Ep IV: A New Hope and TFG Ep IV:  The Barackalypse

97 Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at November 08, 2012 01:51 PM (QKKT0) No code about it, you should see my priest on Sunday morning. Don't remember the last time he wasn't shitfaced

98 Republicans won't win again until they address the organizational aspects of the their ground game. Obama simply got more of his voters to the polls, no more no less. An article on Redstate today details the Dems ground game led by unions and it shows what we have to do to win. We're woefully behind but it is comforting to know that part of the problem is structural rather than ideological.

99 On the heels of the US Presidential election, Puerto Rico voters want to take the next step to become the newest state in the Union: http://tinyurl.com/bkg6eaw

"Puerto Rico has to be a state. There is no other option," said 25-year-old Jerome Lefebre, who picked up his grandfather before driving to the polls. "We're doing OK, but we could do better. We would receive more benefits, a lot more financial help."

I think at least one person is thinking it's time for Puerto Rico to get on the gravy train.

100 What is scary is that Akin and Murdoch on paper. One was a 5 term rep, the other SOS of Indiana. They were not fools like O'Donnell or the chick from NV in 2010.

Easy to vet candidates backgrounds, but how do we tell them to shut the fuck up

101

The unemployment rate in 2004 was 5.5% and dropping, we had 14 quarters of positive GDP, we had not been attacked again when everyone thought for sure we would have been and the Dem candidate was a career politician with no accomplishments. 

 

Does not compare to what happened in this election.  This election was about the takers becoming more than the makers.  Its as simple as that.  The demographics have changed and they aren't going back.

102 potatoE famine:  1845-49 ---- five generations.


that famine brought lots of Scandis and Germans, as the famine hit there, too.

103 59
I can't believe I'm writing this, but...

Mr Boner is the most important man in the world, right now, for us and for the GOP.

It is what he does or does not do that will shape the future of the GOP.

Posted by: Soothsayer at November 08, 2012 01:53 PM (jUytm)

[joncelli gets under desk, curls into fetal ball]

104

Know any fifth generation Irishmen? Who speak Gaelic with a brogue? Work in the 'Irish community'? ( making Jamesons or cutting peat )

 

Heh.

 

"It is our boast that we admit the immigrant to full fellowship and equality with the native-born. In return we demand that he shall share our undivided allegiance to the one flag which floats over all of us." -- Teddy Roosevelt

105 Posted by: BCochran1981 at November 08, 2012 01:53 PM (da5Wo) For one terrible moment, I thought that might be a spider. And then I would have to stompy you. But it was not. You may have a calming manatee. Don't forget to wave your imperial paw. Posted by: Tami at November 08, 2012 01:52 PM (X6akg) That goes without saying.

106 All of the years, hopefully. It's good to reset to Happy in late November.

107 I forgot, the 2004 challenger also had the press on his side.

108 So what you're saying is, it's safe to BLAME BUSH???????

Woohoo!!

I've been waiting 10 years to do that. 

109 The good news? By the time of the next election the NY Times will probably be bankrupt.

Posted by: Dr Spank at November 08, 2012 01:57 PM (4cRnj)

Heh.  You think President LameDuck will let that happen?

You are sorely mistaken.

Do not underestimate what will happen in the next 4 years.  LEARN. A. LESSON.

110 Democrats made George W. Bush the new Jew.

111

Conservatives have made in-roads at the local and state level.  Its a  start.  A  good  start, but we are a generation away from overturning the liberal leviathan.  But it will be overturned.  Conservatives are  out breeding  our liberal  brothers and  sisters by  quite a wide margin.  Eventually that will bear some  fruit.  Just in 30 years.

112 Wait, the guy that we are not sure has a blog, says he didn't email ace, so who the fuck is this other Allen guy?

Does HE have a blog?

113 Obama simply got more of his voters to the polls, no more no less


Restate is FOS.  Obama LOST 10 million voters.  We expected that.  We lost nearly 3  million when we expected Bush level turnout.  The base sat at home.

114

In (once) Great Britain, even the conservatives just tinker around the edges.  They never try to roll back the entitlement state.

 

All of Europe can afford their entitlement state because the USA pays for their defense.

 

That needs to stop.  Let the Europeans see how nicely their entitlement state survives once they have to pay the full cost of everything they consume.

 

Greece is the tip of the iceberg. 

 

115 Bad analogy. Bush won reelection because he led (imperfectly) through a major crisis which unified the country. Obama just won reelection in spite of not leading during a major crisis which divided the country.

116 And yes I know that back then there were lefties saying "The electorate failed" like I am saying now.

I am aware of that.

The electorate failed.

The people failed.

117 There is a key difference: 8 years of Santa Claus

118 This is very good--but it misses the elephant in the room-- The War Effort. This time Republicans essentially stuffed that in a closet. This last convention was very, very different form most of the Republican conventions that have gone before it. I think we have a really huge and disgraceful problem. We have a smaller, and smaller all volunteer military that because of BRAC is in fewer and fewer states. That means less House representation, less Senate representation--a concentration in the South and a civilian population that is more insulated than ever from the people that are trying to protect them. Add to that a media that protects them from the realities because a Dem is running the wars now. Republicans lost one of the biggest advantages they ever had--National Security. This last round--they barely fought to get that back. The military and their effort were not brought up until an actor referenced them in an off the cuff fashion and referred to it as a losing proposition. Also the military's two ex-Commanders in Chief--where stuffed in a closet.

119

54 This really was the mirror of 2004.

 

So...Romney was like our own version of John Kerry?

 

And that's why 68% of registered R's stayed home?

 

120 What great conservative achievement did Bush's victory in 04 preserve forever and always? Medicare D! Wait. That wasn't helpful was it. joncelli, scoot over, I want under the desk too.

121 81 these 8 are not going down for Reid or Obama: Alaska (Palin?), Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina,Oregon, South Dakota I posted something similar wednesday, nobody was ready to bite. 2014 election is a time to take back the senate. Very winnable especially with what the next two years will bring. QE1,2,3,... alleviated much of the pain; but now it will get much worse in the next 12 months. What happens to the dems up for office when unemployment hits 9%. Obama may be "liked" by 53% of those voting; who else among the dems actually is liked or cool?

122 If we take the widest and wisest view of a Cause, there is no such thing as a Lost Cause because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause. We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successorsÂ’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph.

123

; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal">The high schools are turning out misinformed  illiterates, and the colleges are turning out socialists.   This can be fixed but its long term and needs attention.

; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"> 

; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal">The media is against the republicans and pop culture is against the republicans.  Both of these are potentially  fixing themselves and change is glacial but the cracks have appeared.

; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"> 

; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, liberals are like a virus that spread to healthy tissue once it destroys its host.  Examples are  denizens of California, New York, Maryland and Illinois who are spreading to Texas, Colorado and Florida. 

124 NAP!

125 Spot on Ace.

There will definitely be specific lessons to learn from this and hopefully we will.  Hell, maybe even good 'ole Harry Reid will overplay his hand (not even remotely out of the question) and give us a nice gift to use in 2014 if we pick some good candidates.

I will prepare myself for the worst from the next 4 years, since I have a wife and 4 year old to worry about, but we need to be prepared to seize every opportunity to take it back piece by piece.

126 Posted by: Jerry Jack in Jacksonville at November 08, 2012 01:59 PM (Dll6b) Eh, guess my math is off then but then again, majority of micks became hillbillies

127 Correction: the cumulative and finally tipping effect of 100 years of Santa Claus.

You can't exclude the cumulative effects of culture.

128 Let's give it a rest.

I am so fucking warn out and hung over and fat.

I need a break.

That is all.


I think I read last night that Ace recommends taking up smoking.

129 Bush won an election and governed in a way that destroyed the party.  Woo hoo, what a win. 

130 Well done, Ace & Allen, which sounds like a vaudeville team.

131 we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph. Posted by: T. S. Eliot at November 08, 2012 02:02 PM (5iuEW) This is also true in fundraising. People will donate money to STOP something but not to start something.

132 So how long till the GOP finally goes full on Tory?

133 There will definitely be specific lessons to learn from this and hopefully we will. Hell, maybe even good 'ole Harry Reid will overplay his hand (not even remotely out of the question) and give us a nice gift to use in 2014 if we pick some good candidates.

I will prepare myself for the worst from the next 4 years, since I have a wife and 4 year old to worry about, but we need to be prepared to seize every opportunity to take it back piece by piece.

Posted by: Pete at November 08, 2012 02:03 PM (+GIS3)

That's too funny.

HOW MANY GIFTS did Biden and Obama give us?!?!?!?!!?


You're not paying attention.......

134 The Senate GOP needs to hire a quality PR firm and well qulaified strategists to vet canddiates for 2014. They need to find guys who will clear the field and avoid nasty in party fights. No more Missouri 12 person primaries, that got us Akin.

Need to start with Governor Parnell in Alaska. He is term limited and should easily win that seat in 2014. Force Landriue to retire by getting Jindal to run for sake of the country in La. Governor Rounds in south Dakota etc....

