Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat, Republicans: You didn’t lose because people didn’t ‘wake up’ in time, or because Black Panthers carjacked all the little white nanas on the way to the polling place. The UN didn’t shut down stations in Republican states, and HAARP didn't make that gust of wind push a tree limb on just your car. ACORN didn't replace your vote with a big piece of paper that just said “Obama” on it, and George Soros didn't do a Jedi mind trick and make all red blooded Ammuuuuricans tick the D box when they meant the R. Don’t be one of those people who complain about bad referees when it’s obvious their team choked. You lost because, quite simply, your candidate was horrible. This isn’t the end of the world (except for Ted Nugent and his ilk); you can actually get through this. All you need to do is keep some tips in mind for next time. 1. Turn off Fox News. I know it pains you to think of it, but all of media is not in a massive conspiracy, with your beacon of light, Fox News, cutting through the lies. Look at Murdoch’s other media empires – he’s an opportunist. He saw a need for fear-based ‘reporting’ in the US, and he went with it. The over-coiffed people on the couch feeding you a steady diet of misinformation and paranoia? Not helping you. Coulter and O’Reilly are only on Fox because they need to shill their newest book; they have to be there – you don’t. Unplug the tv, get some fresh air. 2. Stop letting the lunatics run the asylum. Remember when ‘conservative’ meant ‘fiscally prudent and laissez-faire regarding social issues’? Yeah, no one else born after 1980 does either. From Ron Regan’s courting of the Religious right, to John McCain’s choice to open the floodgates of insanity in the form of Sarah Palin, intellectuals and moderates no longer run your party – extremists do. And the American public as a whole fear those extremists, and sent a message that they won’t put up with racist homophobe ignoramuses any longer. Good start getting rid of Akin, Murdouch, Walsh,and Brown, but you have more to go. Which brings us to our next point… 3. Quit the ignorance. From Santorum calling the President a ‘snob’ because he wanted all young adults to get an education, to Tea-party led school boards and districts white-washing textbooks to fit what they wished happened, versus what did, your party is likely to sink under the weight of its own stupidity. Stop being afraid of math, science, and numbers. Find your local librarian and ask her how to research primary resources. Don’t just rattle off what Breitbart or WorldNetDaily or Newsbusters or the Heritage Foundation says – look up the full text behind the sound bite. You’ll find yourself shocked by the results. 4. Tell your leaders that the buck stops here. Are you sick of political ads? Well, good luck, because they’ll be back in 1.5 years for the mid-term elections. Want to stop the rhetoric? Tell your senator, rep, council person, everyone, that you won’t vote for them again till they pass comprehensive campaign reform (this goes for all parties, by the way). Corporations are not people. Super PACs are not good. Politicians aren’t supposed to be run by lobbyists. Get the money out. And those who refuse? Get them out in the next election cycle. And finally, because this will come up again in our nation… 5. Choose a candidate because you like them, not because you hate the other guy. Who happens to be black. Who, the minute he took the oath, magically became the focus of birthers and prominent ferret headwear collector Donald Trump, a massive movement of the Tea Party who just ‘happened’ to spring up to fight him (even though the things they yell about were things Bush did for eight years without a peep), and a Republican led effort to ensure he’d get nothing done (to quote Mitch McConnell : “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”). I’m not going to paint all of you with a racist brush, but I will say this – they did all of this, and still lost, because Americans got sick and tired of your divisiveness. And this goes for the next candidate, who may be disabled. Or gay. Or a woman. Republicans, you better evolve. Now. Or spend a lot of Tuesday nights, sullenly staring at the tv, making excuses for your party. http://technorati.com/politics/article/why-the-gop-lost/
Except it is more than just one simple misspeak by Mourdock and Akin the reason why those statements had any resonance was because it confirmed something about those two men that many had believed already. There was a reason why McCaskill essentially campaigned for Akin in the Republican primary well before Akin said anything about "legitimate rape" because she knew it was only a matter of time before he would say something like that. Anyway blaming it on the media is a poor excuse. There was no doubt what these people believed and if the electorate agreed with it they would've won. The electorate didn't. The fault though doesn't lie with Mourdock and Akin but with the those that nominated them over people like Lugar, someone who had a 90% conservative rating and had served his state and the country very well. That cost the Republicans two sure seats and that is not the media's or liberals fault. Anyway yesterday's election wasn't just about Mourdock and Akin but Nelson also beat Mack convincingly and Tim Kaine defeated George Allen so in two states where the electorate was closely split the Republicans still lost. In my own state of MN which you and others were proclaiming loudly was going to go Republican Obama ended up carrying easily, the Democrats also retook the legislature, a Democrat also recaptured the 8th district US Rep seat from Republicans and two Constitutional amendments that were heavily supported by the Republican party went down in defeat. This isn't an issue of just bad press but is an issue of what the Republican brand is and the more radical it gets the more trouble it is going to be.
What BOTH sides need to do is be willing to compromise and not cling to pledges that completely remove options from the table. Before you start with that Democrats aren't willing to compromise just remember it was the Republicans who said they wouldn't agree to $10 of spending cuts for each $1 dollar of revenue increases.
Honestly there are times when I can't tell the difference. There are many who believe the same things that Michelle Bachmann espouses. You really need look no further than the D&D to see that. If she was just an isolated lunatic she wouldn't be able to raise so much money each election.
It's too bad the Citizens United ruined elections forever. This big Republican sweep of the Presidency and the Senate just shows that it isn't the voters that matter, it is all about the money.
Or, it's that when any Republican doesn't toe the party line, they are demonized. That's what cost your party the Senate. And that's what caused Republicans to demonize Chris Christie this last week - simply because he spoke the truth about Obama's performance during the hurricane instead of toeing the party line that Obama is bad in all ways.
Did you have this same concern under Reagan, when we were spending a larger portion of our GDP on interest payments than today?
You don't think Citizens United had a big impact on this election? Most of Romney's negative ads (which was the vast majority of them ) was actually by SuperPACS that are funded by outside groups who have flourished under Citizens United and who thrive under the cloak of anonymity it provides - as did various congressional candidates. Simply because it wasn't pivotal in the end doesn't not make it bad law.
This is more terrible analysis. No one ever said that money is the *only* factor. Maybe Romney's message was absolutely terrible, and he was only close because of all the dark money.
Money made it a close race when, otherwise, it wouldn't have been anywhere near. Citizens United is a net minus for every non-billionaire in this country.
While I am happy with the results this morning I am not happy with the process. Citizens United cut both ways and while the Republicans had more money it wasn't like the Democrats were impoverished when it came to campaign spending. This was the first billion dollar election and I don't think it is coming down. Most of that money was spent attacking each other and I can't help but wonder about how that money could've gone to something like hurricane relief.
So money is just one of many factors, and an overrated one at that, especially in national elections.
How do you know its overrated? Both sides had a billion dollars - and the money negated each other. One got it in large part from a handful of billionaires, and one by constantly begging millions of people to donate $3 at a time. Do you think that was a good result? Do you think either strategy is a good thing?
It's like saying money from revenues is overrated in the contest between Google and Apple since both sides have lots of money.
