As I have been pointing out for days, there is a concerted effort based at best on speculation and at worst on malicious intent to have us assume the liberal narrative of why we lost the election by just under … drumroll … three percent, even less in the key battleground states.
But shouldn’t we understand just why we lost before succumbing to the Politico–BuzzFeed story line that the age of conservatism is over?
As usual, Byron York has a good take:
“Obama won Ohio because he did what Bush did in 2004 — surprised pundits by increasing turnout in his base,” says Mark Weaver, a veteran Ohio Republican strategist. “Also, by demonizing the undefined Romney, he tamped down Romney’s ability to motivate weak Republicans to turn out.”
What does all this have to do with a conservative cocoon? Not much. The missing voters certainly weren’t in the cocoon, and there’s no evidence the Romney campaign ignored those voters because conservative media told them the election was already in the bag. Just the opposite; Romney chased them hard.
In the end, while Obama, with all the advantage of incumbency, soared with his base, Romney couldn’t fully connect with voters who might lean Republican. “My general impression is that the base, the activists — the people you need — never emotionally invested in Romney the way they emotionally invested in George W. Bush,” says a senior GOP operative involved in the campaign. Maybe not even as much as they invested in McCain.
Developing a clear idea of why Romney lost is important because it will help Republicans fix the things that need to be fixed — and not blow up the party if there are less radical solutions.
Yes. We. Should. Understand. Before. Jumping.
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Comments
First up, ignore those who say the GOP should pander to the groups who supported Obama, especially all those socially conservative Hispanics. Huh? They are high consumers of welfare and their illegitimacy rate is over 50%. With the exception of Cubans, none of them are going to vote Democrat-lite.
Second up, figure out why Narwhal killed Orca. Which means vetting your campaign consultants thoroughly. Orca was a clusterfrig of epic proportions that may have cost Romney the election.
Third, figure out how to close down voter fraud. Early voting is a huge problem. It gives the Democrats time to drag in every low-information to the polls for weeks before election day. If they had to do it all on election day, they couldn’t. Are you listening, Kacich and Husted?
Fourth, hit really hard on out-of-control spending. Nobody understands what a trillion is so personalize the numbers. The government is borrowing 40c of every dollar it spends. You family can’t sustain that; nor can the country.
Fifth, follow Palin’s lead and hammer crony capitalism. Oops, that won’t work. The GOP elite are some of the biggest offenders.
I call shenanigans on one point — I don’t think anyone invested in McCain. They were there for Palin; McCain just happened to be the vehicle for her to reach the nation.
Ryan had some of that, but wasn’t as charismatic and didn’t have the outsider “corruption-busting” credibility.
I agree about Palin. Many voters were voting for her, not McCain.
we lost because people are jealous of those who have done better then them and want to take from them.
those evil rich people just don’t give me enough stuff for free.
Knowledge is meaningless. The Republicans aren’t “learning” anything. They’re already preparing the ingredients for the next RINO pound cake in 2016.
And as for this… “My general impression is that the base, the activists — the people you need — never emotionally invested in Romney the way they emotionally invested in George W. Bush,” says a senior GOP operative involved in the campaign. Maybe not even as much as they invested in McCain.”
Good for you, senior GOP operative. How much are you paid for such post-mortem pearls of wisdom? Some of us were offering this thunderingly obvious warning two years ago when it could have done some good — and for free.
I don’t know which is more sick-making — Romney’s toothless campaign or all the aftermath of “soul-searching” by the insiders.
They’re just figuring that “weak” Republicans weren’t as motivated to support Romney?
Romney goes scorched-earth against his primary opponents, namely Gingrich and Santorum (and via them, their supporters and allies), and then DOESN’T turn that machine early and sustain it. And they’re just figuring this out!
Romney should have been as concerned to win with grit as Obama was to win dirty.
Candidates have had bitter primary fights before and patched it up in time for the general election. The country club Republicans in 1980 were so upset about the conservative takeover of the party that some of them ran their own guy as a third party candidate. Reagan and his people were smart enough to counter this not only by asking the second place candidate to be VP but they worked hard to smooth things over with people at the state and local level who had backed someone else in the primary. I have heard that some of Romney’s people often acted like the primaries were still ongoing and would not work with people who had supported Gingrich or Santorum.
There is nothing that frosts me more than when a winnable race is lost due to dumb mistakes.
To go after Gingrich and Santorum like he and his campaign did, and NOT turn that machine around and point it directly and relentlessly as Obama is part of why he lost.
But we already knew in our hearts that Romney wasn’t going to go after Obama as rough as he did against his fellow Republicans.
