1

Preazy wouldn't have won if not for the anti-Christianists in the high income zip codes.

2 LiB

3 an emotional, Purpose-Larger-Than-Self narrative around that and sell them self-interest in the packaging of Idealism.

Hey, wait just a minute there.

4 Agreed, Ace.  Winning the proglodyte vote is going to have to be under the radar and cloaked in teh stupid.  Also, our Canadian Morons have also pointed out that their successful conservative P.M. took a lesson from Ovomit.  He never quits campaigning and attacking his opponents.  Our "well-mannered" pols are going to have to get in the mud.

5 So your point number two.


Let me refine that thought.  Chicks are mostly airheads looking for love and friends.  Obama's team knows that.  We still think of them as real people. Obama's team, Chicks need of free shit.


Lot less words.

6 I think it's cause and affect.

That is if you lead sagaciously the data comports or will eventually comport with your views. In other words- lead based on principles not absolutes
 

7 And then when do we get to make dick jokes? Never, I guess.

That's all right, the dick jokes are just code words for racism anyways. /s

8 The GOP has been portrayed for decades as "evil old white men in suits". The democrats have been "cool". Until that picture changes nothing else will change. The Right should be portrayed as hip and pro-freedom to the younger generation with the Left as the Nazis they really are. The Bien Pensant left votes hip over responsible always. My Lefty friends voted for the communist again even though they think the Country is about to tank because evil rich christian people not cool. That is why we lose.

9 7 And then when do we get to make dick jokes? Never, I guess.


Not about mine.

10

Agree on the first one.  People vote on the gut, not the mind.  That  is why cultural issues matter.  Vote for me because I  will  lower tax rates   which  will increase growth and lead to prospertity.  Boring.  Vote for me because my opponent will take away your guns.  Interesting. 

 

I also think that conservatives should start offering free stuff where they can.  The one area that I think we could actually start to really offer free stuff is education vouchers.  I think we need a new name, because vouchers has  a negative connotation.  But  this could appeal to people.   People want free stuff.  Let's offer our own, but on our terms.

 

 

11 it also helps if you can steal votes in swing states.

12 So marketing, marketing, marketing. Have this you deserve it. Use this tool it will make your work easy and fun. Say it this way it sells better.

13 Oh and don't get trapped in the discussion about "them". That's what happened in the 47% comment.

Talk about ideals and goals. Talk about the collective "us". Not us vs. them.

If you have a principles based philosophy and stay disciplined it does not lend itself to s discussion about "them".

14 1. The key to winning in politics is not to appeal to people's best selves and present to them an idealistic, selfless vision; the key is to appeal to their selfish interests but invent a narrative by which the selfish is depicted as selfless, and the low is depicted as the noble.

OK, but remember Reagan made a career out of appealing to people's best selves. So I don't know widespread this rule can be applied.

15 If you want to change attitudes, your only options are A) bypass the MFM / entertainment / school machine, or B) conquer the MFM / entertainment / school machine. It isn't either / or and neither one is easy. We're not going to be seen as the "cool / subversive" people unless we're, well, cool and subversive. Mind you, that process will probably take longer than it will take to go completely bankrupt and collapse, but, you know, good luck with the messaging.

16 The GOP has been portrayed for decades as "evil old white men in suits".
The democrats have been "cool".
Until that picture changes nothing else will change.

Exactly. And what's worse is, nowadays everything the culture is exposed to reinforces that. The brand is dead.

Decades ago you might be able to resurrect the GOP. But how are you going to get idiots to pause their video games long enough to listen to reason? Meh. Easier to just check for the brand name and vote for the "cool one."

This is not 1980.

17 If the culture was predisposed to a message, poorly worded iterations wouldn't be problematic. Culture then message then presentation.

The bigger problem is that we've allowed ourselves to be cast as the permanent black hat in the Lefties' melodrama.

Even if we say, "Hey, I'm trying to save you, damsel! Let me help," the Left dashes on stage and calls to the audience: "You see what a dastardly man is this!" "BOO! BOO! BOO!"

18 The left never stops playing the race card and uses it to shut down any criticism. I'm sick of it. And if I could retire to a foreign country were I would be allowed to bitch about those in power, I'd be happier.

19 As a Dr Johnson style Tory Monarchist, I agree with your first point that modern, and successful, politics is about appealing to the mob, and I despair. LiFB.

20 The trick is the Left's contempt is allowed in public and not called contempt. Calling the Republicans racist works. It's simply saying they are subhuman scum. But it's allowed. If I say Democrats or Obama are subhuman scum on Facebook my family and friends get angry. If a left-winger in my network say Repubs and Romney are racists they get away with it. They have special contempt words that are allowed, we don't. They are allowed to express public hate and contempt, we aren't.

21 The mistake is assuming that there is any interplay between the conservative movement and the hard Leftists that now populate the liberal movement. There isn't - what few actual Americans they had have long since moved on or died or given up. There isn't any compromise possible because our opponents are actually our enemies as they have proclaimed. They are foreign persons, with foreign upbringings that have been consistently anti-American and anti-Liberty. If you're trying to compromise, it's like trying to wire together a bunch of USB cables out of printers into a bag of rocks. There's no ports. There's no volts. There's no wire. There's no possibility of "port-ness" ever occurring on any of the rocks. Not even a parallel port - which we might be able to hack. They're just fuckin' rocks. Leftists. They're just fuckin' commies. Ain't American, are never going to be. If you assume they are countrymen instead of foreign nationals/enemies, you're wasting your time in fruitless thought experiments. They are enemies. They are foreign. They are not people able to be trusted or dealt with.

22

Single mothers were reported today to be THE most loyal dem voters.  They're always up for some Uncle Sugar.  I was kinda hoping that Mitt would've addressed the yuuuuuge disadvantage those mothers' kids will have as serfs paying off Uncle Sugar's debt.  I would've hit them with some majorly simple math. 

 

"For every $100 your son or daughter earns, they'll get to keep $20 -- if they're lucky.  The bulk will be taken for taxes."

23

"...the most politic manner conservatives can comport themselves."

 

Yes, because being Mr. Nice Guy has worked out so well lately.

 

Fuck politic.  Give 'em both barrels.  Reload.  Repeat.

 

 

24 By the way, Obama had his moment about "bitter clingers". That didn't hurt him. It helped.

You know why it helped? Because that is what people who voted for Obama's reelection really believe about the opposition.

25 >> which means, effectively, I'm the only guy reading what I'm writing right now Ha! Like you read the blog. Even the parts of it you write.

26 Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith Sadly, the entire economy is projected by both parties and all concerned in DC to be completely bankrupt before 2027 so your point is absolutely true. It is burning.

27 I think uber-marketing works but it doesn't get us what we want. It gets us what they want. Sometimes you turn their tools against them, sometimes they turn you into them with their tools. I know some of them exist, but I do wonder how many non-voters, especially regular non-voters, either consider participating in the system to be corrupting or everyone in it to be corrupt. I know of a few people who are honest, hardworking sorts who just hate, hate, hate "marketing," messaging, or misrepresentation almost pathologically. And, then, of course there are the dumb people. Don't know what to do about them, they don't make much sense.

28

Ace,

1 is a very very very good point.  Indeed.

 

But the other Alinsky playbook that needs to be used is ridicule.  And in a big way.

 

LEFTISTS make no sense.  60% of revenue will be used to pay interest on fucking debt.  And that is at a 0% interest rate.

 

What do you think will happen when rates go up???  Every time the leftist fucking media asks one of us how old the earth is, the response is:

It's younger than the debt you are enslaving our children with.  Next time they say "fair share" or added taxes on "millionaires and billionaires" you say ok, let's take all of their shit and then hand them a calculator, and say how are we going to pay for the remaining 250 days of expenses each year.

 

Nobody knows how much we owe and how bad it really is.  Cede the argument on higher taxes, go radical and say let's take all of the rich's shit, and then, and only then, will the American people's eyes get opened up to the clusterfuck that awaits us.

 

Most people buy the bullshit and have no idea what the true situation is.  Blow the room away and give them their class warfare.  And then say what do we do now???

29 By presidential order I have commanded the skies to product 20 inches of snow in Philly tonight and the that the temp is to drop to minus 35.

Further, I decree that both the Panthers and Eagles teams shall freeze to death during the singing of the national anthem and their fans will rejoice at the good work that I have done.


Peace be unto you my brother.

30

My Lefty friends voted for the communist again even though they think the Country is about to tank because evil rich christian people not cool.
___

If only it could be communicated to this cohort that they are the product of government school indoctrination. This should appall and repel a class of individuals who pride themselves on being liberal and free-thinkers.

 

If only they were aware the extent to which the public school system has created a caste of self-hating white boys.

31 It's easy for the dems to excel when they have the media completely in their pocket.  It pretty much boils down to that.  The media made this reelection happen.  And Obama benefited from their devotion, their lying, their burying facts to all of his fuckups, lies and scandals. 

32

The Right should be portrayed as hip and pro-freedom to the younger generation with the Left as the Nazis they really are. The Bien Pensant left votes hip over responsible always. My Lefty friends voted for the communist again even though they think the Country is about to tank because evil rich christian people not cool. That is why we lose.

That is very correct. One way we can start to do that is the whole copy right law thing. We get a win/win on that issue. We can look hip and pro youth by pushing internet freedom and we can stick it to Hollywood and the Music Industry (who hate us anyway). It also allows us to show that we aren't against raising taxes on the rich. Of course our leadership is a bunch of fucking idiots so they will pick the worst possible choice on how to handle it. We need our bloggers like ACE, Michelle Malkin and others to really start hammering the leadership. We have the numbers we just need the leadership...ACE are you listening?!?

33 Those are three big thoughts I try to keep my thoughts to 140 characters or less

34 I assume this is the Argo review we have been waiting for?

35

Unbelievable.  Have none of you people ever heard of Alan Grayson? Uh, Nancy Pelosi?  There's this guy named Hatty Reid.  Ever heard of these people?

You're fucking worried about Rush Limbaugh having contempt for low life scum bags like that?  Oh, boy.  This country really is doomed.

Don't you EVER, EVER, criticize Rush Limbaugh again you stupid Beta Male Dickless Wonder. Find a set of balls, SOMWHERE, so that you can show contempt for contemptous slime or shut the hell up you coward.

36 Haha the loser who loves to use the f word in every fucking post is still here!!!!!

37 I hold Obama and every dumb fuckin American that voted for him with utter contempt.

38

" More dick jokes "

THIS.

39 >>>And you don't even read this drivel (you're already in the comments, and have been in the comments since point one), which means, effectively, I'm the only guy reading what I'm writing right now, and I'm barely paying attention to myself at that.

Well I read it.

40

Ace:@

I basically agree with all your points.

 

The only thing I disagreed with slightly was your statement that: "He [Romney] is swayed by data; he thinks other people are too. They're not, not in the main. "

 

I think your right that most people are probably not swayed by data, but they like to think that they came by their views through their superior intellects.

 

I remember as a kid watching Reagan give his speeches in the oval office (yes I was a geek, and I am getting old). Reagan used to have these very simple graphs and pie charts that he would use. I thought it was quite effective.

 

A few years ago I worked at a large corporation that was addicted to powerpoints. Now these powerpoints were colorful, full of graphs and tables -- and utterly and completely useless. But people pretended to make their decisions based on the powerpoints.

 

I also used to do work with a lot of start-ups. Start-ups are infamous for using the "hockey stick" graph to show their revenue projections. Any banker or Venture Capital firm would always ignore those self-created projections, but the early round friends and family investors would often take those things at face value (notwithstanding all the warnings in the investment agreements to the contrary).

 

This is just a long winded way of saying, I think Republican pols can/should use simple educational teaching aids. Their purpose really should be to tell the voter '' see, Mr. Smart voter, you understand exactly what I am saying, because your smart. And understand graphs. And tables. And numbers. I am appealing to you cause you are smart."

41 @35 what the fuck are you talking about? Can you read? English, do you speak it?!

42 Ace when I read point 3 I can't help but think of a certain circular firing squad formed over comment Rush made about 4 years ago. . .

43 I  blame  myself.  I  liked  being  on  top  of  the  car.  Bet  I  would  have  liked  riding  in  Air  Force  One.

44 Posted by: Lady in Black at November 26, 2012 05:02 PM (lTVJy)

Yep. And that's not changing soon. ~sigh~

45

#27 I was talking about this very  thing with my college-sophomore son yesterday.  He voted, and did so with enthusiasm since it was his first Presidential election.  But he was surprised and dismayed at how many of his friends didn't vote, and every single one of them said it was because their votes didn't matter, nothing is going to change, the system is corrupt and rigged and elections are all about superficial crap and nobody ever talks about the real issues.  This is not an ideological observation.

 

BTW, he said the single biggest thing that influenced his vote was watching "Waiting for Superman" in his sociology class.  He is now completely outraged about teachers' unions and the shitty schools in our inner cities - so much that he is actually considering a career as a music teacher now.  He hates all Democrats who support the teachers' unions. 

 

You talk about something idealistic that can really grab young people and get them to pay attention - it's saving little black kids from evil unions.  Somehow we need to get this movie screened all over college campuses and other places young people congregate.  And we need to make real education reform and the racism of the current system  the centerpiece of  Republican domestic  policy going forward.

46 NO DICK JOKES, NO PEACE!

47 "I think this is something the Obama team understood -- they made politicking and activism a game, offering lots of stupid little FaceBook things and such." I recall reading a lot of anecdotes from the 60s of people who participated in anti-Vietnam protests because it was a great way to score with chicks. I imagine there was a lot of that going around in Obama's grass-roots campaign as well.

48

I dig this. It's actually more important in the  long run  than talk about tax code and Senate procedures.

 

But the other Alinsky playbook that needs to be used is ridicule. And in a big way.

 

Speaking of Alinsky, didn't he advise  to use the opposition's  language against it?  I keep harping on the Democrats'  accusation of racism for this purpose.  They are playing racial politics. Which is bad.  They told us so. For decades.  Time to  announce how offended we are and invite mushy moderates to be offended with us.

 

And the Left speaks of helping the poor? We've spent tens of billions of dollars on the War on Poverty and the poverty rate hasn't budged.  We keep making the conservative/fiscal  case against the welfare state.  Use their language. Make the case that they have  made  poverty permanent.  Make the non-fiscal case against the welfare state. That will appeal to mushy  moderates.

 

There is not a "conservative" position out there that can't be advanced  by using the Left's language. Steal it.

 

And I'd like to try dropping the  label "conservative."  THEY are liberal. WE are "everyone who is not liberal." We don't need a label that comes with pre-conceived notions.

49 >>So marketing, marketing, marketing.

Agreed.  Are the best commercials the serious ones, or the ones that make you chuckle? 

Our side could use a little humor in its sales pitch.  More ace and Gutfeld, less whiteboard (although the whiteboard approach appeals to me, personally). 

Unfortunately, our party is burdened with telling the truth, which is depressing and unappealing.  Faced with accepting the harsh truth or believing a happy lie, most people will choose to accept the happy lie - even if they don't believe it deep down.

Somehow, we have to package the truth in a way that is palatable to those who don't like bad news.

50 I'm so tired of Obama that when watching a rerun of southpark.. yeah an old episode that showed him in cartoon form, I had to shut it off.

I CAN NOT STAND HIM.

