37 25 Posted by: Icedog at November 19, 2012 07:09 AM (9ScGj) I guess since 2010 and l'affaire Weiner, we all thought the MFM factor was on the wane, yet somehow they continue to effectively bamboozle the public at large. And I'm sure in the next 4 years people like Rush, Levin and even us might be given the Nakoula Bassily Nakoula treatment courtesy of an emboldened SCOAMF. Oy.

38 31 TD,

It's best for everyone concerned if I am not reminded at 715 in the morning that Fairy Johnson and Libertarian Cult decided Mitt was just the same as choom and threw their vote away.

I am so sorely tempted to keep telling my Congressional delegation "give Ogabe everything he wants but the Bill of Rights."

I'll test your hypothesis Luap Nor Kult.

39

The same thing could have been done to any candidate we ran because it wasn't about Romney's politics, it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut.

 

 

IMHO because we donÂ’t have a candidate with the stones to look a Democrat in the face and call them out as a fucking liar – in those words.  Until we get in the gutter with these scum and rip their balls off, weÂ’ll never win.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, though, Gabe.  When my headÂ’s a little clearer, IÂ’ll give them a look.  And thanks for the news roundup, Vic.

 

In any event – got a little more loaded than usual yesterday to forget my writerÂ’s block, and IÂ’m still pretty hungover.  WorkÂ’s going to be a pain today, so the story about Thomas Ince will have to wait.  Instead, hereÂ’s a story about the Production Code:

 

In the 1940 movie They Knew What They Wanted (which was the basis for the Frank Loesser musical The Most Happy Fellow), Charles Laughton played the part of Tony, and Italian winemaker who marries a mail-order bride, discovers she is cheating on him, but in the end forgives her.  Well, this went against the Production Code, which specified that sin must be punished.  So Laughton, director Garson Kanin and a few others went to see Joseph Breen, head of the Code.

 

Kanin argued that there was no point in even making the film unless there was fogiveness at the end, but Breen remained adamant.  “No punishment, no movie.”  After about half-an-hour of this go-around, Laughton spoke for the first time.  “Do I understand, Mr. Breen, that the Production Code does not recognize the New Testament?”  Breen, a good Catholic, stared at Laughton in astonishment.  “Christ forgave the adulteress, didnÂ’t he, Mr. Breen?” the actor finished.

 

Breen was silent for a minute or two.  Then, quietly, he ushered them all out of his office with the words, “You may have a point there, Mr. Laughton.”

 

The forgiveness scene stayed.

40 3 The Fat Man goes on SNL while people still suffer in NJ. http://is.gd/40GkHh Posted by: Vic at November 19, 2012 06:57 AM (YdQQY) Morning, Vic, This is a retread from the last thread: We in NJ actually had a CHOICE for the Repub gov. nominee A very conservative mayor, Steve Loneghan, ( Americans for Prosperity ) tried to run and the numb-nuts here west of NY went with rino Christie instead. Google " Adubato, " (père & fils) to understand just how Christie not only came to the governorship, but how he rolls.

41 36 SC,

and how many Libertarians just sat out rather than voting for the major candidate nearer their beliefs?

You want to talk about Purity Police Libertarian is the ultimate purity pony.

42 Romney last because more people want free stuff than want to work for it.

43 Put a TRUE CONSERVATIVE up for election, he/she will win.
It's called energizing the base.

You can say this until you're blue in the face, but there is no evidence that base voters sat out. This is just wishful thinking, divorced from reality. It does not offer a solution to the election.

44 35 Icedog,

Yup it is why I do so wish we engaged in Operation Pipewrench or Project Wideawake.

They threw shit on Mitt about time travel and cancer eyes for God's sake.

45 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at November 19, 2012 07:17 AM (zF6Iw) Mary, are you in the biz, or just a movie nut? Love your posts.

46 Posted by: Gabriel Malor at November 19, 2012 07:09 AM (6jFGb)

Yes. However it is possible that Romney's ideology was responsible for his loss, or responsible for making it so close.....

Actually, my real point is that the Republican party is still behaving like the patricians of the 1950s. The Democrats are behaving like the Bolsheviks in 1915.

We need to fine-tune the process of GOTV and sharpen the edge of our responses to Democrat attacks....but mostly we need to go on the offensive and show America what limited government and unlimited opportunity will do for everyone. And if that means tailoring the message in a hundred different ways to a hundred different voting blocs? So be it.

47 it's time for... Post election consequences! L'il Obama in MA has issued a mandate to all MA state colleges: Illegals must only pay resident tuition fees if they obtain a federeal work permit. And this is how stupid WE are. No one has tallied the cost to taxpayers. We'll never defeat the Left until we put price tags on all their free giveaways.

48 Posted by: RondinellaMamma at November 19, 2012 07:17 AM (53riN)

I'm not sure that Loneghan could have beaten Corzine, but I voted for him in the primary.

49 It was only a matter of mere seconds before Obamao sold out Israel.  I am surprised he waited this long.  The only explanation I can think of is that a couple of NYC Jewish campaign donors' checks hadn't cleared yet.


Says what they needed
was maybe 10k lines of code, not 250k. And that they should have outsourced the whole snafu to India. Not sure if he's snarking there. He does that. Posted by: Schrödinger's cat at November 19, 2012 07:11 AM (feFL6)

When you know what you are doing and aren't being paid by the line, usually less code is more effective.

50 In 2004, Bush got 62 million votes. Tell me again there are not more votes to be had.

51 GOTV sucked We underestimated the MFM We underestimated Sandy on swing voters Our candidate, an honorable man, did not go for the jugular on the JEF Once again, the campaign waited too long to respond to negative campaigning by the JEF So we are still plowing that same field Anybody got any bright ideas how to stop them in our current position? When the dems lose, thy fight us tooth and nail for every. little. thing. We don't. Wy not

52 43 Gabe,

Gabe I am having trouble finding our Menshevik wing to the Bolshevik wing of the Democrats....

where they hiding?

53 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at November 19, 2012 07:16 AM (XkWWK) Google "Fairness Doctrine" and just look at articles over the last 30 days. The libs are demanding it be returned as the law of the land..."to loosen the death grip conservatives have on print, radio, and television."

54 The answer is immigration enforcement, not reform, everybody knows that the ho's just want votes and we got plenty of ho's on both sides of the room. Now we are in a position that LBJ put us in that amounts too spitting in the Lake Superior to get the water level to rise.

55 47 Posted by: soothie at November 19, 2012 07:22 AM (VgTUv) I always thought that if you were forced to pay a lump sum amount each April 15th (as opposed to having it taken out of your weekly paycheck) the shock of all that money going in one lump sum would turn a lot of taxpayers into conservatives. Then again, we are at the tipping point where fewer people pay income tax, so there goes that notion.

56 The Dems start every election with a least +5 points from owning the MFM.  Throw in NY and CA and the Repubs are behind the 8 ball every time.  It means that they must take at least 2 out of 3 of the traditional swing States of FL, VA, and OH plus ALL of the traditional red States.


We lost all three of those and damn near lost NC which used to be a guaranteed red State.

57 56 We lost all three of those and damn near lost NC which used to be a guaranteed red State. Posted by: Vic at November 19, 2012 07:29 AM (YdQQY) Operation Migrate. We get as many people as we can from very solid red states to move to the swing states and tilt it back in our favor. Crazy thought. But with a few billion bucks as incentive, who knows?

58 Sorry, I don't believe that the candidate did not matter, that all it took was all the negative ads. President Obama had a shitty record. But he used TARP funds and ARRA funds to prop up his constituencies, and lied about what he really used it for. He used HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars that way. Half a billion to a preferred bundler at Solyndra alone? That's awful hard to come against. Now, the GOP Leadership is stupid, but that's just a given.

59 our new morning radio guy is awful Jeff Kuhner. He writes for the Washington Times and used to sub for Savage. He's a ranter. No substance. No intelligent analysis. No insight. (Sort of like Ace's co-bloggers).

60 53 Posted by: Icedog at November 19, 2012 07:26 AM (9ScGj) Considering the vocal calls for Boehner's (and all the RINO's) head, it would not surprise me he would go along with Fairness Doctrinre redux just to silence his critics. Oh boy.

61 The loss would have been worse if Romney hadn't been so squeaky clean that the Dem smear machine had to make shit up out of whole cloth.


I am also convinced that not responding to the attacks and being oh so presidential in the last two debates didn't help (although having to debate both Obama AND Crowley didn't help the cause either).


And I must admit even I, as a right wing Constitutionalist, got a little tired of seeing one of the 0.01% running as our standard bearer. 

62 When you know what you are doing and aren't being paid by the line, usually less code is more effective. I always wrote code with the kiss principle -- because maintenance on big, buggy software is a nightmare. I think it took tremendous stones to basically role out a beta version of software on election day and pray that it would 'scale up' without choking. Back when I did consulting the number one rule was to see if an existing package (which had already been tested in the fires of real world experience) was available and could be inexpensively modified before starting from scratch. I used to be so busy back then that I depended on someone to call me from the polls and beg me to show up, and tell me how long the line was, and their impression of whether my vote was really, really needed. I'm a 'twist my arm' voter and I don't think I'm alone.

63 That's my biggest problem: This is a classic game situation. One person is trying a complex strategy based on using the rules and scenario to the fullest (Romney appealing to different voter groups using the economy). The other person hast a blunt instrument that just works no matter what he does (Republicans hate you).

There's just so much you need to do to counter raw power that no amount of finesse matters until you can check that power.

64 ::::28 Sheesh, what a grouch. Good grief. Posted by: Gabriel Malor at November 19, 2012 07:11 AM (6jFGb)::::: Both sides need to tone down the angry rhetoric.

65 so there it is all illegals will be issued a work permit from the feds, or "no work" permit, to be more accurate. then, all states will have to recognize all illegals as legal residents

66 Also, the Obama campaign was behind OWS. And while we thought OWS was ridiculous - it had a profound effect. Even we use the 1% v 99% language. We underestimated community organizing.

67 We made a huge assumption that Obama turnout would be low.  It was in most States.  We made a assumption that our turnout would be high.  That was not the case.

68 Romney only lagged McCain by 0.274 million votes. McShame was one of the worst candidates in all of human history. He had lots of Bush voters sit home. For Romney to fall short of McShame is pathetic and nothing to be happy about. Romney ran a shitty campaign. Face it. He sucked balls. He refused to attack Barky and the Maoists, Leninists, Stalinists, and assorted marxists and retards who infest the dem party, the left, and Barky's administration. Romney wouldn't even say jack about Benghazi. Nor Fast and Furious. Nor the illegal amnesty. All clearly impeachable acts (to name only three of tens of such acts Romney could have chosen from). Mitt refused to defend America. It shouldn't have mattered, though. This election was Barky versus America and America lost. Period. End of story. America is dead and buried. You had best start making plans for your post-America life because strategizing about capturing this retarded, America-hating populace for the next election (LOL) just ain't going to cut it. You now live in the American Socialist Superstate. Get used to it.

69 meanwhile...the ragtime continues while all this is going on, we'll be gnawing on this 2012 election bone and on the Petraeus affair bone.

70 Instead, he got the swing voters by making Romney the icky candidate. The same thing could have been done to any candidate we ran because it wasn't about Romney's politics, it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut.


And what is that caricature?   That Republicans are horrible meanieheads who want to take away your stuff.   Or, in other words, where's my free shit.   That's what binders, Big Bird, tampons, Julia and all that other crap boils down to in the end.   Republicans want to walk into your house, go tsk tsk tsk and take away all this stuff that you like. 


Here's the thing though, how do you fight that caricature?   By pointing out that no, Republicans don't want to do that, we just think we shouldn't have to pay for your stuff and that you are entirely capable of paying for it yourself.   As someone noted recently, EAT YOUR PEAS isn't nearly as appealing as dude, hey, we think it's just totally awesome that you and your ladyparts should make the Catholics pay for The Pill and your abortion.


That idiotic binder thing, which I still do not comprehend btw, was actually an attempt by Romney to rebut the caricature that Republicans hate women.  That Romney slightly amusingly misspoke while pointing out that he actively sought out women to fill posts is apparently bigger news than that the Democrats think that women are too fragile to handle criticism.  He did precisely what you want him to do and was pilloried for it.


How, precisely, are Republicans supposed to push back at the various caricatures when the push back itself is seen as supporting that view?

71 OT Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Monday of carrying out "terrorist acts" in its bombardment of Gaza. "Those who associate Islam with terrorism close their eyes in the face of mass killing of Muslims, turn their heads from the massacre of children in Gaza," Erdogan told a conference of the Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul. "For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts." (Reuters)

72 "Put a TRUE CONSERVATIVE up for election, he/she will win."

-- If they can't win the primary, they can't win the general.

73 The other person hast a blunt instrument that just works no matter what he does (Republicans hate you and we will give you free stuff).

There's just so much you need to do to counter raw power that no amount of finesse matters until you can check that power.

Posted by: Matt S. at November 19, 2012 07:36 AM (moRRg)

FIFY

74 MP4, if Romney had turned to obama during one of the debates and calmly stated, "You are a fucking liar", I think Romney would have won. If not, it would still have made all of us feel a little better.

75 The column and both posts are worth a read or a re-read, if I do say so myself. All three are trying to get at why we lost so as to make reasonable predictions about how we can win next time.


The Dems will not have Obama next time.  They will fish around and look for another Magic Negro but it will be to no avail.


But we still need to at least change the voting order of the Primaries.  It is insane that we allow guaranteed blue States to determine our candidate.


It is also insane that we allow FL to move their primary every time with little punishment.

76 "For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts." (Reuters)

Posted by: Thunderb at November 19, 2012 07:39 AM (Dnbau)

Spoken like a true NATO ally!

How dare those joooos defend themselves!

77 50 -

Sshhh!  Gabe typed something up and they printed it in a newspaper.  That means it must be true, and any appeal to logic otherwise is not to be tolerated. 

78 Interesting factoid on morning commute-Major Garrett is going to CBS News as their WH correspondent.  He may not be everyone's cup of tea, but he is certainly not Andrea Mitchell.  Combine that with Sharyl Atkinson's coverage of Benghazi, and I believe CBS has made a decision to move to the center, if not to the right.  No, not because they've had an epiphany, but because they realized that they are going down if they don't do something, and this is such an obvious move. 

79 Romney did call Obama a liar, just not in those words. Believe it or not, while we're all for harsh language, it doesn't seem like it would sell well on TV. If you think the MSM was hard on Romney for being tough on Obama, imagine the smear machine that would have occurred if he had been outright rude and vulgar.

80 "if Romney had turned to obama during one of the debates and calmly stated, "You are a fucking liar"" This.

81 Sure, the base didn't stay home in significant numbers. In fact, so many turned out to vote that Romney actually won. Let's run him again next time. But more to the middle.

82 So, Rubio - Palin in '16? Is that the answer, or do we need to simply learn how to market ridicule and anti-ridicule so that we can run just about anybody? Confused. If they run a white man, would these things still be accurate? I doubt that. I think that  the race-guilt  thing worked to lower the critical thinking skills of the voters more than any other factor.

83 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will pay a visit Tuesday to the Gaza Strip, which has been battered by a Israeli air strikes in six days of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants, the foreign ministry said. Davutoglu's trip is part of an Arab League initiative, the Anatolia news agency said, referring to a planned visit Tuesday by a delegation from the bloc and its leader Nabil al-Arabi in a show of support for Gaza. (AFP)

84 So we're going to be thrashing this deceased equine for a while longer, I see.

85 bear in mind the chicago machine has moved in and obama hasn't ceased campaigning and oraganizing even now in his lame duck presidency. he is setting the table for the next one, to be sent later. if we don't keep an eye on that machine it will kill us once again.

86 Killing terrorists is terrorism.

87 "Romney did call Obama a liar, just not in those words. " Subtle doesn't work any more, I'm sorry to say. Yeah, Romney would never have said "fucking", but he still could have been much more direct.

88 I have no idea how good a campaign Romney ran because he didn't buy a single ad in SC.  I guess he figured it was all sewed up.

89 Romney should have read him some Machievelli!

90 Remember: Who the other side run -does not matter- to their primary strategy of villifying their opponent. That's a problem Republicans have: We -care- about who we are running against, pull apart their record and weigh them. Democrats simply see an -R and trot out the same attacks they've used for decades because they work. That's why black Republicans are still racists and female Republicans still hate women. Because those attacks -work.-

Elections are about the lowest-common denominator, it seems.

91 I read the election as the MFM must be destroyed. Last week, I told the newspaper subscription solicitor that the happiest day of my life will be when I see "reporters" living under a bridge with a sign that says Will Propagandize for Food.

92 Jeff Kuhner is the type of guy who says mundane snark and thinks he's the first one to ever say it.

93 I doubt the dems will ever run another white male for POTUS. Why would they?

94

"...it wasn't about Romney's politics, it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut."

 

Isn't that what the LA Times article was all about?  Romney had a hard time connecting with working people and the author suggested someone who does connect.

95 The GOP ran the richest, whitest, squishiest guy on the bench and yet, they wonder how they lost. Amazing

96 It was just over a month ago when Obama deputy campaign manager and lying liar Stephanie Cutter got the ball rolling, declaring that the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Libya was only an issue because Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan insisted on politicizing it — a claim that seems even more outrageous in light of the “French kiss” of a third presidential debate. Confronted yesterday with a question about Benghazi, Democratic Party Communications Director Brad Woodhouse replied by tweeting simply, “We won.” And yet the hearings continue, even though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday smacked down the proposal of a Senate select committee. His reasoning? “The elections are over; it is time to put aside the partisan politicization of national security.” We. won.

97 So Gabe, if all the popular reasons for Mitt's loss don't explain why he lost, then why DID he lose? Posted by: J.J. Sefton at November 19, 2012 07:04 AM

Malor's mind is made up. Don't confuse him with facts. Or logic.

As usual, we will be good little losers, blaming an awful candidate -- which Romney was not -- for the blindness of our Republican Elites, who may well have had the election stolen right from under their noses by a well-orchestrated Democrat effort.

Choom Boy's troops counted the votes. Yes, he got fewer votes than last time (and I suspect that was legit) but Romney, a better choice than McCain, also got fewer votes in strategic areas. Those, IMO, were "disappeared" votes.

But of course the Elites must not mention any hint that the Traitor-in-Chief's posse, under his personal direction, did something illegal. Oh hell no. Just because someone talks about "bringing a gun to a knife fight" doesn't mean we should actually believe him. Just because there were visible and documented signs of illegal behavior on display doesn't mean the Democrats actually committed major crimes.

We're too nice to suspect them. So we attack the dwindling number of our own who suspect that the most criminal presidency in history are guilty of some very illegal activity, that they, in approved third-world style, stole the election.

The only way this can be put to rest is by investigating thoroughly. If it is proven that President Historic First©'s regime is blameless, I would be more than happy to shut up about it, and let Malor stick to his "oooh, we lost because of strategy!!11!!" argument.

Until then, I believe Free Shit and Fraud won it for Osama Obama. Until we combat that, we are, and will remain, losers.

98 How, precisely, are Republicans supposed to push back at the various caricatures when the push back itself is seen as supporting that view? Posted by: alexthechick at November 19, 2012 07:38 AM (Gk3SS) And the MFM dutifully picks up the meme(s) and repeats them endlessly.......that's tough to overcome...how do you do it?

99 its comforting to know Turkey is getting active in the Middle East after that whole Benghazi thing. /sarc

100 In the liberal mind, all Republican presidents and nominees are rich (out of touch), evil, or dumb/senile. The MSM picks the one they can make stick and runs with it. If they can make two stick it's that much easier.

101

I still think this loss is being "over-thought".  (is that a word?)

As it currently stands, more voters in this country want to be patted on the head and given things than do the hard work necessary to earn the money to buy those things.

102 >> I think it took tremendous stones to basically role out a beta version of software on election day and pray that it would 'scale up' without choking. Why, it's almost like there were some key members of Team Romney who cared more about feathering their own nests than they did winning the election. But don't worry. We'll get 'em next time. Or something.

103 The GOP ran the richest, whitest, squishiest guy on the bench and yet, they wonder how they lost. Amazing

Posted by: SurferDoc at November 19, 2012 07:49 AM (6H6FZ)

I figured he would have problems in the South.  Instead it was VA and OH that cost him.  Remember all the Romneyybots saying during the primaries he would deliver some blue States.

Not only did he not deliver any blue States but he coughed up purple States as well. Would we have done better with Rick Perry?  Unknown, but it could not have been any worse. 

We allowed the MFM to pick our candidate again by staging phony debates that asked stupid questions.

104 I might welcome a new Ottoman Empire if it could come to an accommodation with Israel.

105 You can't push back at a caricature by running a stereotype.

106 Disappearing hundreds of thousands of votes is a pretty tall order; and if they were going to cheat, why not cheat at the House level too? There is voter fraud going on, but for it to be on that large of a scale requires us to believe teh entire government is compromised, which is... unlikely.

Every poll showed it would be a close, turn-out election. Everyone expected a high turnout election, which would have favored Romney since he was winning independents.

That did not happen.

107 they aint accommodating. Certainly not Israel. They are trying to survive the jihadi tiger by feeding it. It won't work

108 The biggest myth of why we lost the election is, we did not lose the election. It was stolen. Period.

109 104 -

Problem is, there is a power vacuum in that area, and the Ottoman's aren't the only ones competing for dominance.  I can't wait for the Russians to get involved.  That's when the real fun starts. 

110 I wish Israel would stop wasting so much money on this stuff. They need to buy cheap little missles, just like the ones Hamas uses, and simply shoot back maybe twice as many as get shot at them. Flying jets and using tanks against those pukes is a PR nightmare, and isn't really making the population suffer for thier leadership choices. Indiscriminately burning down neighborhoods would be better and cheaper. Save the expensive stuff for Iran.

111 Morning Horde.



Nothing like a little condescension to start off your Monday morning.



Oh, and EoJ?




64 ::::28 Sheesh, what a grouch.

Good grief.
Posted by: Gabriel Malor at November 19, 2012 07:11 AM (6jFGb):::::

Both sides need to tone down the angry rhetoric.

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at November 19, 2012 07:36 AM (JDIKC)

Shut the fuck up.

Toned down enough?   

112 Still points to the obvious GOP candidate for 2016 - BIZ MARKIE!!

113 "How, precisely, are Republicans supposed to push back at the various caricatures" "That is a lie and you are a liar. Fuck you. Next question."

114 "Indiscriminately burning down neighborhoods would be better and cheaper."

-- And quickly lose them what little PR wins they are able to salvage. Believe it or not, indiscriminately burning down civilian neighborhoods is actually frowned upon by most people. Israel is handling this as well as they can.

115
And how did Romney do if we just look at the swing states? Actually, in swing states Romney exceeded McCain by 256 thousand votes. He also outperformed Bush in 2004 in the 2012 swing states.






Unskewed_Elections_Results.com

116 Vic: Over the last few days a narrative is forming that insists that anything but the obvious is the reason for the loss. They lost the election but by God, they're gonna stick to their story that it is anybody's fault but the candidate and his campaign.