So-called Republican strategists are part of the problem. The guy is crazy if he thinks anyone was attached to McCain–he’s literally insane to think that. Attached to GW Bush, the first time he ran, yes, but by 2002 that was gone. The toads running this party today are the same ones that sabotaged Sarah Palin. They sabotaged Romney as well. George W. Bush was quoted in Oct. 2012 NY Magazine saying he was skeptical that Romney could win. The hideous Jeb Bush ran a shadow campaign all summer when Romney was stumbling, Jeb ran his own shadow convention in Tampa. It cannot be stated enough, the GOP in charge today considers we the people to be enemy number one who must be defeated at all costs. They’re happy Obama won because it silences us, lets them get on with big government. Jeb Bush cannot conceal his contempt for us and believes he deserves the next candidacy—not that he could win since he couldn’t even deliver Florida to his brother in 2000. Hearing Boehner in the past few days put me over the top. I’m sending in paperwork to NY State to change my registration from Republican to Indep. In NY this means I won’t be able to vote in GOP primaries, but I can’t stay with these creeps another day. By the way, they’re coming after Rush Limbaugh too.
We had bigger problems . . . .
http://www.businessinsider.com/karl-rove-gop-money-civil-war-republicans-2012-11#ixzz2C3muQ2J7
Rick Perry and Newt were focused and killed off during the primary for a reason. They both couldn’t be controlled.
I have developed a great distrust for political consultants who (stealing a line from Mitchner) “joined the campaign to do good and they did quite well”. Perhaps the repubs should only hire campaign consultants on a performance basis, i.e., they get paid only after a winning campaign.
See Bret Stevens’ excellent Wall Street Journal editorial today. He tackles a range of election loss topics, including his sub-heading: “Conservatives Should Demand IQ Tests of Republican Candidates.”
(I hope the link works without a WSJ subscription.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324894104578114791679213644.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond
The sad part of this is that Romney was much more qualified than GWB in any sense of the word.
Both Bush’s were weak presidents but then the comparison is to Reagan and I’d hazard a guess that Romney was even more qualified then Reagan when it comes down to substance.
This was the Republicans election to lose and lose they did emphatically…
So respectfully disagree. Especially Bush Sr, but W. was a TWICE elected governor and built a strong coalition to get him though the recount and a second term.
Bless Romney for his private sector experience, but he was a one-term governor because he would have lost reelection.
All three were qualified, ESPECIALLY Bush Sr – with him being a veteran. Really? On Veteran’s Day?!
Thank you, McCoy, for saving me the trouble of b’yotch slappin’ Grumpy & Uncle Sammy. George W. Bush was ‘weak & inexperienced’ is beyond nonsense. Good Freaking Grief, a world turned upside down.
Romney is intelligent, talented, and a good husband, but he is corrupt in business and politics. He’s just as compartmentalized and compromised as Clinton, just not the same way.
Going to add another differentiator. The GOP is the party in favor of Legal Immigration while the Democrats are in favor of Illegal Immigration.
The left have removed any distinction between the two from the public square, so that point is moot.
Early on in the primaries, I felt that Romney was going to be a Bob Dole redux, but was fooled into believing that maybe he just might pull this thing off.
I should have stuck with my early impression, but you have to go to political war with the army you are given.
“Obama won Ohio because he did what Bush did in 2004 — surprised pundits by increasing turnout in his base,”
Sure, if by “increasing turnout” he means “bussing in voters from other locations and running up the turnout by over 100%” and “dumping Romney votes in the circular file”, I would agree.
But seriously folks. I grew up in Cleveland, had a good look at the precincts where there were ZERO Romney votes, and this is simply not credible. I’m familiar with the neighborhoods and people. An Obama win in those precincts? Sure, credible. ZERO Romney votes? bzzzzzz. No way kids.
This election was largely fraudulent, which explains a lot about the crowd turnouts during the campaign, the perplexing polls, and why a red diaper baby like Obama could win in an economy with 8% fudged unemployment, and 20% real unemployment. Are there a lot of takers? Sure. But not enough to put Barry the Red over the top if this election was run straight – and it wasn’t.
That’s it kids. The fat lady is singing. By allowing this to reach this point, America is official toast. Stick a fork in her.
Well, the rush to amnesty to attract Hispanics is stupid. The exit polls show only 7% of Hispanics who voted for Obama did so because of immigration issues. Unfortunately, generous welfare benefits in California and elsewhere have snared record numbers of Latinos, legal and illegal, on the dole, and they aren’t voting for those who want to limit the spigot.
Those in charge of ORCA should find new careers. Everything was riding on the new technology – which hadn’t been tested on anything like the massive scale Election Day was certain to be. It crashed hard, and may more than any other issue cost us the election.
All the Santorum/Gingrich/Paul supporters who insist their candidates would have done better should be watched closely by family and not allowed outdoors without their helmets.
We lost because Republicans don’t give away Obamaphones to buy elections
I contend that the reason Romney didn’t have more turnout is because his frequently touted raison d’etre – repealing Obamacare – started with his very own Romneycare, and not infrequently he spoke proudly about it.
Want to nominate a champion? How about choosing a guy who didn’t build weapons being used by the other side?
We lost because we’re outnumbered.
Until we nominate a candidate that can clearly espouse conservative, constitutional values that ignorant people understand and that will turn them – we will continue to lose.
It’s that simple.
We had 3 million of us stay home in disgust.
If Romney didn’t run a half-ass campaign, we would have won.