Quality candidates that will clear the Field, and maybe force the Dem to retire

135 The issue here is faith... Democrats have an ostensibly strong faith that won't be shaken until there's a hard fault.  Low info voters are the same way... most of the issues don't affect them (so they think) and they don't have a capacity on the idea of finite resources... remember, these people are taught that all is possible if enough smart people are allowed to work in a good environment... so anything that goes against what they believe is a good environment is going to be considered bad.

The problem right now, is by and large, the Democrats are dominating what is meant to be "good" in the general humanist sense.  Now, I'm not saying humanism vs. religion but just in the general "what I take it to mean" sense.  Until this is altered, low-info voters are going to go democrat.  These people go with their hearts and their culture because that's what they use for conferral on what they should do.

I still think we need to wage an information campaign.  I've been saying it since Fred Thompson was angling at the presidency I wanted him to run a strong web-campaign.  We have to get into their venue.  We don't have to imitate them (see, Poochy... Simpsons, Itchy and Scratchy)... but until this aura and set is pierced its going to be a hard battle because most people want to be left alone and left to do as they desire.   They'd have to see how democrat protocols take away from that.  You're not going to convince everyone... but if you're not playing the game then you are ceding entire generations.

136 The other parallel here is that a lefty would have posted something just like this in 2004.

We really want to do this?

137 I think I read last night that Ace recommends taking up smoking. And masturbation. Lots of masturbation via the internet.

138 Also as someone who has spent the last two years in Chile, Bolivia and Peru the quickest way to change attitudes amongst Latin Americans and Asians in the country is not amnesty or trying to not be the Anglo bully party. It's changing the attitudes towards conservatives and free market principles in the home country. The only thing people in Peru knew about Romney and conservatives is we are the second coming of hitler. That's what CNN International and the BBBC World Service say and so that's their attitude. VOA is just a left leaning joke in Latin America as well. Someone needs to translate all of those Cato or Heritage white papers into the culture and language of Latin America and follow that up with pushing free market principles and candidates as well. The first place we lose the immigration and race debate is where immigrants come from nit here. Reach opinion leaders at home and you reach opinion leaders here. Cross cultural candidates need to understand cultures cross borders as well and if they trust grandma in La Paz what car they should buy in Dallas they are going o trust grandma about what candidate to vote for as well. That's why Cubans are more conservative there is very little opinion leading from Cuba. There is a hell of a lot of opinion leading from Mexico or Guatemala though more than any idiot republican consultant or senator could ever know.

139 Not ready to stop being defeatist yet, but I like reading stuff like this nonetheless.

140 The only thing Bush gave us was Justice Alito. Roberts was a big miss

141

Saw on Fox yesterday that former governor Richardson (D), is claiming the GOP standard bearer in 2016 will be a hispanic.

 

Well, I think he's partially right.  One member of the ticket needs to be an unassailable member of a minority group.

 

Both the dems and republicans have tried women, and that didn't work.

 

So it'll have to be a minority, since it's racist to attack skin color so it'll be a lot harder to go after a minority than a white woman.

 

 

142 There is no parallel. This guy and his cohorts are G-D damn socialists who hate America who are bound and determined to destroy what's left of America.

143 It's not being defeatist by accepting the fact that the electorate has tipped this time.

144 I spent all summer thinking how much this felt like 2004 (with a lousier economy).  My only solace was needling O-bots that they now knew how we felt voting for W that year.  They loved to hear that...

145 We need Denny Green to wrap up the death of the GOP

146 I concede I have become unhinged because I now hate both the left and a great number of posters here.  My hate will sustain my 'every man for themself' mode that I am now in.  So long my fake internet aquaintances.

147 So because we lost to incompetents in a couple other recent elections, it makes this one more tolerable?  Sorry Ace, I appreciate optimism right now, but I'm just not buying it.  This was THE ideal situation for conservatives and small government minded people, and we still lost to socialism.  Let it burn.

148 Sponge, I'm paying enough attention to see that we did not take advantage of those "gifts".  It's completely up to us.

149 So it'll have to be a minority, since it's racist to attack skin color so it'll be a lot harder to go after a minority than a white woman.

See Herman Cain and Justice Thomas.

150 It's not being defeatist by accepting the fact that the electorate has tipped this time.

Posted by: hannitys_hybrid at November 08, 2012 02:07 PM (zpqa2)

It's being a realist.

151 *were* stuffed in a closet. _______ yikes--need coffee.

152 Across Philadelphia, GOP poll inspectors were forcibly (and illegally) removed from polling locations. Coincidentally (or not), Mr. Obama received “astronomical” numbers in those very same regions, including locations where he received “over 99%” of the vote. Ward 4, which also had a poll watcher dressed in Obama attire, went massively for Obama. Mr. Obama received 99.5% of the vote, defeating Mr. Romney 9,955 to 55. . . .Another problem: “Voter turnout in Philadelphia was around 60 percent, according to state election figures.” In these precincts it was well over 90%.

153 The only reason I am saying Let It Burn is because I believe that is the only remedy. Not because I'm being defeatist.

154 143 It's not being defeatist by accepting the fact that the electorate has tipped this time. Posted by: hannitys_hybrid at November 08, 2012 02:07 PM (zpqa2) ----- And ACA is here forever. So there's a very real defeat that's now in the history books.

155 Posted by: polynikes at November 08, 2012 02:08 PM (m2CN7) Says the dude who wouldn't listen to anyone who pointed out Romney's deficiencies

156

Great post.

 

Some commentors are sounding like a caricature of the left's idea of Conservatives. "Oh noes, the dark skinned people cannot be stopped -- they are going to demand free stuff and vote in Democrats forever. Game over man."

 

I just walked out for lunch. I went to Chick-Fil-A, where there were 4 hard working AfAm women with smiles on their face serving people at the cash register. I walked by a shoe repair place where 2 Koreans and an Hispanic were working hard repairing shoes. Then I walked by a barber shop were some 20 somethings of a somewhat vaguely indeterminate race where cutting hair at their barber shop. I suspect a decent number (most/all?) of the people I saw voted Democratic (if they voted at all). But I don't think they are sitting there just waiting for a government paycheck. Most people (not all) want something out of their lives. They want more than to be a nothing. That desire is not specific to one race (and yes, I am not so naive as not to realize that there are some cultural disfunctions -- enabled by the noble Democrats -- that have traditionally plagued AfAms).

 

We can broaden our coalition without being Democratic lite. We just need to sell better (well maybe a little more than that). Hell, I would argue Reagan actually sold Americans on the idea that conservativisim was a postive good, while in reality not really governing as conservative as his rhetoric.

 

The good news from this election is that we have a lot of room to grow our base -- because right now sure as hell there are not enough people in it : )

157 More than 13,000 people who live in 79 public housing buildings across New York City are still without electricity 11 days after storm Sandy blew through the region, causing major flooding and power outages.

The numbers climb to 20,000 residents in 123 public housing buildings when you include those without heat or hot water—some also have no power—as a nor'easter blew through Wednesday night, bringing a record-breaking early snow to the city.

At least they can take comfort in the fact that Barry got a photo op out of it and drooling idiots vote for him because of it. And the people in public housing probably voted for Barry 100%

158 yinzer -- yep

159 141 Saw on Fox yesterday that former governor Richardson (D), is claiming the GOP standard bearer in 2016 will be a hispanic.

Well, I think he's partially right. One member of the ticket needs to be an unassailable member of a minority group.

Both the dems and republicans have tried women, and that didn't work.

So it'll have to be a minority, since it's racist to attack skin color so it'll be a lot harder to go after a minority than a white woman.

Posted by: Boots at November 08, 2012 02:07 PM (neKzn)

Women are not a minority. We need to quit thinking that way. Plus, most women know damned well that women don't make good leaders. Most are not nearly hard-assed enough, and the ones who are, nobody wants to speak with. I am a woman, and it's clear to me.

America is the least racist country in the world. Unfortunately, we are also the most PC bound. We are atoning for things that we never did, and worrying about offending people who aren't particularly offended unless there's a payoff involved. Tort reform would fix this crap, but lawyers are in charge, so no dice.

What we need is proof of malfeasance by the Democrats that cannot be refuted. What we need is an un-pussified candidate that isn't afraid to tell it like it is and prove it outright, and then communicate it clearly and forcefully. Period.

160 "It's all happened before."


It's also all been written before. See Sean Trende's piece "The Case of the Missing White Voters" on RCP today.

161

"We have zero change of convincing blacks to change their minds."

 

'We've never really tried. I'm not convinced this is true.'

 

Folks, you don't get it. Any community with a 70% illegitimacy rate CANNOT support smaller government. In such communities (the rate is closer to 90% in the inner city) government support is essential to survival. It has replaced the father in their homes.

 

Overall, the U.S. illegitimacy rate is 40% and climbing. How long before it is the majority? At that point, the GOP is not a viable option.

 

The mot significant development domestically over the last century was the shift from two-parent to single-parent homes. It has made liberal government not only desirable, but necessary.

162

Posted by: tasker at November 08, 2012 02:01 PM (r2PLg)

 

This a 1000 times!  I found it odd that the Republican Convention made very little mention of the military.  And you are right...they let the Democrats take National Security away from them.  Sad...