117 Remember all the Romneyybots saying during the primaries he would deliver some blue States.

Hmmmm, you mean like those who predicted a Romney landslide?  Like you?

118 And Gabe, the idea that turnout wasn't the issue is absurd. That Mitt Romney got fewer votes than John "My Friends I'm Suspending My Campaign" McCain is an utter and complete failure. There's no way around that. Fewer. Votes. Than. McCain. That's just embarrassing.

119 I see that both the AP and the WaPo have suddenly discovered Benghazi. Pure. Scum.

120 i wonder if the "war on women", which started last January in Va's General Assembly (& tainted Gov McDonnell) might have cost Romney some votes in Virginia?

the war on women is set to continue in the upcoming Jan '13 General Assembly too.

121 That is a lie and you are a liar. Fuck you. Next question." I'd like to volunteer to be your campaign manager, or bouncer at your press conferences.

122

Concerning Romney's vote total, where is the reporting on this?

 

I would love to see a focus group video or read some articles interviewing people who voted for McCain but didn't vote for Romney. 

 

We need to find out what the fuck they were thinking.

123 Hmmmm, you mean like those who predicted a Romney landslide? Like you?

Posted by: pep at November 19, 2012 07:58 AM (YXmuI)

I have freely admitted that like a lot of people, I predicted a wave election and a 47 State win. It should have been a landslide and all the factors pointed toward that...except the polls.

Turns out the polls were right.

124

Gabe,

 

That's a good summary of many of the relavant facts, but...

 

How do you explain that the voters were D+6 this time?  Didn't the registered Republicans outnumber the registered Democrats? Since Obama got fewer votes, that means that about 6% of the voters who were supposed to be Republicans are mysteriously missing.  How did Obama get D+6, with significantly fewer votes?

 

There are other suspicious things.  First and foremost, is the Senate races.  Weren't about five of them toss-ups, with a less-than-even chance at others?  We lost ALL BUT ONE.  The odds of tossing 0 or 1 tails when you toss a coin 5 times is 6/32.

 

And just look at the Allen West election.  You win some, you lose some, but that whole situation STINKS to high heaven.

 

125 Malor's mind is made up. Don't confuse him with facts. Or logic. You haven't presented any facts or logic. I presented the numbers, both here and before. You're just one knee-jerk away from an apoplectic fit. That you don't like the facts, does not make the facts wrong. If you cannot learn from this election because you would rather have the same old True Conservatives (TM) argument you always have, we are probably doomed to repeat the same errors again.

126 I agree with SurferDoc because we already knew Romney would be a hard sell.  Hell, he had a rough time winning over all of us who were inclined to support an ambulatory compost heap against the JEF let alone people who just read and listen to the MFM where he would be parodied as Richie Rich by the "edgy" cocksuckers on SNL.  In his own way his image is as bad as Palin's is among the dumbfucks of the country who've never pushed back against the indoctrination posing as education they receive in public schools.

That said, Romney had a well funded organization set up to roll a pretty pathetic litter of Republican also-rans in the primaries.  Face it, everybody looked so fucking bad, especially that retard Rick Perry, that I cast a vote for Noot in the primary even while thinking "I can't believe I'm doing this".

That being said, it still should've been a fucking landslide for Romney.  The JEF is such a hapless dumbfuck that if anybody is literate enough to write history in the future they will look back on this as the Age of Stoopid.

127 123 Vic,

or the polls were the excuse that they relied on to let them nuke and magic up votes in the borderline red-purple states.

At any rate it is over.

So is the US if a guy can run up more debt in 4 years to no gain than ww2 and no one gives a shit he is a retard, but we the people are shit.

128 108 The biggest myth of why we lost the election is, we did not lose the election. It was stolen. Period. Posted by: Truman North, last of the famous international playboys at November 19, 2012 07:55 AM (q6NYV) Yep.

129 120 kelley in VA,

Womyn won the war, I am done fighting it'll cost us another 6 trillion in debt.

You win ladies I will not try to take your tampons or force you to have babies no more forever.

130 Well folks.  Got to go to the city for DR's appointment. bbl

131 109 Posted by: Icedog at November 19, 2012 07:26 AM (9ScGj) Proportionality. I don't think it means what the Pali's think it means. Go long on Estes Rocket futures. If the Jews, en masse, volunteered to commit mass suicide, the Islamos and the rest of the Joo-hating world would have to invent new Joos to hate on.

132 Okay, then, what's the answer? If we lost just due to sheer dumb luck and a GOP that won't rebut the narrative that they are icky, what do we do? Remember Michael Steele? How did that work out?

133 "Would we have done better with Rick Perry? Unknown, but it could not have been any worse."

Posted by: Vic at November 19, 2012 07:52 AM (YdQQY)

Perry would have been crucified. He was incapable of debating for 45 minutes. What makes you think he would have held on to NC?

134 Proportionality. I don't think it means what the Pali's think it means.




Proportionality. It should have no place in war.

135

 

I'm tired of all the navel-gazing that everyone keeps doing over the election, but I'm also angry that everyone in the GOP is now selling Romney out. They're circling the firing squad instead of the wagons.

We lost by approximately 400,000 votes in the swing states. Yes it's a loss, but an awful lot of people agreed with us. This knee-jerk reaction of Jindal, Cruz, Gingrich (Food Stamp President, anyone?), and others to trash Romney only makes the independents that voted for him wonder if they were wrong. We can't win hearts and minds by saying "everything that guy just said is bullshit" immediately after the election.

 

136 TN 98zjUSMC,

If not stolen outright there was unarguable massive fraud in PA and OH at a minimum.

End of story and I am sick and tired of our just whistling past the graveyard over it.

137 "There are other suspicious things. First and foremost, is the Senate races. Weren't about five of them toss-ups, with a less-than-even chance at others? We lost ALL BUT ONE."

--> Rapey McRaperson cost us the Senate by sacrificing an easy win along with the follow up Foot in Mouth candidate. That's simple, easy and not conspiracy based at all. Run stupid candidates, get stupid results. I didn't follow those Senate races closely enough to know if they were stupid before or after their rape comments. Running George Allen in Virginia was just kind of stupid; we do all remember that probably around 30-40% of people will instinctively vote against him because he was labeled a racist, fairly or not, right?

"How do you explain that the voters were D+6 this time?"

--> Obama's strategy was to make the election a disgusting, horrendous thing and depress overall turn out while using micro-targetting to frighten his base into voting despite the fact it was an ugly thing no one wanted to look at. No one, as far as I know, predicted a lower voter turnout this year. Obama played to our baser natures and convinced enough people "Politics is disgusting," and got them to tune out.

138 I have freely admitted that like a lot of people, I predicted a wave election and a 47 State win. It should have been a landslide and all the factors pointed toward that...except the polls.
Turns out the polls were right.

I applaud you for that.  Really.  So please tone down the Romneybot stuff.  It isn't helpful.  He was a good man, a good candidate, and I don't doubt that he did far better than any of the others would have done. 

I confess that I still don't understand the election, but in the absence of a better explanation, I remain a "tribalism and looting" guy, and I'm deeply worried about the country my kids will inherit. 

139 If Romney ends up getting as many votes as McCain got,or even a few more, that is still a loss, not the least because he did not get those votes where they counted most.  Romney got his ass handed to him because of who he is and the decisions he made. There are no excuses. The other guy stole it? You didn't prepare. Somebody threw you out of polling places? You didn't prepare. The media trapped you with an aborton question? You are an idiot.

Knock off the bullshit, figure out how you fucked up and do better. Nothing else works.

140

Think about how the ground was prepared and how Obama won the election:

 

1) An uncritical and unskeptical Media. There has been plenty of analysis of ACA (Obamacare), but precious little skeptical analysis that is widely published in the mainstream media.  There are still millions of people (and some of them actually voted) who really do not have clue as to what is going to happen.  The Media is against us  (no news to anyone who is a reader on this blog), and that counts for a lot of votes.  It is possible that there are people that voted for Obama or did not vote that would turn out if they actually had an inkling of the true nature of things.  This is a huge mountain to climb.

 

2) NARWAL:  Obama and his operatives in the Democrat Party hacked and stole an immense amount of personal information from Facebook and other data bases to help craft a system of addressing people personally on targeted issues by e-mail.  So if we consider data theft and general criminality to be ideal electoral strategies, go for it.

3) The Auto industry "baiilout"  , which was nothing of the sort.  The cramdown on the Senior Bond holders and handing part of the net worth of GM to the UAW, and then handing Chrysler to FIAT.  That there is a game changer AGAINST Obama if the Media would tell anything close to the truth about it.  Chrysler employees are in fact going to get screwed as FIAT takes a lot of production capacity and moves it off shore to ,  get this,  make money.

 

4) Stealing the vote:  Post election, it is appearing that some precincts went for Obama in, let us say, unusual statistical ways.  This alone may not have won the election, but it was insurance against it being too close, as was Florida in 2000.  This is in the Democrat playbook for all future elections.  I don't know how they did it, but they sure broke the law.  Proving it is another matter.  I'm waiting (in vain) for the Republican state government in Ohio to investigate electoral irregularities in Cuyahoga County.  They are probably going to do nothing based on trying to keep their jobs for the 2014 election.  Obamaphones!

 

5) Lastly and probably most important: Strategically, we are in a difficult position that is getting worse, with respect to the immigration invasion from Mexico and points south.  California will never go Republican again in my lifetime.  New Mexico and Nevada are probably lost too.  Colorado is probably tipping. Arizona may be next.  What if Texas tips Democrat?  Then we will never ever win another national election.  Florida may be going too, and apparently so is Virginia.  We are in a corner on demographics aided by the tide of immigration.  The stupid solution is to open the doors wider and lose faster, but smarter people than me are on it.  I hear that Top Men in the Republican Party are working on it.

 

Top. Men.

 

So yes, let us continue the circular firing squad, in search of that Perfect Conservative Candidate that is out there somewhere and hiding.  Romney wasn't ideal, but he was electable.  He made mistakes, but he was up against lies, treachery and felonies.  And so will the next candidate for President.

141 Yes. We did run the whitest, richest, most successful CEO, who won on the business battle field at an 80% success rate. Imagine a CEO when his southern division springs a leak of oil and 11 are killed. Do you think he gathers a bunch of professors and EPA heads? Or does he say something like "Surround that oil rig with every ship, boat, raft in the area and drop the absorbent netting. Start doing stuff right now and if they don't work keep trying stuff until you find the thing that works!" Or does that winner go play golf and send someone out to demonize the only energy source that still runs the country? Fuck.No. You want class warfare? Romney was going to accept no salary as president. That's 400k a year right there. Drop in the bucket? Perhaps. But it sure sounds better than listening to that Jug-eared Fucking Asshole repeat "People like me, who make over 250K should pay more." You're not making over 250K you worthless example of intellectual welfare piece of shit!! We're being forced to give you that 400K! God Damn! It's right there in front of you and you don't know it. You're a fucking idiot. Petition: Suspend salaries of all elected officials and appointed judges and government workers. Feed them, clothe them, and house them. No more. Confiscate all of their wealth. They work for us. Let's treat them like the migrant workers they are. Put them in the barracks, and give them their rations. See Barry? Then you'd be on the right side of the argument. It seems to me you'd love having everything provided for you with absolutely no disposable income to force you to be a beacon of unfairness. You fucking pompous medium functioning retard!

142 Romney did call Obama a liar, just not in those words. Believe it or not, while we're all for harsh language, it doesn't seem like it would sell well on TV. Posted by: Matt S. at November 19, 2012 07:42 AM (moRRg) Where the hell were you? Barky and his minions called Romney a "liar", a "felon", ... every name in the book. And those statements were all transparent lies - Barky had the chutzpah to call Romney "the other". WTFFF? The only idiot who refused to use that language was Romney and the only person in that race who DESERVED to be called a "flat out liar", a "felon", a "traitor", "the other", "a dog-eating retard", ... was barky. But Romney refused to fight ... or even be fucking honest about the criminal retard in the White House.

143 That being said, it still should've been a fucking landslide for Romney. The JEF is such a hapless dumbfuck that if anybody is literate enough to write history in the future they will look back on this as the Age of Stoopid. Posted by: Captain Hate (more dagny and less curious) at November 19, 2012 08:03 AM (dblOZ) With the school system we have? Not bloody likely....

144 134 Proportionality. It should have no place in war. Posted by: Reality at November 19, 2012 08:06 AM (da5Wo) Yup. You win by exponentially.

145

"108 The biggest myth of why we lost the election is, we did not lose the election. It was stolen. Period."

 

 

Truman!  I suspect the same, but don't feel I really have proof.  It "feels like" a socialist coup.  What's the latest on the case for "It was stolen."?

146 Until then, I believe Free Shit and Fraud won it for Osama Obama. Until we combat that, we are, and will remain, losers.

Posted by: MrScribbler, banned at TepidAir at November 19, 2012 07:49 AM (yKUrR)

Heaven forbid we actually pursue the voter fraud aspect of this.  That said, I have come to believe that the level of cheating was probably not to blame for the loss, because if they could cheat so efficiently as to have it wrapped up on election day before all the polls had closed, they either won legitimately, or they already have an awesome functional cheating mechanism in place and we are doomed forever.

147 so now ted cruz is lipping off about romney.....great........

148 ::::To answer the turnout question, let's look at the numbers. In 2008, 131.3 million people voted. Obama got 69.5 million votes; McCain got 59.9. In 2012, 123.2 million people voted, but the difference was almost entirely on the Democratic side of the ledger. This year, Obama got 6 million fewer votes than in 2008. Romney only lagged McCain by 0.274 million votes:::: Couple of problems with that, Gabe. First, Romney wasn't running against McCain; he was running against Obama, so that metric is meaningless. Second, and most important: Obama spotted him 6 MILLION votes and it did. Not. Fucking. Matter. Not even a little bit. Sometimes there is no silver lining. We are a minority party when it comes to national elections. We will continue to be able to check the Executive branch in the Senate and House up until the point where enough Free Shitters are imported or bred into the major urban centers of the dwindling number of red states. We've already lost the Supreme Court with this election. Winter is coming.

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

150 135 Lurker,

It's the normal thing to do we are truly morphing into the mirror image of the mules.

Obama is a new thing b/c in the past he would have been thrown under the bus for costing them the House but Clinton set the precedent that they do not eject on first fuck up.

Mitt ran a decent enough race the roca debacle notwithstanding,.

The 6 trillion dollar scoamf won b/c America quit being America.

Let me get this straight Ogabe got elected as "Bush spent er uh too much money bad wars Bush" and governs like a freer spending Bush with even more imperial aftertaste...

and the GOP is the problem?

Fuck 'em at this point any help or move to the left to grab votes may still be in the service of the destruction of freedom and separation of powers.

151 Sven, saw one of your comments yesterday early in a thread. Just wanted to tell you to let your wife know she can post here (or anywhere else) and be just as critical as a civilian. She just can't use her rank or position or claim to be speaking on behalf of her service. Same as participating in a political event or parade. Civilian clothes - no problem, uniform - your toast

152 Democrats voted for Obama knowing that the House would remain Republican. There can be no argument about that. But they voted for Obama anyway. Ergo, Democrats hate black people. =

153 >>>104 I might welcome a new Ottoman Empire if it could come to an accommodation with Israel.   There's a theory - call it the Apache Theory - that the reason no accomodations can be reached is that there are no final leaders for the Islamic world at present. Instead, we're dealing with local tribes and the next tribe over continues to be a-holes ["Why are you still scalping settlers? We came to an agreement!" "WE did. Those aren't my Apaches."]

154 Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Monday of carrying out "terrorist acts" in its bombardment of Gaza. "Those who associate Islam with terrorism close their eyes in the face of mass killing of Muslims, turn their heads from the massacre of children in Gaza," Erdogan told a conference of the Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul. "For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts." (Reuters) Posted by: Thunderb at November 19, 2012 07:39 AM (Dnbau) Nothing new for Turkey. They were the state behind the Gaza flotilla and were trying to start a war with Israel over that (not to mention getting another one together. This latest statement is right in line with what Turkey's been doing for the past 8 years, ratcheting it up as they go.

155 I confess that I still don't understand the election, but in the absence of a better explanation, I remain a "tribalism and looting" guy, and I'm deeply worried about the country my kids will inherit.

Posted by: pep at November 19, 2012 08:07 AM (YXmuI)

-----

 

 

I do not believe that there will be a country to inherit

156 Argh, 'you're'....hate when I do that

157 "Where the hell were you? Barky and his minions called Romney a "liar", a "felon", ... every name in the book. And those statements were all transparent lies - Barky had the chutzpah to call Romney "the other". WTFFF?"

-- What matters more: Winning or being decent? For some people, winning is more important. Fighting hard? I'm fine with. Playing dirty to win is of no interest to me.

158
144 134 Proportionality. It should have no place in war.
Posted by: Reality at November 19, 2012 08:06 AM (da5Wo)


Yup. You win by exponentially.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at November 19, 2012 08:08 AM (XkWWK)

In law school I wrote a paper comparing the RoE in a specific UN mission with Use of Force guidelines by US police officers. I have several family and friends that are cops, so I interviewed them. One of my close friends from hs is a cop and when I asked about deadly force, the first words out of his mouth were "If someone tries to kill me, I kill them first."

Sounds like a good plan to me.

159

I only read the post and none of the comments, but....

Using 2008 as a defining datum is a falliay.  Every election has its own character because the electorate has a different character every election.  Yes, substantially the same from cycle to cycle but 2008, people voted for different reasons then they did in 2010 and 2012. 

Lesson:  Educate the misinformed/uniformed.  Monumental, but achievable, task given the state of our education system and media. 

160 You fucking pompous medium functioning retard! Posted by: Opus An Arcus at November 19, 2012 08:08 AM (wa911) I used to ask myself why this is not more apparent to many more people. I gave up until the answer became crystal clear. Compared to 60% of the population, he's a fuckin' genuz.

161 falliay = fallacy

162 151 Icedog,

Yeah under a normal president that would be true.

This is Chicago Jesus.

Mostly she peruses the ONT and did while in the dirt as well. She likes observing the differing dynamics between the main threads and the ONT.

163

"106  Disappearing hundreds of thousands of votes is a pretty tall order; and if they were going to cheat, why not cheat at the House level too? There is voter fraud going on, but for it to be on that large of a scale requires us to believe teh entire government is compromised, which is... unlikely.  ..."

 

 

 

The Presidential election was decided in a relatively small number of mid-sized states - on the state level.  The Senate was also in a discrete number of states, and it doesn't take much to swing a close race.

 

There are 438 House races, all over the place.  Plus, BTW, they're pretty obviously some pretty bad cheating ging on in Allen West's House district, which also happens to be within a key Presidential state - FL.

164 sock off

165 Compared to 60% of the population, he's a fuckin' genuz.



As Foxworthy once said, "If you mix stagnant pond water with raw sewage you're not getting Evian."

166 - What matters more: Winning or being decent? For some people, winning is more important. Fighting hard? I'm fine with. Playing dirty to win is of no interest to me. Posted by: Matt S. at November 19, 2012 08:12 AM (moRRg) There's nothing dirty about being honest. In fact, America was depending on someone being honest about Barky. As to the language, as I pointed out (and you ignored) Barky and his minions already broached that. I really don't understand some of you people. But, it doesn't matter now. America is dead. It had no defenders in the GOP leadership or race and the population proved that they wanted this nation gone. So it is. You now live in the American Socialist Superstate. Enjoy it.

167 155 Velvet Ambition,

if we're lucky they will have a nation to try to conquer...

Run Red.

168
Democrats voted for Obama knowing that the House would remain Republican. There can be no argument about that.

Posted by: BumperSticker





Then how come the Republicans lost 8 House seats, last I saw.  Voters wanted to make it interesting?

169 There's a theory - call it the Apache Theory - that the reason no accomodations can be reached is that there are no final leaders for the Islamic world at present. Instead, we're dealing with local tribes and the next tribe over continues to be a-holes ["Why are you still scalping settlers? We came to an agreement!" "WE did. Those aren't my Apaches."]

Posted by: uterus cannon at November 19, 2012 08:12 AM (3ZtZW)

I've been stating for years that the decentralized nature of the moooooslims makes it impossible to have a much needed reformation whereby they could kick all the dumbfucks out and have a religion that actually did some good rather than a nutjob enhancing cult.

170 if Malor wants to bury his head about the turnout he can do so but at great risk. Obviously there are other reasons we lost, but Rule #1 about winning an election is getting your people out. We've failed to that in 08 and now in 2012

171 We lost because of the following reasons.

1) Creator of Obamacare was our standard bearer.

2) Northeastern liberal as our standard bearer.

3) Began every attack with "We agree that the President inherited a tough situation." thus making everything else you say pointless.

4) Agreeing to have Liberal moderators moderate all of the debates.

5) Taking debates 2 and 3 off. I turned the 3rd debate off as Romney began conceding point after point to Obama, I was sickened.

6) Allowing the sub-retard Biden bully and wipe the floor with our supposed brainiac was also quite disheartening.

7) Substittuing and actual GOTV with a virtual GOTV was the nail in the coffin.


There are other reasons but these are the ones that jump out.

Maybe in 2016 we run an actual conservative who stands for something and has no fear of mixing it up with his opponent and the media?

Just a thought.

172 ........"Instead, he got the swing voters by making Romney the "icky" candidate. The same thing could have been done to any candidate we ran because it wasn't about Romney's politics, it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut........"
Now that there's some good political analysis. We need to change our messaging to get the Meggie Mac vote. That's all it takes, conservatives.
Just be less "icky", problem solved.

173 "Maybe in 2016 we run an actual conservative who stands for something and has no fear of mixing it up with his opponent and the media?"

-- Get one who can win the primary in 2016, and we will. The problem is that none of them seem able to win the primary.

174 171 This!

Didn't punch back at anything, including being called a felon and a murderer.

175

more than a small number of people who voted for McCain DID NOT VOTE FOR ROMNEY!

Five million McCain voters died. The GOP needs to attract new voters (ie young people) or find a way to keep old people alive longer.

176 how about starting two weeks ago we make sure the military gets to actually, you know.....vote.....and how about no more same day registration....and not letting felons vote and get rid of early voting.....you vote on election day....no matter how fucking inconvenient it is

177 -- Get one who can win the primary in 2016, and we will. The problem is that none of them seem able to win the primary.

Posted by: Matt S. at November 19, 2012 08:20 AM (moRRg)

It's because those "type" of people are too "icky", don't you know.

178 We lost an election, not an argument.
-
Trust me, you're going to lose some arguments.

179 I have to wonder, if Sarah Palin is the answer, where the heck was she during this past election cycle?

180 @173

Bullshit, the GOP primaries are rigged to give us the results the establishment want.

Front load the primaries in the actual Red "conservative states" instead of the blue and purpleish states and you will have a conservative candidate.

181 Anybody who stayed home instead of voting for Romney is as much my enemy as anybody voting for the JEF.  We're probably permanently fucked if we have to beg a bunch of lazy fuckheads to do their civic responsibility.  Any of those assholes who call themselves "conservatives" are just lying to themselves and everybody else.

