There’s a lot of charges flying around about the loss to Obama.
I see Rove complaining of voter suppression. Sorry, Karl, that may have been happening, but that’s not the issue. Doug Mataconis predictably wades in, but misses the mark, [1] as he did once before.
In other words Karl, they won the election.
Actually, no… the election was the GOP’s to lose, and lose they did because they keep misplaying the thing.
Rove is addicted to the mythical center. He can’t admit what I said to Doug last April. [2]
Of course this has been happening ever since Reagan…. where every candidate the GOP has been coming up with has been a weak-kneed centrist, like Romney. Bob Dole? Both Bushes? McCain? really? These are really the strongest proponents of conservatism the party can find?
Reagan’s winning, because of, not in spite of his very vocal social conservatism, you see, to today’s GOP leadership, is just an aberration. Forget that the same cries from the social liberals of that day were drowned out by the vast majority of voters. And remember, gang, the GOP establishment wasn’t happy, even back in the day, that Reagan won.
The establishment GOP keeps ignoring these facts, and they keep coming up with the same result. And it’s happening again.
The rank and file knows it, and so do the independent voters. YOU don’t. At least, you can’t bring yourself to admit it.
Congrats, centrists. You’ve done it yet again.
Instead of coming out strongly with the social conservative values of mainstream America, your pre-annointed boy backed away trying to save the mythical center, when the liberal media, in the form of Clintonita George Stephanopoulos, started playing the birth control game. To his credit, Romeny’s people identified the attack…. at least by the next debate.
…
thing is, the response, while correctly programmed, was far too late to do much about it. That’s what happens when you have someone like Romney who speaks conservatism as a second language, and even then not very well. Stephy should have been called down then and there. Romney couldn’t find it in himself to do it.
The stupidity, Doug, is not recognizing that voters know.. and dislike it… when the candidates biggest talents are playing both sides against the middle. And that’s all the GOP’s been able to do since the 80?s. And if they can’t do better than that, they deserve to lose.
Rove has been part of the problem, of course. He’s a talented, likeable sort, but far too addicted to centrism to see the truth of the matter.
But let’s look at a couple points Rove along with the left, simply can’t handle:
First, Obama won with a smaller number of voters than in 08. Indeed, Romney got fewer voters than McCain. Now, that should be no shock, since Romney, back in 08 was considered to be less conservative than McCain, himself being no conservative. That perception among conservative voters hasn’t changed with the passage of 4 years.
Secondly, notice that if you add Gary Johnson’s numbers from Florida and Ohio, to Romney numbers, it would have been more than enough for Romney to win in both those states. Clearly, a candidate that speaks conservatism as something other than a second language, would have been helpful… such a person would have won those states…. and I suppose the effect wouldn’t have been limited to that.
All that was needed was a real conservative in the lead role. Ryan leaps to mind. Palin. Cain. People like Rove worked to drive such conservative people out of the lead roles in the party. And then wonders why the GOP he misleads, loses.
And I say again, I’ve been saying this all along.
Mind, this is not to lay the blame for this loss at the feet of Rove alone. Rather, the point is we got here by following the mindset as regards the center, and the GOP devotion to that myth. This defeat is a wake up call. The only way we’re going to win elections is to actually BE conservative. If the current leadership cannot deal with that, it’s time to replace them.
Addendum: (DavidL)
Mitt Romney lost the get of the vote effort, fairly or unfairly. The last time the ‘pubs one the White House, in 2004, Karl Rove had a great get on the vote campaign.
What I propose right now is that Newt Gingrich open a media relations school for are republican candidates We need to starting making going Juan Williams standard treatment for all the Candy Crowleys’s in the media We tried being nice. We lost.
Reach out to Hispanics and use the blacks for sport. They like the plantation life.