163 132 So how long till the GOP finally goes full on Tory?

Posted by: The Dude at November 08, 2012 02:04 PM (tw6Ar)

It's already happening. The nation will change to the point where a truly conservative party cannot survive but the party will survive by becoming its antithesis. Think Unity Party from Jerry Pournelle's Falkenberg novels.

164 Here's a thought. Romney seemed to not be thought of as likable enough.

Maybe, in the future, we should spend -less- money on attack ads, and make positive Republican ads? Were there any ads that had the family of the people Romney and his sons saved from drowning? What about an ad cut of the missing girl Romney's team from Bain found when she was dying in New York?

I think in the next Presidential election, we just need a PAC that has a goal to find our guy or gal's positives and highlight them, painting them for everyone to see. Because negative advertising hurts us like hell, and this is probably the only way to really counteract it. It doesn't matter -who- we run, they'll be called rabidly crazy right-wing oppressors, so we need a plan to stop that before it happens.

Positive Happy Rainbow PAC is my plan. Any counter plans?

165 I would create a conservative/libertarian Spanish and pick your Asian language news service available online and for over the air both here and overseas. Stop leaving the message to the enemy messenger. Then in congress I would keep pushing an aid package specifically for economic liberty property rights development in Latin America. How about instead of only creating an environment that is desirable here how bout we build Honduras into something people don't have to leave. Attach that package to increased border enforcement e verify and the free trade agreements and finally use our foreign aid dollars to build free market societies rather than prop up hated dictators.

166 on this 68% of Repubicans stayed home meme - Dobbs was probably referencing the exit polls that calculated the voting electorate as 38% Dem, 32% Rep, 30% Ind.  Not that only 32% of Rep voted.

167 @149  Sounds like we need to find a articulate, black, homeless man, who once held a teaching position at a prestigious University and espouses sound conservative economic principles. Then the left and the MSM can't attack him for being white, Mormon, or rich.

168 153 The only reason I am saying Let It Burn is because I believe that is the only remedy. Not because I'm being defeatist. Posted by: hannitys_hybrid at November 08, 2012 02:10 PM (zpqa2) And what's the other option? Obama can structurally or fundamentally, if you will, transform America now. What is going to stop him? I know we have the House, but still? As far as I'm concerned the only person that can do anything about this is God.

169 The big difference between 2004 and 2012 is that Bush was not in the process of leaving behind institutional legislation that would fundamentally transform the reationship between the government and the governed. No matter how dispondent and depressed Dems were in 2004, there was nothing Bush had done that could not be undone when they returned to power. The same cannot be said for conservatives today. Freedoms lost to an ever growing government are seldom if ever regained without resorting to violence. That is the path the nation is on, and it is only question of when we get to the end of that path.

170 "We can broaden our coalition without being Democratic lite. We just need to sell better (well maybe a little more than that). Hell, I would argue Reagan actually sold Americans on the idea that conservativisim was a postive good, while in reality not really governing as conservative as his rhetoric"

That was over 30 years ago. Do you think the electorate has changed?

I'm sorry, but you are dreaming.

171 Here is a simple exercise in logic...

McCain beat Romney in a primary

Obama beat McCain in an election

The rest is history.

I am over being 'drunk' about it but the 'hangover' lingers. I have sworn off drinking forever but we all know the value-rite will be called on again. I just hope our next candidate is up for my commitment to him/her.

172 Does not compare to what happened in this election. This election was about the takers becoming more than the makers. Its as simple as that. The demographics have changed and they aren't going back. Posted by: polynikes at November 08, 2012 01:59 PM (m2CN7) Remember that map liberals sent around after 2004, with "Jesusland" and "Canada"? They thought the same thing, that the people of Jesusland had taken over and would never retreat, that the Neocons had brought us endless war, etc. etc. Remember, we even had both houses of Congress after that election. Yet just two years later they won back the House and Senate, and in another two they won the White House. Absolutely no reason we can't do the same thing.

173

Herman Cain had pizza boxes full of baggage.  He had never run for anything in his life and wasn't ready to be vetted.

 

Justice Thomas, on the other hand, was and is a decent man who was brutally targeted.  But he survived and has been a stalwart on the court.

 

The political climate is different now than it was back in '89 or '90 when the Thomas hearings took place.  It would be much more difficult to gut punch a man like Clarence Thomas today.

 

 

174 allen west lost and alan grayson won. i hope the mayans were right...

175 Of course white, Mormon and rich describes Harry Reid, but I digress.

176 164 I had that exact idea this morning! A creatives PAC that focuses just on creating our version of that stupid hope poster and spreading it out over alternative popular culture media. There is no reason we should be losing the creative battle. None!

177 Some commentors are sounding like a caricature of the left's idea of Conservatives. "Oh noes, the dark skinned people cannot be stopped -- they are going to demand free stuff and vote in Democrats forever. Game over man."

I just walked out for lunch. I went to Chick-Fil-A, where there were 4 hard working AfAm women with smiles on their face serving people at the cash register. I walked by a shoe repair place where 2 Koreans and an Hispanic were working hard repairing shoes. Then I walked by a barber shop were some 20 somethings of a somewhat vaguely indeterminate race where cutting hair at their barber shop. I suspect a decent number (most/all?) of the people I saw voted Democratic (if they voted at all).

I don't have a problem with those people who work for a living.  It's the obamaphone lady and Peggy Joseph types who want everyone else to do the working for a living to support their vices.  If you went up to those same people you saw working and asked them what they thought of the Peggy Josephs and obamaphone ladies of the country, they too would be telling them to FOAD.  Whatever their voting habits, there are more takes than makers now.

178 Sponge, I'm paying enough attention to see that we did not take advantage of those "gifts". It's completely up to us.

Posted by: Pete at November 08, 2012 02:09 PM (+GIS3)

You'll have to define "us" then.

The blogosphere on our side was out there.  We're fighting the MSM, Print, Soros.......

The RNC and Republican party has no balls.  They have their tail between their legs and will do NOTHING.

Tea Party rallies gained momentum and did damage in 2010, then the RNC turned on them and denigrated them, giving the left even MORE ways to defeat us.

It will take full on revolution by the end of Obama's term.  WE....the people in this blog....HAVE no representation in politics.  Sad but true.  We are a dying breed.

179 @ 168

"And what's the other option? Obama can structurally or fundamentally, if you will, transform America now. What is going to stop him? I know we have the House, but still?

As far as I'm concerned the only person that can do anything about this is God."

Now that we have tipped, there is no strategic option other than to wait for the pendulum to swing back by way of the lessons the electorate is yet to learn.

180 Excuse the length, but Romney's undervote of approximately 3 million compared to McCain's totals in 2008 bothered me, and I looked into it for an explanation.

I focused on the swing states - states that if Romney had carried would have given him the EVs necessary to win. 

In 2012 Florida, Obama received 20,158 more votes than in 2008.  Romney received 173,867 more than McCain did in 2008.  No undervote for either.

In 2012 Virginia, Obama received 73,182 less votes than in 2008.  Romney was plus 46,249.  Undervote for Obama, overvote for Romney.

In 2012 Ohio, Obama received 11,377 less votes than in 2008.  Romney was plus 91,932.  Undervote for Obama, overvote for Romney.

In New Hampshire, Obama received 17,260 less votes than in 2008.  Romney was plus 9,744.

Winning FL, VA, OH, and NH would have given Romney 270 EVs.

If Romney overperformed in these swing states, where did the undervoting happen? 

Well, in California, Romney received 738,884 less votes in 2012 than McCain received in 2008.

In New York, he received 500,041 less.

And in Texas, he received 88,051 less.

It appears that this undervote came from two things:  Republicans in populace, deep blue state stayed home because it was futile; and Republicans in populace, deep red states took their foot on the gas because their participation was not necessary to carry the state.

This doesn't account for the whole 3 million, but it explains a lot.

Bottom line, it doesn't look like the 3 million's non-participation made much of a difference.

181 Makes for a nice allegory...but...

Of the two presidents compared, one at least followed the letter and spirit of the law. The current dictator-elect has no use for the law unless it suits him.

Bush had a couple of wars and rampant spending.

Obama has done what Reagan warned us against decades ago; taken control of our healthcare. Obamacare is now as much a part of our increasingly socialist state of being as medicare, welfare and social security.

This is a step from which we cannot walk back.

And there is much worse damage to come...

182 @149 Sounds like we need to find a articulate, black, homeless man, who once held a teaching position at a prestigious University and espouses sound conservative economic principles. Then the left and the MSM can't attack him for being white, Mormon, or rich.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at November 08, 2012 02:13 PM (9eDbm)

MFM: Wanna bet?

183 It will take full on revolution by the end of Obama's term. WE....the people in this blog....HAVE no representation in politics. Sad but true. We are a dying breed.

Posted by: © Sponge at November 08, 2012 02:15 PM (UK9cE)

So, step up. Run for office. Get out there.

184 So it'll have to be a minority, since it's racist to attack skin color so it'll be a lot harder to go after a minority than a white woman.