182

Posted by: General Woundwort at November 19, 2012 08:18 AM (RrD4h)

yeah dude it was so Romney's fault all the way we lost. Destroying O in the debate? doesn't matter. Having better crowds? doesn't matter. Doing better then McCain? doesn't matter. The 1st Republican Prez Candidate to win in 20+ years to gain traction w/ Independents and Suburban voters? doesn't matter. If you think we lost just because of who our nominee is, then you live in a simple world.

183
179 I have to wonder, if Sarah Palin is the answer, where the heck was she during this past election cycle?

Posted by: William Teach at November 19, 2012 08:23 AM (vRNdo)

The consensus (whatever that's worth) seems to be that the Romney camp quietly told her to sit down and stfu. Or something to that effect.

184 "I only read the post and none of the comments" The comments are the best feature of this place. Do you skip the nekkid chicks in Playboy too?

185 "Anybody who stayed home instead of voting for Romney is as much my enemy as anybody voting for the JEF."

*ding* *ding* *ding* we got a winnah!

186 3) Began every attack with "We agree that the President inherited a tough situation." thus making everything else you say pointless. *ugh* No shit. I mean, yes, Romney is a decent person, but you're cutting your own throat that way.

187 You know who you get if you want the candidate to call Obama out for what he is - a liar, and a cheat, and an idiot, and a sub-par student? The comb-over of death, The Donald

188 I've been thinking.

Based on our loss, whatever the reason (and I'm drifting to the "minority party" side of that debate, myself) we have three possible options here.

1- Surrender.  I lump everyone from the "Let it Burn" and "It was the Far Right's, fault!" crowds here.  Anyone who either just wants to sit back and let it happen, or compromise our positions falls in this group.

2- Retreat.  This group includes those who are making active plans to bug out in the near future, as well as those advocating the "Run (to) Red" strategy.  One might be said to be a tactical retreat (survival first), and the other a strategic retreat (let's shore up our lines), but they're both advocating retreat to some degree.

3- Attack.  This (far smaller) group says we should fight the Democrats on everything, and expose everything they do.  This group says we should attempt to avoid the fiscal cliff, but be willing to go over it.  This is the group that says we need to start using Democrats' tactics (Alinsky, et. al) against the Democrats.

I'm not sure which is best, honestly.  There's a strong pull to "Let it Burn."  There's a great satisfaction in being able to say "I told you so."  I simply don't think we have the resources to go on the attack.  I think attacking when we have a chance is something we need to do, but I don't think we can adopt a purely offensive strategy at this point.  Retreat, like "Let it Burn" has a certain pull to it, but I worry about it's practicality.  Retreating to the family farm and going off the grid is very much like "let it burn," in many ways.  Having a mass Conservative Migration to already conservative areas is a good strategic move, but I'm not sure we have the time necessary to make it work.

189 "It's because those "type" of people are too "icky", don't you know."

-- Or that they implode. This time around Perry forgot the things he wanted to cut; Bachmann never gained traction; Cain got derailed by a potential sex scandal (though he flared out before that went anywhere), etc., etc. As much as I disliked Huckabee, he at least didn't fall apart in 2008. If social conservatives want to run a social conservative, you need to get someone like Huckabee who can actually handle the rigors of running for office, and someone who isn't already damaged goods (like Cain, Perry, Palin, etc.) I like different pieces from most of the people who ran in the primary, but one thing Romney's loss shows us is that you need to actually have an A-game to play with the big leagues.

190 Ummmmmm.......ok.



Apparently my sock from last week stuck. My bad.



Reality = BCochran1981


Heh. I kinda like that.

191 "The 1st Republican Prez Candidate to win in 20+ years to gain traction w/ Independents and Suburban voters? doesn't matter"

oops, fixed

192 Sarah Palin is not the answer. She is a failed Vice Presidential candidate destroyed by the media, her own party, and her inexperience. She is The Past. I wish it were not so.

193 Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) Channelling Breitbart at November 19, 2012 08:25 AM (8y9MW)




Put me firmly the fuck in #3 category.

194 "Instead, he got the swing voters by making Romney the "icky" candidate.

The "icky" guy who was going to take away their Free Shit and make them get jobs.  Which is somehow different than promising them Free Shit, I suppose, but Free Shit still figures prominently.

195 AllenG i'm on the #3 side. I'm not gonna quit because we lost an election. Still many more battles to go. We bounced back from 08, we'll bounce back from 12

196 AllenG, I would characterize your "Retreat" category as "Fall back, reload, wait and then when they are weak from hunger and injured from rioting in the streets when they lose their phone minutes, attack and systematically cut their throats." Too wordy?

197 I have to wonder, if Sarah Palin is the answer, where the heck was she during this past election cycle? As much as I like her, and I do, the Left did it's job well. Her perception, whether we Palin fans like it or not, with Independents is not all that good. The milquetoast RNC does not like her at all.

198

If you cannot learn from this election because you would rather have the same old True Conservatives (TM) argument you always have, we are probably doomed to repeat the same errors again.

Exactly. No non-conservative has lost a presidential election before. In the last 20 years. Except Bush 41, Dole, McCain, and Romney. And no non-consetvative Senate candidates lost. Except Lingle (HI), Thompson (WI), Brown (MA), McMahon (CT), and Berg (ND). And no conservative candidiates won their Senaate races, except all  (Flake AZ, Cruz TX, Fischer NE) but one (Murdoch IN), who was completlely undermined by sore-loser RINO Lugar and the RNC.

This thread is of the RINOs, by the RINOs, and for the RINOs.

199 145 "108The biggest myth of why we lost the election is, we did not lose the election. It was stolen. Period." Truman! I suspect the same, but don't feel I really have proof. It "feels like" a socialist coup. What's the latest on the case for "It was stolen."? Posted by: Optimizer at November 19, 2012 08:08 AM (Mxt9o) I only have about 50 links worth of anecdotal evidence of every possible variety, and about five links on directions on how to steal votes electronically. I don't know how much evidence people need to believe this. Andy thinks we're tin foil ninnies for even entertaining the idea.

200 @189

Perry didn't do well because the GOP had something like 1000 debates.

And everyone was trying to donkey punch everyone.

Though many didn't like him Herman Cain had a concise message that was beggining to resonate until he was ordered to be destroyed by who I don't know, but a lot of our candidates were destroyed beyond all repair this last go by the sheer number of debates.


It was stupid and needless.

201 Are we done pulling each others hair out, because while we were bitching, we lost another election, boner is still speaker. Focus on midterms, who is retiring, who is a vulnerable 1st termer, who won where Obama did, did a Dim win where Romney did? Do we have good candidates on the bench?

202 how about starting two weeks ago we make sure the military gets to actually, you know.....vote I was looking at a chart of the 2010 midterms and I saw nearly 5 million 'overseas eligible' votes were cast. I can't wait to compare that when the information becomes available. source: (short url no need to tiny) http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2010G.html

203 Golly, I sure hope they have made some important enemies with the Mossad....Anonymous leaks personal information of 5,000 Israeli officials http://tinyurl.com/ahet2y4

204 Having a lot of debates wouldn't have been a bad thing if our candidates had had more discipline and saved the long knives for the other team.

205 188 I've been thinking.

Based on our loss, whatever the reason (and I'm drifting to the "minority party" side of that debate, myself) we have three possible options here.

1- Surrender. I lump everyone from the "Let it Burn" and "It was the Far Right's, fault!" crowds here. Anyone who either just wants to sit back and let it happen, or compromise our positions falls in this group.

2- Retreat. This group includes those who are making active plans to bug out in the near future, as well as those advocating the "Run (to) Red" strategy. One might be said to be a tactical retreat (survival first), and the other a strategic retreat (let's shore up our lines), but they're both advocating retreat to some degree.

I've got a foot in both these camps, Allen. Let it burn, and try not to get too scorched. Also, back out and wait for the inevitable breakdown. # 3 - well get back to me when we have a credible standard-bearer. Right now we are a rabble, so pulling back is necessary.

206

'137  ...

"How do you explain that the voters were D+6 this time?"

--> Obama's strategy was to make the election a disgusting, horrendous thing and depress overall turn out while using micro-targetting to frighten his base into voting despite the fact it was an ugly thing no one wanted to look at. No one, as far as I know, predicted a lower voter turnout this year. Obama played to our baser natures and convinced enough people "Politics is disgusting," and got them to tune out.'

 

 

 

This seems possible. What it points to is "negative advertising works."

 

But, really.  People spoke of "holding their noses" to vote for McCain.  Romney had a better performance, and a real track record on the important issue of the day, while Obama had broken almost every promise he had run on (except ObamaCare) and had an abysmal record on the economy and unemployment this time.  It makes sense that Obama got fewer votes (and if it were not for the MSM propaganda machine, and bigotry from minorities, he wouldn't have stood a chance), but it doesn't make sense that Romney didn't get more votes.

 

The voters showed their vengance against ObamaCare in 2010, where were they this time?

207 Yeah.. after two weeks of thinking about this and looking at the cold hard facts, I agree with you, Gabe.

The questions is.. could Romney have won by doing something differently?  I think perhaps he might have been too nice.  He could have hit back harder.  Obama's camp just made him look to unacceptable.. and that's why you saw the bounce after the first debate... some folks saw Romney wasn't the ogre/idiot Obama had made him out to be.  It just wasn't enough.

208 AllenG - there's a 1.5: Go Libertarian, or hollow out the GOP and rebuild it in a different image, depending how you view the branding problem [Meggie Mack falls into the Hollow It Out group]. I wouldn't say that's wrong or bad, since they no longer would be your base to work with - just different.

209 "The media ate my candidate."

210 Posted by: General Woundwort at November 19, 2012 08:30 AM (RrD4h)

Cain destroyed himself by fucking someone other than his wife.

211 I am, BTW, on the Retreat side. I've a kid on the way and Liberals are locusts.

212 Optimizer: I see two extremely depressing possibilities. The first is that we hit the ceiling with McCain, not the floor, like we thought. This is unlikely. The other possibility is all those people who kept saying they weren't going to vote for Romney because they wanted candidate A, B or C -- were telling the truth. The people who said America needed to get a little financial pain, even if it meant four more years of Obama, meant it.

The one I think is most likely? People just didn't turn out because the election depressed them and they tuned out.

213 3- Attack. This (far smaller) group says we should fight the Democrats MSM on everything, and expose everything they do.

214 how about starting two weeks ago we make sure the military gets to actually, you know.....vote.....and how about no more same day registration....and not letting felons vote and get rid of early voting.....you vote on election day....no matter how fucking inconvenient it is

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 19, 2012 08:22 AM (Ho2rs)

Early voting is the biggest load of shit that has ever come down the fucking pike.  That began when Slick was in office, no?  Speaking of Clenis, I want every fucking one of you stupid jizzmops who claimed he was *really* on our side to own up to just how incredibly well that brilliant bit of dumbfuckery worked out.  Trusting Slick leads to people experiencing what Juanita Broaddrick went through.

Anyway, good luck on getting rid of early voting because the donks will fight that tooth and nail.  It's a good way of congregating people who will vote a certain way, loading them on buses on a weekend and delivering them to the booth.

215 The voters showed their vengance against ObamaCare in 2010, where were they this time?

Well, we couldn't make an issue of Obamacare with Romney as our nominee, could we?  I mean, he invented the thing in MA.

216

150.  I get that we have to look at the election critically to determine what went wrong so that we can fix it, and I agree with Gabe that most of the reasons why Mitt lost were strategic. It's now baked in the cake that Republicans are evil white guys who hate clean air and minorities. Look at the way they're portrayed in movies and on TV. When was the last time that a conservative character was shown in a positive light? Alex P. Keaton in the '80s? All the more reason that we should have fought the stupidity of binders, birth control, tampons, and Big Bird instead of laughing at it.

 

My point is that the many in the GOP are reacting badly to the loss by trashing Romney unfairly, and it's not helping. Jindal and others ran to the first open mic to criticize a guy that they campaigned for, which makes Independents think "huh, maybe they're right". Mitt made mistakes, but there's no need for everyone to bash him.

217 Call me crazy, but I wonder how many voters who otherwise would have voted against Obama were dissuaded by Romney's often deferential treatment of him. IE, I wonder if they said to themselves, "Geez, I think Obama is a loser and an idiot, but Romney says he agrees with him on some stuff - is there something wrong with my views?" Just pondering because I don't meet many people who are overly fond of the President where I live, even among the low information set.

218 Cain destroyed himself by fucking someone other than his wife.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 19, 2012 08:34 AM (GsoHv)

You have a problem with that? But...you post dirty pictures.....

219 "The voters showed their vengance against ObamaCare in 2010, where were they this time?"

you mistake lumping voters together as one group. voters are individuals. many low info voters skipped on voting in 2010 (and will again in 2014) when their messiah isn't on the ticket. some true believer types in the Republican party came out in 2010 but took their ball and went home when they didn't like how this election played out. you just have to look at the comments on here and other blogs where a small minority said they weren't voting. that small minority adds up to real numbers and in a close election it matters

220 I simply don't think we have the resources to go on the attack. I think attacking when we have a chance is something we need to do, but I don't think we can adopt a purely offensive strategy at this point. Retreat, like "Let it Burn" has a certain pull to it, but I worry about it's practicality. Retreating to the family farm and going off the grid is very much like "let it burn," in many ways. Having a mass Conservative Migration to already conservative areas is a good strategic move, but I'm not sure we have the time necessary to make it work. Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) Channelling Breitbart at November 19, 2012 08:25 AM (8y9MW) We don't have the resources to attack. In the altered state of reality that passes for hard, brutal truths; only a very hard smack to the temple will have any effect. That is what puts me in Cat #1, which I prefer to call a: Strategic Withdrawal

221 Mary, are you in the biz, or just a movie nut? Love your posts.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at November 19, 2012 07:19 AM (XkWWK)

 

Sorry for the late answer, J.J. - had a meeting to go to.  Just a nut.

222 ""Geez, I think Obama is a loser and an idiot, but Romney says he agrees with him on some stuff - is there something wrong with my views?"

-- Not many. If that had happened, Romney would not have won independents so heavily (and Romney's deference should have had no impact on Republican turn out. If it -did- hurt on Republican turn out, then we have a different problem.) If anything, since Romney won independents in many areas, his strategy there, at least, worked.

223 As far as "attacking", honestly, what do we attack with? And behind the leadership of who, exactly? I mean this question honestly, no snark intended.

224 219 Arthur L mendez,

Amen, "John Boehner did not singlehandedly give us everything we wanted."

Uh yeah we barely live in a republic anymore kids.

225 Bias, fraud, and thuggery in that order. Not ideas.

226

G-ddamnit Gabriel...

We DID lose the election because of handouts.  That is the F--king lesson of the election no matter how much we wish it were otherwise.  This is not to dismiss the power of Obama's unchecked slander machine or his multi-billion dollar PR operation known as the Media. Obama won Ohio because of an auto-bailout.  Florida was close because of the hispanic vote that depends on all kinds of social services, and seniors who depend on Medicare, etc. 

70 million people are on medicaid.  50 million on foodstamps.  This was an election decided by a few hundred thousand votes in a few swing states.  Tens of millions of people in this country are flat-out BOUGHT OFF and you think it isn't the handouts?

227 223: Boycott of union-made goods and union shop stores etc. etc. Make GM give "No down payment and no payments for 20 years." to all the Obama voters. See how that does.

228 IIRC wasn't Gabe Romney's Number 1 fan during the primaries? I half expected him to drag Romney up to his Mountain cabin and break his legs.

229 You have a problem with that? But...you post dirty pictures....

Posted by: BCochran1981 at November 19, 2012 08:36 AM (da5Wo)

And leer at hot chicks (and, sometimes, not-so-hot chicks) and gaze approvingly at all beautiful women on TV and in movies.....

But I don't fuck other women.

I don't have contempt for Cain because the media tore him up; I have contempt for Cain because he violated his marriage vows. If he wanted to bang other women he should have gotten a divorce.

230 1. What is your message and how will you get it out past a hostile media?

DING DING DING...WINNER!

231 228 IIRC wasn't Gabe Romney's Number 1 fan during the primaries? I half expected him to drag Romney up to his Mountain cabin and break his legs.

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at November 19, 2012 08:41 AM (g2ldK)

Nope....he was a Perry guy, as was ace, after Pawlenty flamed out.  DrewM was a Newt guy. 

232 Tens of millions of people in this country are flat-out BOUGHT OFF and you think it isn't the handouts?

Posted by: Sam In VA at November 19, 2012 08:39 AM (rFiOs)

Tens of millions of Americans have a price. This is 19th century machine politics, writ large. Hard to beat. When the gravy train dries up, only then will these bought-off residents be forced into another direction/

233

Could it be we lost because people WANT to be lied to?

 

 

Also, all those votes from illegal aliens and dead people didn't hurt.

234 And leer at hot chicks (and, sometimes, not-so-hot chicks) and gaze approvingly at all beautiful women on TV and in movies.....

But I don't fuck other women.

I don't have contempt for Cain because the media tore him up; I have contempt for Cain because he violated his marriage vows. If he wanted to bang other women he should have gotten a divorce.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 19, 2012 08:41 AM (GsoHv)

Exactly. Doesn't the Outwardly Lewd Morons Who Still Respect Their Vows club need a newsletter?

235

 

207  I wish Romney would have hit back harder, but anytime that he laid a glove on Obama on issues like removing the work requirement from welfare or Benghazi, the MSM would clutch their pearls and scream "RACIST!", "OPPORTUNIST!", "GAAAAFES!"  That doesn't mean that you have to stop punching though.

236 This was the 2012 GOP primary schedule for the first 13
primaries and the who that state voted for in the general

1) Iowa - Obama
2) New Hampshire - Obama
3) South Carolina - Romney
4) Florida - Obama
5) Nevada - Obama
6) Colorado - Obama
7) Minesotta - Obama
Missouri - Romney
9) Maine - Obama
10) Arizona - Romney
11) Michigan - Obama
12) Wyoming - Romney
13) Washington - Obama

These are the states that are "choosing" our GOP candidates and giving the "preferred candidate" of our party momentum.

Does anyone else see a problem with this picture?

237 Great points, Gabe.

238 Well, apparently Obama's getting him some Asian strange....



Take a look at Drudge.

239 There is one and only one reason Romney lost. The media painted him as an evil uncaring SOB. That is all it comes down to. Until the MSM is taken down we don't stand a chance. The blatant lies that were told during this election were unprecedented - and they got away with it. So now we have the new standard for the MSM doing and saying WHATEVER they want. "Mr. President, congratulations on your win. I've never seen you lose." That is what we're dealing with.

240 Does anyone else see a problem with this picture?
Posted by: General Woundwort at November 19, 2012 08:44 AM (RrD4h)

considering we need some of those states to win 270 I don't

241 I love sweeping conclusions like "we did not lose this election due to handouts" with precisely fuckall supporting facts. Obama turned out his base. he turned it out with the help of hand outs. literally free cellphone service. literally doubling the number of welfare/disability recipients. every candidate since the beginning of elections has run attack ads. Obama's ads and line of attack sucked. he still won. how does that remotely support the above conclusion?.

242

"Republicans have to make strategy part of the primary process as well as ideology. GOP candidates seeking Federal office need to have these questions put to them and provide solid answers:

1. What is your message and how will you get it out past a hostile media? "

A good idea. I would add just a couple of things.

 

(1) Expand the questions to include other "trap" questions conservatives or Republicans are apt to be asked.

 

(2) Change "Federal" to "Federal or State".

 

(3) 2. How will you answer when a liberal journalist tries to trap you with the abortion-rape "or the repeal Roe v. Wade and take away women's reproductive rights" question?

 

(4) Put it on one sheet of paper that all candidates are required to read twice daily. 

243

The red eye radio guys summed it up the best: The biggest mistake the Romney campaign made was assuming the American electorate was smart.

This country doesn't deserve good leadership (those of us who voted the right way excepted). Six million voters hated preazy but couldn't be bothered to show up to vote against him? That's not Romney-hate, that's laziness and moral vacuity.

A decadent society gets the government it deserves.

244 Boycott of union-made goods and union shop stores etc. etc. I've purchased GM products for over 30 years, but the wife drove off this morning in a brand new non-union made car by a foreign automaker that creates jobs in six different states, most of them red. The quality of workmanship is unfuckingbelievable, the response to the gas pedal makes me think it's an engine twice the size. I never realized just how bad the shitty cars I purchased were but I bought 'American'. The definition of buying American has changed for me now -- it's now who is able to create the most jobs for Americans without creating one union job. Detroit can rot in hell.

245 I think moving TX or another solid red state up in the order couldn't hurt; same with VA. Then again, how much control does the RNC really have?

246 "Doesn't the Outwardly Lewd Morons Who Still Respect Their Vows club need a newsletter?"

Posted by: BCochran1981 at November 19, 2012 08:43 AM (da5Wo)

Here's the first issue:

http://tinyurl.com/cnq2k3n

NSFW

247 I have the solution for 2016: TOM COTTON!!!11!!1!!

248 "Every candidate since the beginning of elections has run attack ads. Obama's ads and line of attack sucked."

-- They worked, so, clearly they didn't. Just because we thought "Romney killed my wife with cancer" was a stupid ad doesn't mean it didn't work. These ads are measured by effectiveness not cleverness.

249 I said way back - the recriminations thread would be awesome. And we have a plethora of them. But then again, in the last week up to the election, I said it was in the bag. And I was wrong. But I was right about how awesome the recriminations thread would be, so there's that.

250 TOM COTTON!!!11!!1!!

Posted by: Ed Anger at November 19, 2012 08:49 AM (tOkJB)

I honestly don't know who this guy is - what is his sin?

251 Here's the first issue:

http://tinyurl.com/cnq2k3n

NSFW

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 19, 2012 08:48 AM (GsoHv)

I just momentarily passed out. Lot of blood left the upper extremities in a hurry. And good grief, I had no idea Decker showed her tits that much. This requires some research. When I'm not at work.

252 Bluntly, you're wrong.

Very simply, Democrats got more voters to turn out than we did. By definition math wins an election.

If you look at registered voters for the GOP (and one might even include Independents) there are a significant number of people who simply did not vote.

How one who is actually registered  doesn't vote in a historic election such as the last one is beyond me. Why register?

I don't however believe is has anything to do with Romney's "Conservatism".

Nor do I believe this whole if we just run Rubio, Hispanics will put us over the top bullshit.

People showed up for free shit. They showed up to steal from productive people and businesses. Shit we can't afford and people we can't keep taxing at confiscatory rates if we ever want the economy to come back.

You need to kill that beast by holding firm on spending and taxes. You need to cut those subsidies and handouts as your number one priority. Otherwise the beast lives and Rubio will be Disaster Part II.

Democrats know it. Look how hard they are pushing and drawing lines in the sand on handouts they promised. They know if they don't deliver- people won't believe them.

253

Put a TRUE CONSERVATIVE up for election, he/she will win.
It's called energizing the base.