Okay I’ll say it. Obama won by cheating. Multiple ways, from foreign donations to precincts that impossibly supposedly voted for him 100%.
J –
You say it like it’s a crazy thing to say. In reality, it’s a crazy thing NOT to say.
We now live in a Banana Republic — and our pathetic ‘man’ in El the House or Representos is Senior Boehner.
Commentator at Belmont Club raises the issue of massive computerized voter fraud.
http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2012/11/12/the-eight-shames-and-seven-dwarfs/#comment-227537
Shameless self-promotion:
This was pretty good —
“Obama: The jobs created:”
http://thefinereport.com/2012/11/obama-biden-the-jobs-created/
It was surprising that after 2010, the momentum was gone.
Also that after turning back the Walker recall, WI voted for a Repub state gov but passed on Romney and Thompson.
Also that in spite of the many failings of the Obama Admin, voters weren’t more motivated to turn them out.
Reading the story of the Allen West campaign leads me to suspect that the results that we are told were not the honest results of the election. I do not know, nor can we ever prove that an honest count would have been different, but …
It is also interesting that the “international observers” were shocked at the laxity of the voting supervision and the opportunities for fraud that they saw. They made comments about how the lack of ID and the obvious bias of the polling “judges” would never have been allowed in their countries. And these are countries that supposedly do not have our “democratic traditions”.
As far as the campaign, this does a pretty good job-
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2012/11/compare-and-contrast-campaign-issues.html
As far as the election itself, well that’s an entirely different matter. A matter only whiners and conspiracy theorist dare speak of. Taboo
I say again…still-
I do not see how a republican can ever win another national election
First, GOP campaigns did not get good information from their pollsters. This happened across the board. Dem pollsters and media pollsters were right. Without good polling, Repubs will struggle to get their message right.
Second, media strategy for the Repubs has been overplayed. In a crowded media world, it is difficult to get attention. Third, Repubs need to get their game on and figure out social media.
Fourth, and probably most important, is revive GOTV programs with money. Friends and neighbors strategy is key. Consultants prefer running neg. ads to drive base elections and drive down turnout. This is because leaners and true independents make them nervous as they are unpredictable voters. Time to get over that one.
Karl Rove’s pathetic breakdown on Fox election night over Ohio is a classic example of a consultant who thinks that the world is the same as 2004. American Crossroads spent millions of dollars to virtually no effect. He and other Repub consultants who refuse to change their strategies to win elections need to retire. Romney’s inside circle were clueless about the deluge about to happen and his campaign information system is to blame.
I’m somewhat upset that no readers commented on the post title.
Professor J…Did my sunny, buoyant, optimistic, happy faced comment below ‘Lift’ your title ish-shoes?
I’m going to have to take a trip–I’m afraid–to that little house where I’ve happily sentenced so many lefty trolls over the years: Shady Oaks Asylum. Only the Evil Electro-Shock Therapy Room may change my Gloomy Post-Election/Post-Petraeus Attitude.
My HOPES are High,’Yo.
Apparently I will have to spoon feed it to you, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077975/trivia?tab=tr&item=tr0781251
And Blutarsky is Good.
Shady Oaks, here I come.
KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD…Yep and misapplied, misunderstood, misinterpreted knowledge can be…useless? Feckless? Witless? Powerless? God, even Rush sounded disheartened, semi-paranoid and a bit in victim mode on-air yesterday. He’s NEVER-EVER that way, so I hope I got it wrong. The Republican-Beltway Genius-Slicks Types are stirring up a ‘let’s devour each other’ shark pool & The Great One was girding, I think.
1-Week Later and this flattened, shocked, dismayed, disheartened, horrified for My Country-Neocon is still reeling, I’m afraid. But, hey, at least John”Didja know I served in Vietnam for 3-months 43-years ago?”Kerry is being considered for–F***!!–Sec’y of Defense! Bad enough at State, but at F*****g Defense??!! This needs to be fought, sabotaged and blown outta the water by ANY means necessary. Horrific enough that His Infantile Majesty plans to disarm, dismantle and massively weaken our armed forces in order to finance(cough)nationalized healthcare, but to additionally DISHONOR our Warriors with that A** is unthinkable.
Anybody got some ‘Uppers..? (-:
Stuffing ballot boxes and rigging machines helps too. HUNDREDS of precincts across Oiho and Pennsylvania reporting ZERO votes for Romney??? Puh-LEEZE.
If we didn’t have a wet noodle as the GOP Speaker, don’t you think there would be hearings on the obvious, rampant voter fraud that occurred?
To many, Romney etch-a-sketched himself into conservative-hood as a result of the primary battles but he is his own record.
Sarah Palin didn’t buy it. “Anyone But Obama” lost.
I am awaiting the RINOs’ mutually agreed upon excuses yet to come for Romney’s loss and no doubt there will be “not RINO enough-ness” to spread the blame in the direction of #purity.
Face it, enough disaffected GOP voters didn’t vote and perhaps… just perhaps… it was because a LiberalLite™ candidate talking the talk he didn’t walk simply didn’t float their mojo boat.