Posted by: Boots at November 08, 2012 02:07 PM (neKzn)

If 2008 taught me anything is that the one thing women hate more than men is other women.

185 It would be much more difficult to gut punch a man like Clarence Thomas today.

Are you kidding me?  It's not about colour, it's about party.  Conservative minorities will never be given the same kind of slack when compared with democrat or liberal minorities. 

186

I just walked out for lunch. I went to Chick-Fil-A, where there were 4 hard working AfAm women with smiles on their face serving people at the cash register.

 

Thanks for the condesending Public Service Announcement. Growing up in Philadelphia, I never really knew any real live brown people.

 

How many of those AfAm women have children? How many are married to their children's father? It's not unrealistic, given the statistics, that even though they work and smile they still need a level of government support that will not make the GOP message appealing.

187 Freedoms lost to an ever growing government are seldom if ever regained without resorting to violence.

Good thing I'm coming around the corner, then.

188 185 It would be much more difficult to gut punch a man like Clarence Thomas today. Are you kidding me? It's not about colour, it's about party. Conservative minorities will never be given the same kind of slack when compared with democrat or liberal minorities. Posted by: EC at November 08, 2012 02:16 PM (GQ8sn) Case in point, JJ Jr was re-elected. Unless I missed it, not much was made in the MSM of the fact that he was a raving lunatic.

189 History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme.

190 @ 172

"Remember that map liberals sent around after 2004, with "Jesusland" and "Canada"? They thought the same thing, that the people of Jesusland had taken over and would never retreat, that the Neocons had brought us endless war, etc. etc. Remember, we even had both houses of Congress after that election. Yet just two years later they won back the House and Senate, and in another two they won the White House.

Absolutely no reason we can't do the same thing."

Other than the fact that in this case, the takers actually have tipped. This is a much different scenario, rockmom. Think Santa. Who are you going to run against HIM?

191 or in this case, it raps.

192 So, step up. Run for office. Get out there.

Posted by: tcn at November 08, 2012 02:16 PM (ZOUmX)

I'd be shredded.  I don't have the education.  I don't have the money.  I don't have the gift of "baffle 'em with your bullshit."

I've thought about it.  For sure.  I don't have that Jekyll and Hyde ability to be on and off.  I would quickly be perceived to have an attitude like McCain.

193 137
I think I read last night that Ace recommends taking up smoking.

And masturbation. Lots of masturbation via the internet. Posted by: Soothsayer at November 08, 2012 02:06 PM

Ha. Just now realizing Ace's self improvement suggestion was e-cigs. He was so passionate about the joys of e-cigs I wanted to try them. I am just shy of 50 and have never smoked in my life but I was considering e-cigs. Heck it could be my new hobby like knitting. Plus you smoke e-cigs on planes. Knitting can be problematic because bringing long sharp pointy things is frowned upon now. E-Cigs!!!!!!

194 Case in point, JJ Jr was re-elected. Unless I missed it, not much was made in the MSM of the fact that he was a raving lunatic.

And how long was Maxine Waters under ethics investigation?  And it was dropped earlier this fall!!!

195 This blog post is very clever, until you actualy think about it.  Until you engage   is basic arithmetic.  The Dems in '04 didn't have to face the unfathomable   reality that around 4 million of their voters from '00 failed to show up.  Quite   the contrary Democrats in '04 turned out in droves.  They just got beat.    Around 4 million Bush voters from '04 simply have disappeared off the   political grid.  They're not dead.  They're not incapacitated.  They just don't   vote anymore.  Despite four years of Obama and the prospect of four more   years of Obama they didn't vote for Romney.  They stayed home and sat it   out.  Those folks are not going to come back into the fold.  If Obama couldn't   get them back into the fold then nothing can.  So the harsh and brutal reality is   that the GOP somehow will have to overcome the media, the academe, the   unions, the useful idiot blocs, lock step voting by race, the Dem fraud machine,   etc., already down 4 million people.  It will get a lot uglier before it   gets any better.   

196

Bottom line, it doesn't look like the 3 million's non-participation made much of a difference.

 

Posted by: angler at November 08, 2012 02:15 PM (SwjAj)

 

Thanks for crunching the numbers.

197 Posted by: Long Island at November 08, 2012 02:20 PM (EsJl1) At that age, pick up a pipe or cigars

198 When a group votes for a party and candidate with close to aND OVER A 95% it is very hard to appeal to their intellect and needs. THAT is a purely emotional and racial vote and and to sum it up, we are fucked.

199 Haven't seen this yet,  so am going to throw this is.  The colleges and universities were a huge source of votes for Obama.  Those 5000 votes from IU, Purdue,  and some of the other colleges put him over the top 4 years ago. 

You wuld think that the college graduates who have a FIFTY PER CENT unemployment rate would have gone for Romney.  Most did not,  because they have been brainwashed.

And OWS was blaming BANKS for their huge student loans,  when the real villains are the government and the universities themselves,  who are grinding out unemployable kids with useless degrees and using the guaranteed money from the student loans to raise professor salaries and hire lots of diversity coaches and such.

Student loans cannot be discharged by bankruptcy.

So basically,  the schools and the government are pushing these kids into indentured servitude.  He will probably forgive student loans next and that will be borne by the taxpayer.

We have to make the kids understand this scam by the  universities,  and we have to have some sort of control over what is taught there.  I am not advocating censorship,  but state taxpayers should not be funding a school which refuses to have a balanced staff make-up in the history department (ideological).

200

@160

I saw Trende's article today. We weren't outdone by demographics - yet.

Just spitballing, what if there are a number of minorities like this who aren't persuaded by the democrats (I'm thinking asians here) who have never been reached out to by republicans and just don't vote at all? Maybe there are some. Maybe thats the start we need.

 

And yes, this was 04 again, just like Obama wanted. He could only win a base election, Romney wanted a change election. Obama won.

201 Well, in California, Romney received 738,884 less votes in 2012 than McCain received in 2008.



I could see this, although they are still counting votes. I was still shocked to see he got below 40% of the vote. Obviously there is no point for him to bother out here, but the guy had no presence out here period. But then why was Obama constantly on my TV, what was his purpose. I saw two Romney ads the entire cycle, easily over 100 Obama ads, why is this? He has the state locked up why waist the money?  

202 I completely disagree. Through racial animus, federal largesse, and simple corruption, Obama and the Democrats have built an unbeatable alliance at the national level. It isn't going away. Republicans might grab a series of Red State congressional elections, but they're locked out of the democratic process for the next few decades. When Romney made his 47% comment, he was only incorrect in the number itself. The true figure, we know now, is 50.4%. Romney won Conservatives and Independents and still lost the election. There isn't anyone else left to convince. By 2016, that 50.4% should creep a few points higher and loyalty within the welfare state will determine national elections. The Age of Big Government is here to stay. That's the difference between Obama 2012 and Bush 2004. Bush convinced a narrow margin to vote for him. Obama bought them. It is difficult to imagine reform under such circumstances. That is, reform outside of a massive Soviet-style collapse. The productive half of society has effectively been disenfranchised. The democratic process has largely failed in the United States. I see only two possibilities for reform, secession and/or a coup d'etat. In terms of secession, I'm not talking about 1861 redux, but more of a series of legal challenges to Article 5 of the US Constitution. Texas, in particular, is not going to pay for California's debt. A coup d'etat, well... it's better than a big Soviet-style collapse. What scares me personally, is that I'm not averse to the very idea. If the economic forecasts are correct, 2013/2014 are going to be rough years. The rougher they are, the more likely the above scenarios are. But, like any doom-sayer, I could be wrong and would be delighted to be wrong. I just don't think I am.

203 322 Whoever up there said Mitch Daniels had it right on the social issues, is right. The GOP Establishment did NOT want Mitt Romney as the nominee this year. They wanted Daniels, and even late in the game they made a pitch to Christie to jump in. I actually think Romney turned in a better campaign and personal performance than many of them expected. This would have been a very different campaign if Daniels had run. Might have been some more overt Bush-bashing since Daniels briefly worked for Bush. But Daniels also had a brilliant 8-year record as Governor of Indiana to run on and a moderate image and persona. Unfortunately, Daniels knew he would be up against the Axelrod slime machine and his marriage would have been gutted and displayed on national TV for 6 months, and he said No thanks. Posted by: rockmom at November 08, 2012 09:39 AM (qe2/V) --------- Romney lost because his party never wanted him no matter how much he tried to appease it. He got no support. Where were all the prominent Republicans to defend him when the Obama campaign was calling him a murderer and a felon? Why were they not campaigning for him before the last week of the campaign? He believed more in his party than they did in him. Anyone who says he didn't try to appease them is wrong. He had both Bushes appear at the Republican convention. He chose Paul Ryan for the Tea Party. Gold standard for the Ron Paul supporters. Santorum, Cruz and Rand were all at the convention. Huckabee was there too even after he backed Akin. Why were they not campaigning for him after the convention? Why did they not try to get their bases to vote for him? And the great Sarah Palin decided to endorse him the day before the election. Why not after the first debate? How is it that Rush, Levin, Malkin and Ingraham all thought he was the best conservative in 2008 and suddenly in 2012 he isn't? What changed? Romney was always being bashed by his own base and in the end they decided to stay home. Now they got Obama elected just like they did in 2008 when they stayed home too.