 

 

 

The peoblem is that everybody has a different definition of what a "true conservative" is.  Ron Paul, anyone?

254 We need to start the Biz Markie campaign, and now! What's with you foot draggers?

255 "I honestly don't know who this guy is - what is his sin?

Posted by: tubal at November 19, 2012 08:50 AM (BoE3Z)"

Tom Cotton is the newly elected AR representative and I'd hope a future leader in the party

256 The Republicans will continue to lose until they learn to lie and cheat.  The American people don't want to hear the hard truths. They don't give a shit about foreign policy.  It's all about how much money the government is going to give them. Tell them what they want to hear to get elected, then do what's necessary to put the country back on track. Play mean and dirty with a smile.

257 It certainly couldn't be that Obama got black people to turn out at 2008 levels again, far exceeding black turnout for prior elections. That's why I thought Romney had a chance. With black unemployment so high and the income gap widening I thought they'd stay home. My mistake.

258 Good post, Gabe.

259

They know if they don't deliver- people won't believe them.

 

 

But they will.  Because the libs will simply blame the Republicans and people will believe it.  Because they are lazy and willfully stupid.  I rub shoulders with Obama people every day and most of them are like this.  They don't think about/care about where the money comes from and they will never blame Obama and his people for what is going wrong.

260 Until then, I believe Free Shit and Fraud won it for Osama Obama

Mostly fraud.  The free shit promises aren't worth a lot when you consider within 2 weeks of being sworn in he raised sales/excise taxes on the poor more than enough to compensate for whatever extra he promised to give away.

Romney maybe could have pointed out how Obama raised regressive taxes significantly the moment he took office.  I don't think that was ever mentioned.

261 252 marcus,

and part of that is having the balls to bungee jump over the cliff.

262 Alternative hypothesis: Both McCain and Romney failed to get proper turnout?

263 (4) Put it onone sheet of paper that all candidates are required to read twice daily.

Whoa there fella, we're not defending a PhD dissertation here.

264 These are the states that are "choosing" our GOP candidates and giving the "preferred candidate" of our party momentum.

Does anyone else see a problem with this picture?

Posted by: General Woundwort at November 19, 2012 08:44 AM (RrD4h)

Iowa needs to be told to go to the back of the fucking line and to wipe their fat asses with their state constitution that says otherwise.  If I hear that asshole F Chuck in 3 years yammering about how those hayseed simpletons need to be "wooed", bad things will happen.

265 -- What matters more: Winning or being decent? For some people, winning is more important. Fighting hard? I'm fine with. Playing dirty to win is of no interest to me.

Posted by: Matt S. at November 19, 2012 08:12 AM (moRRg)

 

Pop back in four years and tell us how that worked out for you, Sparky.

266 There is a bit of good news...for me.  On Friday I reported everyone here to "Truth Team" and just found out my chocolate ration has been increased by 3 grams.  Whoohoo!!

267 ..."Romney maybe could have pointed out how Obama raised regressive taxes significantly the moment he took office. I don't think that was ever mentioned.

Posted by: @PurpAv at November 19, 2012 08:55 AM (jSbEA)

He could have, but it would have been water off a duck's back. The demographic that gets him over the top would not understand the "regressive taxes" concept. They understand "free shit" really well - Obama phone/Obama stash, that sort of thing. Tax talk is for makers.

268 RWC at November 19, 2012 08:45 AM,
Exactly!!! The MSM is dying slowly...but that doesn't help  us now or the near future. and zero will bail the NYT and others out he won't let his buddies die...

269

Regardless of positions on issues, free shit giveaways or anything else, elections are won by:

 

1)  The better looking candidate

2)  The younger/cooler candidate

 

That's just the way it is.

270 And we have a plethora of them.

I too am irritated by the plethora. But I'm seeing a plethologist.
Perhaps he will use a plethoscope, and prescribe a plethectomy.

271

All you guys who are saying "Romney wasn't critical enough of Obama" maybe should think that through a little more.

 

The way I remember it, Romney was getting reamed over in the MFM for gaffes that weren't even gaffes.

 

It was practically impossible to criticize Obama.  The media had buried practically every issue.  Benghazi was a complete screw-up, showing complete, scary-level incompetence, so they BURIED IT.

 

Hell, how come it never came up that Obama is a socialist - even NOW?  The f-ing guy gets on his little "you didn't build that" rant - which was a de facto socialist manifesto, and the media told everybody he was "taken out of context".  Even the Right-leaning media left him alone, saying he "mispoke".  How the hell do you "misspeak" for FOUR PARAGRAPHS!?!

 

If you called Obama on half the crap he's pulled, it just comes off as a conspiracy theory, because of the treasonous malpractice by the MFM.

 

272 Instead, he got the swing voters by making Romney the icky candidate. The same thing could have been done to any candidate we ran because it wasn't about Romney's politics, it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut. Let's suppose true, how does one rebut the irrational, and goes without saying idiotic, icky factor? It can't be fought with logic and rational thought. It also can't be fought with a truly genuine candidate. What's let, free give aways? People must internalize a desire for freedom for a people to remain free. This is the missing gene in so many Americans now days.

273

245

That's something I was curious about too.  Why in hell do Iowa & New Hampshire ALWAYS go first.  Shouldn't there be some sort of rotation to be fair.  Who decides that?

274

You want to win a national election?

 

(1) Neutralize the MFM.

 

(2) Stop letting them steal elections.  Voter ID is a good start, but if they're manipulating the voting machines, or otherwise magically "lose" votes, that ain't gonna help.

 

You do those things, and STILL keep losing, then go ahead and talk about changing course.

275 The f-ing guy gets on his little "you didn't build that" rant - which was a de facto socialist manifesto, and the media told everybody he was "taken out of context". Even the Right-leaning media left him alone, saying he "mispoke". How the hell do you "misspeak" for FOUR PARAGRAPHS!?!

If you called Obama on half the crap he's pulled, it just comes off as a conspiracy theory, because of the treasonous malpractice by the MFM.

Posted by: Optimizer at November 19, 2012 09:01 AM (Mxt9o)

That got the attention of the right people despite the efforts of the MFM.  The problem is that there are more people that are content to be takers from the system than there are people willing to start businesses.

276 Obama raised cigarette taxes within weeks of being sworn in. I smoked then and felt the pain. I think it was April of 2009. Since no one wants to support evil smokers, it was ignored.

277 What we need to do as conservatives is make the dems own their very huge and disastrous policies. Loudly and consistently. From every level be it presidential to that asshole you're arguing with in the bar. Be ready with facts and be patient. We need to fight the media tooth and nail. Billboards. Letters to the editor. Whatever works. And, since the dems insist there's no vote fraud, cheat like hell until the start to think the integrity of the vote isn't such a bad idea. That could backfire, but at this point what options do we have?

278 i think the thai lady/man wants to screw the scoamf....creepy creepy look on her face

279 but there is no evidence that base voters sat out.

There's no evidence some didn't either.  Just like there's no evidence the Ds didn't hack the counts a little in the machine.  There's a gold plated I do what I want fuck-ton of evidence they pulled regular D machine fraud.  500+ votes 100% SCOAMF precincts is blatant fraud.  You couldn't get 500+ guys to take a free BJ, someone would balk.

280

The MSM is dying slowly

 

 

 

 

I wish that were true but I'm not sure I believe it.  You thing George Soros is going to let his greatest propoganda machines go under?

281 Tom Cotton is the newly elected AR representative and I'd hope a future leader in the party


There is also a fairly new commenter who keeps plugging for Tom Cotton, even though he is newly elected.


The guy isn't a total spammer, but he needs to stop shouting about the miracles of Cotton.

282 Visiting victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey today, Vice President Joe Biden told them not to worry, saying, "youÂ’ve got a homeboy in the deal who gets it." Biden was referring to President Barack Obama.






We lost to this?

283 Repeal the Hollywood tax cuts.

284 1) Dole- Loss
2) W - Barely beat Kerry
3) McCain- Loss
4) Romney-Loss


Solution?
Eliminate the SoCons - Embrace the Gay Mafia- the leftover cucumbers from homo safe sex class will make a lovely salad  - illegal Immigrants? - NO HYOOMAN IS ILL EAGLE - Hey maybe we could set up a foreign voter import business. By 2016 we could import half of Peru - NATURAL REPUBLICANS?? huh? amirite?

Moose Limb Tearorrists? They will loveloveloveUS when we abandon Israel.

FORE  WARD!!
 

YAY  MOAR LEFTER !!!!!!!!!!


l.i.b.

285 There's a gold plated I do what I want fuck-ton of evidence they pulled regular D machine fraud. 500+ votes 100% SCOAMF precincts is blatant fraud. You couldn't get 500+ guys to take a free BJ, someone would balk.

Posted by: DaveA at November 19, 2012 09:07 AM (MOWP1)

Exactly; in every precinct there has to be at least a few cranks who hate their fucking neighbors and would do anything to just counter what they do.

286 I wish that were true but I'm not sure I believe it. You thing George Soros is going to let his greatest propoganda machines go under?


We will save them.

287 he needs to stop shouting about the miracles of Cotton.

Posted by: fluffy at November 19, 2012 09:08 AM (z9HTb)

We're soon going to demand equal time.

288 There are a few here who will not be happy until Romney stood up during a debate and called Obama a cocksucker. Not implied, not in a joke, but no, actually said "Barky....your a cocksucker". There is a world of options between calling the president a fine man and a cocksucker. I think a good start would be to treat Obama like he treated Gingrich or Perry.

289 I wish that were true but I'm not sure I believe it. You thing George Soros is going to let his greatest propoganda machines go under?

Posted by: katya the designated driver at November 19, 2012 09:08 AM (DoZD+)

That commie POS has got to be closing in on 90. He's got to be almost feeling the fires of hell

290 It's icky to believe in the first and second amendments, bringing babies to term, and traditional marriage. I have mistly seen the opposite case being floated: that Romney was too conservative. I think ideology had less to do with it than his ability to connect with voters and the failure of his team to bring new voters, esp Indys, to our side.

291

On this "icky" thing...

 

 

John F-ing Kerry was an unappealing Rich With Dude (TM).  How was that treasonous bastard not "icky" while Romney supposedly was?  Romney was the unheard-of politician who actually turned out to be more of a great guy, the more you heard about him.  They had to druge up being mean to some kid 50 years ago, for cryin' out loud!

 

In a way, I guess I'm agreeing with Gabe.  Because the "icky" factor is decided by the MFM - THAT'S the biggest hurdle we've had.

 

It seems like in a time like this where the big three networks are on the wane that this should be possible.

 

292 Easy, Gabe. Sefton is just channeling his inner Brietbart, whereby he only reads the Comments and not the Post.

293 We're soon going to demand equal time.

Posted by: The Miracles of Polyester at November 19, 2012 09:11 AM (9F2c1)

Polly Esther for Congress!!!11!!1!

294 Over on Drudge, Bambi looks like he's out for some Asian Strange.
Is it still assassination if the First Lady offs the Prez for cattin' around?

295
Biggest single mistake Romney made was picking another white guy to run with him against the Historic First Black President.  Even McCain understood that he needed to counter with some Historic pick of his own.  If he was going to run with an all white male ticket he should at least have picked someone who could help him win a swing state, like Portman or McDonnell.

296 There are a few here who will not be happy until Romney stood up during a debate and called Obama a cocksucker. Not implied, not in a joke, but no, actually said "Barky....your a cocksucker".

Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO President for Life at November 19, 2012 09:05 AM (OWjjx)

 

Yes.  And I'm one of them.

297 Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 19, 2012 09:09 AM (1Jaio) That Biden doesn't make Dems hang their heads in shame is a testament to what a friendly media can do as well as to the monumental stupidity of whoever voted for such a sleazy asswipe. I'm looking at you, Delaware.

298 The guy isn't a total spammer, but he needs to stop shouting about the miracles of Cotton. Do tell. We learned that lesson in Alabama a long time...wait, you're talking about...oh, never mind.

299 It isn't the Democratic candidate that needs to be called out for lying from the outset of the campaign, it's the media. Gingrich was on the right track. If every single GOP candidate just matter of factly included the "media are liars" meme in every early encounter (with specifics when appropriate), you might be able to get a more level playing field. Every show, every time, for months at a time ... "Well, Brian (or Candy, or Wolf, or whoever), that may or may not be true, but one thing for certain is that NBC (or CNN, or whoever) is packed to the rafters with nearly 100% Democrats who at this point are really nothing more than prostitutes for the Democratic Party who long ago whored out whatever remains of their tattered credibility in exchange for access to and approval from the candidates you want to win."

300 That Biden doesn't make Dems hang their heads in shame The Dems aren't capable of shame. That's what makes them Democrats.

301 I touched the hem of Tom Cotton's sport coat and my neck goiter was healed.

302

Tom Cotton will stop us from F#@king that chicken!

Posted by: DJ Mallamutt, Meme Mixer at November 19, 2012 09:12 AM (OWjjx)

 

 

Cut.  Jib.  Newsletter.

303 Optimize, stop playing fair. They run a white guy, fund a black women as a third party, they run a women, run a Hispanic alternative, etc.

304 Binders. Big Bird. Bain. Filth like Harry Reid taking to the Senate floor to dishonestly accuse a good man like Romney of tax fraud, and on and on and on ... An electron microscope couldn't measure how little I think of these guys at this point.

305 ut no, actually said "Barky....your a cocksucker". Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO Truth sucks sometimes

306 Cotten = cotten = white = going to hell

307 295
It seems like in a time like this where the big three networks are on the wane that this should be possible.

Posted by: Optimizer at November 19, 2012 09:13 AM (Mxt9o)

The Big 3 are declining in viewership - but - there is PBS, CNN,MSNBC, Yahoo News, KOS, Huffington Post, and so on. Their outlets are strong, and well-funded. And the entertainment industry. Which is all Left, all the time. That leavening is poisonous and subtle.

The pain that's coming "might" be the best teacher for Lefties. We need to protect ourselves from it as much as possible.

308 A couple of observations: 1. The Center for American Progress (the soros outfit run by John Podesta of Clinton fame) is making a big push for early voting across the board. This began within a day of the election, based on reports of problems at the polls 2. I worked as an election official near a university campus. Almost to a student, they demanded to be instructed as to how to use the touchscreen machine. One slipped and told me that they were instructed to do this by the people who bussed them over, OFA. As we were swarmed by bus loads of mostly first year students the entire day, this added a good 40 seconds to each voter, giving a consistent wait time of at least 45". The deliberate befuddlement of the chief added to the confusion, as he had no problem allowing the OFA people to wander about behind the machines and to hand out pizza to those waiting, until a couple of us repeated called him out on this. Sorry for the wordy post, but these people do not slow down or rest on their laurels.

309 John F-ing Kerry was an unappealing Rich With Dude (TM). How was that treasonous bastard not "icky" while Romney supposedly was?

He hated America. Also, he got his money in an Acceptable Way and not by working in business for it.

310 How one who is actually registered doesn't vote in a historic election such as the last one is beyond me. Why register?

Because some nice Boyscout called you up for their public service project on their way to Eagle Scout.  Or because you were at the DMV to get your license renewed, and the person asked.

We make it ridiculously easy to register to vote.  That's one of the reasons the fraudsters' cries of "Voter ID is too hard to get" doesn't sway me.  Besides the fact they're lying, there's the fact I want it to be harder to vote.  I only want people who really care about the election voting.

311 The next GOP president should pull NBC's freebie license when it comes up for renewal and award it to a conservative. They have no right to our airwaves in perpetuity.

312 Just wait till I go negative on Tom Cotton.  I could devour him.

313 308 Binders. Big Bird. Bain. Filth like Harry Reid taking to the Senate floor to dishonestly accuse a good man like Romney of tax fraud, and on and on and on ... An electron microscope couldn't measure how little I think of these guys at this point. Posted by: Blacksheep at November 19, 2012 09:20 AM (bS6uW) I heard from good sources that Reid likes to rape little boys while in his taxpayer funded Elmo costume. It's true!

314 I only want people who really care about are legally interested in the election voting. Proposed amendment.

315 In the summer, Tom Cotton wears seersucker.

316 Proposed amendment.

Accepted.

317 216 150. I get that we have to look at the election critically to determine what went wrong so that we can fix it, and I agree with Gabe that most of the reasons why Mitt lost were strategic. It's now baked in the cake that Republicans are evil white guys who hate clean air and minorities. Look at the way they're portrayed in movies and on TV. When was the last time that a conservative character was shown in a positive light?
-
Start pushing to repeal the Hollywood tax cuts, seriously.

For decades, liberals have been playing the long game, building strategic advantages that inexorably increase, especially:
1. Mass immigration / population replacement, producing a more leftist electorate.
2. Breaking down the family. If only intact families voted, conservatives would win.
3. Building a mass media machine starting with Hollywood that poisons the culture.

Things aren't going to get better without some kind of conservative attack. They're going to get worse and worse and worse.

The occasional election of a Republican who does nothing to roll back the main strategic advantages of liberalism will not change this.

The immigration floodgates (legal and illegal with amnesty) have to be closed. There has to be a serious effort to make family values real. (Yay Rick Santorum - he could not have won, but if at least if he had won he would have addressed a real issue.) And the hard work of breaking down the media machine must start.

Right now, Glen Reynolds is the most useful man alive, even though he isn't a conservative, because he is smart, and he's focusing not just on hammering the credibility of "democratic operatives with bylines" but on the hard-to-defend advantages and finances of Hollywood, which pours into the culture the harmful memes that the news media later exploit.

Given that there is no political leader now, this is the only kind of attack that can be made, and there must be an attack, so this is it. If nothing else, just talk about it.

Repeal the Hollywood tax cuts.

318

You cannot convince me that Romney lost a legitimate election.

319 Sure, Gabby, NOW you're right.

320 Tom Cotton is obviously a racist who wants to put my people back in the cotton fields. SWIDT? Toure made a funny.

321

"199 ... I only have about 50 links worth of anecdotal evidence of every possible variety, and about five links on directions on how to steal votes electronically.

I don't know how much evidence people need to believe this. Andy thinks we're tin foil ninnies for even entertaining the idea."

 

 

I also have math.  How do you get D+8 in one election, lose 6 million votes, and still end up with D+6?

 

Truman - is there a web site with that stuff?  I guess "anecdotal evidence" doesn't sound very compelling, but it seems like people should be looking at whether votes could have been stolen electronically.  On the ORCA thing, it makes me wonder if the system was attacked, when I hear that suddenly tons of people can't sign on, even after resetting passwords.  Admittedly, it was stupid to abandon the old system, leaving no backup in case the new one failed.

 

For all we know, a simple cyber attack undermined the GOTV, and made the difference.  Shame on them, but shame on the Romney guys for not being ready for that, and putting all their eggs in one basket.

 

322

 Ther's another lesson lurking here? Yeah. You could say that...

 Yeah, you gotta work on mechanics and messaging. Yeah, you gotta deal with incmpetence in your campaign staffs. Yeah, you gotta crack down on vote fraud and everything else. Needs to be done.

 Yeah, there is a 'but', here, of course.

 What happened to Reagan's message? Belief in the American dream? Belief that all Americans can achieve that dream? Belief that American is still a place of opportunity...for every American citizen. Then, he communicated that dream, that possiblity, that potential, to American citizens. He didn't viciously attack Americans or America. He didn't viciously attack others within his own party. Conservatives and Republicns these days do just the opposite. Everything he did right, you do wrong, not only as a party, but as individuals and groups, as blogs and campaigns.

 But what did Reagan know, eh? It's not like he ever won a presidential election by a landslide ...or won a second one quite handily, or nuthin'. What a fool he was, eh? What did he know.

323 Why the GOP Won't Challenge Vote Fraud: Details of 1982 Consent Decree http://tinyurl.com/axx8t3r

324 324 You cannot convince me that Romney lost a legitimate election.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at November 19, 2012 09:28 AM (AD7g/)

With tens of millions of voters who have a franchise, but no skin in the game except for Free Shit, the legitimate part is maybe moot.

325 What a fool he was, eh?

That sure is a recurring opinion here, isn't it? That Reagan was a fool. I can't go three comments without seeing that.

You irretrievably-dense straw-man fabricator.

326 IMO the GOP could have offered a percentage cut to their salaries that matched the average wage reduction of American workers until the economy got going again. If the Democrats refused to vote on that just do it and put the money back into the budget. Should have been done a long time ago and would have been one thing to counter the mean old Republican bs.

Beyond that, we only maybe fight back during elections, while the MFM, Democrats and education system are fighting 24/7.

327 More of gabe's stupidity and uninformed arrogance on display.

328

"239 ... "Mr. President, congratulations on your win. I've never seen you lose."

That is what we're dealing with."

 

 

Keep in mind that, as one pundit pointed out at the time, it's not a big deal if you have ONE suck-up; it's that nobody else in the room glared at her for her journalistic malpractice.  It was a love-fest.

329 323:

Your second point was addressed by the 45 goals to a Communist takeover, read into Congressional record in 1963:

  40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.     41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

330 IMHO....the only way a republican can win in the foreseeable future is if EVERYONE pays taxes....everyone. There really are people who believe that the "government" has A. a printing machine with monopoly money B. A tree that grows money....because their parents never told them otherwise. I'm dead serious....they really believe this crap...I have talked to some of them.

331 328 But what did Reagan know, eh? It's not like he ever won a presidential election by a landslide ...or won a second one quite handily, or nuthin'. What a fool he was, eh? What did he know.
-
In 1980, whites were 88 percent of the electorate. In 2012, they were 72 percent of the electorate. Not only that, but the non-white electorate is far more Democratic than it was in 1980.

332 Sometimes, I think a big part of the GOP's problem is their own politicians don't really believe in small government and limited powers; and that's why they have so much difficulty getting the message across. They are just paying lip-service to ideas they neither believe nor understand.

333 Tom Cotton will tell Harry Reid to bring his shinebox....bring his shinebox.....bring his shinebox. Umm, you remember what happened to the shinebox guy, right?

334 BANGKOK (AP) — President Barack Obama said Sunday an incursion by Israel's forces into the Gaza Strip could only deepen its death toll, cautioning against an escalation even as he defended the Jewish state's right to defend itself. Obama also warned Palestinians the crisis could crush peace hopes for years.

"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.

"If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," he said. "It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."

We lost to this? Thanks to all of the uneducated nitwits who voted for this uneducated commie nitwit

335

All ya have to do is figure out how to win the dumbass vote when the other side controls the news, the intertainment industry, most of the bureaucracy at all levels of governmenrt, and has a majority among the rich, and the rent seeking big corps. And near as I can tell they own most all the judges, lawyers, NGOs and now even the Supremes.

 

Should be easy.