Jaimie Fox just said he's "lord and savior"... What fucking planet are these people living on?  I'm going to try to improve my self, and family, and ignore national politics for the next 4 years.  It'll be hard, but the last 4 years i'm convinced i've taken 10 years off my life.  I've lost lifelong friends because of this asshole.  unbelievable. 

Just tune him out.  There's nothing you can do, but give yourself a heart attack.

Let the cargo cultists recreate tax rates from Clinton era for 'prosperity'...  Its so comical it beggers belief

51 >> Ace when I read point 3 I can't help but think of a certain circular firing squad formed over comment Rush made about 4 years ago. . . Had that same thought.

52 >>>Posted by: Jaynie59

Here trolley trolley trolley trolley.

53 I think Ace has points, but who thinks Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Dick Durbin, Dingy Harry, Schumer and the likes are cool? I am a woman, and my father was a strict dem, I have voted for republicans since Reagan. My father didn't vote for him. I'm not are but somewhere along the way, probably after my father died in 1988 my mother started voting republican too. I honestly do not know why women prefer dems. I see no reason to draw me to them. From the 1980 races to the 2012 races I have voted R and never voted for an incumbent D in MA. I would skip or write my name as a vote. This state is the stupid state.

54 The Left uses public contempt all the time. Daily Show, Letterman -- Bill Maher's show is entirely this. Issue is we, the right, see their public contempt with audiences laughing along. The Left sees our public contempt when the media floods the zone on something a Repub or Rush or somebody said. So it's presented as, hey, listen to this horrible thing an evil right-winger said. Hard to see how we can change that framing.

55 You little people. Resistance is feudal.  


We already have your childern in the "camps" AKA public schools.


You want to join them?   Then stop this racist talk.

56 20 The trick is the Left's contempt is allowed in public and not called contempt. Posted by: Flatbush Joe at November 26, 2012 05:00 PM (ZPrif) That was their ultimate trick - and they were allowed to take the "middle ground." They fought a culture war while accusing others of doing so, they ridiculed the idea that they were guilty of that using the tools they used to fight that war. People who watch TV or movies are *pounded* with leftist ideas, stereotypes, messages - and ape those behaviors with their peers. It'a all kind of creepy, actually. Even leaving aside the imminent fiscal collapse thing or the nuclear war in the Middle East thing.

57 **As I said, I have no idea what to say here, because while I agree we should all be (and I should be) the very most presentable and charming Public Diplomat for the Cause of Conservatism Possible in every single public utterance -- and even every private utterance! -- this is simply an impossibility and so massively stupid a recommendation it collapses under its own weight. No one could live like this, and no one would want to.** I was going through it all since Ace made the effort to provide content to the world and I was going to start making my point and he realized that this point had to be made. Shit. It's unfair. All GOP "gaffes" are not gaffes usually but will be applied universally and of national importance whereas any DNC gaffe is local to that speaker and not important.

58 Look - more likely than not, the donks will be thrown out of office in 2016. It is rare that a party lasts more than two terms. And with the county going down the toilet, you can count on the repubs back in power. We just have to ride it out.

59 >> NO DICK JOKES, NO PEACE! KNOW DICK JOKES, KNOW PEACE!

60 obama lost votes everywhere except, suspiciously enough, where he needed enough to get what he wanted. just saying

61 I think I have a solution to #3...

<style>
.contempt
{
direction: rtl;
unicode-bidi:bidi-override;
}
</style>

We need to communicate our internal thoughts about the other side in right-to-left text.  Hold the LCD monitor up to a mirror to decode it.  The dummies will never catch on.

62

Daybrother and Hannity's Hybrid:

 

Agreed, agreed, agreed.  It will take sometime to reshape the culture.  This time around we had Richie Rich as our candidate whose only message was he can fix the economy and we shouldn't raise taxes on him.

 

That is not a winning message.  Especially when his conservative bona fides are in question by many and, as an added bonus, he's a Mormon.

 

Anyway, our candidates need to defeat the stereotypes created by the MFM.  That's why my chosen candidates, at least at this time, are the son of Cuban immigrants and a young war hero who grew up in a cattle farm in Clinton's district.

 

WE MUST HAVE THESE TYPES OF CANDIDATES.  No more establishment types.  Only by trashing the lefties usual "portrayals" by our candidates' very backgrounds can we move on to the meat of the argument - aka they are destroying our country.  For the 100% of us.

63

I am beginning to understand why the politicians in years past just waved the flag and said Rally around the flag boys. Because you cannot explain some things to some people.

The Democrats always win the stupid vote because they understand that you cannot explain things to some people.

Meanwhile, the Republican leadership is dumber than a box of hammers. They keep making the same mistakes. Bush, father, Dole, Bush son, McCain, Romney. What losing characteristic do they have in common? They will not take the fight to the Democrats. They might not even know how.

 

64 I wish the Republican Party would learn to lie effectively when necessary. Then incorporate that technique in a broad populist message. Vet candidates for the House, Senate and State Governor. No idiot Akins allowed. Lie where it's effective (swing states) and let constituencies that might be offended by it i.e. Social Conservatives know that you're lying just to gain office. Example: The personally opposed to abortion but for choice stance that JuThat technique is exactly what Herr Dipshit did when he claimed his position on gay marriage "evolved". Finally, put someone up for high office that isn't from the damned Ivy League. Really. Think Andrew Jackson. Tough, experienced but not from some netherworld that most Americans can't relate to.

65 1) Great points.

2) I don't think this is why Democrats win. They don't appear to be having much fun even after they win. Some want power, some just want to stick to people they don't like (us), and others want STUFF. Most Liberals I know are motivated by one or more of those reasons, they cloak it in other language of course. When pressed on the details, they fall apart. They want to INFLICT themselves and their leaders on the rest of us, the results almost don't even matter. They are angry, stupid, envious people for the most part.

3) Contempt doesn't work? Sure it does. Democrats show open contempt for their political adversaries on a daily basis and persuade others to hate those people (us) as well. How did the Republicans and/or Conservatives get all of these horrible labels people use on us? Constant, blatant, lying and contempt. My kids (who voted for Obama) recite the most outlandish shit you ever heard of about Republicans and Conservatives.

66 Oh noes!!!! You didn't use fuck in your post!!!!! Slacker!!!!

67 RE: Contempt - The Left can go first. I have been told to my face on more than one occasion that I'm not really female (seriously, you cannot possibly miss The Rack [don't bother asking] it's damn obvious I'm a girl) and that I'm not really queer because there is no possible way that a Republican can be either. I'm constantly called a hateful racist homophobic whatever. I've been called stupid, again, to my face, based simply on my political beliefs. The Left can start with the New Tone Bullshit. Then I'll play. I wonder if our own efforts in this direction wouldn't involve a few volunteers agreeing to stay behind with all the kids of the other volunteers. That is, a few volunteer to be day-care personnel, freeing up the rest for social activities/activism. This is a good idea. My utter loathing for small humans is well known. Do you know what I did on election day? I fucking babysat seven kids for nearly two hours so people could go vote. If I can watch those appalling piles of DNA, anyone can do it. (Disclaimer: Hilariously, I'm good with kids. I just don't want them to stick around very long)

68 Ask not what you can do for your country but what can your country do for you.

69

Posted by: nc at November 26, 2012 05:06 PM (Cxl7g)

__

Yes that's why I was perturbed that Romney abandoned his whiteboard. Maybe the consultants AKA the smartest guys in the room told him it didn't poll well.

 

As to conservatives re-branding: why do we need to? Donkey Senate and House candidates fall over each other trying to right-wing themselves to election. Only the safest blue seat hos can run for office like the communist biatches that they be.

70

Read up on Saul Alinsky and his Rule of Radicals.

Your first 2 points are pretty much dead on in that context.

71 Hollywood,  MSM, Public education,Video game generation, takers,losers, whiners , instant gratification, being cool etc. Overcome  these things  and we might win, otherwise no chance....

72 Example *Guliani

73 Don't appeal to someones better nature, they may not have one.  Appeal to their self-interest, you'll have more leverage.

Robert Heilin

74 Someone need a hug, you morons?

75 contempt is never persuasive.


Heavily armed contempt, however...

76 @35 Are you the choom czar? Maybe put the bong down and take a break.

77 if it comes down to demographics and the demographics have been trained to hate us because we're evil, racist, and jocks who used to beat up nerdy asians, then we'll just have to appeal to their evil side, or something. eventually, if we stick to our guns, lose the demographic war, and become an outlawed political party (we're not allowed to speak on campus anymore, amirite), eventually, hopefully, the dnc will have to become competent at running the country. OR some of these new demographics will swallow their pride and look for a political party that espouses ideas that work.

78 If only they were aware the extent to which the public school system has created a caste of self-hating white boys.

----------

I have been wondering.......is there anywhere else on the globe, any past or present society that actively worked against their own country's interests.  White American liberals, in particular, seek to destroy that which they live in.  They seek to destroy their country, their culture.  They hate their guilty whiteness, they hate their country's traditions and history.  They badmouth America.  Constantly.  They seek to destroy Thanksgiving and Christmas, they seek to blunt Christianity, they align with others who also seek to dismantle the US.  They teach our children how bad we are.  They hate the very place they live.

Who, other than American liberals, tries so hard to undermine their own freaking country?  Who, other than American liberals, hates their country so much that they trash talk it to anyone who will listen?  It's abject insanity.  Is there any other group of people on this planet who think like this about the very place they were born?  Any other group of people that detest, despise and trash talk their own people, culture, traditions, history?  I want a divorce.  I have no allegiance with people like this. 

79 We don't have to tap into cool; we have to tap into anger.  I'm preparing to retire at an early age, because I've worked, saved, and invested, but every chance I get I tell my Millenial friends I couldn't do it in style if they weren't working their asses off and paying into my entitlements. I tell them I could retire comfortably on my own, but thanks to them, I can take a couple of overseas trips every year, too. I tell them their professors are living large too, thanks to the student loan money they got teaching them useless, non-profitable skills. I tell them how the Boomers are inheriting from parents and living large too, but that their generation ain't getting nothing. I remind them they're stuck as clerks at Barnes and Noble, low-paid graphic artists in big corporations, and in furniture delivery trucks, all because of a lethargic economy created by Democrat policies. I can see it strikes home.

80 I loved it when Romney did the whiteboard. Simple and made Obama's message look pathetic. Where was more of that 'This guy's stupid, here let me show you' stuff.

81 **some of these new demographics will swallow their pride and look for a political party that espouses ideas that work.** and that's why selling out our beliefs don't work. We were in the wilderness for 20+ years during FDR. We will be in the wilderness again. We will win again (see, 1972)

82 @70 Rules for rats #5-mock, scorn and ridicule. Is the best one.

83 So Sally and Bubba got married.  Sally had never had sex with Bubba.  So on their wedding night, just to test Sally, to see if she had fooled around before they were married, he pulled out his dick and asked if she knew what it was.

She said it's a winky tink.  Bubba felt much better, he told her, no honey it's a dick.

And she says????    Oh, no a dick is black and about 12 inches long.

I denounce myself

84 Dammit. Quit whining and start striking back. Use your wallet and quit subscribing to cable, quit attending films, quit patronizing liberal states and cities and don't donate a penny to colleges. That should just be for starters. And if that means you will miss your college and pro football, they are part of the problem.

85 also, we will never be able to outspend, outpander, outlie, outsmear, or outleft the DNC. and that's why selling out our beliefs don't work.

86

CJ:

 

Exactly.  We should have a special calculator that the GOP can send to all dems.   Every time they open their mouth about taxes or the debt, just throw them a calculator and let them know they should call us when they get serious!!!!

 

I'm not just a Bull Moose Republican, I'm a MATH Republican.

 

But I know, "math is hard" and it potentially could be racist!!

 

They complain about taxes, laugh at them and throw them a calculator.

 

They complain about photo ID to vote, laugh at them, and draw cartoons of planes wearing KKK uniforms, or the DMV workers with klan suits on.

 

ETc, etc., etc.  Their positions are laughable on so many topics.  We need to call them on it.

87 >>>They don't appear to be having much fun even after they win.

Democrats are the dark side. Their power is fed from their anger and hatred. Without that they would just settle down with a dime bag of weed and say F*it. So they have to maintain themselves constantly angry so that they will have the will to dominate. Whereas for us if we actually get angry, we day F* it, LiB. We have to have optimism and love for our fellow man to continue to strive for freedom.

88 A female college friend of mine volunteered big time for Obama. She had just got back from working for years in Europe after being laid-off and breaking off a long relationship. She's super smart, a banker, and was looking for someplace to get involved and build a new social network back here in the states. She had a lot of fun working for Obama. Met a lot of people. Started getting invited to parties, etc. With so many young people volunteering, the social network/ dating aspect is non-trivial.

89 Wiping out the economy is a feature and not a bug to Chicago Jesus.

90 so, I have some bad news for you... first, we're going to go through Great Depression 2.0. It's going to be a whole lot worse this time around once the price of bread goes up to $400 a loaf. The good news is that, in about 30 years, people may get sick of it.

91 LET


IT


BURN

92 BREAKING NEWS AT ACE OF SPADES PEOPLE VOTE IN THEIR OWN BEST INTEREST SKY BLUE WATER WET REPUBLICANS RACIST MORE HEADLINES AT 11

93 "a narrative by which the selfish is depicted as selfless, and the low is depicted as the noble." This! Name for me one part of the DNC platform that does not do this! That isn't paid for by some group that was reprehensible just 20 years ago. They are build around normalizing the unacceptable and getting paid to do it.

94 Obama's a dick.

95 Who, other than American liberals, tries so hard to undermine their own freaking country? Posted by: Lady in Black at November 26, 2012 05:15 PM (lTVJy) Well, let's put it this way. Russia and Eastern Europe didn't get that way because aliens invaded.

96 Republicans should always play to human nature. 

For instance, take the infamous ObamaPhone video.  Why didn't the GOP run ads coast to coast asking Americans "who pays your cell phone bill?"  That's the sort of thing that people can jump on and say "It's bullshit some crackwhore gets a free cell phone but I don't"  Obama would then have to explain why some people get free cell phones and some people don't.

Romney's "flaw" is that he thought he could just talk about the unemployment rate or the national debt, and Americans would be smart enough to connect the dots.  They aren't.

Also, liberalism plays upon greed in many ways, ie vote this way and we'll give you this"  Republicans needs to be a "pay for play" party also like "vote Romney and you'll get a bigger child tax deduction."  Or vote for the GOP and we'll take away the free cell phones so you can keep more of your own money.  Pit these groups against each other.

97

Posted by: Lady in Black at November 26, 2012 05:15 PM (lTVJy)

___

That speaks to the very provincial nature of the average libtard. If they had spent any amount of time overseas, even in their iconic paradisical locales - France or Tuscany - they would quickly comprehend how special America is. They have no conception of the reality that the poorest American is rich beyond measure in comparison to his third world counterpart.