204 At that age, pick up a pipe or cigars

Posted by: The Dude at November 08, 2012 02:21 PM (tw6Ar)

You can't use cigars, pipes or knit on planes. You can use e-cigs!

205 I thought about this very comparison, but there's one glaring difference here - the MFM.  They did absolutely everything possible to destroy Bush (granted, he gave them plenty to work with) after 2004, and they will do absolutely everything possible to prop up the miserable failure.

206 @ 196

"Bottom line, it doesn't look like the 3 million's non-participation made much of a difference."

Even if it did, who cares? It's over.

We need to focus on why this past election was not a landslide in our favor, and the answer is, "We've tipped."

This is huge. Sell the takers on conservatism. Go ahead, I'll wait...

207 I see only two possibilities for reform, secession and/or a coup d'etat. In terms of secession, I'm not talking about 1861 redux, but more of a series of legal challenges to Article 5 of the US Constitution. Texas, in particular, is not going to pay for California's debt. A coup d'etat, well... it's better than a big Soviet-style collapse. What scares me personally, is that I'm not averse to the very idea.

How about some from column A, some from column B?

208

I think dems have to face a more daunting reality - thier majority was bought and paid for. Eventually, the money will run out. (Math said so)

When this happens, your paid for mercenaries will scramble over who gets the spoils. I say, let Boehner raise taxes in exchange for a hard debt limit that shall not be raised nor negotiated. Let it hit. Sit back and watch the factions fight.

209 The two elections are not remotely comparable, for the simple sad reason of math.

The math in question is the graph of total goverment spending as a fraction of the economy. From 1950 to the present, it's literally almost a straight line marching steadily upward. It started around 20% and is currently well north of 40%. No Republican in more than half century has stopped that relentless increase. Whether or not another Republican ever sits in the oval office is almost irrelevant. The line will continue its upward march until collapse. No AoS pep talk will change that.

Derb was right. We are doomed.

210 Eh, I am the original Polly Anna, but it's over. I won't quit trying and I won't stop fighting it, because I am Southern and there is nothing we love more than a Noble Cause, especially one doomed to fail....but America as she was founded is done. Barring some hideous disasters/attacks, which I am trying valiantly not to wish for out of spite, I don't see anything changing the course now. Fiscal Collapse won't help..... that's always always always gonna be Bush's fault. They will have it in the schoolbooks soon, if it ain't already.

211 Hey guys, how's it going?

212 201 - Obama was running ads to try to win the national popular vote.  Maybe one of their ideas was in the event that Romney won the electoral college, they would try to invalidate the result given the popular vote, and force recounts in close states (see Florida, 2000).

213

Hell with cigars or pipes - pick up a can of dip.  If you know what you're doing, you can do that anywhere and everywhere.

214

Conservative minorities can force the white-guilt MSM to give them a fair hearing, as long as they don't leave any obvious handles to grab on to.

 

So Herman Cain was not the ideal candidate, too much baggage.

 

I agree a leftist/democrat candidate like Obama can have boxcar loads of baggage and never get vetted, but the white-guilters can be guilted into shutting the hell up with an attractive candidate. 

 

They are out there, and it's the job of the RNC to find them and work with them. 

 

Start with various chambers of commerce and other civic organizations. 

215 If this election was such a repeat why—based on the 2006 & 2010 midterms—did we not win going away?

216 After 2004, were Republicans talking about long-term demographic changes which were already coming to pass and were likely to continue for decades which would make Democrats winning elections very difficult? I don't remember that. There would have been no reason to say that. Often after victories parties talk about permanent majorities because of ideological shifts that they think will last forever, but that's always about bias and wishcasting. The demographic changes are real. The proportion of minorities in the population has been rising for decades and will continue. This is real. This has consequences. This is very different

217
Why can't the country see through the Imperial Presidency of this corrupt corporate cronyist? What's wrong with America? What's wrong with us?


Hot damm we know how to keep the low information voter low on information.
*takes bow*

218 Posted by: Long Island at November 08, 2012 02:24 PM (EsJl1) But e- cigs suck so damn hard though

219 I see only two possibilities for reform, secession and/or a coup d'etat.Posted by: Keith Eppich

So you think the soft socialism that we're in the midst of can continue forever?

220

152

 

I can tell you in some AfAm parts of NC, there were precincts were Obama probably did legitimately get 99% of the vote. While I was going from my precinct to precinct on Tuesday, in one Af-Am neighborhood, I saw 20 houses in a row with Obama signs. As much as 2008, this was a quasi- religous event for AfAms (and I am not saying that in a derogatory way). I disagree with the vote choice, and I think paradoxically their overwhelming devotion to the Democratic party has hurt them politically and economically (Pres. O notwithstanding).  But its there and its real.  No one, but no one would have changed that this time.  But over the 20 years or more, we can start making some real progress.

221

He had both Bushes appear at the Republican convention. He chose Paul Ryan for the Tea Party. Gold standard for the Ron Paul supporters. Santorum, Cruz and Rand were all at the convention

 

That is BS. Ryan is not "gold standard". Ryan supported TARP and other BS as well. Ryan is Bronze standard, at best a compromise with Paul supporters who have an iota more respect for Ryan than they do for most republicans, but don't particularly love the guy.

 

Paul wanted a trillion dollars in cuts, immediately. Ryan had a plan to balance the budget in 75 years (balanced, assuming congress sat on it's hands and spent absolutely nothing for the entire 75 years the plan would have taken).

222 Which party does Tim Kaine belong to again? God I'm such a pathetic ignorant twit. Somehow I think turning this country into Greece is a good idea. I really have a pathetic life when I have to troll a website to get a boner.

223 >>Around 4 million Bush voters from '04 simply have disappeared off the political grid. They're not dead. They're not incapacitated. They just don't vote anymore. Despite four years of Obama and the prospect of four more years of Obama they didn't vote for Romney. They stayed home and sat it out. Those folks are not going to come back into the fold. If Obama couldn't get them back into the fold then nothing can.
____________
I think you mean approx. 4 million compared to McCain, but the point is still the same.

I would argue that they are not lost.  Those 3/4 million Republicans in California who stayed home this year because they knew their vote had no meaning might very well move to states where it does.  In fact, I'll bet you it's already happening, to some degree.

224 You old dog, the old switchero.  Is this how you maneuver the ladies into that forbidden no-no place?

225 Hey, how did those unskewed polls turn out for you guys?

226 222 - Jon - did you forget your Gerg sock?

227 This wasn't 1980, this wasn't 2004. This was demographics. It's all about the numbers now. This was a very meaningful election about the direction of the country and role of government. Whether we will go off the cliff or not. We will simply not have this election again. Every election after this will be about HOW we redistribute the wealth, not whether we should redistribute the money or not. I hate saying it, but the country is lost.

228

Posted by: angler at November 08, 2012 02:15 PM (SwjAj)

 

Good information that no one else is talking about.  Thanks.

229 If you think about "conservatism" as a brand, Bush and Rove did a good job wrecking it. Sure it was probably a clever short term tactical move for Bush to brand himself a "compassionate conservative." But the long term strategic problem is that it hurt the "conservative" brand by implying it was not compassionate. Not a long jump for those on the fence to infer that conservatives are assholes. From one of their own.

230 We have to make the kids understand this scam by the universities, and we have to have some sort of control over what is taught there. I am not advocating censorship, but state taxpayers should not be funding a school which refuses to have a balanced staff make-up in the history department (ideological).

Posted by: Miss Marple at November 08, 2012 02:22 PM (GoIUi)

Yeah the thing is it's not in the best interest of the universities to blame themselves. You think a polysci prof is going to come in and talk about govt. subsidies increasing the cost of college seven fold counting for inflation since 1970? How they have not figured out to turn their blame to the govt and their alma maters is beyond me. They sure as hell aren't going to blame their own decision making. I would also point out from their perspective, after having Occupy movement for over a year, the republicans chose in their mind Moneybanks the IV. That's not Romney's fault it's just really band timing. Every Republican candidate was a caricature for many college age students. The rich investor (Romney), the southern christian (Santorum), Bush III (Perry).

231 Wait- universities are a scam?

232 I only hope we get some really good candidates in 2014.

But we really need to get leadership with spine. Who have the courage to go over the fiscal cliff, and implement sequestration and hang it on the Dems.

I'd love it if we started calling black Obama voters racist. And White Obama voters Uncle Toms. Just to mess with them.

Oh, and you want to cripple the MSM, stop watching ESPN. Go Galt. Pirate the games. Rip movies and music (if you're not already). Punish Hollyweird. Get to be Kim Dotcom's best friend. Deny them the revenues they'd use to cripple us and buy votes.
We have 30 governorships now. By the next election we should have 30 right to work states (if we don't already) that refuse automatic deduction of union dues. 