336 Voting trends of Presidential voting of GOP early caucus states
that essentially choose the GOP candidate or give him momentum
.
1) Iowa - D, D, D, D, R, D, D
2) New Hampshire - R, D, D, R, D, D, D
3) South Carolina - R, R, R, R, R, R, R
4) Florida - R, R, D, R, R, R, D, D
5) Nevada - R, D, D, R, R, D, D
6) Colorado - R, R, D R,R, R, D, D
7) Minesotta - D, D, D, D, D, D, D
Missouri - R, R, D, D, R, R, R, D, D
9) Maine -  R, R, D, D, D, D, D, D
10) Arizona - R, R, D, D, R, R, R, R
11) Michigan - R, R, D, D, D, D, D
12) Wyoming - R, R, R, R, R, R, R
13) Washington -  R, D, D, D, D, D, D

If you think this system will produce anything except a
milk toast moderate to liberal candidate I got some swamp land to sell you.

337 Gabe, I disagree with you more often than I agree, but this post is one of the best post election analysis I've read. Good job.

338 I'm dead serious....they really believe this crap...I have talked to some of them.

Posted by: kawfytawk at November 19, 2012 09:35 AM (JWLqy)

 

Ya know, if we had one honest politician, he'd just tell the truth. "You cannot have this level of a welfare state without everyone's taxes going to European levels. Stop charging this shit on your children's credit you spoiled rottten fools."

 

He'd be destroyed, but at least it would be the truth.

339 So, this whole "Who shot John?" argument is played. Can we talk about what a babe Sarah Palin is?

340 Don't you morons know? The GOP lost because Romney didn't do more whiteboard presentations

1. Whiteboards
2. ???
3. Victory!!!

341 336 323:
Your second point was addressed by the 45 goals to a Communist takeover, read into Congressional record in 1963:

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
-
Judging by results, cultural Marxists are succeeding where crude Marxists failed, and they are proving right about the strategic value of their goal.

It's easy to dismiss social conservative concerns as embarrassing, just sex or irrelevant - but when you look at how married people vote compared with how singles vote, the reality of the situation ought to be obvious. If social conservatives lose, or are put in the back of the bus and told to shut up while their concerns are disregarded, then in the long run conservatism loses.

342 So I like these arguments as to why we didn't lose. No really, I do.

But if all those are reasons why we didn't lose, then....how DID we lose?

And has anyone compared the turnout in the Sandy-struck North East, vs the turnout in 2008. I'm curious how much of Obama's 10 million is attributed to the storm.

343 Let me drag out my soapbox -- end withholding, call it education reform, call it stimulus, what ever -- fuck Wilson's zombie ass now. Change the narrative, worry about pretty faces for President later, make the taxpayers care.

344

Ok, read Gabes post and article. Sound to me like we need to appeal to feelings because facts dont matter to these people. Yes, the stupid vote. such is life.

I know someone who is actually smart and reasonable. However, he first said, before the debates that Romney wasnt really different then Obama. During the debates he concluded Paul Ryan was a religious extremist, liked Biden's growing the economy from the middle out comment, believe the R&R plan did not add up and thought O's bayonet snark was the AWESOME! and sided with Obama about the military budget is what the military wanted. When i pointed out O lied his response was, well they all lie, how do you know Romney didnt?

So smart in general, not so smart on politics. blah. He doesnt want big govt but thinks religious institutions shouldnt deny birth control?? enviroment must be protected and cant seem to understand the need for checks and balances on that to avoid shutting down the economy. Makes my head hurt.

I was expecting some snark from co-workers how voted for Obama but not a word. I wonder if deep down people are relazing it was a mistake.

345 In business you always had two options to motivate people, KITA (kick in the ass) or CAS (carrot and stick). Some methods worked for some people, while the other method was the only thing that would work for another group. KITA was always a bit of a problem, because after a while the only way you could get this individual to work at all was to continually kick him in the ass. CAS was a pretty good motivator for most, but you always had to remind people of what was at the end of the stick. Using those motivators as a guide, then how to rate the Romney campaign? As a higher information voter, I'm not even really sure what the carrot was at the end of the stick. Was there even one? If the KITA method was to guarantee the lesser motivated got to the polls, then OCRA was the system that failed miserably. The threat of the eventual implementation of ObamaCare should have been a kick in the ass to a majority of Americans who oppose the implementation, and are already seeing the costs being shifter further onto their own backs. How often was that message repeated? As a former corporate ABC's of acronyms starting with the letter "C" type I have to rate Romney as C- for management skills.

346 Well remember what the Florida primary was like, with Abrams pretending
Gingrich was some Sandinista lover, and Wurnstrom, running the Brokaw feed our after our, then we had a Senate candidate, who was like a caricature of W, the Party kept Rivera, and exiled West to St. Lucie Cty, and then you have the 'subtle' undertow of the Zimmerman witchhunt,

347 >>>29 Put a TRUE CONSERVATIVE up for election, he/she will win. Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, H.W. Bush and W. Bush. All your post-WWII Republican presidents that won an election. Only one of those things is not like the other.

348 I'm sorry Gabe, but Obullshit won exactly because of Free Shit

Even though exit polls show a 53 to 39 percent of voters thought that Romney would better handle the economy, 81 percent felt that "Obama cares about people like me"

Obama cares means that Obama is going to give me free shit, not Obama is going to tuck me in at night

And if like Meggie McCans you feel that socons are the reason we're losing, are there enough of the young hip set who support gay marriage just itching to vote GOP to make up for the loss of those voters ?

349 It is a mere point of semantics as to wether they are too greedy to be free or to stupid to be free. LiB still appears the best medicine.

350 I can't believe you guys aren't on the Biz Markie bandwagon.

351 He'd be destroyed, but at least it would be the truth. Posted by: Invictus at November 19, 2012 09:41 AM (OQpzc) And that is another problem....folks just want to be lied to.....to believe otherwise is frightening. but geez what I wouldn't give for a "straight-shooter" no beating around the bush....just tell it like it is. You cannot tackle a problem without understanding it and meeting it head on. But we have a citizenry that will find a reason, illness, or anything to blame. It's why we have so many people on pharmaceuticals. Stressed...take a pill. Kids being kids? ....here's some ritalin....too fat?....get a lap band or wonder drug. Depressed?....here's another pill...crap the list goes on and on.... Folks would prefer the "quick fix" even if it only masks the symptoms. That is what this election was.....people wanting to avoid the hard work to change things.

352 How is Zimmerman?

353 It wasn't turnout! It was FRAUD! The democrats created our our drug and crime infested inner cities so that they could use them for voter fraud. No voter ID, motor voter, absentee ballots, 18 year old voting. It was all create for fraud. Need proof? How many inner city areas went 100% or higher for Obomba? America can never be a Republic again as long as a one political party cheats.

The democrat party controls; 90% of home mortgages, student loans, auto industry, unions, media and now healthcare. Energy is next, they are putting the squeeze on now.

Nevertheless, I look forward to serving our democrat masters. Sieg Heil!

354 So, basically we need to concentrate on taking back the education system and thereby influencing the culture long term. Unfortunately, irreversible, irreparable damage will be done to the country and society. Sticky wicket, what?

355 Swing voters aren't the problem. Unlikely voters favor Dems 2-1 (and have forever). Unlikely voters now vote in increasing numbers. You go to Election Day with the electorate you have. And that electorate says the GOP is done. It will get far worse, this is just the tipping point. It was bound to happen eventually. The numbers just aren't there for conservative GOP voters. Likely voters barely favor the GOP. The only way the GOP will win is by making it harder to vote. As long as it is very easy (email, early voting etc) the Dems will win.

356

Posted by: The Lightworker at November 19, 2012 09:46 AM (yJ+RL)

___

Here's item 15:

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

Items 17 through 22:

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.   18. Gain control of all student newspapers.   19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.   20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.   21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.   22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

 

It's nothing short of miraculous that fifty years after this plan was articulated (and most goals in place), Republicans still control the house, 60 per cent of state governments, and narrowly lost a presidential election.

357 362 Unfortunately, irreversible, irreparable damage will be done to the country and society, IN THE NEXT 4 YEARS. Choked on a danish so I left off that bit which was the crux of the biscuit...

358 Judging by results, cultural Marxists are succeeding where crude Marxists failed, and they are proving right about the strategic value of their goal.

It's easy to dismiss social conservative concerns as embarrassing, just sex or irrelevant - but when you look at how married people vote compared with how singles vote, the reality of the situation ought to be obvious. If social conservatives lose, or are put in the back of the bus and told to shut up while their concerns are disregarded, then in the long run conservatism loses.

Posted by: The Lightworker at November 19, 2012 09:46 AM (yJ+RL)

Yes, they have been successful. Using the useful idiots along the way. And they are relentless in their pursuit of destroying the country and its institutions

359 I'm glad to read the we didn't lose the election after all

360 just saw "Mens Warehouse" commercial on Fox news. The owner is a big Obama supporting kapo. everyone boycott his store. and while you're at it cancel Comcast now. get FIOS or anything else. If you want to hurt NBC, do it in their wallet.

361 Disagree vehemently.... the problem is not that we lost narrowly... we lost an election we should have won by a landslide. The base stayed home because Romney and the Republican establishment does not represent them. And as these same people now so busily seek prove further by making themselves even more like Dems. We didnt lose an election...we are being forced to confront the idea that we dont have representation in the political system at all.

362 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

It's nothing short of miraculous that fifty years after this plan was articulated (and most goals in place), Republicans still control the house, 60 per cent of state governments, and narrowly lost a presidential election.

Posted by: kallisto at November 19, 2012 09:53 AM (jm/9g)

Chicago is a shining example of shit on displaying pretending to be art work

363 364 It's nothing short of miraculous that fifty years after this plan was articulated (and most goals in place), Republicans still control the house, 60 per cent of state governments, and narrowly lost a presidential election. Posted by: kallisto at November 19, 2012 09:53 AM (jm/9g) And that Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections as confirmation of conservatism/seeming rejection of the aforementioned. Then again, the pod people that elected SCOAMF were either yet to be born or still in school getting "re-educated" and had not voted. TAKE BACK THE SCHOOLS.

364 As the Stupid Party the GOP is uniquely positioned to appeal to the stupid. They just need to alter the caricature.

2016 - It's the stupid, stupid.

365

"It wasn't turnout! It was FRAUD!"

 

I don't know about that.  After checking my own township and precinct, I found out that voter turnout was up over 2008, that Mitt and our ultra conservative congressman won by good margins and that somehow, Debbie Fucking Stabenow won for Senate.

 

How that cow could get a majority of the votes in our conservative district is beyond comprehension.  However, the elections here are run by republicans, I know most of the poll workers and I'm convinced it was legit.

 

I still can't believe it.

366 365 362 Unfortunately, irreversible, irreparable damage will be done to the country and society, IN THE NEXT 4 YEARS.

Choked on a danish so I left off that bit which was the crux of the biscuit...

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at November 19, 2012 09:53 AM (vCK/R)

We can't compromise our way out of this mess. Just becoming Democrats, in order to appeal to Democrats, won't work. They already have a party - who the hell needs us? The damage mentioned is already done. It has to burn, there's no alternative.

367 362 So, basically we need to concentrate on taking back the education system and thereby influencing the culture long term.
-
It should be a serious conservative aim to support home-schoolers. If Joe and Jane America don't want Joe Jr. to be indoctrinated in cultural Marxism and mugged at school, "conservative" politicians that aren't serious about helping them are useless.

368 369 Posted by: Leigh at November 19, 2012 09:55 AM (pWkNv) This is what I do not understand. So the base stayed home - on '08 and '12 - because they did not like Romney and the Establishment RINO's. So rather than accepting Mitt, they would rather see SCOAMF elected twice. What does that accomplish? Really. If someone is in this camp I really would like to hear the logic of it.

369 Gabe, Obama got many more votes in 2008 than he did in 2012. The votes he lost did not switch to Mitt. The overall drop in votes is a sign of rebellion against both sides and is indeed a sign the GOP needs to change. Before the election you predicted Obama would win and you warned us against wish casting. Heed your own warning.

370

Side note.  Somebody noticed that Megyn Kelly seemed positively giddy during the election coverage.

 

Did they also notie that she came on to O'Reilly's show, and said - with a straight face - that if you have 19,000 votes in certain election districts in the Philadelphia area with ZERO for Romney that it's NOT evidence of fraud?  Geez - there's really 19,000 people in this world who are UNANIMOUS on ANYTHING Megyn? Seriously?  Not even ONE person who made a mistake, or who just wanted to be a wise-guy?  It was ridiculous.

371 Obama won because he did turn out the same number or more of two important constituencies: young people and Latinos. The "urban vote" that overwhelmed Romney is not just a black/Latino vote; it includes millions of 20- and 30-somethings who prefer big-city life. And they ALL voted for Obama. Not because of any free shit he gave them, but because he better reflected their values than Romney did. They have jobs, they have apartments and aren't worried about mortgages or car payments or any of the stuff we worry about. They get their news from Jon Stewart and from YouTube. Guess who was there, and who was not? Democrats are still puzzled why the Mediscare campaign didn't work for them. It's because seniors voted their values. They saw Romney as the sober, mature businessman who they could relate to and trust with the keys to the country. Obama ran juvenile bullshit campaign to get the young people, but it massively turned off young people. The ONLY lesson we need to learn from this election is that the vast majority of voters still vote their values. They will tell pollsters the economy is their #1 issue, but we should never believe this again.

372 Did Romney still win independents 55-45?

373 at this point i could care less why we lost. we have to get into the culture, without that its over. culture people, culture. and we gotta drop the gentleman-act, it obviously isnt working.

374 The Terrible "Ifs" Accumulate

375

'373"It wasn't turnout! It was FRAUD!"

I don't know about that. After checking my own township and precinct, I found out that voter turnout was up over 2008, that Mitt and our ultra conservative congressman won by good margins and that somehow, Debbie Fucking Stabenow won for Senate.  ...'

 

 

So - voter turnout was up for your district, but you don't think it's suspicious that it wasn't up nationally?

376 Woops, I meant massively turned off old people. Obama's campaign carefully picked their voters, and got just enough of them to the polls to win. It was an entirely tactical campaign, and I agree with Gabe, we lost an election, not an argument. The argument was never made. That being said, we do have to figure out how to win back Virginia and Ohio and Colorado, or we're never winning another Presidential election.

377 he needs to stop shouting about the miracles of Cotton. Posted by: fluffy at November 19, 2012 09:08 AM (z9HTb) We're soon going to demand equal time. Posted by: The Miracles of Polyester at November 19, 2012 09:11 AM (9F2c1) the touch... the feel...the fabric of our lives...

378 You know, I think that previous comment about surrender, retreat, or attack is so important, that if I had a blog, I would put a post up about it, soliciting comments from the readers.

379 I must have missed the headline about the arrests in the massive Philadelphia election fraud scheme.

380 @334
+1000

We lost an election, not an argument.   ?????

Losing while winning = GOP

And it's certainly not how he got the swing voters; they recognized a pander. Instead, he got the swing voters by making Romney the icky candidate.

yeah cuz Luntz's dunces would never allow themselves to be pandered to.  /sarc

Romney was "icky" because he nominally represented principle and it was an easy out for the dunces to go " oh but he flipped on abortion so - HYPOCRITE!  GIMME CHEEZ!". Not because of Obama's way brilliant strategy.

Obama represents the decline of American culture: Honey Boo boo and porn flakes . The gamer slacker - gimmedats eat it up - no moral questions need be addresses with Ozombie

The truth is Romney pridefully believed that presenting a mostly consistent moral candidate to an immoral electorate was enough. It wasn't enough because of the degradation of the culture and the fact that the electorate doesn't want to face any moral questions.


Like Ogambe and Benghazi.

You got a lower number of voters, but he still pulled it off. What was the difference?  The disappearance of the moral compass and evaporation of shame.

The electorate is the story here.

Yeah. I know. Damn SoCons.

 

381 We also should not fret about not getting those "missing voters" who stayed home this time but voted for Obama in 2008. That was a historical anomaly election, they created a cult of personality and a movement behind Barack Obama that got millions to show up and vote for him. This election was dirty and nasty from start to finish, was no about the future at all, and gave many casual voters no reason to show up for either guy.

382

I agree that this election was won by making the Republican unacceptable and turnout. We all commented that Obama was only interested in going to fund-raisers actually his whole 4 years. Now we know that basically the Obama campaign knew they could overcome the destruction of their politices with money. That's scary but if you listen to what we are debating it is all the issues that 100's of millions of dollars told us were important. Gay marriage, Abortion, illegal immigration. I would add that Obama spent the last 4 years building his turnout machine in swing states. He still got millions of less votes.

 

Basically this election was bought. Obama had enough money to make it about big bird and binders, fake war on women. The lesson mentioned above is we shouldn't take the massive PR campiagn by a cult leader who had more money as proof that we don't know what is best for the country.

 

2016 the cult leader goes away. 2010 taught us that Obama is actually a detriment in purple off-year elections like 2014. Everyone hang in there and don't throw away your beliefs. We might be surprised how quick they come back in fashion unless anyone thinks Obamanomics or Obamacare is suddenly going to wok.

 

383

"...it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut.

 

Considering the FiCons and the SoCons seem to enjoy making caricatures out of one another, I don't think we're going to rebut that anytime soon.

 

Bottom line is, months of negative attack ads from Obama (with an utterly complicit media) with NO, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH return in kind from Romney is what killed him.  Sure you can lump in shitty ground game, voter fraud, and turnout into the mix, but it comes down do controlling the flow of information.

384

Posted by: rockmom at November 19, 2012 09:59 AM (qe2/V)

__

so we just have to wait for such time as the Sex in the City electorate aborts itself out of existence and/or is rendered sterile by the various and sundry STDs that mutate and transform to untreatability.

Come to think of it, that cohort are not generally the breeders. The social cons are.

385 Which parent is the child's favorite: the one who makes him brush his teeth (and in the long run saves them a lot of pain and inconvenience), or the parent who lets him go to bed without ever brushing? That is why we are losing. That is why we are probably past a point where a hard reset (war, economic collapse, etc) is needed. Generation "Everybody Gets a Ribbon" wants to be given stuff and doesn't have the ability/desire to look ahead to the future. Think of every major issue in politics. Republicans are always on the side of responsibility, not the "fun" side. We're the ones trying to reign in spending and government reach. News flash: those are "strict parent" positions. It's nearly impossible to explain that kind of reasoning to a child. Only the experiencing of consequences can make the reasoning clear. So, I think it's down to this: we need a better strategy than just the parental "because I said so". It isn't working, and we obviously don't have the authority to pull it off. And this is how our fiscal cliff warnings are coming off. They are viewed as melodramatic attempts to persuade opinion. The parents understand the gravity of the situation, but these children want the fun parent. How can we frame ourselves in this light without selling our souls? I don't know. I wish I did, but I don't. I hate being the kid who has his hard work ruined by his irresponsible sibling.

386 Unfortunately for us, the delivery of Free Shit is scheduled for today )Obamaphones) or tomorrow (tax cuts for the "middle class") at the latest, while responsibility, discipline, and hard work deliver their benefits way down the line.

387 Posted by: The Lightworker at November 19, 2012 09:46 AM (yJ+RL) aren't you the guy who is all stormfronty, all white power rockin the vote and such, who won't answer questions about how you feel about Jews where's your buddy?

388

I know Gabe doesn't want to hear this but the Republicans DID lose because Obama promised to be Santa Claus.  The longer people like Gabe live in denial the greater chance we will expedite our way to a full blown socialist society.

 

Maybe that's what Gabe and people like him want. They want to be liked so they don't want to express the truth.  They only want to whisper it behind closed doors.

389 Fix any one of these and Romney would have won. Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 19, 2012 07:06 AM (GsoHv) What concerns me is that Obama was CARTER. You almost shouldn't have to make a case, yet there you go. It says more to me about the intelligence and informedness of the voting population. And, yes, they don't want the gravy-train cutoff. Obama didn't have to promise more goodies - people think he's going to give them more goodies based on his past of giving goodies out. Do I vote for the guy who might give me free shit because he has given other people free shit? Do I vote for the guy who won't cut Big Bird? This is the uphill battle we face - we can't even suggest that PBS be cut and Big Bird make his own way without being ridiculed for it. That ridicule plays on 'Joe Voter' who wants to be associated with the side that is doing the bullying. It's human nature, and we live in a country full of eternal children who just want to have a a Mommy and Daddy forever.

390 Posted by: blindside at November 19, 2012 10:08 AM (x7g7t)



Short form:


You have to grow old, but if you vote for Obama, you don't have to grow up!

391 I agree with Gabe... Our Candidate was portrayed as "icky" in every ad obama had. Not to mention he was "icky" in 90% of the news stories, and TV comedians and talk show types, and of course Hollywood. Pretty tough to run against that. Evidently "cool "is more important than   solutions....

392

 Laughing neck braces: we have to get into the culture, without that its over.

culture people, culture.

 

You aren't going to grab the culture by the head and twist it your way. If we could why did we not do it before?

I think to say every election is going to be about the culture like this one was is a big mistake. Obama is a unique candidate that won't come again. It was cool to vote for Obama (culture) Is it cool to vote for Hilliary? We'll see but I sure am not certain they can run the same campiagn they did for Obama on any issues they want especially after 8 years of Obama. I would say that in 2004 we won on national security and no 9/11's by 2008 that issues was worn out and people wanted something more. I could easily see people tiring of Obama in 4 years and a guy like Rubio would be a welcome a face as Obama was in 2008.

393 Jeez, yet another economy-sized load of Karl Rove-smelling things really aren't that bad crap from Gabe. What a shock. One HUGE qualifier you conveniently left out of this pile of crap post, Gabe, is that the GOP was running against one of the worst presidents in U.S. history with a crappy and steadily worsening economy. Funny you left that out of your "analysis" since it blows your basic premise out of the water...just a coincidence, I'm sure. Changes would be needed and heads would need chopping even if Romney had *won* by a small margin when up against this level of opponent. The fact that the GOP couldn't even manage a close win is just pathetic. Almost as pathetic as all the "don't worry, things aren't that bad" bullshit in this post.

394

Didn't Indies supposedly break in Rombley's favor?

 

Anyone got the numbers on that? 

 

 

395 Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say Can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today? If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away There'll be no one to save, with the world in a grave [Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy] And you tell me Over and over and over again, my friend Ah, you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction.

396 Gabe, you know what the election numbers are, but you do not understand what they mean.

397 106 Disappearing hundreds of thousands of votes is a pretty tall order; and if they were going to cheat, why not cheat at the House level too? There is voter fraud going on, but for it to be on that large of a scale requires us to believe teh entire government is compromised, which is... unlikely. Every poll showed it would be a close, turn-out election. Everyone expected a high turnout election, which would have favored Romney since he was winning independents. That did not happen. Posted by: Matt S. at November 19, 2012 07:54 AM (moRRg) You don't need to cheat at the house races. You stuff the ballot box in placed where the Democrat was EXPECTED to win. Places like Cleveland, Philly, Chicago, etc. That doesn't change the outcome of a given House race, but it changes the outcome of the popular vote for a STATE, and EVs are awarded based on the winner of the popular vote for a state. If a lot of House races that were expected to go Republican suddenly flipped to Dem, people might get REALLY suspicious. However, if the Democrat races are MORE democrat...well, there you go. Look at the down ticket effect for Senators - again elected by popular vote. We did have a number of Senators that lost that were expected to win.