98 The problem with the 47% comment was that it sounded bad when stripped of its context. They guys who are always harping on "context" and "nuance" are perfectly fine with stripping it away when it suits their purposes. Romney was saying "47% of the people won't care that I am promising to lower taxes, and my job right now is to win, so I am going to ignore that 47% for now." Regrettably he made some side comment about the 47% being takers or whatever. The MFM inflated this up to "Romney denigrates the 47% and won't ever care about them, while Obama cares about 100% of the people." They went even further: "Injured veterans are in the 47%... Romney hates injured veterans and wants to strip away their benefits!!!!" Really, with the MFM this nakedly dishonest, they would have found something Romney said and done something like this no matter what. I don't get worked up over this gaffe. I tend to think before I speak so I don't usually commit gaffes, but I am also not in a job where I have to talk, and talk, and talk, all day long, and any mistake I ever make could be splashed across the MFM. I think the top priority for the Republican party, and conservatives in general, is to work to make the Democrats own the results of their own policies. It's insane that Obama was able to blame Bush for the results of four years of Obama. It's insane that the Democrats are going to shove us all off the fiscal cliff and make the Republicans take the political heat for the bad results. The current "regime" has sown the seeds of disaster; when the disaster comes, the voters must blame the correct people. The liberals are winning by promising free stuff to everyone without consequences. The conservatives are trying to sell austerity to prevent disaster. If the liberals can successfully pin the disaster on the conservatives, they will gain all the political advantage of promising free stuff, and not pay the political price they should, and make their enemies pay that price instead. If they pull it off, who would vote conservative? Not any sort of majority, I'll tell you that.

99

Phoenixgirl:

 

Love you too.  That an alexthechick's irrational hatred for babies is somewhat disturbing!!  I like kids though and couldn't watch 7 of them, so thanks for taking one for the team on election day!!

 

I was too far annebriated to handle it on that day, after voting of course.

100 Social networking is a hive mind give me approval and attention echo chamber.

101 For God's sake, if this post is true there's nothing worth "winning" anyways.  Time to make an island out of shipping crates or something.

102 which means, effectively, I'm the only guy reading what I'm writing right now

if this is one of those blogs and not an internet forum, i'm out.

103 Who, other than American liberals, tries so hard to undermine their own freaking country? British Liberals.

104

Uh, yeah, about those mid-term elections...

 

Don't look now.

 

http://bit.ly/Qm7HxY

105 Get back in the ring 101 and 102.

106 If selling out our beliefs won't work, and getting a "better conservative candidate" means he will be competing with Santa Claus and his message of toys for all the little children (vs. our candidates meany-pants message of self reliance), then...

LiB

Is the only answer. Pain. Math. Lessons to learn. A pendulum to swing back.

It's the only way.

107
What's the name of this movie again?

108

Three words about your post, Ace (and yes, I read it):  Dirty politics work.

 

Repubs have got to quit playing nice.  It doesn't work.   Look around at the present society.  It's impolite, brutish, and  without guardrails.  That's how repubs need approach the next  election.  Bare fists and guns blazing.  Maybe  even a very sexy endorsement by Kate Upton. 

 

Otherwise, we'll just be wasting our time.  Rush's approach is good.  Tell the people that the dems  America-killing  pieces of shit.  They understand that.

109

McAdams:

 

Exactly!!!  I would have shoved obamaphone lady right up their ass.  Why oh why are we beating around the bush here.  Because the big bad media will accuse us of being racists???

 

Crickets done chirping....

 

Run ads showing this freak.  Run ads saying that the demorats are the party of the GHETTO.  Run an ad showing nothing but words explaining what the murder rate of dem areas that vote 100% demorat are.

 

They are the party of the GHETTO.  We are the party of PICKET FENCES AND FREEDOM.

 

Why in the fuck are we ashamed of it.  Why in the fuck can we not call them out for what they are.   (an pgirl, i closed with this just for you).

110

100

__

Perfect place for the adult middleschoolers to convene.

 

 

111 That an alexthechick's irrational hatred for babies is somewhat disturbing!! It's not irrational. Small humans are messy and, most importantly, demand attention that should properly be given to me. Actually, Mommy tells people that she knew she wasn't getting grandkids from me when I was about six. I didn't even like to play with dolls. Whatever it is that's supposed to make me want to breed simply isn't there.

112 >>Romney's "flaw" is that he thought he could just talk about the unemployment rate or the national debt, and Americans would be smart enough to connect the dots. They aren't.

That's true, too.  Our side needs to be EXPLICIT.  "Why do I harp on the debt?  Because this is how the debt effects YOU: [insert detailed explicit explanation].

113 One possibility we must all consider -- The Country has gone to hell because there are more dirtbgas than there are decent people. I know you don't want to believe that, but I think it's true. Any other explanation doesn't pass muster. We lost because there's more of them than there is of us. Period.

114 >>>What's the name of this movie again?

Humans are selfish animals that would sell their freedom for a bag of Doritos and a Six Pack of Nattie Bo.

It's a working title.

115 1) Dishonesty as a strategy will fail, because the MFM is on the other side. It's also dishonest. 2) A lot of people (your TEA Party peeps, for example) are really, big time, put off by corruption and the "buddy club" version of politics - i.e. the transactional transfer payoffs. Becoming "the other lying party that steals stuff and gives it to you for your vote" may or may not *fail* as a tactic, but it fails as far as actually getting anything for the win.

116 Hmmm:


School Choice!


Pithy and easy to understand!  Ignore the details of how to bring it off and just effing promote something positive!

117 So, Republican Tupperware parties? Avon called, it puts the Eversoft on the skin or it gets the hose.
 
One thing ChoomBoy did was hold raffles to dine with him and the Queen of Mooch, or his other sidekick Laughing Idiot. Maybe our candidate can troll for $5 donations and a chance to drop him/her into the dunking tank while a carney makes fun of your throwing ability.
 
Really though, I don't have any good suggestions.

118

Davy Crockett, Advice to Politicians (1833)

"Attend all public meetings," says I, "and get some friend to move that you take the chair. If you fail in this attempt, make a push to be appointed secretary. The proceeding of course will be published, and your name is introduced to the public. But should you fail in both undertakings, get two or three acquaintances, over a bottle of whisky, to pass some resolutions, no matter on what subject. Publish them, even if you pay the printer. It will answer the purpose of breaking the ice, which is the main point in these matters.

"Intrigue until you are elected an officer of the militia. This is the second step toward promotion, and can be accomplished with ease, as I know an instance of an election being advertised, and no one attending, the innkeeper at whose house it was to be held, having a military turn, elected himself colonel of his regiment." Says I, "You may not accomplish your ends with as little difficulty, but do not be discouraged-Rome wasn't built in a day.

"If your ambition or circumstances compel you to serve your country and earn three dollars a day, by becoming a member of the legislature, you must first publicly avow that the constitution of the state is a shackle upon free and liberal legislation, and is, therefore, of as little use in the present enlightened age as an old almanac of the year in which the instrument was framed. There is policy in this measure, for by making the constitution a mere dead letter, your headlong proceedings will be attributed to a bold and unshackled mind; whereas, it might otherwise be thought they arose from sheer mulish ignorance. 'The Government' has set the example in his [Jackson's] attack upon the Constitution of the United States, and who should fear to follow where 'the Government' leads?

"When the day of election approaches, visit your constituents far and wide. Treat liberally, and drink freely, in order to rise in their estimation, though you fall in your own. True, you may be called a drunken dog by some of the clean-shirt and silk-stocking gentry, but the real roughnecks will style you a jovial fellow. Their votes are certain, and frequently count double.

"Do all you can to appear to advantage in the eyes of the women. That's easily done. You have but to kiss and slabber [slobber over] their children, wipe their noses, and pat them on the head. This cannot fail to please their mothers, and you may rely on your business being done in that quarter.

"Promise all that is asked," said I, "and more if you can think of anything. Offer to build a bridge or a church, to divide a county, create a batch of new offices, make a turnpike, or anything they like. Promises cost nothing; therefore, deny nobody who has a vote or sufficient influence to obtain one.

"Get up on all occasions, and sometimes on no occasion at all, and make long-winded speeches, though composed of nothing else than wind. Talk of your devotion to your country, your modesty and disinterestedness, or on any such fanciful subject. Rail against taxes of all kinds, officeholders, and bad harvest weather; and wind up with a flourish about the heroes who fought and bled for our liberties in the times that tried men's souls. To be sure, you run the risk of being considered a bladder of wind, or an empty barrel. But never mind that; you will find enough of the same fraternity to keep you in countenance.

"If any charity be going forward, be at the top of it, provided it is to be advertised publicly. If not, it isn't worth your while. None but a fool would place his candle under a bushel on such an occasion.

"These few directions." said I, "if properly attended to, will do your business. And when once elected-why, a fig for the dirty children, the promises, the bridges, the churches, the taxes, the offices, and the subscriptions. For it is absolutely necessary to forget all these before you can become a thoroughgoing politician, and a patriot of the first water."

119 108 Three words about your post, Ace (and yes, I read it): Dirty politics work.


Yep. We need Lee Atwater to come back from the dead, or find his love child.

Karl Rove's BS is not working.  It is time to stop fucking a round and slice these fuckers up.

I thought Karl was going to do that, instead he played footsie. 


What a fucking wimp.

120 Some thoughts on point 3: I think MOCKERY against the other side is a winning play. I don't want to get all Alinsky but it's hard to take someone seriously if everyone's making fun of them. Maybe that's not contempt but it's contemptuous. Barry did pretty well with his gaggle of sycophants mocking Romney and Republicans. It damaged Republicans as a brand. People didn't vote for Romney because they just couldn't get past the 'R'. Republican brand damage comes not from our principles and not even for the worthless, feckless leadership we've had grafted onto us, the brand damage comes from mockery. Mockery from celebrities from people on TV who are given some sort of a authority by the bare fact that they're on TV. Let's mock our enemies. God knows it shouldn't be hard to come up with material.

121 Use scorn and sarcasm. Patrick Murphy is a racist for driving black unemployment up. He contributed to it. I mean, why else would he have kicked a black man out of office? How dare he.

122

111:

 

It is a deeply held belief of mine that a woman who claims that she does not want to have babies has just not met the right man yet.

 

And yes, I am that awesome.  Weather at 6...

123

McAdams:

Exactly!!! I would have shoved obamaphone lady right up their ass. Why oh why are we beating around the bush here. Because the big bad media will accuse us of being racists???

Also, why wasn't the "Tell Vladimir I'll have more flexibility after the election," shown 24/7?

 

 

124

Posted by: MikeTheMoose is Shrugging at November 26, 2012 05:17 PM (0q2P7)

__

This is why they're never satisfied in the blue hellhole cities and states they concocted, they have to migrate to the red states to spread the misery.

125 It doesn't matter how you frame your argument.  You don't get to frame your argument, racists.

126 Why can't we just secede, invade the blue states and kill everyone (cull the herd so to speak) then re-integrate the blue states, only with a diminished liberal population that will never see power or influence again for say, a few centuries?

Especially when most of the military is red too, so we have that added firepower going for us.

What?  I can't dream?

127 >>>One possibility we must all consider -- The Country has gone to hell because there are more dirtbgas than there are decent people.

Well we had been saved in the past because the dirtbags self selected away from the utter inconvenience of voting. Until the free cell phones came along.


Perhaps Aristotle was right. In a free society, only about half of the population could even be considered competent enough to vote.

128 Let me refine that thought. Chicks are mostly airheads looking for love and friends. Obama's team knows that. We still think of them as real people. Obama's team, Chicks need of free shit. Lot less words. Ummmm, please keep your generalizations to yourself. Married white women voted for Romney so obviously all chicks are not airheads.

129 I don't know if we can prevent the burn, but I do know nothing good will come of it, and people who think they'll be better off afterward are laughing off pretty much all of history. The American Revolution was exceptional in *so* many ways that anything we have now isn't...

130 Whatever it is that's supposed to make me want to breed simply isn't there. Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 26, 2012 05:24 PM (VtjlW) Grits teeth, shakes fist at sky.

131

Soona and Billy Bob:

 

Absofuckinglutely.  This should not be this hard.  I actually had a business idea to start up a company focusing purely on hard hitting political ads.

 

If people knew the truth on a lot of issues, I think we could do a helluva a lot better than we do now.

 

Biden voted for a constitutional amendment to repeal Roe v. Wade.  Now tell me, how many people knew that??  Even with the geniuses on here?

132 Daycare. Actually, not a a bad idea. I'm glad you are seeing things my way now, ace.

133 @86 agree on math. I always enjoy hearing the question asked " how many poor people have given you a job?"

Repubs generally are self sufficient with or without a government job.
 
Dim pols could not EAT without getting paid with the high taxes that they are fighting for.

To GOP, photo id for voting is an exercise in logic and common sense.

To Dims blocking photo ID is survival .  

The Founding Fathers never would have imagined such a pack of leeches or the Bill of Rights would have included hard and fast short term limits.
 
Locusts die when the harvest is eaten up. Sooner or later Bernanke's - 24/7 Kinko's will be printing toilet paper.

Let it Burn. 

Be prepared for when it does.

134 what? school choice? haven't you heard? obamas going to hire 100,000 new teachers to teach ummm, well, we're not so sure about who, where, what, or when but he's going to do it so that the economy gets turned around. Even SNL made fun of this.

135 >>Whatever it is that's supposed to make me want to breed simply isn't there.

Good thing, then, that you're a lawyer.

(Spoken as a fellow member of the bar.)

136 re: "If only it could be communicated to this cohort that they are the product of government school indoctrination. This should appall and repel a class of individuals who pride themselves on being liberal and free-thinkers."

No.

There was a time when that might have worked--immediately post-Reagan, I think. There was still some superficial overlap (the kind of overlap that really counts) between being a badass/rebel/etc. and being a lefty for a while in the '90s. But now, since then, being "cool" is only being The Right Sort.

I think the most finely distilled example of the change is Henry Rollins, because he's dumb without knowing it and he's Really Serious, so he reflects his times very clearly. You watch a Rollins spoken-word performance from 1990 and one from 2010, and the former will be a blustering musclehead talking crazy shit about conformity, idiocy, and yuppies, and the latter will be a blustering ex-musclehead *yuppie idiot* talking hack shit you've already heard about how Republicans are evil because they're too poor to travel the world and they need to be stopped from breeding. In 1990 he was a self-supporting small businessman with a fuck-the-world attitude; in 2010, he's a public radio DJ with posting privileges on HuffPo.

*That's* how the left's identity--and more importantly, how pre-rational identification-with-the-left--changed. That's how they won.

Past tense. They're Winners now. *The* Winners. They've assimilated or exiled every "free thinker." Free thinkers are Losers.

137 "Also, why wasn't the "Tell Vladimir I'll have more flexibility after the election," shown 24/7?"

Who is Vladimir? What does that have to do with my government check?

138 Someone should come up with a website like "StupidStuffLibsSaid.com" or somesuch......

139

Rushbabe:

 

Agreed 100%.  I applaud Romney's effort to get it in there during the 3rd debate, but that is too little, too late.

140 You guys are over-thinking this. The main problem we have is our message is mutilated by a hostile press. While we get the racist, meany, homo-hater treatment, Dems get the benefit of not being held accountable - at all. We won't win anything until this is corrected - no matter how nice and friendly we present ourselves to be. THIS IS FIXABLE. 21,000,000 viewers watched Sunday Night Football last night on NBC. How many of those were Conservatives? I'm guessing many if not most of you morons were paying into the Beast as well. We need to organize against the MSM.

141 I think the word you're looking for is wedge. School choice versus public sector union thugs (won wisconsin, don't you know). abortion later-term or post-birth versus rape-bortions? tort reform, and other GOP ideas we used to have on medical $$$. Look, I recall the 80's and it seemed that the GOP had a lot of answers.

142 It's not irrational. Small humans are messy and, most importantly, demand attention that should properly be given to me.