Worried about demographic changes favorable to Dems, start bringing over skilled workers from the former East Bloc, and India. Register them as Republicans. If the law doesn't count for Dems, it doesn't count for us. If they don't have to obey immigration laws, we don't have to obey tax laws! If they won't follow the constitution, we don't follow their regulations. We can't keep handicapping ourselves by playing by the rules. Unless the rules are impartially administered, we'll never have a victory again.

And stop listening to the media explain how we lost because we're too racist, to old, to uncool. They don't want us to win anyway! We should do the exact opposite of what they tell us to do. If they say dump the So-Cons and Tea Party, we should be running to embrace them! They tell us who they're afraid of!

233 I'd say Karl Rove and Dick Morris are scams.

234

Lovely.  This is optimistic.  I am optimistic about 2014.  I am nervous about the candidates that we choose to represent the Republican party for Senate races in 2014, however. 

 

Bobby Jindal would crush Landrieu by 30 points, but what if LA decides to select the Southern stepchild of Akin and Mourdock?  Nothing is certain.  But I'm more determined than ever to reclaim the Senate from the Democrats. We've had so many unforced errors with primary winners going back to 2010.  We should have control of the Senate right now by 52-48 if we picked the right candidates.  And I'm anxious to help push the Speaker's majority to 260 Republican votes.  Bring on 2014. 

235 >>Romney was always being bashed by his own base and in the end they decided to stay home. Now they got Obama elected just like they did in 2008 when they stayed home too.

I don't think the data support your conclusion.  In the key swing states of FL, VA, OH, and NH, Romney received a total of 321,792 more votes than McCain did in 2008.  Not only did the 2008 voters NOT stay home, more were added.

The people who stayed at home live in states where their vote wouldn't have mattered much anyway because the state was either severely blue or severely red.

236 And I'll say one thing to people who naively believe that eventually Bush will stop being blamed for the economy: Herbert Hoover. He got the blame for the economy going back into the toilet in 1937 despite the fact that he'd been out of office for four years.

237 I'd say Karl Rove and Dick Morris are scams. Of course you do, bless your heart.

238 Surely the Senate worked out for you guys? I remember all the confidence I used to read around here! Landslide for Romney!

239 The people who stayed at home live in states where their vote wouldn't have mattered much anyway because the state was either severely blue or severely red.Posted by: angler

I think I get what you are saying, but we lost in the swing states not in the red ones, yes? No?

240 Dick Morris: Romney 325, Obama 213. “It will be the biggest surprise in recent American political history. It will rekindle the whole question as to why the media played this race as a nailbiter where in fact I think Romney’s going to win by quite a bit.” — Nov. 4, on Fox News.

241 re: 'Ryan is not "gold standard".'

Sure he is. He's a gold-standard professional Republican.

He looks like a politician from a movie, talks like he flipped through an accounting textbook a couple times, and he votes like an Italian fascist.

He's a Winner. Just look at him! Can't lose with that guy.

242 Posted by: angler at November 08, 2012 02:15 PM (SwjAj)


You missed something som3where because Romney pulled in a lot less than McCain in VA and OH according to the results tables I looked at this morning.


I didn't check FL because the election was over before they finished counting FL. 

243 Jon: No one expected around 11-12 million fewer people to vote. Obama won by making the election toxic and turning people off, then micro-targeting his base with fear and two-minute hates to get them to the polls. An effective tactic, but one we should all be kind of worried about because it isn't morally the sort of thing we want politics to be.

244 How is it that Rush, Levin, Malkin and Ingraham all thought he was the best conservative in 2008 and suddenly in 2012 he isn't? Posted by: Dahlia at November 08, 2012 02:23 PM (yBwO7) Ingraham was an irritating handwringer and I stopped listening to her for that reason, and I don't listen to Levin or read Malkin regularly, but Rush has been extremely positive about Romney for months. He was extremely impressed by him, and even during the primaries, I don't think he ever openly bashed Mitt (or any of the others, for that matter). Maybe except Huntsman, who was a jerk.

245 "What's wrong with America? What's wrong with us?"

I think most low information voters don't see a connection between what happens in DC and their own daily lives.

Except when it's giveaway time before elections, or we kill bin Laden.

246

The Bush people - Karl Rove - did not understand the battles that are fought every day in the world of public opinion.

 

They didn't understand that you need to "always be closing" every single day as Dennis Miller says.

 

If you are not actively fighting back against the way you are being portrayed in the media, then you are allowing your enemies to steal a little bit of your soul every single day.

 

When George W and Laura Bush left the White House, I caught part of an interview with Laura.  Her take on it was that eventually the country would come around to viewing his legacy positively.

 

They don't understand that if you want to be viewed positively you have to work at it.  If the media won't give you positive press, then hire a firm to do it for you.  Celebritards do that all the time.  Would Kim Kardashian be a household name without a pr firm?

 

247 So you think the soft socialism that we're in the midst of can continue forever? Certainly it can last a long time. Especially as the overall economy shrinks, favored groups will fight harder over their own tiny portion. Like a demented North Korea, only the clients of the regime get to eat.

248

Folks, you don't get it. Any community with a 70% illegitimacy rate CANNOT support smaller government. In such communities (the rate is closer to 90% in the inner city) government support is essential to survival. It has replaced the father in their homes.

Um... what about the men then?

249 O hai there, Jon! Just so you know, I'll be over soon. I'll be bringing my buddies Insolvency, Depreciating Dollar, and Iranian Bomb.

There will probably be a couple other guys coming too (Euro Collapse, Chinese Real Estate Bubble, Regional Mideast War, etc.), but, you know what, I like surprises. Don't you?

250

186 CJ

 

Was not trying to be condecending. And, I don't disagree with part of your point. I grew up in a small Southern town in one of the first integrated schools. We were surrounded by an AfAm housing project. And yes, I saw and see the dysfunctions (as I noted in my post). In our school we had to do the California Achievement Test (and I have no earthly idea why a NC school was doing those so don't ask me). In my homeroom the whites would score typically in the 75th percentile or better, the black kids would score in the lower quartile. I remember one kid (Erick something or other) scored a 3. This is a problem. The Democrats want to ignore the problem. They think Affirmative Action solves the problem, but I can goddamned tell you that no affirmative action program will get a kid who scored a 3 on achievement tests into any school or job. I think Affirmative Action (or diversity programs as they are now euphemastically called) are heinous programs designed by igorant liberals to buy off middle class minorities.

@

But I digress.

@

My point in my original comment was not to be sanctimonious, but to start reaching people we can reach and to stop lumping everybody into the free loader category. Its not a winning electoral strategy.

251 While reading that was uplifting and all, looking at the electoral votes based on states makes me a bit hesitant to believe that this was similar to 2004. We have former swing states that are now solidly blue, and former red states that are swing states. States like PA and MI seem to be permanently lost to us. And I'm not even sure we can classify NH, CO or IA as swing states anymore. That leaves Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia as the only swing states left, all of which we pretty much have to win in order to win the presidency (and I'm not even sure we can count on Virginia anymore). So, yeah, we're in good shape.

252 Well, thinking about this: this election speaks volumes about how we threw Carter out of office. Everyone said it was the economy and gas prices. NOT. We simply saw incompetence. Does it sting Jimmy?

253 I do remember the demeanor of Democrat pundits on TV on Election Night 2004 and in the ensuing days. Even Bill Maher looked suicidal after Bush was reelected. But the one thing the Democrat/media complex never did was give up. In fact, quite the opposite. They regrouped quickly and went after Bush harder than ever before. Recall that his first big proposal coming out of the gate in early 2005 was Social Security reform. And the Dems aligned themselves against it, demagogued the hell out of the issue, and turned most of the country against Bush and the GOP. Later that year Katrina dropped into their lap and Bush was effectively a lame duck less than 9 months into his 2nd term(obviously Iraq played a role as well).

Am I saying the GOP should just be obstructionists now? No. In fact I kinda hope they cave on tax hikes just to take that wedge issue away from the Dems in 2014 and 2016. But they need to do what they've been doing since January 2011. Do not give in on left-wing fantasies like blanket amnesty or climate change. Keep holding the line on spending, prevent anymore gutting of the military, and use Benghazi and any fallout from the turmoil on Staten Island to weaken Obama's standing. If the economy goes into recession as many anticipate over the next year or two, that will put the GOP in the same prime position to come roaring back that the Dems found themselves in back in 2006. And at that point we'll be 2 years away from the next Presidential election when you'll start to see Democrat contenders frantically distancing themselves from Obama as they seek the nomination.

254 >>You missed something som3where because Romney pulled in a lot less than McCain in VA and OH according to the results tables I looked at this morning.

According to the data I reviewed:

Republican vote VA 2008:  1,726,053
Republican vote VA 2012:  1,772,302

Republican vote OH 2008:  2,501,855
Republican vote OH 2012:  2,593,787

255 No, you cannot count on Virginia anymore.  The growth of DC has brought in too many leftist assholes from the Northeast.  We're on the road to ruin.

256

Try this on for size:

 

Michelle Obama will be the dem nominee in 2016.

 

She will be unbeatable, the Oprah of politics.

 

The entire campaign will be waged on The View and GMA.