398

"So - voter turnout was up for your district, but you don't think it's suspicious that it wasn't up nationally?"

 

Posted by: Optimizer at November 19, 2012 10:02 AM (Mxt9o)

 

If there was massive fraud, Obama would have received at least as many votes as he did in 2008.  No one would have batted an eye.

399 Come to think of it, that cohort are not generally the breeders. The social cons are.

Posted by: kallisto at November 19, 2012 10:06 AM (jm/9g)

They are the 800 pound gorilla. In terms of voting. Talk all you want of veering Leftward to pull in the hipster, Latino, Gay, black, you name it, voter. If you alienate the Social Conservatives, you will lose all elections, up and down the line, even city councils. Piss them off at your peril.

400 You have to grow old, but if you vote for Obama, you don't have to grow up! Posted by: Hrothgar - L.I.B or SMOD for the Children at November 19, 2012 10:10 AM (Cnqmv) Even shorter form: Gimme my free shit!

401
Not as if there is only one reason, but if I had to pick the top one, it is the media.  Billions and billions of dollars of free advertising for democrats, not just during the election, but the whole 4 years, everyday. 

Take one media outlet - abc, espn, disney channel.  I have young kids, they like cartoons, what of it, didn't we all, except that they are bombarded with leftist propaganda not only then but during the breaks freaking Moochelle shows up in every one of them.  We all know of espn on their knees for O, can't even watch a game without these bastards propaganda.  Of course the news at abc, local and national goes without saying.

Fighting that is very tough business, and it is not a matter of me turning off the tv, its that the electorate is being bombarded with it, and we have to change it in a couple of months of campaigning.

(fyi - we change the channel if Odictator comes on and the kids know why)

402

Instead, he got the swing voters by making Romney the icky candidate. The same thing could have been done to any candidate we ran because it wasn't about Romney's politics, it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut.

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

And how exactly do you think he made Romney into the "icky candidate?"  Yep, by saying Romney wouldn't be giving you free stuff the way Obama would.

 

This country couldn't even bring itself to elect a moderate, let alone a real dyed-in-the-wool conservative, so in that sense I agree with Gabe that a more conservative candidate probably wouldn't have won either.  But to suggest that we just barely lost seems to be fanciful.  Given Obama's record, to the extent that he has one, this shouldn't have even been close, and yet here's a guy trying to say "gee, we almost got it this time!"

 

Sorry, this election just proved that a great big bloc of this country is addicted to free stuff and are immune to any arguments as to why we can't keep giving that stuff away...even milquetoasty arguments such as those proposed by Romney.  That's the big problem, and that's the issue where there is no good conservative pop-culture-friendly message to combat it.  We're in the political wilderness until the entire financial system crashes ala Greece. 

 

 

403 Come to think of it, that cohort are not generally the breeders. The social cons are. Posted by: kallisto at November 19, 2012 10:06 AM (jm/9g) that is not true. Look at hispanic illegal immigrants. They have lots of kids, young

404 We lost the election because enough white people were intimidated by the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Maher's threats that "black people know where you live...", and the talks of rioting that would occur if the Lightbringer were voted out. Whites couldn't bear to look into the face of their One Black Friend who would be angry and disppointed at the outcome. Many of these Soft Whites live in close proximity of black areas and may have been rightfully afraid of blowback. There's no feeling of white unity (of course, I'd be branded as coming from Stormfront by suggesting this). That's it. Those are your missing voters.

405 It's funny because people are arguing the "ideology vs strategy" side of this election. They're related, folks. The child won't buy into the parent's idea of brushing their teeth until a) consequences catch them or b) the parent gets creative in how they explain it. Culture, ideology and strategy can't be divorced. We need a whole picture solution. Most people will eventually agree with the responsible position, but until a) catastrophe strikes or b) our strategy changes, they probably really do share the liberal ideology.

406

The only way children learn the lesson of tough love when one parent is giving them whatever they want is feeling the consequences of that type of parenting. Unfortunately the consequences takes time as the one parent has no problem going into debt to continue giving the spoiled kid whatever he wants.

 

Divorce is the only solution.   

407 Anybody else here old enough to remember Daddy Party v Mommy Party? Yeah, that. And the culture has been busy ridiculing and badmouthing Dad for decades. Father Knows Best is now Shit My Dad Says. We are unserious people and we get unserious candidates. BIZ MARKIE 2016!!!

408 @396
I fully expect the homosexual propagandists, pro-abortion and amnesty crowd to thrive in the ash heap of the GOP with their new RATA party - Reaching Across The Aisle.

 Let them try to kick Lucy's football for a few decades.


Meghan McCain/Gabe 2016  !!



LIB

409

Something has definitely changed in the electorate when the conventional wisdom about "No incumbent with ___ has ever won re-election"  is so far out the window it ain't comin' back.

 

It used to be about The Economy Stupid.  It's not anymore. 

410 And to add, look what the LA Times did, took Gabe out of context, it does not end.

411

I'm not really sure  about the exact cause of our defeat. It  seems to be a combination of a lot of things:   messaging,   a dumbed-down  electorate, MFM malfeasance, voter fraud.  It's a long list.  Attributing it to just one thing doesn't seem to answer the question  of  why   it happened.

 

IMHO, conservatism needs to become "cool." Exactly how we do  that is a mystery.  There is a clear need to counter  current  societal images of conservatives as anachronistic and clinging to "the old,"  at least to me. Maybe we'll become the counter-culture soon. Then we can take advantage of  the indoctrinated and  their ignorance by presenting the timeless truths as  something new and radical, with freedom and self-determination being the new Hip.

 

That's pretty much what modern radical leftism did with the outmoded, old theories of Marx. That  shit's been around for over a century, but it was packaged as "new"  and sold by the media to the young skulls full of mush. Maybe some of the rich  guys and  gals on our side can form some sort of organization to purchase the traditional Leftard MFM outlets (they're hemorraging money and will be for sale soon, hello Newsweak) and start to gently  do  to them what they did to us.

 

Howzabout a Conservative Long March of our own? After It  All  Burns, of course.

412 More free shit.

413 BS.
Bush got 62 Million votes, Romney was just a wall street type with limited empathy.
Better candidate wins it.

414 GOP to base: "Give us one more chance ONE MORE CHANCE! Just one more chance! C'mon! This next race is a lock I'm tellin' ya! We know where to go. We know what to do! I just need a stake. Ya know I'm good for it! "

415 If there was massive fraud, Obama would have received at least as many votes as he did in 2008. No one would have batted an eye.>>

They only had so many places where they control the system. Take a look at the county map of election results.

http://tinyurl.com/cd72mka

416 It's human nature, and we live in a country full of eternal children who just want to have a a Mommy and Daddy forever. Posted by: blindside at November 19, 2012 10:08 AM (x7g7t) Exactly...if you don't have responsibility...and ultimately make your own choices then you get to blame someone else (the one who DID make the decision) when the consequences occur. It's the hardest part about being grown-up. If you choose to relinquish your hard choices to someone else you can just sit back with no culpability.....hey I didn't do it! There have been times in my life when I ran the PTA or Booster Club....you would have all these folks bitch and complain about the direction "such and such" was going but they would NEVER volunteer to head up any committee because they would be judged on their OWN success or failure.

417

Hollywood. Pretty tough to run against that. Evidently "cool "is more important than solutions....

 

I the cool guy wears thin when the results are bad. We won't see the public appetite for more liberal nonsense I think even as soon as 2014. The fact is I would add if we have lost the country then it is lost. Let's not spend time caving to Dmeocrats and speeding it up. Stick to our ideas. I would hope everybody here has them because they believe they will work.

418 I don't always vote but when I do,, I vote GOP.  Strategize clearly my friends.

419 If those sharp swing voters can understand pandering, they should understand caricatures, too. ...I'm not convinced they really understand either.

420 Howzabout a Conservative Long March of our own? After It All Burns, of course.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit. at November 19, 2012 10:17 AM (lOmbq)

That's what is going to happen, whether anyone wants to go for a walk, or not. And the current borders won't apply, after all is said, and done. Put another way, the divorce papers have been filed.

421 that wasn't very interesting barrel, now

422 In science there is a thing called DOE, which stands for Design of Experiment. In this work you try to map out what things are important in determining your outcome and how they interact. The USA is a massive DOE experiment. A central lesson gleaned from DOE is you can think you have optimized your process and think you know the right things to do and avoid, but you really do not. The DOE can show you you have just been lucky or working just off to the side of the true optimal position or in another region that looks optimal but is far removed from the optimum. The GOP is floundering in an experimental space that is far removed from the optimum, and no amount of poor analysis will fix that, Gabe.

423 I think "Let" it Burn is so cute. As though we have the means to put out the fire and are just deciding if the cost is worth it. Well over 100 million Americans sat on their asses rather than vote, 60 some voted for 4 more years of the SCOAMT. Stop thinking the fire can be stopped and get to work on the fire line around your family because that is all you can do now.

424

In regard to claims of fraud and the contradictory fact that Obama also received less votes than 2008, I refer to the old saying:

 

When you and another person are being chased by a bear, you don't have to be able to run faster than the bear, only faster than that person.

425 It used to be about The Economy Stupid. It's not anymore.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 19, 2012 10:17 AM (uD2fR)

Now it's about having just enough of an economy so that the Free Shit doesn't stop flowing!

426 "Romney was just a wall street type with limited empathy."

-- Romney, the man who saved drowning people with his kids, suspended his business to find a missing girl, and sat with a dying kid to help him settle his affairs lacked empathy?

See, the problem is that people didn't bother to learn about Romney, not that he was a caricature.

427 "And it's certainly not how he got the swing voters; they recognized a pander. Instead, he got the swing voters by making Romney the icky candidate."

Reasonable analysis so far.

But how was Romney made into the icky candidate?

In part because of poor Presidential candidate selection by the GOP, and in part because of horrible messaging by the socon wing. To wit: class, and contraception.

Some swing voters have a big case of class envy. Some swing voters have bad impressions of high finance driven downsizing and outsourcing, often because they have experienced the consequences directly.

Romney was a uniquely bad candidate in this regard. You can argue that these voters are wrong and irrational to hold these attitudes. But they do hold them. And they vote accordingly. Running a guy who says things like "some of my best friends own NASCAR teams" is not a way to win them over. Running a guy who says that he likes being able to fire people is not a surefire route to popularity with an electorate smarting from mass firings. The Democrats _hammered_ these themes with upper Midwest white voters.

Other swing voters, of both sexes, really do believe and fear that the GOP is a thinly veiled theocratic party which will attempt to make abortion and even contraception unavailable. Again you may argue that these views are wrong and irrational. But they are real views held by real voters who have to be won over.

Instead, we had the spectacle of one social conservative GOP Presidential primary contender prominently talking about how the bully pulpit of the White House needed to be used to speak against the evil of contraception. Then later we had completely insane gaffes coming from GOP Senate candidates, also from the socon wing, about rape and abortion. And the rest of the party and the Presidential ticket did not move decisively to distance themselves from these sorts of statements.

This was not a Presidential candidate selection error as in the previous case cited. This was the socons totally failing to realize that their rhetoric has, does, and will kindle those fears among certain swing voters about an anti-abortion, anti-contraception party coming to power. And it was the non-socons in the GOP failing to realize that they were going to be tarred with the same brush. Again, the Democrats seized on this and hammered it viciously with young female swing voters who say it's a big issue to them.

And in the end it was enough hammering to add up to a victory for them.

428

Posted by: Thunderb at November 19, 2012 10:16 AM (Dnbau)

__

They're just a piece of the preazy electorate pie. They would have to have huge families - I'm talkin' old school Irish Catholic numbers - to make up for the Sex in the City crowd depopulating itself and the shrinking numbers of AAs, who disproportionately avail themselves of abortion. Who knows, maybe the brown people cohort will start to take a liking to abortion as much as AAs do now.

429 WTF?  Wow, just wow....

430 Can't put my thoughts together on this (preoccupied at work) Elements: Chris Christie Michael Moore ass-rape futility GOP strategy Some assembly required. Too fried to attempt it.

431 @431
Palerider

Yeah watch it burn is probably more accurate...but makes you feel even more helpless...

feeling helpless sucks -

let it burn = no more using the garden hoses on the inferno
psychological cushion maybe

432 Obama will kill all those evil joooooooooooooooöoooos

433 Chef  is   feeding  lobster  and  waygu  beef  to  our  dog  Bo.  At  your  expense!  Thanks  for  another  four  years,  proles!  LOL!

434 See, the problem is that people didn't bother to learn about Romney, not that he was a caricature.

Posted by: Matt S. at November 19, 2012 10:24 AM (moRRg)

__

Yes, I became convinced of this when I discovered that a friend of mine who is a small business owner and a finance major - voted for obama because Romney was the out of touch rich guy. He claimed he didn't have enough time to do research on the candidates due to work and family responsibilities.

 

Laziness.  Wanting to be kewl.  Stupidity.  Relying on MFM soundbites for news.  Tragic.

435

Posted by: Miikeb at November 19, 2012 10:19 AM (q25mW)

 

About as insightful and accurate as Steve Martin's How To Become A Millionare.  

436 i also think we shouldnt get too carried away here. not sure we should over intellectualize all of this. lets face some simple truths... obama won because hes black obama won another term because bush had 2 terms it really could be THAT simple. but who cares, its over, nothing we can do about it.

437 Posted by: The Most Interesting Man in the World at November 19, 2012 10:20 AM (GQ72I)

You.  In the barrel.

438

If you anaylze this thing closely enough, you'll see we really won. 

And soon, we'll all be offered big ticket jobs polling for the GOP!

arrivaderci, Mom's basement!

439 Yes, I became convinced of this when I discovered that a friend of mine who is a small business owner and a finance major - voted for obama because Romney was the out of touch rich guy. He claimed he didn't have enough time to do research on the candidates due to work and family responsibilities.

Laziness. Wanting to be kewl. Stupidity. Relying on MFM soundbites for news. Tragic.

Posted by: kallisto at November 19, 2012 10:27 AM (jm/9g)

I don't get this.  Even if he did zero research, didn't his life as a small business owner these last 4 years tell him anything? !

440 So whose inevitable turn is it next time? Who will you guys turn blog tricks for next? Jeb? Huntsman 2.0 ? Maybe Rove will try and jump in himself? Perry II: Electric Boogaloo ?

441

Posted by: torquewrench at November 19, 2012 10:24 AM (ymG7s)

 

Your inaccuracies and misquotes about Romney are just as bad as the left so maybe you have a point.

442

I was talking to one of my employees a couple of nights ago.  About 21, currently going to college, family immigrated from India when he was 8, reasonably intelligent.  All his Indian friends, relatives, and non-Indian friends and relatives all vote Democrat and identify as Liberal.  So I asked him "Why"?

 

Then the fun began.

 

Turns out it's just decades of cultural and academic programming - Democrats are for the common man, Republicans are evil and for the rich guys and corporations.  These are all assumptions made and acepted by and large among liberals with no intellectual inquiry at all.  Immigrants (both legal and illegal) tend this way because things are usually better off here than there, and the culture and academia bombard them first with leftist tripe.

 

Since business was slow, I got about two hours to just simply go Socratic on him.  It's always fun to actually see the look on their faces when reality dawns on them.

 

443 Ah, whose-> who's. Whatever.

444 It's real simple, if you read some of the comments on the Hostess situation. You'll see the same arguments that cost us the election. Hostess was ruined by vulture capitalists that squeezed the life out of the company. (I did find out about the higher cost of sugar in this country, caused by protectionism of the Florida sugar crop, part of the reason that Twinkies could be made cheaper in Mexico.) We have too many people that don't understand financing in this country. They have no clue what companies like Bain do. It's too easy to paint such capitalists as evil. It's probably not an issue that we'll have with the next candidate, but I think we do need to educate voters more on how capitalism works. Next, we have got to stop caving to the MSM. We could have controlled the format of the debates better. In the comments on that Hostess article, someone actually said that Fox was not "fair and balanced" but CNN was, even though they said it was liberal. We need someone, not the candidate, who is able to call out bias in the media. We need more media savvy candidates. If we can't find them, then we need people in the party that can educate them. And we have got to stop being nice with these people. Folks bitch about negative campaigns, but people do listen to negative campaigns and vote that way. The whole primary process needs reform on both sides. It's really getting old watching small states on the East Coast choose the candidates.

445 Posted by: Queen Michelle at November 19, 2012 10:27 AM (ypzqs)


I can hardly wait for the second term vacation itinerary (to include a cast of thousands of retainers also traveling at our expense)


At least after 2016 there will be more well qualified ex-USAF airline pilots that got thousands of hours flying the Obamas hither and yon!

446
I hope people do come to at least one conclusion, that Odictator and his cronies have figured out the way around the separation of powers.  As long as a lap-licking media nevers says anything they can do whatever they want.

No budgets, no problem, just keep spending.  Court holds you in contempt, ignore it.  Sell arms to drug warlords and get caught, I saw nothing.  Use the TSA as the modern SS to violate people, I hear nothing.  Dictate new rules by ignoring Congress, well, just had to be done.  And on and on.

They are serious about transforming this country into a socialist heaven.

447 He claimed he didn't have enough time to do research on the candidates due to work and family responsibilities. Did you tell him to go get fucked by the warcock before throatpunching him? Because you are I better person than I if you managed to avoid that.

448

Posted by: Tami at November 19, 2012 10:30 AM (X6akg)

__

I think it was more like he was propagandized by his wife. But still, he could have just said he voted for preazy but really pushed the button for Romney.

 

He did have a really bad accident that resulted in head trauma, maybe that's the explanation.

449 "Happy Monday. It's important that we learn some lessons from this election, but it's more important that we don't learn the wrong lessons." The Goddess Irony smiles as she sips her coffee.

450 This is why I think next time around, I'm serious about this, we should have a positive messaging PAC designed simply to highlight and run ads about our candidates strong points. There should've been ads on how Bain saved a young girl's life; there should've been interviews with the family Romney and his boys pulled out from Lake Whatever.

If we honestly believe that we have an image problem with people viewing Republicans as evil vampires, then we need to directly combat that instead of running another ad with a concerned sounding narrator and scare chords over Democrats' faces.

451 Rupert Murdoch apologizes for tweet criticizing ‘Jewish owned press’ coverage of Gaza

http://is.gd/bIX09M

452 "but who cares, its over, nothing we can do about it."

Other than, maybe, just maybe, figure out what we did wrong and what we could do better? That's the whole point of the exercise.

453

"Who will you guys turn blog tricks for next?"

 

It's hard to say.  If we go with someone capable of bringing in millions of single women, working class people and others, we risk alienating Peggy Noonan, David Frum and Ace.

 

There are no easy answers.

454 obamas re election was also about bush. for 8 years we were hammered about how bush stole the elections, a warmonger followed by his close acolytes and how the right wing and fox news brainwashed the american public. stupid military movies like redacted etc. news stories pointing towards ANY conceived downturn in the economy, gas prices, the wars and blaming it on the evil-bush/cheney line. you had actors and actresses and bands thinking we were all living in one big prison colony, and 9/11 was transformed into a hollywood script. then came obama, the lightbringer, down from the heavens to vanquish the vile administration. the narrative mobilized the kiddies and every manner of lefty into the fray. it was like some goofy epic film they thought we were all in. so obama won the election and re-election to make up for the bush years. thats it, done, over.

455 Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 19, 2012 10:30 AM (uD2fR)

Okay, I think I've decided.

I propose a strategic retreat of the Red Migration variety.  Conservatives in irredeemably Blue States move to Pink / Purple states.  Turn them Red/Pink.  In addition, focus on local and State races.  Get on local and state school boards. 

Someone mentioned on Friday or Saturday, I think, the idea that currently unemployed (but degreed) Morons should go get their alternative teaching certificates (where possible) and become teachers, even administrators.

Take it back the way they took it from us.

456

Posted by: torquewrench at November 19, 2012 10:24 AM (ymG7s)

 

In addition to #449, you might have a point if it was indies and swing voters that decided this. 

 

It was not.

 

Time for you to get back to the drawing board.  The SoCons didn't cost the Presidency.  As much as Gabe may want  to say it in this post, it's still bullshit.

457 It used to be about The Economy Stupid. It's not anymore.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 19, 2012 10:17 AM (uD2fR)





It's not about the economy when the economy is in the shitter and there is a Democrat prezzy. Then it's about every unimportant thing like Big Bird and binder

458 "Other than, maybe, just maybe, figure out what we did wrong and what we could do better? That's the whole point of the exercise." No the point of the exercise is to reinforce confidence in continuing to make the same damned mistake over and over again. It's about maintaining confirmation bias in the face of multiple failures and blaming your one accidental success (that came from deviating from the SOP) on dumb luck and hatred of the opponent's policies that amazingly suddenly evaporated when it came YOUR time to be the lucky group.

459 We lost... End of story... Next...

460 Posted by: Hello, it's me Donna let it burn really.really bummed at November 19, 2012 10:38 AM (9+ccr)


Not to worry--reading this thread will cheer you up immensely!

461 RE: Posted by: Vic at November 19, 2012 08:02 AM (YdQQY)

Agree.  Although, must say, many of us thought it'd be a run away for the R's.

I can speak to the experience in Colorado, though.
We really thought they'd win because there was very little support expressed locally, especially compared to 2008, where people literally painted their faces blue and red--with that stupid Hope "O" on it.  This go-round, hardly any enthusiasm.  We thought Colorado was a wrap up for Romney.

Then, there was pot on the ballot. 
And, not only did we lose the presidency, but now freaking pot is LEGAL.

So, I'm sorry Mr. Malor, but I think you're dead wrong about Romney's loss not being about  hand outs.  In CO, they handed out pot, and all the pot-heads came and voted for it.  And, while they were there, they voted for BHO, too.  Sneaky Dems...

462 ::;;431 I think "Let" it Burn is so cute. As though we have the means to put out the fire and are just deciding if the cost is worth it. Well over 100 million Americans sat on their asses rather than vote, 60 some voted for 4 more years of the SCOAMT. Stop thinking the fire can be stopped and get to work on the fire line around your family because that is all you can do now. Posted by: Palerider at November 19, 2012 10:21 AM (5CusZ);:;;; I don't think it can be stopped, so when I think of "Let" it burn, to me that just means not even making the token effort to stop them. Way ahead of you on protecting the family first.

463

They are serious about transforming this country into a socialist heaven.

 

That they are. They will do anything in any way to advance their agenda.

 

The worst part is that they worked to defeat the American Society that reached  its peak in the years after WWII. Once  the  Greatest Generation died  out, they were free to install Leftardismness as  the New  Cool,  playing on youthful rebellion as the Coming Thing.

 

We  couldn't be defeated militarily, although that was tried. We were defeated culturally. It's no coincidence that Soviet Russia spent vast sums of money and manpower studying   human response and how to manipulate it. They  used   the results of their research on their own people with great success and turned their efforts toward us. They even told us what they were going to do  to us, then they  went ahead and did it.

 

And we let them.