Actually, Mommy tells people that she knew she wasn't getting grandkids from me when I was about six. I didn't even like to play with dolls. Whatever it is that's supposed to make me want to breed simply isn't there.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 26, 2012 05:24 PM (VtjlW)

It's alright dear, I've had 2.5 x 2 children for both of us.

and yes they are messy and demanding although often their cuteness makes up for a lot.

143 127 >>>One possibility we must all consider -- The Country has gone to hell
because there are more dirtbgas than there are decent people.


No, there are more union teacher indoctrinating our children.  The hippies I went to college with in the 60's never got real jobs.  They went to work for the government or taught school, which is the same thing.

So every dirt bag you despised in college is telling your kids dad is a racist and murderer, etc. and the US sucks.

144 Btw if you can't call a woman that is a single 30 year old college student who testifies before congress that it costs her 3000 dollars a year for birth control a slut then who the fuck can you call a slut?

145 Dick Jokes? Never heard of him.

146 I don't know how useful these thoughts are.

Although your points are well thought out and cogent, they don't really apply to this election. This election was a repudiation of Romney himself, by a razor-thin margin. Republicans gained in the governorships, and a couple of state legislatures went all-GOP for the first time since Reconstruction.

What happened is very simple: The Dems defined Romney, and he didn't fight back. He therefore lost.

Romney lost because of of hubris--thinking all he had to do was wait out the clock--and the Rovian strategy of never defending yourself and assuming that the superiority of your policies is self-evident.

Also, we're learning that it wasn't just ORCA. Romney spent four times as much money on the same ads as Obama because his team couldn't be bothered to find better rates, and Romney didn't use any of his own money to defend himself when he was barred from using campaign contributions. He spent $50 million in 2008, but none of his own money this time around even though the stakes for the country were much higher.

Romney suffered all the same attacks on his character and on Bain every time he ran for office. The fact that his team still didn't have a coherent defense is inexcusable.

The simple truth is we had a (relatively) lousy candidate. He didn't campaign as if he might lose; he campaigned as though he was a sure thing. He was lazy, sloppy, and careless, and he relied on people with a proven track record of losing.

Finally, he refused--as the GOP always does--to go after Obama. I read that he had a huge pile of opposition research on Obama but refused to use it. Why? Because he was afraid. He was timid. He played it safe.

We need candidates who are fearless but smart. First Debate Romney would've won the election.

Ace, even YOU, during the second debate, wrote in the live comments that you wanted Romney to dial it back. You felt he was being too aggressive. He did dial it back, and he lost.

We need a middle ground between McCain and Gingrich, between Allen West and John Boehner. If we're going to lose anyway, let's go all in, to coin a phrase. But let's be smart about it.

If we'd had First Debate Romney for the whole campaign, he would've won. I have no doubt. We don't need radical changes in our side. All we need is First Debate Romney, from the beginning all the way through to the end.

147
Also, why wasn't the "Tell Vladimir I'll have more flexibility after the election," shown 24/7?

Because the people that had the capability of showing that 24/7 are on the same team. Same reason we didn't hear much about FF, Libya, or any of the other O-scandals.

Break the back of that beast, and all sorts of things become possible.

148 The MFM can be overcome. Otherwise the whole endeavor is pointless. Lies can be quite effective if done right. The trick is to gain power long enough to implement economic policies that will improve peoples lives. Free markets work. Once you gain that you have an inherent advantage in the following elections. The problem is getting past the first part.

149 Vagina Jokes? Got a million of them

150 Ummmm, please keep your generalizations to yourself. Married white women voted for Romney so obviously all chicks are not airheads.
****************************

68% of SINGLE women are uttering fucking gimme gimme gimme idiots.

The number goes higher when you add on women who date and marry liberal men.

That's a voting block almost more reliable than the hispanic vote by the way.

I denounce myself.

151 @145

Well said.

152 We won with hostile press, not because reagan was magic (our evil is baked into the cake, sorry) but because um... oh right, we had answers, wedges like Willie Horton or BushW being a non-interventionist foreign policy guy. I think Romney was advised to go "economy bad" and let the chips fall where they may against a guy who was apparently very popular

153 It is a deeply held belief of mine that a woman who claims that she does not want to have babies has just not met the right man yet. Yeah. Because I've never ever ever ever had that said to me before.

154 >>> "The MFM can be overcome. Otherwise the whole endeavor is pointless. Lies can be quite effective if done right." Bingo, Wonkish! This isn't that complicated.

155 "Never trust a man that doesn't drink"

156

Ace, you and many others are still laboring under the mistaken impression that there is something to be "won" in politics. The situation is beyond the ability of today's establishment politicians.  It is also beyond the ability of outsiders looking to come in and "change our direction" like Ron Paul, bless his heart.

 

 

I have been a self-employed businessman for almost 40 years. That means I am an optimist. I have had to make a large adjustment in my thinking, even though I've known since 1992 that the depression would arrive by around 2010. (I was off by about 18 months.) This is a time for realism and finding a way through the next 10 years on one's own. No party or politician is going to change the course of this history in the making.

 

 

 

This is not the time to be wasting effort on electing people already ruined by the system. This is the time to prepare for a depression and have fun during whatever time we have left before things deteriorate badly. Rearranging the inadequate  supply of musical chairs doesn't matter now.

 

157 Lady in Black as to your question on what country's citizens would kill themselves for political ideals, or lack of regard for themselves or offsprings future ?
UK

158 The answer is the media. Go full Newt on them. Pull the Harry Reid is a pedophile on Matt Lauer on live TV. Hell do it to the president. Ask him when he is going to start drug testing benefits recipients in a press conference. In case you haven't noticed the media isn't helping us. It is time to rough them up.

159 The idea that Mitt wasn't tough enough is debatable, at best. Tougher Mitt loses more votes than he picks up.

It's the electorate, not the candidate. Shoulda been a blowout.

160 It's alright dear, I've had 2.5 x 2 children for both of us. and yes they are messy and demanding although often their cuteness makes up for a lot. Posted by: willow at November 26, 2012 05:31 PM (hX8cq) It's possible that I recently told Boy BFF that he and The Wife need to hop to with the birthing of the babies since they need to have my 2.5 as well. He suggested they go for quints via IVF. Remarkably, The Wife let him live.

161
On bringing people over to the conservative side, its hard for me to make the case because people like Rand or Sowell made sense to me because I was tilted that way, but I have talked to liberals who have read 'Atlas Shrugged' and in a totally honest way say 'yeah the govt did it wrong in that book, but real govt could make it work'.  They just look at the world different because they haven't yet faced true scarcity yet.  By the time they do, it will be too late.

162 So when we want to have in-group discussions about legitimate rape we need to use code words and phrases?

Huckabee polished the delicious pie. Repeat. Huckabee polished the delicious pie. Copy?

163 Leave women alone who don't want to have babies. :^) I didn't want then for years and then changed my mind, but my sister never wanted them and she's been with the right guy for 40 years. She makes a dandy auntie and I expect Axel does the same. (I thought she had mentioned she had nieces and nephews.) As long as conservatives don't die out completely we're o.k.

164 well, with the bitches, it was "republicans are men who don't know about your special jay jay. vote donks who give you a fresh feeling down there." This isn't about your cooter, bitches. It's about killing life. We currently spot you the first four trimesters, can we at least try to narrow down the killing to babies that won't survive outside the womb?

165

T. Hunter:

 

Honestly, I would join the let it burn crowd.  But something is not right.  We have not reached the De Tocqueville tipping point, not in my belief at least. 

A 60% white state with a crushing amount of poverty is safe conservative territory.

 

How do we replicate that formula everywhere else??  Do that, and the commies/libs/leftists/statists/dems will be buried for generations.

166 Axel, What is a Boy BFF?

167

Llarry:

Thats my gut feeling too.

168 Candidates matter. 

A John Kerry (for example) could've run on exactly the same themes and political stances against Romney and lost.

People just liked and identified with Obama more.  Get people to like you personally and they'll want to believe you'll do what is in your best interest, even if you flat out tell them otherwise.

Political junkies don't win elections.  American Idol junkies do.

Ask the average voter who they'd rather share a six pack with- the supposedly cool, hip candidate or the guy who was born wearing a three piece suit.

169
And my writing totally sucks.  I blame the internet.  Because it is true.

170 Some of us really are noble.  For example, we're in favor of greater redistribution of wealth... and higher salaries for ourselves, more benefits, fatter per diems, luxuriant sabbatical time, and worthless confabs all over the globe.  After all, it's for the kids.

171

I don't know about you, but it was North Dakota that made me give up hope. They voted for Romney and a dem senator.

 

That kind of crazy if not fixable.

172 "more actively open to new friendships than older people."

This.  I've been an activist, and GOP are old.  They try to hang together but everyone really just wants to get out of the meetings and go home.  The young ones are basically College Republican mama's boys who are moving on after graduation.  They put up with the old people because they get stuff from them, political jobs, letters of recommendation, convention trip money and shit.

People hate Old.

173 **The idea that Mitt wasn't tough enough is debatable, at best. Tougher Mitt loses more votes than he picks up.** Ok, GOP consultant. Your check is waiting for you in the lobby. Spot on analysis. Not to attack you...it's just that, as Cruz said, this is the sort of thinking to attract the 30 undecided, uninformed Ohio voters living in a cave for past 6 months based on hypothetical performances. Romney lost a million votes to a joke libertarian candidate. If he had espoused "freedom" or some such bullshit wedge issue that would make libertarians prefer not throwing vote away, well, we'd still be fighting over computer chads right now.

174 >>No, there are more union teachers indoctrinating our children.

Do not underestimate this.  And it's not just public or union teachers, either.

Both of my boys (aged 8 and 13) have been inundated with liberal cliche clap-trap from global warming to sustainability to mal-distribution, from the moment they entered their school, which is private.  Luckily, they are immune to such propaganda, but they are constantly amazed that many, if not most, of their classmates are not.

Their goal is explicit indoctrination.  My eldest son's "science" teacher stated to his class that his "goal" was for each student to leave his class believing three things:  that global warming is real; that humans are its cause; and that global disaster is imminent unless we take immediate action.

175

Sadly, enough people in Nashua NH voted to elect their first Transgender felon, 'Stacie' Laughton, because 'she' had a 'D' next to 'her' name.

176 Ask the average voter who they'd rather share a six pack with- the supposedly cool, hip candidate or the guy who was born wearing a three piece suit.


We need to nominate The Most Interesting Man In The World to get the Ladyparts vote.

177 @156

You are so right.  I studied economics.  You had to be an idiot not to see that as the Baby Boomers aged out, the demand for housing would die.  The demographics of the Boomers is the big problem here.

They/we are going to stop working and live off what we have saved.  Those that did not save anything, a lot of them, are going to want part of what I have saved.

In other words, their fucking off should get rewarded, while my industry should be punished.

As the ants told the grasshopper, fuck off.

http://tinyurl.com/c93zt9d

178

Axel, What is a Boy BFF?

I'll take "Things Slash Never Said" for $200, Alex.

179 that he and The Wife need to hop to with the birthing of the babies since they need to have my 2.5 as well. He suggested they go for quints via IVF. Remarkably, The Wife let him live.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 26, 2012 05:36 PM (VtjlW)

oooh,  Yes He is lucky to still be able to breed!

of coursed perhaps just 1 years of never sleeping is better than 5 years?

i dunno the diapers,  how many boobs does one come with!!! 

would be hard to ever get out of the rocker.

even i that love babies, would want to cut his nuts off.

yes ,He is lucky to be alive.

180 There are a ton of reasons why Michelle isn't tossing the WH silverware into her suitcase right now. It isn't just two or three reasons. Go back 40 years or so and look at the percentage of voters that Ronald R won by-- 50.1%. Thousands of variables have to click correctly, and the Electoral College must be played like a Stradivarius violin in a fucking hail storm punctuated with deadly lightning bolts. Get lucky and you win. Get some fat fuck in Jersey with his own ass-perations (sic) for higher office, willing to cut you off at the kneecaps -- and you lose.

181 I don't know about you, but it was North Dakota that made me give up hope. They voted for Romney and a dem senator.

That kind of crazy if not fixable.

Posted by: Invictus at November 26, 2012 05:39 PM (OQpzc)

To me that is evidence we really have only one party. There is a commie wing and a center-left wing.

LiB

182 boobs pie football

183

145, I'm not so sure about that.The Bush tax rates (cuts at the time) revved up the economy, in fact, the economy under Bush II was excellent for most of his term, yet he is still blamed by too many people for the current state of the economy. Zero, on the other hand, has done nothing to improve anyone's life except his own, yet is seen as "caring".

And fuure GOP candidates need to make sure that somehow nobody is recording their allegedly private, closed meetings.

184 This isn't about your cooter, bitches. Why, I do believe I may have made some mild, soft spoken, genteel statements about that very topic. Axel, What is a Boy BFF? Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 26, 2012 05:39 PM (v8RoL) A Boy BFF is my guy best friend who was labeled Boy BFF to distinguish from the BFF who was a girl. The label remains even though the BFF is now no longer of this mortal realm.

185 Our "well-mannered" pols are going to have to get in the mud. Posted by: RushBabe at November 26, 2012 04:52 PM (tQHzJ) Why am I getting the mental image of Niles Crain fumbling with an M-4?

186 170 Some of us really are noble. For example, we're in favor of greater redistribution of wealth... and higher salaries for ourselves, more benefits, fatter per diems, luxuriant sabbatical time, and worthless confabs all over the globe. After all, it's for the kids.

Posted by: Statist Academics at November 26, 2012 05:39 PM (Iyg03)

perfect.

187 When tax hikes, Obamacare, and layoffs due to these and Round Two of the Great Not-Recovery hit, the Obama voters won't blame him.

They won't blame Obullshit because they've invested their own selves into the whole idea that Obama Cures All.

They surely won't blame their bad fortunes on themselves, it's somebody else's fault. Since they have spent so much emotion and energy selling Obama to others, it surely won't be his fault either

As long as there's one Republican left in DC, it'll be the Republicans fault

188
Sort of, I mean. It's public but without much actual publicity -- to some extent, this is public, but it's sort of private because who, apart from us, reads this drivel? And you don't even read this drivel (you're already in the comments, and have been in the comments since point one), which means, effectively, I'm the only guy reading what I'm writing right now, and I'm barely paying attention to myself at that.

I was reading the whole thing until there, and then I went here to the comments section.  Tell me, how does it end?

189 The answer is the media. Go full Newt on them.

Allen West did that. And Newt didn't even win the GOP primary.

When Republicans personalize, they lose. First Debate Romney was perfection incarnate because he was respectful, funny, deadly serious, caring, and utterly devastating.

There's no need to go full Newt or Allen West. There's a middle ground that--if you stop and think about it--has almost never been tried. John Bolton is master of it. Can you think of anyone else? I can't.

Look at poor grenade-throwing Ann Coulter now. She's a wreck, reduced to claiming that Romney was the best candidate in the history of the Republican party. All her vitriol against the press has gained us exactly nothing.

We don't have to settle for a choice between timid little mice on one side and venom-spewing caricatures on the other.

First Debate Romney and John Bolton should be the models from here on out. And nobody should ever listen to Karl Rove again. The GOP needs to start defending itself and defining its opponents, or else it may as well just close shop.

190

Alexthechick:

 

Hey, never said it was an original idea!  hahahaha.

 

145:

 

Good post.  There were other things obviously, such as Sandy, etc., which actually caused late deciders to BREAK for Zero, something which never happens usually.

 

But this was not an "in the bag" election.  Aside from Carter, NO INCUMBENT HAD EVER LOST, when the opposite party held power right before, ala GWB.