 

 

257

256 From your mouth to God's ears.

 

I would love to have M. Obama on the top of the Democratic ticket. Won't happen though.

258 Oh, don't be such a grumpy gus. Dog food has changed lately and its pretty darn tasty now. And you can eat it while you're riding on safe, efficient government-run high speed rail! ----------------------------- Yah. Try the Beneful wet dog food in the little tub! $1.75 at Walmart and FULL of goodness!

259 Certainly it can last a long time. Especially as the overall economy shrinks, favored groups will fight harder over their own tiny portion. Like a demented North Korea, only the clients of the regime get to eat.Posted by: Keith Eppich

How do you see bankrupt Federal entitlements and $16 trillion dollars lasting a long time?

When the US loose another credit notch, bond interest must rise. That's not an if, and the when part is sooner than later.

I don't see the US being able to control either of those factors. If that's the case, there will be a crisis before any thoughts of coups or succession manifest themselves.

If you can't win an election, you can't win a revolution.

260 Is it strange to bleed from the anus? I'm only asking for a friend.

261 Still would have been nice if the GOP could have gone after Obamacare instead of running the artitect against Obama

262 You say something, Jon?  It's hard to hear while you're gargling all that Obama semen.

263 So, we should find the least qualified politician in the party 4 years from now? Not sure how great an idea that is... ;>)

264 But you can't use an e-cig on a bus in Britain: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-18728303

265 The data I posted from tables this morning:

In-depth analysis of vote totals VA and OH

VA

2012

R = 1,781,445
D = 1,891,486

2008

R = 1,725,005
D = 1,959,532

R down by about 30K, D down by 70K

OH

2012

R - 2,586,467
D - 2,686,609

2008

R - 2,677,820
D - 2,940,044
R down by ~ 100K, D down by ~ 254K

266 #256  This would not surprise me,  that they would make Michelle the nominee.  See: Eva Peron.

And for those who think this is hilarious,  just wait.  My democrat sister loves Michelle,  because she is so "caring" and is so "fashion forward."

I am skipping Thanksgiving this year,  by the way.

267 OOps I see VA went up by 30K

268 238 Surely the Senate worked out for you guys? I remember all the confidence I used to read around here! Landslide for Romney! ---------------------------------- Silly us. We were dumb enough to believe that elections are decided on issues like the economy. Now it's racial interests, celebrity-worshipping young voters, and single women who can't live without Uncle Sugar. We HAVE been educated, and will respond accordingly.

269

One thing I've never understood: the GOP should make school choice one of its featured issues.  I mean, front and center, all the time, and make the focus how union-run public schools harm poor black students. School choice is one issue that the Dems hold a losing hand when it comes to minorities.  They are too deeply reliant on the NEA to ever give ground.

 

Get ahead of the Donks on marijuana decriminalization and beat them over the head with it.  We're the uptight old fogies now, but some of that label can be stuck on them as the mean old guys who want to keep weed illegal.  Make sentencing reform for drug convictions a corollary issue.  You know who loves them some huge incarceration rates? Prison guard unions, who are yet another public employee union pouring millions into the Dems' pockets.  End the drug war, reduce prison populations and cut all that money spent on all that. 

 

And one other thing that I've thought the GOP should embrace ever since they got killed for this shit in 2006 - make the GOP brand one of anti-corruption.  Make corruption a capital offense within the party and take a stand against crony capitalism.  Illustrate to people how "big business" does not equal "the free market".  Be seen as the party that's fighting for the little guy, the small business owner, rather than Wall Street.  There are ways to use populist sentiment without being socialist or anticapitalist.

270 The GOP should start now with outreach t win the next cycle, meaning maybe field offices in the inner cities that supply tutors for students and classes on how to start a business for adults. Sponsor kids' soccer teams. Throw a party on Cinco de Mayo. Get out there! (And have lots of security.)

Once people taste success and self-reliance, they don't want to go back.

Heather Mcdonald agrees with me: it's not amnesty.  http://tinyurl.com/atarcvm

271 Michelle Obama will be the dem nominee in 2016.

Pfft.  They'll repeal the 22nd Amendment first.

272 Immigration is dicey, but I think there's room for a carrot and stick approach. Give 'em some carrots - streamline the process of legal immigration and work visas, Mark Krikorian-type "mini-DREAM" program for kids who have grown up here with illegal parents and guaranteed citizenship for immigrants who serve in the armed forces and receive an honorable discharge.  The stick side is that border security must be strengthened and illegal immigration be actively opposed.

273 Does someone have a link to this 32% figure?

274 have seen a couple of people commenting about why the unemployed college grads didn't go for Romney.  It's not brainwashing; I think it's basic economics.  think about it; the only time in their life they've been somewhat out on their own is college.  before that, they had their bedroom and three square meals a day in Mom and Dad's house.

Now, they're right back there.  They haven't had a real opportunity to make money and fend for themselves, so they have no appreciation of their hardship (particularly if Mom and dad are willing and able to support them) and what opportunity they are losing.

It's all a matter of perspective, so you have to think about how you're selling the point to them.  I think more of these kids are just clueless as opposed to having OD'd on barky's kool-aid.

275 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bOy3RNyWME

276 Ya know, even if it *was* a black swan election, it wouldn't hurt for the GOP to improve their datamining, messaging, message delivery, GOTV (including full-time GOP GOTV in selected swing states), etc. That will both maximize the number of future "ordinary" election wins, and minimize the risk of future black swan losses.

277 Ah shit. 276 was supposed to be in the 'black swan' thread.

278 There is none so blind as those who won't see.

Voters lined up for hours waiting to get into their polling places. Lineups as far as the eye can see all over America. After the votes are counted we're told that there was millions less voting than the last lackluster turnout in 2008.
And we all believe them?
It   is  over.

279 Please stop the despondency. Is it such a surprise than an administration which borrowed 5trillion dollars to spend on the electorate/base won re-election? Obama is the ultimate sugar daddy. Let's see how the electorate votes when this borrowed money can no longer be thrown at them.

280 Obama got 8.7 million less votes in 2012 than he did in 2008. He was easily beatable (he is now the first US President to win re-election receiving less votes than in his first term). Unfortunately, Romney got 2 million less votes than McCain did in 2008. How is that possible? The Party was supposedly energized, and we were led to believe that we had very effective ground games in place in the key states. Well, guess what? Millions of Republicans chose to not vote, and that is what cost Romney the election. Here is one scenario of the additional votes needed to elect Romney: Florida: 51,000 Ohio: 104,000 Virginia: 113,000 Wisconsin: 206,000 Those 474,000 additional votes would have given Romney 276 electoral votes and he would have been our next President. The Republican Party has a huge problem with its members not uniting around its candidate. This is the most immediate issue that needs to be resolved before 2016.

281 Obviously, we just need to reprogram the simulation so it is possible to rescue the ship. Working on it.

282 Definition of insanity: Keep doing the same thing expecting different results...... They voted for more of the same.... but somehow they will never own the ramifications.....

283 I look to the future hoping the GOP sees three obstacles easily to be overcome.

1) Playing nice never works. The media will still be the paid-off refs. Reagan mocked liberals. Laughed at them to their faces. mocked their tired, old 1930's ideas that have failed time and time again. And he did it with a twinkle in his eye that made you want to laugh at them too. And when voters are laughing at them (The Daily Show understands this), you're not taking them seriously. Go negative on TV, radio, print mail, email, etc. Go mocking on the stump. The media will attack, but mock the media too. The people know they're in the tank, help them put 2+2 together. You basically box-out the Dems best weapon: Media Narrative.

2) Our GOTV effort was a hat and no cattle. Steal Obama's playbook (which combined Rove's micro-targeting strategery with the leftists' creepy "I am government and I know everything about you" stat gathering. The white vote isn't declining because white voters are disappearing. It's declining because they aren't motivated to vote like they used to be. The white voters of yesteryear would have voted no matter what. They're the greatest generation. Their sons, while still white, and center-right, don't have the same conviction. Mitt assumed you could Count On Them so he didn't target them. He was wrong.

3) Independents aren't just non-partisan because they don't vote for ideology. They are also non-partisan because they also don't vote AGAINST ideology. Moving to the middle is moving to the left. Run a conservative. A real one. A happy one. Win the base, win the turnout, and the middle will follow. The middle votes on performance, and "vibe" not on ideology. They don't have time for ideology and partisanship (the same thing to them). If Obama has destroyed America like we expect him to, the middle will come. If he hasn't we're not winning anyway.