464 I am ramping up my campaign of random acts of unkindness. I was at Home Depot yesterday and stopped by the HVAC aisle to grab some air filters. A short woman behind me asked for help reaching some decorative register covers just out of her reach. There was nobody else in the aisle. I asked her if she voted for Romney. She said, "Of course not." I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away.

465 Nood, plz?

466 Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit. at November 19, 2012 10:41 AM (lOmbq)


Yes, but it was Sen "Tailgunner Joe" McCarthy that was an insane fear-mongering pathetic excuse of a Senator for trying to expose mythical Communists in the federal government!

467 Soooooo, is this it until the ONT?

468
One of the other reasons we lost:  Just watch spineless GOP in the coming "negotiations" on the fiscal cliff.  They will sell out their constituency once again.

469 I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away.

Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at November 19, 2012 10:43 AM (V3kRK)

I love heartwarming stories like this!

470 Soooooo, is this it until the ONT?

Posted by: Tami at November 19, 2012 10:44 AM (X6akg)

What more could you ask for?  Content, proactive analyses of the political scene, DOOMS Day scenarios, etc...

471 this is a lot of content for so early in the morning.

472 I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away." ---it can work. i like to tell the obama voters online, in games etc about how 'real republican men' will take care of the 'little liberal girly men who need money' that really chaffes at em. i also make sure to let em know id be willing to teach em how to use a screwdriver or hammer if they needed. the anger flows after these type of goofy insults...they really cant stand it. hurt their pride. its a small step but itll get the point across.

473 Brietbarts fellow travelers and Comedy Centrals useful idiots really should go back to Democratic party, because we're going to ignore the "grassroots" and the internet for the next generation.

Some of us aren't so drug-addled and easily manipulated.

474 They will sell out their constituency once again.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at November 19, 2012 10:45 AM (3BbLJ)

Betrayal, it's what we do best!

475 My P.S.:
Our daughter is a nursing student (a.k.a. "surrounded by many naive/idiotic young girls").  And, truly, that Dem threat of "they will take away your 'right' to abortion" was real, at least in CO. Our daughter's friends were all about that...  They can't find Israel on a map, nevermind having even HEARD of Benghazi.  But, by gosh, don't mess with their right to kill their babies in the womb. 

Ere go, while that abortion message didn't resonate with us intelligent folk, it resonates big with the idiocy/uninformed establishment.  Hence, here is (at least) part of the lesson to be learned:  Stupid/uninformed people DO LISTEN to stupid lying ads.  And, there are  A LOT of stupid/uninformed people, even though we wish there weren't.

476 472 I am ramping up my campaign of random acts of unkindness. I was at Home Depot yesterday and stopped by the HVAC aisle to grab some air filters. A short woman behind me asked for help reaching some decorative register covers just out of her reach. There was nobody else in the aisle. I asked her if she voted for Romney. She said, "Of course not." I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away. Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at November 19, 2012 10:43 AM (V3kRK) You are a Great American.

477 I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away. Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at November 19, 2012 10:43 AM (V3kRK) fffing hysterical.

478

The reason we lost the election is because no one listened to me.

 

I offered a plan specifically designed to – as I said at the time – “gain us 300,000-400,000 votes in swing states.”

 

I forget what it was, and I donÂ’t have a link. But, man, if we had only done what I retroactively say we should have done, weÂ’d have won.

 

479 Posted by: Empire of Jeff at November 19, 2012 10:40 AM (BushJ)


How the fuck do you do it? Do you bribe Ace? Pixy? Fuckin A


Nice Bourboncast, BTW

480 What you mean "We" Kimosabe?

481 Gabe typed: "We lost an election, not an argument".

Yeah, right.  The key words there are "We lost".

As for Mitt's "argument", was that the pre-Etch A Sketch Argument or the post-Etch A Sketch argument?

Podhoretz makes, I think, a much better case for Mitt's political catastrophe in his  11/15 New York Post column.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cfbueut

482 Posted by: The Most Interesting Man in the World Barrel. NOW.

483 Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at November 19, 2012 10:43 AM (V3kRK)


You should have dropped to the floor on all fours and let her use you as a stepstool to get what SHE wanted.  Have you learned nothing from watching the RINO ruling class at work?

484 I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away.

Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at November 19, 2012 10:43 AM (V3kRK)





I would have loved to have seen the look on its face

485

Yes, but it was Sen "Tailgunner Joe" McCarthy that was an insane fear-mongering pathetic excuse of a Senator for trying to expose mythical Communists in the federal government!

 

You, sir or  madam, as the case may be, have Broken the Code.  That is exactly how it  is  done. By assuming an  air of superiority (usually a false one),  a  "dominant" personality exerts an influence. This is what makes the  concept of "kewl"  so powerful  to  the weak-willed   with huge egos, the natural outcome of a feminized, Mr. Rogers society.

 

There's a lot of psychology at work in this tactic. Spread the message through the useful idiots in the  media  24/7, and you end up with the re-election of a radical Marxist who fails at everything he does.

 

But, you voted for him,  so you're  just as Kewl as you can be. Take that to the Unemployment Office.

486 If I could bribe Pixy, it wouldn't be for a vanity hash. And I've tried to bribe ace to dump Pixy. Ain't happening. Thanks.

487 486 I forget what it was, and I donÂ’t have a link. But, man, if we had only done what I retroactively say we should have done, weÂ’d have won. I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly supported this plan. To a certain extent.

488 There is one and only one reason Romney lost. The media painted him as an evil uncaring SOB. This ^^^^ Until there is someone willing to cut through the crap media and it's narrative, R's will never win again. And whoever did the toothbrushing analogy...... this too. Our society is so dumbed-down now (thank you Snookie) and wants the "cool" candidate....the one that can canoodle with View harpies and Letterman. I don't want this to be true but it is. JEF, along with an adoring media painted him as the "cool" candidate. We need someone young, someone who knows pop culture and can talk to women. And we need to make Voter ID a priority. Rubio/Martinez 2016

489 Gabe's right.  The Republicans lost because they failed to control their message/image.  They've been failing to control their message/image since W was reelected because they keep shooting themselves in the foot.  It's difficult to sell a message about balancing the budget when the last Republican in office failed to do so, even when Republicans had control of congress.  It's difficult to sell a message about the failing economy when Republicans keep stepping in media so-con traps.  It's difficult to sell a message about a lack of leadership when Republicans give the opposition a slap on the back and photo ops in the final weeks before the election.

And people need to quit bitching about media bias.  Life isn't fair.  If you're sitting at the table staring at a chessboard yet refusing to learn the game because you'd rather play checkers...  you're going to lose.  Republicans need to learn how to control their message in a hostile media environment, because that's reality and it isn't going to change.

490 If I could bribe Pixy, it wouldn't be for a vanity hash.


So it just gravitates to you? You have mentioned 'an extra ration of brown liquor' in the past. Where do I sign up?

491 Rupert Murdoch apologizes for tweet criticizing ‘Jewish owned press’ coverage of Gaza http://is.gd/bIX09M Posted by: Gerry at November 19, 2012 10:35 AM (lNrX+) Meh. There was nothing wrong with what he said. I don't know why he would apologize for it. Many Jews in the press are anti-Israel (as they are leftists, above all) and the same is true of Jewish owned press outlets/media. It's about time that people stopped letting idiots like Spielberg pretend they're pro-Israel when they support the most anti-Israel person ever to slime through American politics. Shit, just on the level of Cold War allies these idiots should be supporting Israel against the tsunami of violent, insane barbarism that is the arab world. But ... self-hate has always been one of the foundational aspects of Western leftism. It is what animates the Western left.

492 Yeah, this whole modus operandi of having a late convention so that an incumbent President can spend months advertising against him, even though he hasn't actually been nominated yet....yeah, that shit's gotta end when the other side isn't involved in a primary. That set of circumstances should immediately and automatically force a hard reboot... That's just fucking stupid. Obama campaigned for his entire term last time, why don't we go ahead and have the convention next week and get started? Sigh...

493 Spread the message through the useful idiots in the media 24/7, and you end up with the re-election of a radical Marxist who fails at everything he does.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit. at November 19, 2012 10:53 AM (lOmbq)

I don't know how you rate success, it seems to me that Obamao has done more to ensure that radical Marxism is a mainstay of these formerly United States than any other individual could have possibly done in only four years and now he has an unconstrained second term to finish the job. 

We on the other hand are left with the likes of Karl Rove to plan our ascension into the seat of power (once we accept Jeb Bush as saviour of right-thinking conservative thought)!

494 front toward left you are awesome

495 Posted by: WittyMermaid at November 19, 2012 10:47 AM (X/CmF) I think this is right. For lefties the position on abortion (and gay marriage, and racial equality, etc. etc.) is also a cultural signifier. And it's these positions as cultural signifiers, rather than a serious policy positions, that Republicans are not effectively pushing back on. It's not that Republicans could seriously make abortion illegal, it's that they can even talk about opposing it, and therefore, the left thinks, that means they think certain things about women (they are wrong about that, too, but arguing against that is different than arguing about abortion). "women have a right to have an abortion" has become a short hand cultural signifier for "woman are completely equal to men in society, including in their access to sex). So when you start talking about pro-life, pro-choicers "hear" you say "I don't think women are equal." Even though it's wrong, it's at an unconscious level and so hard to argue against. And it's this unconscious thing that we need to fight against and I think that that's why changing "messaging" is important.

496

I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away.

 

This!  Why not treat the Idiots as The Enemy? It's just returning their opinion of us  back on them.

497 Posted by: elizabethe at November 19, 2012 11:00 AM (ou/rY)


As far as I can tell, we can't even take the position that we don't give a shit about how you handle your sex life, you can have an abortion every month if you want, but just DON'T expect ME to pay for it, without incurring the wrath of the FSA.

498 Actually......Sarah Palin can cure me, anytime.

499 True or False? You know that I can surely see That I don't want to get caught up in any of that Funky shit goin' down in the city

500 Facts...Obama and his minions cheated, and stole the election.   The Jindal prez thing will go nowhere...he's not natural born.  ( neither is Cruz )   Romney did pretty good, but not good enough. Beating Obama was a tall order.

501 One reason Romney lost: Dems sold government as your best buddy, Daddy ObamaStash, your security blanket in tough times. Nobody was making the case that its government that drives up the costs of everything, medical care, higher ed, gas, food, etc., etc., etc. Romney did the low taxes stifle growth angle, but nobody was making the point that all the 'crises' Obama was promising to solve with government were caused by government in the first place. Obama deficit spent $1.5T/year to ensure the dependency class grew. Low-info voters thought they were getting a helping hand, but nobody told them it would be around their throat.

502

And it's this unconscious thing that we need to fight against and I think that that's why changing "messaging" is important.

 

Here's a little comeback: "Sweetie, what if your mother believed in abortion and had done away with you? Where would you be now?"

503 Is there any way we can convince "Anony mouse" to hit the tepid air folk?

504 Bill, do you have a brother George who dated Jan Brady?

505 I told her she could get it her damned self and walked away. Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at November 19, 2012 10:43 AM (V3kRK) You do realize I would have taken out your knee cap had that been me. Of course, had that been me, I would have either hopped up and down in a futile attempt to reach them or wandered over to where they sell step stools and then used one to get it my own damn self, so, you know, there's that. True story - I was once trying to reach some glasses that the Good Ex BF (who is 6'3") put on a shelf at his eye level, not mine. There I was in the kitchen, hopping up and down to get them, all the being watched by the Good Ex BF and another good guy friend (who is 6'5"). They watched this for a bit and then my friend turns to the Good Ex BF and says "It's so cute she thinks that will help." There may possibly have been some sponges thrown at them at that point, it's kind of hazy.

506 Posted by: bill glass at November 19, 2012 11:04 AM (Q1BxK)


Problem is that the cheating allegation is anecdotal and "we" show no inclination or ability to pursue this to obtain facts and criminal convictions.

In this case, the plural of anecdote is not data.

507 Romney did the low taxes stifle growth angle, HIGH taxes. Sheesh.

508 The Left is contemptible. Have nothing to do with them. Do not be baited. Do not cooperate. Do not try to reason, or see their point. Do not try to bring them into the fold, or be sucked in.
So many here talk about winning elections by assimilating with the Left.

509 There may possibly have been some sponges thrown at them at that point, it's kind of hazy.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 19, 2012 11:06 AM (VtjlW)

Pics or it didn't happen!

510 It used to be about The Economy Stupid. It's not anymore. Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 19, 2012 10:17 AM (uD2fR) Old and busted: "It's the economy, stupid." The new hotness: "It's the stupid, stupid."

511 505 backwards Boy,

because "patriot eleventy she's our countrywoman eleventy"....

Someone needs to sell me on the whole "we're gonna wishcast America back so you're a loser who hates the nation" thing because from where I sit you're asking me to powerdive into a lavapit with ObamaFO lady and help her chuck the US Constitution.

Fuck her and Obama prefereably with Bill Maher's crank.

512

To a certain extent, this is impossible, because the fundamentals of conservatism (personal responsibility, hard work, duty to family, nation, deity, etc) aren't exactly a free ride on the Tilt-o-whirl. It's more like a commitment to endurance running and weightlifting. Hard, often thankless effort in pursuit of delayed gratification.

 

Conservatism is fundamentally the idea that you are not a special little snowflake with a unique insight into the world. 

Obama didn't just win because he promise free shit, he won by making people feel like they were part of the elite. He won by creating the illusion that they were somehow so much smarter and better than generations past, and that the consequences of behavior wouldn't fall on them.

513 tubal i understand your point....my dad, may the perpetual light shine upon him, used to say...you can't explain the obvious....

514 I hate the MSM meme.  Art is a reflection of man not vica versa.  If we need to place blame, and we do in order to properly address the problem, then blame the people who voted for TFG.  A combination of making them own their poor decisions and teaching them the proper course seems to me to ne the right solution.

515 I've got some thoughts on the tactics we need to start using up at my blog.

Basically (though- go read it) it boils down to this: local and state elections, conservative teachers, conservative entertainment, and (I hadn't thought of this until just now) having local GOP and Tea Party groups be less insular.

I'm not sure about y'all, but I've never seen the local GOP or Tea Party do simple things like sponsor a float in the 4th of July parade, or help sponsor a 5K, or toy drive.

Imagine if your GOP/Tea Party group became known as a routine sponsor of a Thanksgiving food drive and a Christmas toy drive?  "They don't care" just goes right out the door.

516 517 Tubal,

Damn straight hang where you are as long as you can but husband your resources and if you stumble Run Red.

Fuck the blue.

517 There are lot of posters her who still have not got what Jindal and Walker are saying

If you compare Walker and Jindal on one side with Romney on the other, you will struggle to point out a single conservative policy that Romney implemented during his term as governor (think Obamacare, Gay marriage, increasing ‘feesÂ’ Â…Â…)? On the other hand Jindal (no tax increase so far, education reform, ethics reform, budget cuts, net positive job creation for Louisiana compared to -4 mil jobs for America,.....)and Walker  (Fought unions to reduce costs and was successful, reformed gun laws,.......) are conservatives that has fought for the cause

Only difference here is that they are from the middle class and do not like to bash middle class Americans. There are lot of republicans, who due to the policies of this president (job killing to be specific) have had to take some sort of government assistance. To ridicule them for what they are doing (and they are already ashamed) is bluntly speaking, cruel. 38% of the 47% voted Romney in case you want the numbers. Republicans instead of bashing them as the 47% must state how the free market policies are going to pull them out of their situation. As Jindal said America is an aspirational nation and republican party is an aspirational party.

As for what Martinez said, what she said is entirely different from what Jindal and Walker said. What she wants is for elected officials to look like their community. Which means pure racism. On the other hand Jindal stated clearly that we ought to be color blind and not pander to races.

In conclusion let every poster remember the words of a great man and understand what Jindal and Walker are saying and what Romney is not"

"Whatever else history may say about me when IÂ’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts."

518 AllenG has a blog?!

519 524 AllenG,

Yeah?

Like Joseph Stalin and USA on our lend/lease in the case of Ivan "gift" supplies?

I doubt it would work you ever hear of Churches?

They do that shit all the time and still get demonized.

520
Podhoretz makes, I think, a much better case for Mitt's political catastrophe in his 11/15 New York Post column.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cfbueut

Posted by: mrp at November 19, 2012 10:49 AM (HjPtV)

I looked at your article. I couldn't disagree more. Romney lost because of Cheating, and Media bias. 

521 Once again, many are ignoring the elephant in the room: voter fraud.

Goggle Free Republic The List Obama Voter Fraud.

The election was stolen and will continue to be stolen every year until Republicans stand up. Will they do that? No. That would mean their invites to the cool kids parties would go away.

So be prepared for all future Presidents to be Communists dressed up as Democrats.

Until they stop the elections of course.

522 526 CoolAir,

Yeah I must have missed where Romney said "eat the poor and the middle class", and frankly if you're relying on aid guess what?

You're not middle class anymore.

523 Dems will vote for whomever is their candidate, and win. Reps will sit it out over purity tests.

524 What really bugs me....is all these libs on FB that say....OMG the election is over can we please just get along? heh...they want peace and love ....now Like they forgot the absolute vile thrown at Bush at ev. er. y. turn...We have been clicking the "unfriend" button a lot lately....hell I rarely go on anymore.

525 They do that shit all the time and still get demonized.

Sure they get demonized (by the media).  Few actually buy into that, though.  The Catholic Church had (maybe still has) an image problem because of the pedophile priest scandal (yes, I know- small percentage, etc., etc.- I'm talking image problem, not facts).  I can't think of anyone, though, who thinks that Churches, in general, "don't care," or are even "bad."

And I'm not even sure what "Like Joseph Stalin and USA on our lend/lease in the case of Ivan "gift" supplies?" means...

526 Conservatism is fundamentally the idea that you are not a special little snowflake with a unique insight into the world.
Obama didn't just win because he promise free shit, he won by making people feel like they were part of the elite. He won by creating the illusion that they were somehow so much smarter and better than generations past, and that the consequences of behavior wouldn't fall on them.

Posted by: Alex at November 19, 2012 11:09 AM (3x3F6)

Obama won by Controlling the Airwaves and Cheating. That, and the fact that the public has grown increasingly stupid over the years.

527 and frankly if you're relying on aid guess what?

You're not middle class anymore.

actually that's not really true anymore, people get unemployment benefits for 99+ weeks, and mortgage help, that enable them to continue a middle class existence, even if it is lower-middle-class

528 530 Shibumi,

Part of why I support Run Red, we can either grab the red and keep it thus or let the goddamned blue enslave the countryside in the blue slowly but ever so surely.

529 532 Baldy,

Yup I've donated my last done I could have bought acreage with my donations.

No unity no piggy bank.

530 536 ChemJeff,

Oh trust me I know just like the fucking retarded limits on foodstamps I technically qualify for and would never touch.

You still are not middle class by your hand.

531 We lost this election because of vote fraud, plain and simple.

532

Only difference here is that they are from the middle class and do
not like to bash middle class Americans. Posted by: CoolAir at November 19, 2012 11:10 AM (TxyUc)

I'm a huge Jindal fanboy, but he is not from the Middle Class. He is the product of high skilled immigrant parents.

 

 

533

Bill, do you have a brother George who dated Jan Brady?

 

I hit that first!

534

Posted by: CoolAir at November 19, 2012 11:10 AM (TxyUc)

 

Another fucker who misrepresents and in the same breath contradicts themselves.  First I'm not going to rehash the Republican primary and correct your misrepresentations of Romney but I will point out that what  Jindal proposes as his strategy is exactly what you accuse Romney of doing while governor of MA.

 

Ninja please.

535 Goggle Free Republic The List Obama Voter Fraud.

The election was stolen and will continue to be stolen every year until Republicans stand up. Will they do that? No. That would mean their invites to the cool kids parties would go away.

So be prepared for all future Presidents to be Communists dressed up as Democrats.

Until they stop the elections of course.

Posted by: shibumi at November 19, 2012 11:12 AM (z63Tr)

You should see my latest thread on Free Republic. The notion that Obama would steal the election is one of the main points in my argument.  It was why I was arguing from the beginning for at least one State to create a State Law requiring an original birth certificate as proof of eligibility.

All those people who said we need to "Win at the ballot box" simply didn't consider the possibility that their idea wouldn't work because Obama owns the Media, and he cheats.

536 And people need to quit bitching about media bias. Life isn't fair. If you're sitting at the table staring at a chessboard yet refusing to learn the game because you'd rather play checkers... you're going to lose. Republicans need to learn how to control their message in a hostile media environment, because that's reality and it isn't going to change.
Posted by: not the mama at November 19, 2012 10:57 AM

I don't know if you can control the message when the media is lined up against you.

Think of it this way. You are the new girl at school. All the other girls hate you. How do convince them that you're the best thing since white sliced bread if they have it out for you? How do you convince them you're not going to take their boyfriends away? How do you convince them to not tell lies about you on Facebook?

Stories like this do not usually end well for the girl who is hated.

537 This CoolAir fellow seems to be a bit "special".

The 47% voted for Obama and handouts.  End of story.

538 541 Nate,

yeah that's a lot like "up from dire Poverty Barack Obama"....

Mitt is not better off than Pierre Heinz from Masshole land....

didn't help.

There seems to be a working class hero notion that if we can just find a Milton Friedman fan from Calcutta who happened to be born in America ala bruce lee "winning!"

Um "no"

539 We do need a cure though if we can't win an election with an 8% unemployment rate.

A few small things broke against us, but it shouldn't have even been close.  We absolutely could have squeaked out a narrow win with the present coalition, but do really want every election to come down to voter contact software on the day of the election?  I'd rather put together a 55% majority coalition than have it be determined by the weather that day.

Palin is everything that's wrong with the the current conservative coalition, she's basically the personification of the Culture War with boobs, which is why she was so polarizing.  Had Palin run we would have lost independent voters by 20 points, and there's not a Republican I know that honestly thought the woman was ready to be President on Day 1 (especially since she quit in the middle of her first term as Governor).

We need a new conservative coalition that's either agnostic or at the very least "centrist" when it comes to social/moral issues.  And Republicans that want to run on issues like birth control (Santorum) or rape babies (Akin, Mourdock) need to be run out on a rail.

540

* Important  to keep in mind that there will not be another Obama again. There will never be another "first" president of color whose only task is to energize minorities, women and the media.

 

Yes, there will be more minority presidential candidates, but I don't think they will have the same GOTV juice as the articulate half-white Messiah. I could be wrong, but I think he was the Dems' Reagan. And they'll be yammering about the Next Obama for as long as we've been waiting for the Next Reagan.

541
There I was in the kitchen, hopping up and down to get them, all the being watched by the Good Ex BF and another good guy friend (who is 6'5"). They watched this for a bit and then my friend turns to the Good Ex BF and says "It's so cute she thinks that will help."


There may possibly have been some sponges thrown at them at that point, it's kind of hazy.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 19, 2012 11:06 AM (VtjlW)

Of course, when you consider the boobs + hopping-up-and-down equation, getting help really wasn't gonna happen.