 

Many strange factors at work in this election.

191 A thought...


Lets not make our opponents out to be 10 ft. tall.  These are a lot of the same people who gave us Occupy Wall Street, after all.

192 thanks, alex I think instead of following the GOP consultant approved strategy of "which GOP personality farted, let's ignore it and hope it goes away," when the values issues were foisted upon us to get the gatheist abortion loving vote out, we should have taken it on head on. Or not. I guess it's cool to let obama play to both sides of this issue instead of making him take a stand. the who farted strategy has been losing us elections since 2006.

193 Lets not make our opponents out to be 10 ft. tall. These are a lot of the same people who gave us Occupy Wall Street, after all.


If you're gonna get beaten, it's better to be beaten by giants than by dwarfs.

194 The Liberals I know who are not political junkies (which is most of them) had no idea about the 47% remark. They want their stuff and they don't like capitalism. Liberals have successfully demonized free markets, they are seen as tools of the rich even though the opposite is true.

195

191

Exactly. They made mistakes that nearly cost them the election. They will make mistakes again as well.

196 I think even today's electorate understands that when Kentucky Fried Chicken rebranded themselves as "KFC" they did not stop frying their chicken.

197 Btw, I just saw an exit poll that showed Romney got 19% of the young black male vote.. so go figure.  Its with the female counterparts that avoided Mitt like the plaque (only 1%).

198 Lets not make our opponents out to be 10 ft. tall. These are a lot of the same people who gave us Occupy Wall Street, after all.

Posted by: Serious Cat at November 26, 2012 05:44 PM (UypUQ)

  Right, so I'll say it again.... media.... Romney was never shown in a positive light. Everything he said was twisted by them and everything obama said was heralded.Not gonna get anywhere unless we can overcome that...

199 Let's face it. Many Americans don't want the "truth". Ace made this point about B+rry re: Iran. He's not only lying but the populace knows he's lying. Decent people have a natural aversion to lying. But being completely open, honest and rational with an important segment get's you nothing. It get's people fearing you'll fuck with their goodies and perks and cozy situation. So lie. Or at least conceal.

200

Hollowpoint:

EXACTLY.  That exit poll data was dead on point with that statement.

 

And a fair number of our supporters didn't like either one and unbelievably didn't show up.

 

Lessons learned, one would hope.

201 Stolen from JWF, some people continue to be suckers:

She said she was honored to meet Obama, but she is also frustrated that she has yet to receive help from either her insurance companies or the government. “The president told me I would get immediate help,” she said.

“Looking back on it, it wasted a lot of people’s time,” she said of the visit.

202 145, I'm not so sure about that.The Bush tax rates (cuts at the time) revved up the economy, in fact, the economy under Bush II was excellent for most of his term, yet he is still blamed by too many people for the current state of the economy. Zero, on the other hand, has done nothing to improve anyone's life except his own, yet is seen as "caring".

Because of unanswered Dem attacks. That's all. The frequency and ferocity of the Dem attacks were unprecedented. And they just barely worked.

If Romney had spent $50 million of his own money countering those attacks; it he had allowed his surrogates to tell his life story of charitable works; and if he used everything in his arsenal against Obama, he would've won.

Obama won with fewer votes than he got the first time around, while Romney got more votes than McCain. It wouldn't have taken much for Romney to try and convince a million more voters in swing states, but he barely tried. He thought he had it in the bag.

That's unforgivable. It's more of the entitlement mentality that's killing our culture.

203

Serious Cat:

 

Yep, I saw that too.  Mitt got absolutely crushed with MINORITY WOMYNS. 

 

Not sure why, but that has to be addressed.  Even amount hispanic males I think Mitt was near 40%.

204 and let's not forget to thank God for this debacle. Superstorm Sandy gave president mom-jeans the chance to put on his big boy jacket and look presidential. Romney, if the polls could be trusted, was leading by 3-5 points at that point. So, depending on your religion, YMMV...

205 Lets not make our opponents out to be 10 ft. tall. These are a lot of the same people who gave us Occupy Wall Street, after all.

Yeah, but our opponent is also the guy who brings toys for the little children. That's huge.

206 Just tell the icky church people to grow up and not worry about my gay friends getting married

The millions of young people like me will vote Republican to replace the 15 icky church people who my daddy's party pays too much attention to

Shit .. I just broke another bra strap. Time for some medical weed to make the hurt stop

207 You know, I have to disagree with point one especially. The Conservatives should not and cannot play the same silly little games that the liberals do. To promote doing things that are bad, by saying they are good, is simply not the Conservative message. We should have fun, yes, and we should try to influence culture, yes. But we cannot steer away from the true conservative message. We should not seek to imitate the liberals, quite frankly we're better than that. We should play our own games and ignore the silly little whatever-it-is that liberals do. In the same way that parents shouldn't let their children tell them what to do, we should not let the liberals control our approach to politics. Best Wishes,

208

It wouldn't have taken much for Romney to try and convince a million more voters in swing states, but he barely tried.

__

What? He and Ryan were practically living in OH, VA, and FL.

One of the last rallys in OH drew 25k people...

It's one thing to take issue with strategy, but to make the case that he barely tried is wrong, IMO.

209 @203, you want we should make an intro to ObamaPhoneLady? I think, in certain dark moments, that we give them their goddamned obamaphones and SSI disability. Just ok, we won't take that back, you're not participating in society anyway (did you know that ObamaPhoneLady was a leading nuclear scientist at MIT? No? Well, she wasn't) just give us a chance. However, what we got killed on was the urban voter fraud where sure sure, there was 70-140% voter turnout at 99% for Obama.

210 Obama won with fewer votes than he got the first time around, while Romney got more votes than McCain. It wouldn't have taken much for Romney to try and convince a million more voters in swing states, but he barely tried. He thought he had it in the bag.

That's unforgivable. It's more of the entitlement mentality that's killing our culture.

Posted by: Llarry at November 26, 2012 05:49 PM (lWht7)

 

Romney barely tried?  WTF?  

211

"My kids (who voted for Obama) recite the most outlandish shit you ever heard of about Republicans and Conservatives. "

 

Tell them that all the money you are saving for them will be given to poor families including any inheritance or property you possess.

 

When they are done screaming, tell them you did it because you were hurt and offended to be constantly called selfish and you wanted to prove them wrong.

 

How can you all delude yourself to convince America when you're not even able to convince your brats that are dependent on you?

212 Do Dems ever roll over? Will the Dems give up the latino/black advantages? Do queers ever stop pushing the homo shit? This election was pivotal. Our side lost. The rigged system is becoming yet more rigged. We are out numbered. America has spoken. Etc.

213 @165 Prescient

Liberalism aka insanity is a really bad survival trait. It only seems to be useful in the fishbowl of modern politics. The Dims marketing plan of " Free Shit from Thin Air!" is well nigh unbeatable as long as the free shit holds out.

I can only speak for my own plan - 

Buy Guns/Ammo, Grow Food, Make Babies, Home/Private School, Barter/Trade Luxuries.

Outlive and Out thrive the Marxists personally and through progeny.

214 We need to nominate The Most Interesting Man In The World to get the Ladyparts vote.

Pretty much, yes.

Does anyone really think that the ideology of American voters suddenly went from overwhelmingly liberal during the Carter years to overwhelmingly conservative in 1980, or vise-versa in 2008?

Of course it didn't.  People liked Reagan; the so-called "Reagan Democrats" weren't secret Republicans.  They simply liked him to the point of crossing party lines.

Clinton won for the same reason- an unknown, philandering draft dodger beat a less likeable incumbent who could no longer ride the coattails of his predecessor.  Because they liked him.

After the Iraq WMD fiasco, the 2004 election was the Democrats to lose- all they had to put up was a likeable candidate that voters felt they could trust, and GWB would've lost.

Instead, they picked John Kerry.  Unfortunately, Mitt was his Republican doppelganger.

215 well, it looks like the breed em out strategy failed. Red state dads can't get their girls to not be pr0n stars or to not vote obama.

216

208:

 

I don't fault RR's effort.  Lord knows they were barnstorming at the end and I think confident of a win.

 

2012 represents an epic failure that should never be allowed to happen again.  Joe Trippi said that obama's internals of Ohio, before the debates, had Obama up by a WHOPPING NINE points.  And these are internal, very very expensive polls.

Trippi said he sat in on a focus group and it was clear that the negatives by the endless commercials ran by Zero in Ohio had stuck with voters.

 

Pubs can never, never again allow so much negative ads to go unanswered for any length of time.

217

Posted by: fromabroad at November 26, 2012 05:54 PM (rnV3B)

__

yeah I think the untold story of Nov. 6 is that my generation raised a bunch of entitled brats who think the FB/Twitter mind hive is reality.

218 A lot of people pissed a lot of money away to win only two more states, NC and ID.   I think it works out to a Billion dollars divided by 28 more votes.

Not a very good investment.


Karl most crushed.

219 How can you all delude yourself to convince America when you're not even able to convince your brats that are dependent on you?

Posted by: fromabroad at November 26, 2012 05:54 PM (rnV3B)

This. Perfectly illustrates how all talk about political strategy is moot, when the real war is over the culture. Lose that, and you lose politically.

Culture drives politics.

220

3 Unrelated Thoughts: 1) O-bah-muhh has always sucked. 2) DemocRats always suck. 3) Republican Squishes can't out-suck the DemocRats, but they try to.

 

OK, there may be something related about these 3 thoughts.

221 215 well, it looks like the breed em out strategy failed. Red state dads can't get their girls to not be pr0n stars


You say that like it's a bad thing.   Betty Sue brings in big bucks.   She paid for her second tit job herselfs.

222 Republicans need to have better showmanship.

Right now, in the House, they need to have an rancuous battle to get the media's attention, so they can show that they actually passed a plan to avoid the "fiscal cliff."   Without it, the Senate will bury it and blame them.

223 >>So lie. Or at least conceal.

You don't have to reduce yourself to that.  Just tell the truth in a way that is more palatable. 

I'm not cutting entitlements, I'm instituting reforms that will save and preserve the system for you and generations to come.

I'm not slashing government spending, I'm reducing fraud and the unnecessary waste of your money.

I'm not trying to dismantle the federal government, I'm just insisting that it doesn't spend more money than it has.

I do think that a lot of us live in a bubble.  We think rationally.  Logic and math appeal to us.  We appreciate bad news, if only because without it we wouldn't know how to craft a solution.  But a lot of people aren't wired that way. 

There is a way to convince them without lying to them.

224 "But is it really realistic to expect someone to act as the most cautious diplomat in every one of his public statements?"

Reagan didn't.

Remember his outburst, "I am paying for this microphone"?

225
Do queers ever stop pushing the homo shit?

I see what you did there.

226 @216, wow. again, Obama got to be Mr. Avg Joe the Schmo to the working stiffs while being Mr. White Wine Spritzer to the fabulous gayfagqueers in San Francisco. If only someone were to have made "bitter clingers", gun grabbing UN lover, or whatever other thing negative against obama to that state. That'd have been a wedge. Gee, didn't Obama spend like a billion dollars on travel and vacation? Is that Mr. Joe Six Pack for you?

227

Trippi said he sat in on a focus group and it was clear that the negatives by the endless commercials ran by Zero in Ohio had stuck with voters.

___

And yet, after the second or third debate, an OH focus group of undecided voters were going for Romney. With the caveat:

One of them interviewed said: "As of right now, yes, I'm voting for Romney. Unless something else happens to change my mind."

 

Enter Superstorm Sandy.

228 "Does anyone really think that the ideology of American voters suddenly went from overwhelmingly liberal during the Carter years to overwhelmingly conservative in 1980, or vise-versa in 2008?"

--Hollowpoint

No, but to compare the two electorates is not valid. The opportunity that existed in 1980 no longer exists. It doesn't equate to an ideological shift, it's a cultual shift that has happened over the course of decades.

Where are Reagan Dems now?

229 More Goldstein. Less Geraghty. Geraghty delivered a boneheaded interview to Ed Driscoll while luxuriating on an NRO cruise; see Ed's site. This guy is not all that bright. I remind you that on his Three Martini Lunch podcast the very night before the second debate Jim confidently predicted Candy Crowley would be just fine as a moderator, and conservatives shouldn’t succumb to so many vapors about “media bias.” Dropping that poopcast from my list. Waste of time.

230

Llarry:

@

"It wouldn't have taken much for Romney to try and convince a million more voters in swing states, but he barely tried. He thought he had it in the bag.

That's unforgivable. It's more of the entitlement mentality that's killing our culture."

 

Well, I am not sure I fully agree with that. I suspect Romney has been planning to run for President since his father ran and lost the Republican nomination in '68. I suspect much of what he  has done over the course of his life was done with an eye to how that may have impacted his chances of becoming President. Of course, I have no evidence for that -- but it takes a special, kind of crazy ambition to want to be President. I think he wanted it badly.

 

Did he pull his punches -- yes. I have no clue as to why he did it. I suspect he thought (or more likely his advisors thought) he should play it safe so people would not think they were voting for a crazy bomb throwing Repuiblican. But as you say, there is a middle ground between being McCain and being Gingrich. I think Reagan managed it -- but few others do.

 

Also, I really do think the fact that Obama was on top of the ticket was what made the difference for the Democrats this time. In key swing states like Ohio, Va. and Florida, I think the high turn out from AfAm voters helped carry Obama over the top in those states. A different candidate (on either side) might likely have yielded a different result.

 

Sorry for the pontificating, but I don't this was a turning point election. Like Llarry, I think this election had as much, if not more, to do with the candidates and their campaigns rather than fundamental philosophical issues.

 

But  I could  be wrong.

231

224:

 

Exactly.  One of the defining moments for Reagan.  And something in the gut of every real American out there. 

 

That's why the character must be ingrained.  If you are naturally a conservative, limited government individual, your default answer will be correct.

 

That, in addition to being media savvy/trained (ala Breitbart) and you will be ready for the fight.

232 >>>Ace, even YOU, during the second debate, wrote in the live comments that you wanted Romney to dial it back. You felt he was being too aggressive. He did dial it back, and he lost. um, no i didn't.

233 The idea that Mitt wasn't tough enough is debatable, at best. Tougher Mitt loses more votes than he picks up.

It's the electorate, not the candidate. Shoulda been a blowout.

I'm sorry, but you're not correct. At the risk of attracting whatever foaming-at-the-mouth lunatic who went apeshit on me the last time I said this, Romney spiked to a seven-point lead in the Gallup poll after the first debate. The electorate liked him after he got tough.

Also, it was just revealed today that Obama was so convinced he would lose that his team was drafting new rules that would prevent Romney from using drone strikes with the impunity that Obama uses them.

Romney and Co. lost this election. He didn't make the sale. If we're cold hearted and objective about it, we can see the terrible mistakes he made, each of which may have been fatal:

1. The 47 percent comment, which was spun into including wounded war veterans and pensioners.

2. The refusal to defend himself.

3. The inability to explain and defend Bain.

4. The refusal to hang the economic RECOVERY right around Obama's neck.

5. The refusal to REALLY go after Obama on Fast and Furious, crony capitalism, and Benghazi.

6. Agreeing with Obama so often that people thought to themselves, "If there's not that much of a difference between them, why should we change presidents?"

7. Refusing to explain exactly how Obamacare will impact us. For example, in January a huge number of companies wilmake all their employees part timers, so vast numbers of Americans will have to work two jobs.