284 On-Purpose Sub-Teaching for four or five generations is the problem. This Sub-Teaching has been designed to make two areas disfunctional: Cleric and Politic. Sub-Taught minds cannot fathom the American Mind of America's Founders, who believed the Tragic View, that since no angels can organize us, error-prone and self-dealing-prone people do. Therefore, we know we can fail, but leaders fail epically because leaders hide self-dealing better than non-leaders. The answer: Since progtards control education, the only avenue open to change, believe it or not, is clerical. Currently, clerical teachings in America are obfuscated by shenanigans and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. However, a clear way is available through In That Day Teachings, which proscribes how to ascend from milky-brainedness (current Christianity in America) unto higher thought, critical thought and... especially making folk un-gullible, un-connable and un-foolable. So an answer is available. But folks have little faith for it. Nevertheless, it is a viable answer: In That Day Teachings. It will take the gullible populace, and put them into liberty territory, where they recognize hidden enslavement. Yet, few have faith for this solution. To critics of In That Day Teachings, I would ask: How is another solution better, if it does not include preventing gullible sub-taught folk from being deceived? Until and unless a program exists to un-gulliblefy the sub-taught.... how is decline prevented. The only program to prevent decline and create increase is to un-gulliblefy the sub-taught. In That Day Teachings un-gulliblefy's the sub-taught.

285 Sure, the GOP will win the presidency again. But Obamacare is cemented. That means dependency is the rising demographic. When Obamacare falters the people will demand it be fixed, not repealed.

At best the GOP becomes the Tories. They take turns with the Dems in managing the decline.

So, game over, man. Game over.

The optimist in me says that it will be a slow, smoldering decline. But I'm not that optimistic.

286 221 That is BS. Ryan is not "gold standard". I think the reference was actually to the Gold Standard (vs. the Fed) not to Ryan.

287 New, growing demographic:  uninformed, misinformed, unengaged electorate.  Just review the 'man-on-the-street' interviews during the debates.  Very few of the disparate demographic groups in the Dem coalition will change their political leanings over time, and their numbers will tend to increase.  They vote self-interest, not what's best for the country overall.  Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Hollywood, Progressives, Communists, the 47%, etc. do not have anything in common other than their individual self interests lead them to vote Democrat (or against conservatism).  Older conservatives (the two descriptors typically go hand-in-hand) are dying off.  By the way, congratulations to the gary Johnson supporters!

288 276 Exactly right! We lost on organization first and distorted ideas second. There needs to be a coherent core strategy for data mining, messaging, full time staff and targeted states across the RNC NRCC NRSC AND RGA. SuperPacs and volunteers can only be trusted for non essential tasks. They should also create a success score for consultants and use it to verify and credential them. If its true and that one consultant ordered Akin to say in because he saw it as a fundraising opportunity then he should be Schmidted and never allowed to work republicans again.

289 <blockquote>Here is a simple exercise in logic...

McCain beat Romney in a primary

Obama beat McCain in an election

The rest is history.</blockquote>

Elections aren't transitive like that.

Ford beat Reagan in a primary.
Carter beat Ford in an election.
But Reagan beat Carter in an election.

290 Sorry for the bad HTML in my previous comment.

291 Was Mitt Romney the Al Smith of Republican mormons?

292 It's the social programs like Obamacare that are the threat. The potential DREAM Acts, and the other goodies given out to secure votes and indefinite servitude. Those kinds of programs, once implemented, don't go away. If they take root, it won't matter whether the GOP or conservatism recovers or not. We will be an irretrievably socialist nation.

293 Hey, maybe it's not the GOP's fault at all.  The stars were just aligned wrong!

"The presidential election will take place on November 6, the very same day as Mercury goes retrograde. Mercury is at its worse at the front and end points, what I call "bookend" dates, so this is not good news. That night we will be getting ready for three-and-a-half weeks of a retrograde, with miscommunications, static, and forgetfulness.

The last time Mercury retrograde coincided with a presidential election it was in the year 2000, when we had the Bush-Gore election."

294 Isn't the first time history repeats itself, events are a joke?

295 Its all happened before. Of course it has. However, the Democrats of yesteryear are the supposed Republicans of today. Government is now 40% or more of the US economy. Soon it will be 50%. There is a long trend here to more government, not just in the US. Europe is overwhelmed with dictatorial government.

And what is the solution? The Republicans are just as much to blame as the Dems. The people of this country are the losers. The states that keep voting Democrat will end up like New York and California, low growth and poverty everywhere. The Republican states keep on growing. But the yardsticks always move in the direction of socialism, not against it.

Things are that bad!

GM

296 This post is dead wrong, and dangerous to boot.  This is not cyclical, this is a watershed moment n which the takers outnumber the makers.  I wish I had the road back to where we need to be, but I am unsure.  I do know that 6 Nov is a date that will be important, a date that signified America's voluntary drop into the vast mediocrity of the rest of the world. 

297 I agree with your analysis entirely.  We will return.  But, in four years, Ocare will be unassailable, IMO.  And if during that time, Obama appoints four justices to the Supreme Court and somehow rams the UN Small Arms Treaty through the Senate, it won't matter whether we return or not.

298 "Yup. We'd better hope Hispanics really are open to limited governent and the GOP, at least to a degree. Or it's Game Over." Sure, they are (but you'll have to keep the safety net). You know what they're not for? Hating on gays, women, minorities, Democrats, etc. The Socon hate stuff is toxic. Toxic, toxic, toxic.

299 Under our Constitution there are no permanent victories and no permanent defeats. Anyone who looks at Nov. 6 and writes off the GOP's future is surrendering under a delusion. Only a political naif could make such a howling blunder.

300 Um no. This hasn't happened before. Unless you're saying that from now forward, the entire mass media, Hollywood, entertainment industry, etc will be on our side, lie for our side, smear the other side, CYA for our side, etc. Oh and we'll also have all the schools and universities spreading conservative propaganda for our side. And the media will have Republicans on all their news shows exposing anything and everything about the Democrat Party, drilling home every little molehill and turning it into a raging volcano. Oh and the "RACISM!!!" card will magically go away. And the "Booooosh's fault!!!" card will magically go away. Yeah, I can see how 2012 is just like 2004. NOT. Give me a break...

301 Not buying it. Liberals had (and have) continued immigration, media, academia all changing the demographic picture. to their advantage What is the ace up OUR sleeves? Also, while I appreciate that we may have lost because of Akn and Mourdock and ORCA and so forth, those stupid and petty reasons for losing the election don't take the piss out of demographic arguments for why this will only keep getting harder...

302 The Republican Party wasn't importing millions of inherently pro-Republican new voters from 1965 on, every year by law, and later supplemented by mass illegal immigration, shifting the political playing field inexorably a point right, then another point right, them another, every electoral cycle.

That's the problem. Not whether one side or the other got to have a post-election party after this or that election.

Suppose two universities have a regular basketball game every four years for many generations, but by a law which one side pushed for and the other stupidly accepted, with every game, Team A has to field a team that's an inch taller on average or Team B has to restrict who it fields so that it's an inch shorter than before on average. Sure, Team B can still win games, increasingly against the odds. But what's the average result going to be over time?

Now suppose that winning that basketball game confers the right to make more laws of the same type. That's the kind of advantage the left has gotten.

The way the right has reacted since 1965 is to cheer every four years and say it's not hopeless yet. Well it's not. But it's also downhill all the way.

303 299 Under our Constitution there are no permanent victories and no permanent defeats. Anyone who looks at Nov. 6 and writes off the GOP's future is surrendering under a delusion. Only a political naif could make such a howling blunder.
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When may we expect a revival of the Whig Party?

304 269 One thing I've never understood: the GOP should make school choice one of its featured issues.
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Yes, the GOP has a bad habit is supporting big institutions which are also leftist institutions. Compulsory cultural Marxist indoctrination is a bad thing, and the GOP ought to help parents who want their kids to escape from it.

When I talk about how the Republican Party should explicitly help its supporters, who are 90% White, this is the sort of thing I mean.

Mom and Dad don't want junior to be mugged or made a cultural Marxist. They need some help. Can you get them some relief from a bad school? A party that talks big on Free Enterprise and Universal Values but doesn't help with this stuff is useless.

305 Yes! School Choice, especially for low income areas, should be a much bigger issue for the GOP and conservatives. Not only would it be incredibly beneficial to poor kids trapped in failing schools, but it would have the added benefit of being smart politics and undermining the single largest contributor to and supporter of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, while the Left plays the long game, and therefore wins, the Right only looks to the next election, and ultimately loses.

306 In one of the the paragraphs toward the end, you have a typo. You have the word "things" when I think it should read "thinks". Please delete this comment. It is only intended to help you make the correction. Nice article. How can we beat anyone, the losing party THINGS, if we cannot beat this unqualified, dishonest, smug, man who has set the country on a suicide mission which will destroy it?

307 Could the Dems have possibly felt this bad in 2004? And could things have possibly been this bad in our country in 2004? Brilliant post though. Thank you Ace. You help us see there is always hope.

308 This is irrelevant.  The GOP will no doubt recover somehow.  That's how parties survive -- morphing in whatever ways are required to get 51%+ of the electorate in their column.  It's the country I'm worried about.

Obama now has four more years of Supreme Court appointments, including the chance to potentially replace a conservative (or a "conservative") or two.  Obama now has four more years to flex his executive muscles, using executive orders and the power of the regulatory machine to change the country in horrific ways.

Sure, it's theoretically possible that a Republican president could be elected in 2016 and start the process of dismantling what Obama has done.  But history says it never happens, except here and there around the edges maybe.

Regardless of what happens in 2014 or 2016, you will not recognize this country four years from now.  No amount of happy talk or "perspective" can change that reality.