542 You do realize I would have taken out your knee cap had that been me. Had she done so, I'd have filed a police report and pressed it as far as I could. My new goal is for every leftard stranger I meet to walk away thinking, "What an asshole!"

543 531 sven,

Romney didn't explain how his policies were going to lift people from poverty to middle class. He didn't appeal to their aspirations. And on top of that in private meetings he was ridiculing the 47 percent with out realizing that 3 years of unemployment can make a 47 percenter out of a traditional republican middle class guy.

544 548 McAdams,

No Palin is hated because Bill Clinton crossover GOP women who are breaking for Obama are egotistical bitches.

"What does she have that I don't have?"

Well the willingness to go in and get bloodied, a brain, a reforrmer's zeal, an ass not measured in ax handles....

545

Art is a reflection of man not vica versa.

 

Ahem.  Communist Goals, as read into the Congressional Record, 1963

 

16. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.

 17. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.

546

What she wants is for elected officials to
look like their community.

___

Wait - Susanna Martinez said this? She's light haired and fairly light skinned, she doesn't exactly have the Latin Spitfire appearance.

547 Here is something that both sides can agree on:

NO MORE CANDIDATES FROM FUCKING MASSACHUSETTS

548 We need a new conservative coalition that's either agnostic or at the very least "centrist" when it comes to social/moral issues. And Republicans that want to run on issues like birth control (Santorum) or rape babies (Akin, Mourdock) need to be run out on a rail.

Posted by: McAdams at November 19, 2012 11:20 AM (7MC2X)

You will never win an election with such a coalition.  Like it or not,  the SoCons make up such a large part of the party that it is impossible to win anything without them.  Beyond that, a nation that does not adhere to their ideas will quickly become ungovernable, and shortly thereafter collapse. (Or turn to a dictator.)

Yes, Akin and Mourdock were brain dead stupid for even talking to the media (or anyone else) regarding this issue. They may very well have cost the election.  (among other things.)

549 Palin is probably not running for anything. She'd be taking a pay cut, and putting herself and her family back out on the target range. Besides her Fox gig could maybe lead to other things, and maybe even her own show. Look at Huck!

550

Posted by: chemjeff at November 19, 2012 11:24 AM (d/5qf)

 

You mean all one of them?

551 There seems to be a working class hero notion that if we can just find a Milton Friedman fan from Calcutta who happened to be born in America ala bruce lee "winning!"

Um "no"

Posted by: sven10077 at November 19, 2012 11:19 AM (LRFds)

You sell him too short.

He "should" be upheld as a model for ideal immigration in this country.

It is just that he is not going to be our answer just because he is

"working class".

552 I happen to think a personally appealing candidate would have beaten Obama where s/he was Democrat-lite or conservative.

Or.

A real conservative (non-Dem-lite) who could actually go against Obama where he was weakest.  We couldn't do that at all with Romney.

Both of those reasons make me think Rick Perry would have fared better than Romney.  He was a nice, personally appealing, warm guy would attack, say, O-care and big-government-ism directly.

Where Gabe runs into trouble is using John McCain as a benchmark.  The fact that Romney beat McCain by a fraction of a point isn't saying much.  But using that as a stepping off point to argue the GOP turnout was therefore fine is a bridge too far.

On other other hand, I do think Obama kept from losing even more voters by offering handouts and keeping a lot of his base from staying home.

Where Gabe and I agree is personal appeal.  We have to have a candidate who educate voters about the bennies of limited government while not turning them off by appearing aloof, uncaring, and "from a different class."

Like Reagan.

553 552 Cool Air,

Um yes he did, and your buying into the 47% meme when it was WILDLY out of context whiole Choom king gets gapped every fucking deference on well EVERYTHING....

a lot of why I will not give another dime next cycle and possibly ever.

Purity Con class warrior can party on someone else's dime.

http://youtu.be/HkbmzwfkazY

People know I generally detest Beck as an emo Drama queen....he got it I cried in rage at the fucking lie and willful misrepresentation of what Romney was saying.

Romney was saying that the 47% are trapped and priosoners essentially of Helicopter Ben who is engaged in wild structural devastation of the monetary system in this nation.

We have the most retarded economic policy I can imagine venture socialism writ large...the wins are the bankers and investors and the losses are ours inclusive.

I want this whole rotten Potemkin Village edifice of a fucking economy to implode so we can get real growth and real fucking wealth again.

Let it burn.

554 NO MORE CANDIDATES FROM FUCKING MASSACHUSETTS

Posted by: chemjeff at November 19, 2012 11:24 AM (d/5qf)

Didn't want one in the first place.

555 Posted by: McAdams at November 19, 2012 11:20 AM (7MC2X)

Oh fuck you.  Akin and Mourdock did not "run on" the issue of "rape babies".

In Akin's case, he answered a reporter's question stupidly.  The media and DNC of course blew it up into "rape babies".  Yes Akin is stupid but it wasn't exactly like rape babies was a central theme of his campaign.

556 There may possibly have been some sponges thrown at them at that point, it's kind of hazy. Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Coming not nearly soon enough. at November 19, 2012 11:06 AM (VtjlW) LOL! This happens at my house every day. My husband is 6' 1" and I am pretty short. The good news is that I've discovered I can hide tasty food things I don't want to share by placing them on the bottom shelf of the fridge. =)

557 You mean all one of them?

Posted by: polynikes at November 19, 2012 11:25 AM (m2CN7)

Romney and Kerry are the two who come to mind.

558 556 Here is something that both sides can agree on:

NO MORE CANDIDATES FROM FUCKING MASSACHUSETTS

LOL. I'm OK with that.

And... although I supported Romney was worried that he would not repeal Obamacare completely.

So, when do the Death Panels kick in? Going to be quite the surprise for the elderly and boomers who need complex and expensive treatments.

Wonder how long before AARP says it's patriotic to be denied treatment?

559

People are totally turned off by politics. They can't stand hearing all the bullshit. I'm at the point that I want everyone hooked up to a lie detector machine before they speak publically.

560 560 nate,

No I don't sell him short and yes i donated and volunteered for him while in la la land b/c he is an ideal immigrant.

Bobby Jindal is why I laugh my ass off at "you haterz da immigrants nazi sven" from Killgore trout and friends.

That said the way people are trying to use Jindal pisses me off if I want to play class warfare games I can go to the party playing that and winning on it.

I begrudge no man their wealth or poverty fairly won I just can't stand the able bodied who grift.

561 Hmmm. There needs to be a female candidate attractive enough to pull men in, yet unthreatening enough to not chase away women. Fucking fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck. It's the goddamned high school prom court elections all over again. This is the result of a low-information, easily manipulatable electorate...and nobody's changing that any time soon in this nation, it's only going to get worse as the size of the electorate increases. Folks almost had me back in the "lets fix this, it really is fixable" camp. Sigh. Must be Monday.

562 Posted by: chemjeff at November 19, 2012 11:24 AM (d/5qf)

You mean all one of them?

Posted by: polynikes at November 19, 2012 11:25 AM (m2CN7)

I take his meaning to be NorthEastern-Country-Club-Rockefeller Republicans in General.  George H.W. Bush (From Connecticut) was a perfect example of what we don't want.  He screwed up Reagan's Legacy and stuck our movement with the blame.

563

Posted by: chemjeff at November 19, 2012 11:28 AM (d/5qf)

I don't count Dems.  I wouldn't vote for one if it came from Texas.

564
Obama won by Controlling the Airwaves and Cheating. That, and the fact that the public has grown increasingly stupid over the years.

Posted by: DiogenesLamp at November 19, 2012 11:14 AM (R9579)

Cheating may or may not have been enough to slide Obama a few tenths of a percent. It's ... like fretting about your blood pressure on the way to the electric chair. The core and fundamental problem is the electorate overwhelmingly doesn't see through him.

Controlling the airwaves is another issue, but one that can be mitigated with the right message and messenger. It can't be fully dealt with until the dinosaur media plods a little closer to extinction, and the newer media outlets achieve more parity, but those days are coming.

The real battleground lies within the moral force and cultural confidence of the parties themselves. The Democrats have it. The GOP doesn't. Until that is fixed, worrying about the peripherals is a distraction.

565

Romney didn't explain how his policies were going to lift people from poverty to middle class.

 

Am I the only one who thinks itÂ’s odd that despite spending billions (trillions?) of dollars, the War on Poverty has not changed the poverty rate at all, and the GOP has not made an issue of the failure of this Basic Democrat Belief?

 

We still use vague rhetoric. As if we donÂ’t have a half-century of evidence. Fascinating.

 

566 It's time Conservatives put Saul Alinsky, Frank Marshall Davis, Cloward- Piven, The Frankfurt School Long March and its connection to Columbia U and its nexus with SCOAMF out there and connect  the dots for the low infos to see.

And then do what the Left does, pound the hell out of the message. Rinse, repeat.

Toss out the Roves and Frums and Noonans and the other professional hand  wringers with yesterday's bath water and conduct an all out offensive against the commies with a big fucking strobe light.

Leave the playing nice to the Bushies, and the other elitist hoy polloy.
They get us bupkiss.

567 Media hyenas and jackals will chew at conservatives like Mourdock and Akin until they get licked. The candidate should be able to say at least "rape bad, baby a gift from God"...scratch that "baby fetus...dispose".  "Legitimate rape equal all rape" ( true or not) scratch that, too. Nevermind. 

568 BaackwordsBoy, Communist subtrifuge proves my point.  There are commies, thus there is commie art.  The bad art is a reflection of the bad people making it.  The Media is the same.  As long as there are customers for it, it will continue.

569 I've at least some of the posts and have come to the conclusion that most everyone wants to blame the GOP losses to one or two reasons. Beck was right in his theory of the "perfect storm", and I'm not talking about a hurricane. It's when one puts all of the elements of anti-Americanism together that we find an electorate in total confusion. It's a feature, not a bug. It's Coward-Piven, Alinski, and marx writ large. The left now controls everything on a national level.

570 Controlling the airwaves is another issue, but one that can be mitigated with the right message and messenger.

Posted by: Artemus Kahn at November 19, 2012 11:30 AM (k1vsl)

A "Messiah" who gets everything perfect, is not much of a plan, not that it matters now. I think it's too late to avoid a serious readjustment of our population by natural forces. I would advise everyone to take the necessary steps to mitigate being caught up in it.

571 Am I the only one who thinks itÂ’s odd that despite spending billions (trillions?) of dollars, the War on Poverty has not changed the poverty rate at all, and the GOP has not made an issue of the failure of this Basic Democrat Belief?

We still use vague rhetoric. As if we donÂ’t have a half-century of evidence. Fascinating.

Posted by: CJ at November 19, 2012 11:30 AM (9KqcB)

The "War on Poverty" is nothing but a vote farming system devised by Lyndon Baines Johnson, and which has so far worked just as he predicted.  It was a direct response to the 24th amendment.  Anyone pointing out what a failure it is would be immediately labeled by all the media  as a Racists who hates the poor. 

Good luck with that.

572 Leave the playing nice to the Bushies, and the other elitist hoy polloy.
They get us bupkiss.

Posted by: ontherocks at November 19, 2012 11:32 AM (aZ6ew)

Being Leftie-Lite is a chumps game. Look where it got us, in the long run,plus it makes you a whore.

573 I think it's too late to avoid a serious readjustment of our population by natural forces. I would advise everyone to take the necessary steps to mitigate being caught up in it. Should this happen, I recommend that everyone think deeply about whether to support rebuilding the status quo ante if there is an opportunity to do so from the ruins. My root cause analysis tells me that a beast this large and powerful is impossible to control.

574

As long as there are customers for it, it will continue.

 

I'm  not disagreeing with you. I see a lot of, well,  shit (for lack of a better term) being presented before the American public as being "edgy" or something like that,  which goes  back to that "cool because it's rebellious" thingy.

 

I don't know anyone who has a reproduction of "Piss Christ" on  their wall.

575 Oh fuck you. Akin and Mourdock did not "run on" the issue of "rape babies".

In Akin's case, he answered a reporter's question stupidly. The media and DNC of course blew it up into "rape babies". Yes Akin is stupid but it wasn't exactly like rape babies was a central theme of his campaign.
Posted by: chemjeff

I think it's obvious I was being facetious, but Akin very much ran mainly on the issue of abortion, that was his calling card issue his entire career.  SoCons that are obsessed with this issue (despite having about as much influence over it as the weather) can't help themselves and will always get into trouble.  If you hold that position, eventually you're going to have to explain it, and they always fuck it up because it's a fucked up view.  Akin's comments caught fire not because he didn't understand female fertility issues.

The GOP can't tolerate members that espouse that view, it cost us the Senate and I would argue the White House.  It played in perfectly with the War on Women theme that gave us the biggest gender gap in several generations.  We've lost countless Senate seats over it (remember Ken Buck) and it's a view that's downright repugnant to about 90% of Americans and it won't even play any longer in the Bible belt. 

576 Not only do we fail to rebut it; we have candidates, pundits etc who advance the argument that Pubs are icky. See Bush, "compassionate conservatism."  

577 I don't know anyone who has a reproduction of "Piss Christ" on their wall. - Exactly.  Because there are only very few people that disturbed.

578 Blah, blah, blah. Oh, boo hoo. Then mean old media hobbled our pure, upstanding candidate who was just too nice to take the fight to the other guy. Whatever. Personally, I'm getting tired of the navel-gazing and plain old bitching. Political parties (yes,, ALL of them) are stupid, blind beasts. They represent the END of a chain of events, not the beginning, and they are built using the raw materials that society gives. Relying on them for social change is like waiting for the meat grinder to produce a steak. WHAT WOULD BREITBART DO? Own the culture. Undermine the media. Put a bounty on the career of every Wolf Blitzer and Candy Crowley, encouraging people to bring forward their verifiable, career-ending dirt on them. Mount some (metaphorical) heads on pikes. Same for NBC, ABC, and CBS. And while we're at it, start giving Fox News the message that they' can't get away with happy horseshit when honesty is the cost of it. Though, on a side note: Can someone explain to me when being a mental defective became an acceptable Tea Party value as long as you're sufficiently religious? (I'm looking at you Todd Akin.) How industrial-grade stupid do you have to be as a Republican candidate not to prepare for a gotcha question so perfectly obvious that it hasn't changed in 50 years? Moron.

579

The only thing missing from Gabe's post is "we're smart enough, we're good enough, and doggone it, people like us."

 

 

Plus, LA Times, bitchez!!

 

 

OK, uncle already. I need a gallon of coffee and a day on the river. And that's what I'm gonna get.... 

 

 

580 Controlling the airwaves is another issue, but one that can be mitigated with the right message and messenger. It can't be fully dealt with until the dinosaur media plods a little closer to extinction, and the newer media outlets achieve more parity, but those days are coming. ---------------- You must remember that congress gave Choomboy the intertube on/off switch. Just a hint of a national emergency will leave the "new media" mute.

581 RE: the failure of the War on Poverty. Note that Social Security has worked to change the poverty rate of the elderly, yet the elderly voted against the Democrat. Perception can be reality. Note also that Romney is  man who is (personally) good to people, and Obama's relatives live in squalor, yet Romney is seen as the meanie.

582 And on top of that in private meetings he was ridiculing the 47 percent with out realizing that 3 years of unemployment can make a 47 percenter out of a traditional republican middle class guy.

Posted by: CoolAir at November 19, 2012 11:21 AM (TxyUc)

 

And if you're a "traditional republican middle class guy," you should also know Romney wasn't fucking talking about you!  He was talking about Peggy Joseph and the Obamaphone Lady.

 

Get a cluebat and go fuck yourself with it.

583 With "spokesmen" like Akin and Mourdock, it's no wonder single women fear the Republican party.  You can rationalize it or attack them (single women) all you want; won't make a difference.

584

Posted by: McAdams at November 19, 2012 11:40 AM (7MC2X)

yes yes I know, we stupid socons should sit down and shut up and let our RINO betters tell us what is the correct position to hold (which, coincidentally, just happens to be what the Democrats believe)

look, if you want to sell out to the Democrats on teh social issues, then the only way Republicans can then distinguish themselves from Democrats is on fiscal issues, and on that score, Republicans lose because Democrats will always promise more free shit and EAT YOUR PEAS isn't a winning message.

so we have to stand for something principled, and yes, standing for protecting unborn life is the correct thing to do.

I don't care how much you detest and loathe us ignorant redneck hillbilly socon pro-lifers but you need us way more than we need you.  we are the ones who turn out the vote on election day.  it was the supposedly "fiscal conservative social liberal" idjits who voted for Obama and Johnson instead.

585 Whoever said 5M repub voters died since 2008 is probably right. About 120M voters. We live to about 85 years. So, in any given year, about 1.5M die of old age. Times 4 gives you 6M old folks missing each new election. I don't know the split of R/D, but we get more of the old folk than the newbies entering the older demographic, it seems from the culture wars. Uglier years ahead.

586 "Romney and Kerry are the two who come to mind."

And Dukakis.

Akin was Huck's guy. Palin endorsed and campaigned for Sarah Steelman.

As for Sarah Palin's appeal among "independents", a Marist poll released 9/21/11 had this to say:

Among independent voters, 47% tout Palin while 43% are behind Obama. In August, 48% backed the president while 42% were for Palin. Palin has gained some support within her Republican base 81% now say they are for Palin compared with 60% last month. 87% of voters who support the Tea Party rally behind Palin compared with 70% last month.   
http://preview.tinyurl.com/3ql56s2

587 yes yes I know, we stupid socons should sit down and shut up

Posted by: chemjeff

Finally, someone gets it. 

588 We did not lose this election because Obama promised voters handouts. Maybe that's how Obama thought to buy core Democratic turnout, but he still massively underperformed his numbers from 2008.



Horsecrap, he did exactly that. The people he did it too last time in 2008 are already getting the free shit, this time is was to get a whole new bunch of them to get in line for the handouts.

589 Palin's problem is that she has never adequately (at least publicly) explained why she stepped down as governor -- I understand exactly why she did and think it was the right thing, but the public doesn't.  Bigger problem was she was waaaay to green in 2008.

590 Sorry, there's no practical way to convert the typical Dim0crat turnout into informed, responsible voters.
They believe what they want to believe, in spite of any amount of evidence, facts, or reason.
Their machine runs on bullshit, so crank up our own bullshit machines and stand back!
And kill the mass media while you're at it.

591 MFM is why we lost. Period. Instead of holding SCOAMF accountable, they carry his water. They whine about Romney not giving interviews, yet don't say shit about Urkel not having a press conference for eight fucking months. Jindal, who I used to love, is fucking wrong about attacking Romney. Romney thought we had a country of adults that could tell fiction (ban contraceptives and tampons) from facts. He was wrong. Our country is on the take now. deToqueville warned us. BAMAPHO!!!

592

@ 584 - "it cost us the Senate and I would argue the White House."

 

You could argue that.

 

You'd be an idiot to do so, but you could argue that.

593 No. We should abandon the GOP, because it's a party of elitist losers who've lost their way. Dole, McCain, Romney, all Party hacks who couldn't connect with their base, much less with the American people.

Dump the bastards in shark-filled waters.

594 601 @ 584 - "it cost us the Senate and I would argue the White House." You could argue that. You'd be an idiot to do so, but you could argue that. Posted by: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus It cost us at least the Senate, and we had the biggest gender gap in several generations. I'd say the idiot is the one arguing that we don't have a problem.

595 So you're argument is that Romney lost the election because swing voters didn't vote for him based on cultural issues like Big Bird? EVEN THOUGH ROMNEY WON INDEPENDENTS? This is the fucking argument, Gabe? Romney lost swing voters by winning swing voters? K.

596 The GOP can't tolerate members that espouse that view, it cost us the Senate and I would argue the White House. It played in perfectly with the War on Women theme that gave us the biggest gender gap in several generations. We've lost countless Senate seats over it (remember Ken Buck) and it's a view that's downright repugnant to about 90% of Americans and it won't even play any longer in the Bible belt. -------- How the fuck did it cost us the Senate? If Mourdock and Akin win, we still don't have the Senate. You telling me that somehow w/o those two comments Josh Mandel makes up what ended up being quite a large gap? Or that Scott Brown suddenly gets elected in the super blue Massachusetts in a race that he was losing pretty much the whole last month and a half? Really? You believe that shit?

597 Obama got 69.5 million votes; McCain got 59.9. In 2012, 123.2 million people voted, but the difference was almost entirely on the Democratic side of the ledger. This year, Obama got 6 million fewer votes than in 2008. Romney only lagged McCain by 0.274 million votes. --------- And lagged behind Bush by 3 million votes, but hey, those numbers mean nothing. I mean this guy....

598 And might I add, that if we accept Gabe's premise that Romney lost because of things like Big Bird, then that is even a darker, more ominous sign that losing because of failure to turn out the vote or Romney not being conservative enough. That's basically a sign that the electorate is too stupid to continue to operate a Republic.

599 607 That's basically a sign that the electorate is too stupid to continue to operate a Republic. This fact has been etched in my mind since oh, around....2004. Idk, maybe it was Jan 10, 1980 when I watched the mayor of the city up I-395 smoking crack with a hooker. I'm sure the roots of my cynicism are there. I was 10 at the time and wasn't real sure what this crack thingy was, but certainly recognized it as a defining moment in America.

600

"the GOP is in need of a cure. That's just not the case."

Newsflash,  Urkel is the worst Prezzy in US history.  50-odd percent of voters thought the depression was Booosh's fault.

Romany had a 12 point swing over McLame among Indies and lost a total of 1 million in overall support.

Down Low lost 7 million votes and Romany picked up 4 million among the swingers, presumably.  QED, he lost 5M among Republican voters and conservative Indies.

Winning.

Next time don't call us, we'll call you, buh bye.

601 *** The same thing could have been done to any candidate we ran because it wasn't about Romney's politics, it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut. *** And until you repeatedly and successfully sue the mainstream media for slander, libel and misrepresentation and utterly ruin them at the drop of the gavel (no settlements, let it go all the way through and be writ in black and white), you never will rebut it.

602 "The GOP and Social Issues: Sophomoric Arguments at the Wall Street Journal by John B. Londregan within Abortion, Marriage, Politics November 19th, 2012 By discarding its support for life, marriage, and religious freedom, the GOP, contrary to what some party members think, will doom itself to minority status." http://tinyurl.com/d8nxmml So, go ahead and do it smart set. Man up, live your stupid dream, and pull our fingers.

603 <i>...it was about a caricature of Republicans that we have repeatedly failed to rebut.</i>

But 'failing to rebut' is what Republicans <i>do</i>! Would you have them betray their essential nature? John Boehner <i>is</i>
"Mr. Republican."

604 You lost because there arent enough white voters for the Sailer Strategy to carry a presidential election anymore. White vote share has declined from 81% in 2000 to 72% in 2012. The all-white GOP needs to integrate or it will never win another election. OFA never sleeps. Expect us.

605 Republican candidates did not lose because they were caricatured. They lost because they WERE caricatures. The Republican party has become the party of the mean-spirited greedy rich and the gullible, bigoted, uneducated lower middle class. This must change if it is ever to win votes again.