8. Finally, failing to explain in detail how conservative policies directly benefit individual families, while liberal policies hurt them.

Romney was brought down by his own hubris. Most of the electorate doesn't know anything. Romney didn't take that into account, which in this day and age is astonishing.

234 Geraghty also thought Martha Raddatz would be fine too.

235 Ace,

So whatever happened to Operation (Claw?) Hammer? The MSM campaign thing?

236 and the republican fall back strategy of who farted again didn't work with Romney's 47% thing. Most people agreed with it. But Romney couldn't be bothered to say, of course, disabled military vets from the Korean War aren't who were talking about, we're not talking about your grandmother. We're talking about union thugs making 6 figures and now we're bailing them out so they, unlike everyone else in America, don't have to make do with less. Is that so hard? I guess the undecided focus group didn't help with that.

237 >>>Ace, even YOU, during the second debate, wrote in the live comments that you wanted Romney to dial it back. You felt he was being too aggressive. He did dial it back, and he lost.

um, no i didn't.

Yes, you absolutely did. I remember it distinctly. Are those comments still available? I'll find the quote for you if they are.

238 "Democrats have, I think, a natural advantage in this sort of thing because a younger constituency is more interested in this sort of thing."

The young are continuing to vote for the failed blue model simply because they don't yet realize that it's completely boning them long term.

There was an imagined bit of dialogue (without taking the time to look it up) which came from an op-ed piece by Bret Stephens in the WSJ, about precisely this phenomenon.

Stephens wrote, "Hi, I'm Josh, and I'll be your waiter for the next forty years."

I read that one line and said to myself that it was absolutely note-perfect. The R-R ticket should have wrapped a big part of their ad budget around precisely that theme: the squashing of the aspirations of youth by the blue economic model. Phrased in equally punchy ways.

Instead, Romney's MBA managerialism and his idiot consultants decided on the brilliant strategy of avoiding unpleasantries, and of trying to patiently run out the clock while being behind on the scoreboard. Worked great, didn't it?

239 Llary, why...I like the cut of your jib. Newsletter?

240

Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectual at November 26, 2012 05:42 PM (wR+pz)

 

 

 

In my case being a residential land developer with a sociology degree was a blessing when it came to discerning the future  behavior  of  aging  people.  Good luck with your endeavors.

241 One problem with the GOP is that most people don't fall for their red-baiting anymore.

When you call Warren Buffett a "commie" for supporting Obama your shit is obviously weak.  Irwin Jacobs, the founder of Qualcomm, had to put up with red-baiting protest signs in his San Diego community when he hosted a fundraiser for Obama.   Real capitalists like Obama.

242

T Hunter:

 

Indeed.  Many fail to realize certain things that are happening. 

 

1)  The waves of immigration we have experienced in the last two decades are drying up.

 

2)  Mexican women are not reproducing above the replacement rate.

 

3)  Conservatives are the only families having children at a 3+ better clip.

 

Sure some kids in conservative families will turn lefty, at least for a while.  Shit, I did for a bit when I was an angst ridden teenager.  Do we blame them, given the schools and environment we put them in.

 

However, everyone usually will come home.  Proof of this is Israel right now.  Orthodox are outbreeding the seculars by a wide margin.  Bibi will be viewed as a moderate one of these days.  You can see the rise of new demographics already in polling done.

243
Prescient11 @ 216:

Trippi said he sat in on a focus group and it was clear that the negatives by the endless commercials ran by Zero in Ohio had stuck with voters.

I spent a couple months here in PA watching nothing but aggressive, and negative ads directed against R/R. Romney's Rich. He's Evil. He's evil and rich. He kills jobs, and women. He murders people with cancer. He's Evil, and RICH. He was born rich, and evil.

Answer from the R/R campaign......complete silence. I was under the impression Romney had quite the formidable war-chest, as did various conservative PAC's. I would not, in a million years, have guessed that.

When R/R finally, very late in the game, began advertising in PA...it was all soft and fuzzy bs. They should have gone for the jugular. They should have done that early on. They didn't.

244 Repetition works. The left has screamed "racist, rich white men who hate women" for years and years and years effectively so that minorities and women believe that caricature. We did that successfully with the word liberal so much so that started calling themselves progressives. We need to stereotype them back.

245 I suspect Romney has been planning to run for President since his father ran and lost the Republican nomination in '68. I suspect much of what he has done over the course of his life was done with an eye to how that may have impacted his chances of becoming President. Of course, I have no evidence for that -- but it takes a special, kind of crazy ambition to want to be President. I think he wanted it badly.

Wanting something badly and working really hard for it are two different things.

The circumstantial evidence is that Romney thought he had it made and didn't really have to try.

246 Oh, ace is here. **232 >>>Ace, even YOU, during the second debate, wrote in the live comments that you wanted Romney to dial it back. You felt he was being too aggressive. He did dial it back, and he lost. um, no i didn't.** Debate 2 was interesting because we saw the new Biden strategy of loud bluster. I think Debate 2 was der um rough and tumble but big missed defining wedge moments. Biden had lied his ass off in Veep Debate. Obama was able to lie about 100,000 new teachers bullshit A lot of work to do. debate 3 was coasting.

247 Llary, why...I like the cut of your jib. Newsletter?

Not on your life!

248 anyway, i wish we had had someone like Newt without some of the weird ideas, and baggage.

249 It's not about message. It's about salesmanship. Obama has proven that used-car salesman techniques work. Something to muse on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOsLdT4slsk

250 Vote Republican Because Mean People Suck

251 Posted by: Llarry at November 26, 2012 06:03 PM (lWht7)

I still think it's debatable. There is no way of knowing for sure, obviously.

The fact that Mitt spiked after the first debate is not necessarily proof of your claim. Also, people tire of the meanness. A mean Mitt throughout all three debates? Might have caused some indies to be turned off. I think so...

Anyway, you might be correct. But a lot of people who are saying meaner Mitt completely ignore the votes which would be lost, due to that. I'm not sure that your argument did much to dispel that view.

252 and remember, we were all very confident. Ace was joking on twitter about ways to make the race more interesting at one point. The voter fraud came through, God gave Obama 4 points back with Sandy, and boom, it was enough. No wonder Obama was crying afterwards.

253 Obama's salesmanship wouln't have worked with any Truth actually coming out, He was protected and lies were covered even during debates

254 Vote Republican Because Mean People Suck Posted by: WalrusRex at November 26, 2012 06:10 PM (XUKZU) I am not mean!!1!

255 sorry, everyone likes rich white old men. when they're handsome. mitt was handsome. our evil is baked in the perception pie already, may as well give the kids what they want. They wanted wedgees.

256 Also the cool factor is a big one. The few liberals I know (all women) like to think of themselves as still cool 20 yr olds even though they are in their 30's with kids and living mundane suburban lives. Voting the way the hip college kids do makes them feel young again. Or something like that.

257 You don't have to reduce yourself to that. Just tell the truth in a way that is more palatable.

Exactly.

You don't cut programs and lay off government employees- you reduce expenses by cutting red tape and waste.  It's not lying if you fail to specify that you'll reduce red tape by reducing the number of bureaucrats.

You don't privatize Medicare or Social Security, instead you plan to give beneficiaries their own money before the government can waste it.

And for the love of all that is holy, you don't write an op ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" before trying to court votes in OH and MI.  You headline it "Saving the American Automobile" or some damn thing.

258 yes obama was protected. Every GOP presidential candidate is mocked. At least for the first time, they couldn't call him stupid.

259

Llarry:

@

Look -- I agree with your basic point. Tactically, he played Dean Smith's 4 corners after the 1st debate. But I don't think he did that because he felt entitled to the presidency or that he did not want it. I suspect (thought I don't know) that he thought the better tactic was to show voters that he was calm, reasonable and Presidential -- i.e., he could be trusted.

 

In retrospect, that tactical approach was clearly mistaken. I probably would not have taken that approach if I were him -- but, I don't think it was a completely unreasonable approach.

260 Well, Leftists win by manipulating people's emotions (mostly appealing to their negative ones). I'm not sure we can do the same thing. If nothing else, they're better at it than us. (Also, we have no Media power, and the best way to manipulate people is through audiovisual experiences.)

261 and they don't like capitalism They say as they dial up their cell phone, jumping into their Prius, praising the latest piece of medical technology that makes the 70's tech look like stone tablets, on the way to their 6 figure corporate gig.

262 or I should say Salesmanship would have worked the first time but not the second IF  the reality  of His and Holder , SOS  had been stated  .

along with truth of the cost to individuals with FREE healthcare .

263 I regret not making that Skyrim mod mocking Barack over the summer.  It might have helped materialize the preference cascade.

:\

264 Two major demographic groups lean conservative.  Married couples and people who go to church regularly. 

Strategically, we should push people to get  married and to go to church.

You know, what they used to call "normal".

265 AtC, while I think it's a shame that you won't be bringing any little you's into the world, I much prefer your approach of honestly dealing with your desires, as opposed to the people who don't want kids but have them anyway cause "it's the thing to do"

266 yes obama was protected. Every GOP presidential candidate is mocked. At least for the first time, they couldn't call him stupid.


It wasn't the first time.  The "stupid" label didn't stick to Nixon either.  The MSM settled for evil with him.  But his VP was pilloried for being stupid.

267 "264 Two major demographic groups lean conservative. Married couples and people who go to church regularly. Strategically, we should push people to get married and to go to church. You know, what they used to call "normal". Posted by: mama winger at November 26, 2012 06:14 PM (P6QsQ) " This.

268 the reasoning of Obma voters that I heard in real life?
1 Mitt is so rich, He stepped on others to get  it, otherwise how could one be tht rich
2 Bush caused the recession Obama needs four more years to Fix it.
3 Free healthcare and a govt that will Help me.

269 oh right the preference cascade. Shit, how we loved that.

270 I don't think Rubio could be tagged as stupid.  Or evil.  Maybe as "green".

271 Well, Leftists win by manipulating people's emotions (mostly appealing to their negative ones). I'm not sure we can do the same thing. If nothing else, they're better at it than us. The fundamental natures of Liberalism and Conservatism won't allow it. Liberals are the spoiled children and the spend-thrift wife reaching for the wallet. Conservatism is Dad saying: No.

272 Two major demographic groups lean conservative. Married couples and people who go to church regularly.

Strategically, we should push people to get married and to go to church.

You know, what they used to call "normal".

Posted by: mama winger at November 26, 2012 06:14 PM (P6QsQ)

More evidence of getting screwed by culture. Fix culture first. Politics follows.

273 I got yer preference cascade in mah pants, fellers.

274 145 - Agreed.

275 yeah, ok, we'll get right on changing that culture. Say, remember how in Great Depression 1.0 the culture changed from the roaring 20's? Change is a coming and all the new gayfagqueer sitcoms on NBC won't change that.

276 oh right the preference cascade. Shit, how we loved that.

Posted by: joeindc44 says choom on fuckers at November 26, 2012 06:16 PM (QxSug)

I'm still here!

277

Strategically, we should push people to get married and to go to church.

___

People only remember church when they are under an existential threat. Like the day after Sept. 11, 2001 - Catholic Church parking lots were filled with parishioners who all of a sudden remembered there was such a thing as daily Mass. This continued for months afterward.

 

When the citizenry feels secure, they can turn their attention to really important matters, such as "What does Eva Longoria think?"

278

Stickey Wicket:

 

Thanks for the info.  I still was astonished to see how they let those attacks go unanswered for so long.  I am in a solid blue state and they were still running here ads where Romney would sing America the Beatiful and then there were words talking about how much of a piece of shit romney is with swiss bank accounts, etc., etc.  Effective ad, and there was no counter at all.

279 "271 Well, Leftists win by manipulating people's emotions (mostly appealing to their negative ones). I'm not sure we can do the same thing. If nothing else, they're better at it than us. The fundamental natures of Liberalism and Conservatism won't allow it. Liberals are the spoiled children and the spend-thrift wife reaching for the wallet. Conservatism is Dad saying: No. Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at November 26, 2012 06:17 PM (1UW40) " But that's the thing. Maybe we shouldn't be saying No. Maybe we should be saying Yes. To the Free Market/Capitalism, Christianity, etc.

280 But I take it you mean "we" should change the culture. Ok, I have $20 in my savings account, I'll chip in an help buy GE to buy NBC.

281 joindc-

I think you're more right than most of us.  The fact is that this was an extremely close election.  We didn't witness a tidal wave of socialism over conservatism.  We didn't witness a dramatic sea-change of ideology.  The result was the product of a lot of moving parts that moved the wrong way for our side.  Some, if not most of them, can be moved the other way - although I acknowledge that some of them appear to be immutable and moving the wrong way. 

That's why I've never been a member of the Let It Burn crowd.  Although, I have adopted a trust but verify attitude - I bought an additional firearm this weekend.

282 and by chip in, I mean buy powerball tickets, $425M all for me!

283 why thank you. I need to make that purchase soon too.

284 Fix culture first. Politics follows.

Posted by: hannitys_hybrid at November 26, 2012 06:17 PM (zpqa2)

-----------

Exactly why I am pulling away from the political arena and focusing more on evangelism and church work.  There are a lot of things that won't get fixed until hearts are changed at a fundamental level.

285 One of the ways culture changes is through pain, which is coming. It is sometimes the only way certain things can be appreciated.

The children have been in charge so it's only natural that this type of dynamic would come into play.

286 @272 - Except in this case, the culture is lost. Something monumental and damned near disastrous will have to occur to get those dumbasses to rethink who they are and what they stand for.

287 The fundamental natures of Liberalism and Conservatism won't allow it. Liberals are the spoiled children and the spend-thrift wife reaching for the wallet. Conservatism is Dad saying: No. Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at November 26, 2012 06:17 PM (1UW40) " That's andro-normative nonsense! By making sure that men don't act like "fathers" anymore, we can smash the patriarchy and raise boys to be what Gaia intended them to be: Little girls with dangly bits!

288 Man, I don't know. Good post, but a clear direction forward is damn murky. The little vignette that captured our condition for me happened on election day, when the local NPR station interviewed two voters (one Obama, one Romney). This is in Boise - red as red can be. The Obama supporter was a retired cop who blathered on about "it takes 8 years, blah, blah". The reality is that this retired redneck has a pension, and of the two candidates, one of them was much more likely to protect his goodies. The Romney supporter interview was a young lady - who cried. She and her husband are under-employed. They have a new baby. She said "things have to change to get better". I just don't know. Start the FSP (Free Shit Party). Promise crap, guarantee no risk in life, be Big Daddy. It's all daunting as hell - and we may have, in fact, crossed the Rubicon.

289 AtC, while I think it's a shame that you won't be bringing any little you's into the world, I much prefer your approach of honestly dealing with your desires, as opposed to the people who don't want kids but have them anyway cause "it's the thing to do" Posted by: BCochran1981 at November 26, 2012 06:15 PM (GEICT) Oh I have Opinions about that. Children are not fashion accessories. If you do not want children, for pity's sake, do not have one or more just because you're supposed to do it. That's unfair to both you and the kids. It's appalling to me to see couples who have kids who obviously think the point of the precious dears is to be the accessories to their perfect little life. Trust me, the kids will know that and will strike out later in life. Apropos of seriously, seriously the underwire in my favorite bra just snapped. While I was leaning over a chair. Trying to explain something to my boss (fuck you 52% I am still at work at the moment). He was all what was that since the snap was quite loud. Me oh nothing while trying not to say oh motherfucker out loud.

290 and you see how the left was desperately trying to put their mark on culture with their love affair of OWS. They tried to do so to, artificially.

291 If Ace's premises are all true--and I think they just may be--then self government is impossible.

292

MICHAEL SAVAGE HAD IT 100% RIGHT.

 

We need streetfighters against these commies.  not country club republicans that have never gotten dirt under their fingernails.

 

We need people that came up as fucked up as the rest of this country.  That if sucker punched will punch you in the fucking throat.  That will finish someone when they're on the ground.  That isn't afraid to call a spade a spade.

 

When you have no fear of them, and are willing to meet them on their battlefield, we have no worries.  Ridicule and contempt.

 

15% of the "1%" got there because of inherited wealth.  That means that 85%!!!! of the "rich" are there because of their own hard work, ingenuity, or luck.

 

That is the beauty of America.  These fuckers think that everything is a given.  My parents have/had no money ever.  I worked myself to death for 3 jobs, in factories, delivering pizzas, whatever I could, to put myself through school.  And now that I am getting close to the 1%, Zero and his fucking goons think that they have the right to take 40% of what I earn!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Think about that.  40% of what I earn.  5 months of my life.  And then I pay property taxes, state taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, licensing fees, social security taxes, medicare taxes, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax.

 

Lay it out in certain and clear terms, and the people will follow the message.

293 Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at November 26, 2012 06:17 PM (1UW40) " But that's the thing. Maybe we shouldn't be saying No. Maybe we should be saying Yes. To the Free Market/Capitalism, Christianity, etc. We're not saying no to any of that. It's the wife and kids that don't want any of it because the kids hear it's evil and stupid at school and the wife listens to the soon to be bankrupt neighbors' wife who just bought a new SUV.

294 oh the "f" word is back in the losers posts!!!! yeah!!!!

295 or a message like, we won't stop giving you guys free shit just yet, we just need to stop the president from giving his donors billions of dollars through green science fraud.

296

Wow, it sure must be a slow news day.

I can always interject some humor.  That is if Drew doesn't get all pissy.

I find it truly amazing how seriously some here take themselves. 

The point is that the culture is lost, very lost.  You have a president who calls into hip hop radio and a debase electorate ready to club someone over a sale at the yarn barn on black Friday. 

 

 

297 No, but to compare the two electorates is not valid. The opportunity that existed in 1980 no longer exists. It doesn't equate to an ideological shift, it's a cultual shift that has happened over the course of decades.

The electorate hasn't changed so drastically that the human nature of Americans is radically different.

Voters rated Romney highly on the issue they claimed was the most important to them- the economy.  But Obama spanked Romney when it came to the "Cares about and understands me" question.  And that more than anything- free shit, Sandy, 47%, or ORCA- is what led to Mitt's downfall.

They won't admit that the "I like this guy more regardless of his record or policies" factor is the one that drives their vote, but for the swing voter, it is.

People wanted to like Obama, so they gave him the benefit of the doubt.  They were ambivalent towards Romney so were open to believing the worst.

Does that mean that policies don't matter?  Definitely not.  However, the difference between a landslide win and a loss is less than 5% of the vote.

298 Apropos of seriously, seriously the underwire in my favorite bra just snapped. While I was leaning over a chair. Trying to explain something to my boss (fuck you 52% I am still at work at the moment). He was all what was that since the snap was quite loud. Me oh nothing while trying not to say oh motherfucker out loud. Please, please tell me there was spillage. And describe it slowly.

299 I blame the failure of Orca, the career consultants that get rich whether or not the candidate wins. Schmidt should never be hired again but a republican unless the republican wants to lose! Chris Christie kissing TFG's ass and crying over Springsteen calling him. I never liked Christie and know he's only out for himself. I believe he wants Mitt to lose so he could run in 2016. If he should run, I will sit the election out. I just glanced over at Hot Air, they have link to conservative bloggers want in 2016, the ones they don't want are Christie & Jeb Bush. When asked last time, they did not want Romney and Ryan, for 2008 they did not want McCain and Paul. Look for the establishment to throw Christie and Bush at us for 2016. Over at The Weekly Standard, Santorum is open to another run in 2016. If we get any of these guys we're screwed again! AlexTheChick- I also never wanted kids at a young age. I like them well enough but like to give them back when they are crying, etc. I don't have any either.

300 I've seen a few references to 'what happened to the 100k new teachers promise' here lately. What makes you think he won't push for this? He's coasting for now, aiming for a win in the tax raising battle ongoing right now, then he gets to do his his re-inauguration BS. Soon after that, he will have fresh pretend funds and an address to Congress via the State of the Union, to work on this goal.
 
When it comes to pleasing his union buddies, that pledge ain't nowhere near dead. Four more years, chip chip chip, you can count on him pushing this. He loves spending money we don't have and he loves building the Dem base some more.
 
If there is ONE THING you can count this turd to do, it's spend large amounts of US dollars on his Hopes and Dreams.

301 "293 Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at November 26, 2012 06:17 PM (1UW40) " But that's the thing. Maybe we shouldn't be saying No. Maybe we should be saying Yes. To the Free Market/Capitalism, Christianity, etc. We're not saying no to any of that. It's the wife and kids that don't want any of it because the kids hear it's evil and stupid at school and the wife listens to the soon to be bankrupt neighbors' wife who just bought a new SUV. Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at November 26, 2012 06:26 PM (1UW40) " No, but my point is we need some sort of positive message people can believe in (which won't ruin everything, and is therefore actually positive).

302 As we use to say in college.

FMBD

Fuck Me Big Daddy.


I think he's going to.

303 294 oh the "f" word is back in the losers posts!!!! yeah!!!! Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 26, 2012 06:26 PM (GVxQo) I'm skimming and only reading certain comments. Who we talkin bout!

304 @292. Well. In Philly, where the state was stolen under the watchful eyes of Black Panthers, there was a counter story that former navy SEALs and whatnot were going to be a counter balance. It may just be the state of affairs in this country that people of vigor of all stripes may have to do this counterweight thing in 2014. Each election, they kick out the GOP judges. The national GOP is legally obligated not to get involved. So. We know the districts with the worst voter fraud (hard to hide) and since they're all diversity filled, any effort to stop the voterfraud will be met with jail time via Eric Holder. so. what to do.

305 If Ace's premises are all true--and I think they just may be--then self government is impossible.

Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at November 26, 2012 06:25 PM (V3kRK)

------------

Conservatism by its very nature requires that the individual govern himself in most cases, with the government stepping in only when the individual does not do so, or when the task is beyond the scope of the individual, such as forming an army or printing currency. 

The premise of conservatism relies on the smallest unit of governance - self, then family, then group affiliations, then local community, then state, then federal government as a last resort.

When people cannot or will not govern and restrain their own behavior, but immediately rely on outside governmental agencies to do so for them, that's when progressivism takes over.

That's where we are today.  People refusing to govern themselves or restrict their own behavior out of common sense.  People looking outward for authoritarian means of governance, rather than looking internally or within the family.

306

Look, Americans are getting more media-savvy even if most of them still aren't very.  So I say start getting in the media's face and calling them out for the Democrat running-dogs they are.

 

The example of Ann Coulter being marginalized is misleading.  When our only strong anti-media spokesmen are NOT POLITICIANS the media can always cuddle-up with a McCain or a Miss Lindsey and make them our voice.

 

If EVERY ONE of our politicians started kicking sand in the media's face, it could not be ignored, and most Americans would gleefully join in - they don't like overweaning assholes any more than we do - we just have to identify them as such instead of letting them do it to us!

307 Gnu, that's me "'what happened to the 100k new teachers promise' here lately." It's mockable, laughable, and something that he's not serious about...like closing Gitmo. Seriously, what's the teacher to economic performance lag time? 5 years? 10 years? What a stuttering clusterfuck. In this hindsight bullshit thread, I just wish that we mocked this more and more in the closing days.

308 "297 No, but to compare the two electorates is not valid. The opportunity that existed in 1980 no longer exists. It doesn't equate to an ideological shift, it's a cultual shift that has happened over the course of decades. The electorate hasn't changed so drastically that the human nature of Americans is radically different. Voters rated Romney highly on the issue they claimed was the most important to them- the economy. But Obama spanked Romney when it came to the "Cares about and understands me" question. And that more than anything- free shit, Sandy, 47%, or ORCA- is what led to Mitt's downfall. They won't admit that the "I like this guy more regardless of his record or policies" factor is the one that drives their vote, but for the swing voter, it is. People wanted to like Obama, so they gave him the benefit of the doubt. They were ambivalent towards Romney so were open to believing the worst. Does that mean that policies don't matter? Definitely not. However, the difference between a landslide win and a loss is less than 5% of the vote. Posted by: Hollowpoint at November 26, 2012 06:27 PM (SY2Kh) " There's also the fact that disliking Obama is in some sense "forbidden" and people tend to internalize such things (I guess)...

309 >>Trying to explain something to my boss

Based on my limited ability to determine your personality based on your comments, and my better ability to appreciate your writing skill based on the same, you probably shouldn't have a boss.  If you're older than 30 and not a partner in your firm, shame on them.

310 >>>The electorate hasn't changed so drastically that the human nature of Americans is radically different.

Folks 30 years ago by and large believed that hedonism ran against virtue even if they were hedonistic from time to time. That statement is no longer true, and that comprises a huge shift in the electorate. They are what makes ME happy NOW, in almost unfettered form. It is a different culture than it was then.

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

311 Sherlock, good point. I've had this in the back of my head. How long can the left be the cultural paradigm before the kids start calling bullshit on it like they should? I knew when I was being bullshitted. I know kids that weren't as smart as me knew when to turn on their BS filters. Again, we must be cognizant of the left's tactic to demotivate us, make us feel isolated, and to make it appear as if there's a lefty groundswell. Occupy Wall Street is an example, it was the usual suspects rounded up to hang out for a while. Their "demands" included spending a trillion dollars on infrastraucture and on the ecology. wtf?

312 Ace, I apologize. I just went through all the comments in the second debate, and I couldn't find you saying that Romney was being too aggressive.

That was so goddam tedious and motion-sickness inducing that I can't go through the other two debates, so I'll amend what I said to this:

I seem to remember you saying in one of the three debates that you felt Romney was coming off as being too aggressive. However, I could be wrong, because I was sure it was in the second debate and after going through almost sixty pages of comments I couldn't find it.

So, either you said it in the first or third debate, or I'm wrong and you didn't say it at all.

If I'm completely wrong and you never said it in any debate, I apologize. I'm not trying to accuse you of anything or blame the loss of the election on you. I'm simply saying that a lot of us--maybe without knowing it--have been trained to think assertiveness from Republicans is off-putting aggression.

If I've wrongly assigned you to that category of person, you can take comfort in the fact that I'm utterly full of shit, and you can disregard everything I say from this point on.

313

JoeinDC:

 

Yes, that is a total travesty.  GOP poll watchers should go to the courts in advance and obtain orders that specifically allow their presence in each of the "problem" precincts. 

 

They should bring armed private detectives with them.

 

And then let the shit hit the fan.  This is not that hard to try to stop fraud in these districts people, how has this not been done before is beyond me....

 

Mark off every damn voter as they come in on election day since PA does not have early voting.  That way we can know who showed up.  Add up election day turnout, plus the provisionals, and I guarantee you that in these ghetto areas the turnout will not equal 99%........................

 

Hands down.  And if it does, then we'll know and that will be that.

314 Two major demographic groups lean conservative. Married couples and people who go to church regularly. As to the people who go to church regularly, I'd surmise that they... 1.) Don't pretend to know all of the answers 2.) Are just a little to the humble side Which is a little difficult for the 18 to 30 yr old demographic to believe in this day and age when they are being indoctrinated into believing that their Moms SUV is causing a planet 1/1,000,000 the size of the sun to cause catastrophic global warming, while the sun goes blameless and knuckleheads create computer simulations that are nothing but outright lies. Religion is okay, but a little [obscenity deleted] humility for kids to learn would do wonders. Like you, I was in the education battles. I caught more arrows in the back then it is humanly possible to survive.

315 "In Philly, where the state was stolen under the watchful eyes of Black Panthers, there was a counter story that former navy SEALs and whatnot were going to be a counter balance."

Except that those "former SEALs" never showed up at the polling places, whereas the Panthers did.

I was pretty distracted around election time, and I never dug into it in detail, but I did read one piece where they interviewed the guy behind that supposed effort, and every fake-wannabe-special-operator alarm I have went off. There are a metric shitload of guys with big imaginations and big mouths who never served in the capacity they claim.

Maybe he is legit. He doesn't sound to me as though he is. And his "counterbalance" to the Panthers never materialized.

316

"I don't think reason really sways people."

hello!

I've been saying this all along, reason and logic rarely win anything, passionate intensity, that is what changes people's minds, that is what sways the faint of heart, the fence-squatter, that is what makes a loyalist shut his trap and that is what makes the rebel a winner, passionate intensity.

it can not be faked, people know it when they see it.

we had someone full of passionate intensity, but people like you destroyed her because she wasn't up to Ivy League standard.

happy?

 

317 >> Seriously, what's the teacher to economic performance lag time? 5 years? 10 years?
 
joe, you are missing the main point. He could care less about economic benefit -- he cares about enlarged union dues and their political contributions, plus a fresh batch of beholden voters.
 
He will do this, even fight to push it through. Just not yet.

318 "314 Two major demographic groups lean conservative. Married couples and people who go to church regularly. As to the people who go to church regularly, I'd surmise that they... 1.) Don't pretend to know all of the answers 2.) Are just a little to the humble side Which is a little difficult for the 18 to 30 yr old demographic to believe in this day and age when they are being indoctrinated into believing that their Moms SUV is causing a planet 1/1,000,000 the size of the sun to cause catastrophic global warming, while the sun goes blameless and knuckleheads create computer simulations that are nothing but outright lies. Religion is okay, but a little [obscenity deleted] humility for kids to learn would do wonders. Like you, I was in the education battles. I caught more arrows in the back then it is humanly possible to survive. Posted by: Schrödinger's cat at November 26, 2012 06:37 PM (feFL6) " But humility would be the opposite of Self-esteem!!!1.

319 295 or a message like, we won't stop giving you guys free shit just yet, we just need to stop the president from giving his donors billions of dollars through green science fraud. Posted by: joeindc44 says choom on fuckers at November 26, 2012 06:26 PM (QxSug) None of that matters to them because "green is good" is all they hear in school any more. Sure it is. The part that Svetlanya Crabtree never gets to is that bankrupting the economy, in the quest for magic beans, is bad be-cauuuuuse..... That's part of the plan. They are never told that we get greener every day through the semi-free market driving technological advances and productivity gains.

320 313 and 315 yup. But someone needs to take this seriously. If optimizer were here he'd probably point out how PA was decided by that city. 317, oh, I get it. But here's a perfectly mockable stupid fucking stupid fuck idea that Romney should've used. but whatever, the whole obama roads, bridges, firefighters, teacher thing is the tits. I was going to go to work today but I had no road and then I fell off a crumbling bridge and my office was on fire and I never learned to read despite cheap college loans and free public school.

321 314 >> As to the people who go to church regularly,
 
Poor metric. Loads and loads of black women are regular church goers, and 99% of them voted D.
 
You're gonna have to try harder.

322 "317 >> Seriously, what's the teacher to economic performance lag time? 5 years? 10 years? joe, you are missing the main point. He could care less about economic benefit -- he cares about enlarged union dues and their political contributions, plus a fresh batch of beholden voters. He will do this, even fight to push it through. Just not yet. Posted by: GnuBreed at November 26, 2012 06:38 PM (ccXZP) " Yep. Leftism has a way of snowballing. (And more indoctrinators is always nice, and useful to any totalitarian movement...)

323 @319 sigh. I guess all these points are moot. Romney only had about 80 minutes of debate time in debates 1 and 2 to really make good points. and in debate 2, candy made sure he'd never get mroe than a minute to speak at a time.

324 "321 314 >> As to the people who go to church regularly, Poor metric. Loads and loads of black women are regular church goers, and 99% of them voted D. You're gonna have to try harder. Posted by: GnuBreed at November 26, 2012 06:42 PM (ccXZP) " There's a lot that could be said about this. But can't. Because political correctness.

325 **Poor metric. Loads and loads of black women are regular church goers, and 99% of them voted D.** IDK. Any black people want to chime in on this? This seems to be just something that we see on TV. Again, obama paid no price for ghey murrage. And you'd think that if we were going to be fighting the gayfagqueer abortion culture wars, we may as well had hit back on a few things like this.

326 ref: Idea 2.
WTF? Are you kidding me? That is the very same claptrap and drivel that was showered on me when I was in public school in the sixties and seventies. We have to make learning and excelling 'fun' that way everybody wants to play and everybody does GREAT!

What kind of maltopia slope-headed thinking are you suffering from?

The very thing that puts me ahead of EVERYONE else in my office is the fact that I love what I do. It is very difficult and the technical challenge is off the charts. I call it work. Most people who have any experience in my field call it work. The ones who fail call it slave labor and boring.

But NO, it is not fun or even very interesting to most people. Now, just in case you think I'm boasting - Do you know any network engineers who actually tell people what they do is 'fun'?

You're half baked dude.

327 Even though I'm in the "let it burn" camp for now, I think it is healthy to at least be honest about a few things.

This was a close election, had Romney gotten around 1.5%  more of the vote, he'd be President.  Had a Hurricane Sandy not happened, I think it would probably would have come down to Ohio.  Had SoCon retards not opened their mouth about rape and abortion, Romney would have probably won.

My point is, I'm not in the camp of "we're never going to win another election so let's clock out, stop trying, and even push liberalism to the extreme so we can collapse the nation."  I'm more of a "let's not throw Obama and Democrats any more life preservers on the unpopular parts of his platform like raising taxes"

Our electorate is no doubt flawed, but if we can reach another 4-5% of them that we don't have right now, we can push back a lot of this nonsense.  It's a lot less painful than having a great nation die to prove a point.

If Obama won some sort of 1984 Reagan landslide of 20 points (which is how the MSM is portraying it) I would absolutely just clock out and watch America destroy itself from afar, but you shift less than 2 percentage points, and you have a very different outcome.

328 Look -- I agree with your basic point. Tactically, he played Dean Smith's 4 corners after the 1st debate. But I don't think he did that because he felt entitled to the presidency or that he did not want it. I suspect (thought I don't know) that he thought the better tactic was to show voters that he was calm, reasonable and Presidential -- i.e., he could be trusted.

In retrospect, that tactical approach was clearly mistaken. I probably would not have taken that approach if I were him -- but, I don't think it was a completely unreasonable approach.

Well, the polls showed his lead fade back to a tie after the second debate, and then the tie became an Obama lead. Yet the Republicans still serenely cruised along, unworried, with all their pundits predicting a Romney win by 348 electoral votes, etc.

The night before the election Coulter said we didn't even need Ohio, because Romney had three more paths to victory. I've read that Romney felt that way, too, and only began getting nervous when North Carolina took so long to call.

There's just no real evidence that Romney or his people worked their hearts out to win. They chose Paul Ryan and then muzzled him. They were apparently thinking in terms of symbolism over substance. If they just chose Ryan, that was all they needed to do.

I think Romney was overconfident. By being so accomplished and knowing so much about the economy, I think he just didn't believe that the cartoon flim-flam man Obama could beat him, especially since the economy sucked.

So he didn't try as hard as he should've.

329 you may recall, before Sandy hit, Obama was reduced to selling himself as Bill Clinton's third term. Rush remarked on the bizarre claims he was making, like he balanced the budget (!) and so on. The man is, shall we say, not all there.

330 >>>Poor metric. Loads and loads of black women are regular church goers, and 99% of them voted D.
You're gonna have to try harder.

Each demographic remains a complex jumble of motivations that vary from individual to individual. Having faith and going to church is still a good opener for accepting Conservatism as a political ideology, even if it completely ineffective in some places.

331 Ace, really good stuff. You basically did the hard work of explaining why short, simple statements (like "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness") work . This is why we need to flood the zone with comments like this: Only Democrats care about skin color.

332 Llary, I think it's popular to blame the consultants. I think Romney's a winner and came prepared and ready to win. His strategy was valid. I mean, he lost, but as we predicted the left threw the kitchen sink at him (blaming benghazi on what he tweeted about a tweet about Cairo, his gaaffffffeeeess!). If it weren't for debate #1, who knows. It would've been interesting to see him get desperate.

333 There is a difference between black protestant churches vs white.

Whites tend to be Armageddon types - all this phony baloney Final Battle/AntiChrist bullshit believers.  Blacks don't get into that.  Church is more like a salve to them.

334

My opinion:

 

many people mentioned it, some skirt around the edges.

 

tech big prob, thinking (how, why, and what) also big prob.

 

each candidate had one hill to die on; no one has ALL hills.

 

understand prob w/ links: maybe this is ok. if not I owe ya'll big time.

 

I think I saw this here a couple years ago:

 

(I don't comprehend all I understand about the text.)...thnologyreview.com/view/414330/how-to-stage-a-revolution/

335 Repeat '08. Voter fraud. Busing in loads of Ethiopians that can't even read. Machines rigged to make the house a winner; but just enough so the idiots think they had a chance. Missing votes. Military votes not counted or lost or missing the deadline. Media all behind the outcome. Quick to wrap it up. Equals stolen election.

Distract. Big Generals. Big Boobies. What election fraud? Oh Jibbies! Forget Benghazi, look at what the General was boinking. You say election? Shit Obama won get over it! You must be racist!

Did you see the Romney crowds? You saw the empty chairs at Obama events. Shit ain't no way he won fair.

Need to redesign the GOP joke of a primary. Idiots staying in too long. No chance but stay and bash the others. Really? Really?

Have to stop sending Idiots to run for Senate. We lost Missouri? To her? We lost to Tammy Baldwin in WI? WTF why Tommy Thompson? He's the stick it to em asshole.(Miller Park. Was statewide vote and he told people up north to stick it to em. Em being the 5 counties in SE WI that got increased taxes to pay for it.)

UN Wants to control the Internet. Obama just makes up his own rules. One World Government coming soon. Necessarily rates of electricity will have to go up. Day's wage for a loaf of bread. Everyone against Israel. Supernatural event they'll say. Damascus gone. Peace treaty. Temple built.

False peace and prosperity. Need to carry the mark for any transaction. Don't lose your head? Better off if you do though. Oh wow American Idol season XXX.

Hoping people wake up in time. I know many are and they are praying for the rest of us.

336 "I'm not sure what to make of this, however. One can hardly fashion a strict rule about such things. Any time I am writing on this blog I am communicating publicly. Sort of, I mean. It's public but without much actual publicity -- to some extent, this is public, but it's sort of private because who, apart from us, reads this drivel? And you don't even read this drivel (you're already in the comments, and have been in the comments since point one), which means, effectively, I'm the only guy reading what I'm writing right now, and I'm barely paying attention to myself at that."

Come on man - you're crying in your beer. Reason is - you don't really believe in the RNC/GOP anymore - they left you long ago - pitch those dipshits and become a epublican. Join.

337 What's facinating to me is not the thought, but the math involved and direction of thought.

338 oh BTW, culturists, remember that before Nov 6 election, Romney got +40 newspaper endorsements over McCain and Leno was making fun of MSM love affair with TFG, and making fun of TFG and jobs. We moved the needle. The results, therefore, concern me because they are so weird based on that.

339 @335 concur. Lines out the door in Va among other places for Romney voters. Did these voter fraud inner city centers have the same thing? No, they just kicked out hte poll watchers. As I just said, as we tear ourselves up, we moved the needle. Debate #1 was a whoa moment for everyone. We got endorsements we had crowds and then....what?

340 "so when a contemptuous remark gets out in the open, we all shouldn't run around insisting our politicians double-down on it and "prove to the world it's right."



Then how come the Dems succeed wildly with it?  They either double down or ignore it.  I guess it's because the media allows them to do it. 


Until we get a candidate who can handle those idiots, we'll continue to get candidates who can't handle idiots.

341

tech review also has articles about how to win a revolution.

 

speaking about game theory and Prisoner's Dilemma.

 

Perhaps, game personel (thinkers, developers) can persue thoughts.

342

fat fingers...

 

Need to add:

 

and pass up channel.

343 The thesis of this blog post has already been illustrated by Shakespeare.

 "I came to bury Caesar ... where is the will of Caesar?"

Translation. Caesar was rich and liked you plebs a lot. He left each and every one of you a gold coin in his will but them evil Republicans have stolen it. Go get em.

344 "Did he pull his punches -- yes. I have no clue as to why he did it. I suspect he thought (or more likely his advisors thought) he should play it safe so people would not think they were voting for a crazy bomb throwing Republican."

Ace talked about this several times. They were focus grouping low information/"undecided" voters, most of whom had voted for Obama last time. They liked Obama personally but thought he wasn't doing a good job, so the Romney campaign decided to be gentle so as not insult people who had been conned in 08. (Think Clint Eastwood at the convention)

It's not a bad idea but it can't be the main strategy. The fundamental thing about every election is that you have to turn out your base to the fullest extent. The middle is too fickle and not very big compared to the bases of each party.

345 335-Yes, we have to change the GOP primaries from Iowa and NH pretty much deciding who everyone else will get to vote for. I say Red States should hold the first R primaries and Blue States should hold first DEM primaries. Iowa, the straw poll, and caucus are a huge waste of time and money. Who won straw poll? Bachmann? She eventually left after she did plenty of damage to Rick Perry and the Gardasil vaccine, which he had apologized for. She kept going at it, woman who had kid that said she had it? They just bash each other and make it harder for our eventual nominee to recover nationally. Next times DEMs will be doing same thing to each other until the media decides who they want. Maybe then their nominee will be too damaged to win, I know I'm dreaming!

346 20 The trick is the Left's contempt is allowed in public and not called contempt.

Calling the Republicans racist works. It's simply saying they are subhuman scum. But it's allowed.

If I say Democrats or Obama are subhuman scum on Facebook my family and friends get angry. If a left-winger in my network say Repubs and Romney are racists they get away with it.

They have special contempt words that are allowed, we don't. They are allowed to express public hate and contempt, we aren't.
-
That's all 100% true.

Call them anti-White back. They can't defend against it because it's true and it's easy to prove with all the anti-White statements they have on record.

"Anti-White" doesn't sound like a lot, because it's a mere statement of easily proven fact. But it would sound like a lot if millions of people were saying it.

Seriously, anti-White is the "special word" that the right needs. People need to start using it whenever it's logical and justified, which it very often is.

Otherwise, continued defeat is inevitable.

347 Oops, sock off.

348 "If I say Democrats or Obama are subhuman scum on Facebook my family and friends get angry. If a left-winger in my network say Repubs and Romney are racists they get away with it." Keep running more minority candidates. Be like Canada and have our conservatives go out and meet immigrant groups and help them- the hard part is there are always nativists. and frankly racists, who get all hot and bothered about allowing any more brown people into the country, due to the economy or whatever excuse they can find. Look, a few more Indian or Chinese doctors and software engineers are not going to hurt. The Mexicans are already here. Deal with it. then we have the Akin problem. If a so-con were to announce that Hitler was an okay guy, Huckabee and the local pastors would find a way to let the guy keep running "God told me to keep in the race." That has to stop. So-cons are fine, but not idiots. We need to invite libs to our primaries just to ask abortion questions to see who can speak well about them and who is going to bring up their pet theory about rape being God's Will. This rule applies to non-so-cons. If they keep putting their foot in their mouth, then they should go. Romney's 47% was close to that. Even if its true, don't say that stuff. Look, when I am selling products to a cheap customer, I don't call them cheap. We are probably going to have to run brown people for president. Now, the good news is we have several of those who are good, while the Dems...can anyone name a Dem that is big enough to run in 2016, except Hillary, who is hated by Dems.?

349 So what about the Magic Underwear? Think that didn't hurt?

350 Excellent thoughts, Ace. Thanks for this article.

351

Some of Goldstein's piece falls into the category of "when a contemptuous remark gets out in the open, we all shouldn't run around insisting our politicians double-down on it and "prove to the world it's right."

Trying to say that we should have used the Akin flap as a teaching moment, or that people who compare bestiality and homosexuality aren't being "literal" but trying to make a wider point frankly sounds like bullshit. 

You win people over by being credible.  Trying to portray every genuine wingnut statement anyone with an R next to their name says, particuarly if they're Conservative, of course, just opens you to the charges laid by Dems and makes you into a craven apologist for "our boys on our team."

We call out Dems on this stuff - it just doesn't make headlines because they media largely plays for the other team.  But we shouldn't start giving our own guys a pass because "that's what the Democrats do and they get away with it."  It will bite us in the ass.  If someone says something stupid, they own it.  Don't ask the rest of us to make asses of ourselves trying to defend a grown man for saying stupid shit he should have thought twice about.

352

351 portray = whitewash - I hate this comment window sometimes.

353 Don't ya think it's interesting that the evil Karl Rove meme disappeared this election? Think back to the Bush years, when Rove was hated almost as much as GWB. Maybe we need to worry when they stop demonizing our folks. And, just a note of caution for those without kids (For the record, I don't have any.) People can change their minds, so don't make any permanent decisions. And two, it's much easier to be childless when you are young. Think about how well you will handle it when you are say 69. If you have enough family/friends to have support as you age, that's one thing. But winding up as a lonely old lady sitting by yourself in the home is not a future to look forward to. It's one of the reasons why people choose to have children after all.

354 Let. It. Burn

355 " which means, effectively, I'm the only guy reading what I'm writing right now..."

No, Ace, I actually read every word--so that makes 2 of us!

Course, I'm all by my lonesome here at the veeeeerrrry end of the comments.

356 As the official count rolls in, Romney today 'reached' for the first time, rounded to the nearest percentage point, 47. And since only 12 of 50 states have officially closed out their vote counts, and the 38 which have yet to do so include all but 1 of the blue states, it's now impossible for Romney to end up with a greater percent than he's now credited with. Ace, the problem isn't any of the 3 points you're arguing here, alone or in combination. The problem is A) shitty candidate B) running on a shitty policy program C) for a batshit crazy party. The only 'amazing' part is that dynamite combination wasn't able to garner more than 47 percent.

357 Blacks don't get into that. Church is more like a salve to them.

Posted by: Herbert Hymenhopper at November 26, 2012 06:51 PM (ss9NP)

__

Because you spent so much time in Black churches you know this, right? You don't even have to sully yourself to attend a service, just listen to the Black preachers on their radio shows. I grew up across the street from a Black Baptist church and although I loved the music, the preacher's booming voice yelling fire and brimstone scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

358 Read it to the end.