You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Home Front: Politix
Courage for the Long War Ahead
2012-11-08
On November 6, the people of the United States rejected President Barack Obama. And re-elected him to a second term in office.

Though Obama failed to win a majority in the popular vote--and may even have lost the popular vote outright--he won enough votes in the Electoral College to claim victory. The same constitutional peculiarity that brought George W. Bush into office in 2000 may have returned Obama to the White House.

The voters also re-affirmed the results of the historic Tea Party election of 2010, returning Republicans to power in the House of Representatives. And yet the voters also retained Democrats in control of the Senate, preserving the results of the anti-war wave election of 2006.

The U.S. Congress is now divided between two parties whose members were elected on platforms of protest, each determined to stop the other from pursuing its policies.

In the days that follow, great efforts will be spent on explaining the results as consequences of many factors, big and small.

Perhaps Obama would have lost if not for Hurricane Sandy. Perhaps Romney would have won if he had fought harder over Benghazi or pushed back against personal attacks. Perhaps the GOP is out of touch with the country's changing mores and demographics. Perhaps Democrats have not yet reckoned with fiscal reality.

Both sides lost. The American people, in effect, handed a vote of no confidence to Washington.
Posted by:Au Auric

#10  AceofSpadesHQ also has a post on how GOTV efforts from Romney completely fell apart because of flat-out incompetence.
Posted by: Charles   2012-11-08 22:31  

#9  Reality is a crutch for some.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2012-11-08 22:01  

#8  Someone needs to make the point to libertarians that they should not field a presidential candidate until they have a few seats in the Senate

They need a grounding in reality first.
Posted by: Pappy   2012-11-08 21:58  

#7  Someone needs to make the point to libertarians that they should not field a presidential candidate until they have a few seats in the Senate. If they pushedcresiurces into capturing a few senate seats folks coukd vote for them without throwing away their presidential vote.

House seats would be even better.

If you cant capture a single district you have no business gumming up the presidential race.
Posted by: Rjschwarz   2012-11-08 18:26  

#6  And this from Drudge:

FIRST ON CNN: Iranian jets fire on U.S. drone
The Obama administration did not disclose the incident, which occurred just days before the presidential election on November 1, but three senior officials confirmed the details to CNN.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/08/first-on-cnn-iranian-jets-fire-on-u-s-drone/?hpt=hp_t3

(Linky thingie no workie....)
Posted by: Uncle Phester   2012-11-08 16:28  

#5  "Perhaps the GOP is out of touch with the country's changing mores and demographics."

-mixed bag. Mores, yes...demographics, no. Romney lost because his tactics were weak & the GOP cannot keep pace w/Dem propensity to promise handouts. Obama 2012 had approx 10-million less votes than 2008 but still won by abt 2.8 million in pop vote. Romney 2012 underperformed McCain 2008 by almost 3-million votes. My logic (though often faulty) leads me to believe it's about the entitlement, stupid. My advice to the GOP: Stop being Dem light. Don't try to be something your not. Tell the people you believe in the U.S. Const and why. Tell them why balanced budgets, lower taxes, less spending, less regulations means prosperity. If they then still want to vote in Libs - let them. Their entitlements will not be there. Mathematics. Sooner than later, the $$ runs out. And, it's okay to stop playing nice. I would've hit Bammer on Benghazi, Fast/Furious, sequestration -- hard as hell and over and over. Also, go ahead and go on all the t.v. shows - have your shit together & hit their hosts right in the proverbial face. I find condescending sarcasm usually works. "Right Mr. Matthews, because that worked so well in 1979...so what your saying is that we should be using the Bolshevik economic model as a long term strategy for success..."
Posted by: Broadhead6   2012-11-08 16:10  

#4  You're going to have to find someone who doesn't give enough of a shit about the republic to be upset but who still gives a shit enough to reach out.

Maybe there's someone like that out there, but it ain't me.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-11-08 15:37  

#3  Another problem is that as far as libertarians who sat out last week are concerned, if they were on fire, I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to take my HZT losartan.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-11-08 15:35  

#2  One problem the Republican Party faces in enlarging its tent to be more inclusive of its natural allies, the libertarians, is that by definition libertarians pretty much can't be organized. Just try rounding up a herd of 'em to haul off to the polls....
Posted by: Glenmore   2012-11-08 13:31  

#1  Perhaps the GOP is out of touch with the country's changing mores and demographics.

Yeah, been hearing that alot today. Tent too small, etc... Have (fleetingly) considered the idea that, maybe, resources should be provided to organizations providing antitheses to the more hard core left organizations (i.e. New Black Panther Party, etc.) rather than funding those inclined to becoming "Conservative Light" (Liberal)......
Posted by: Uncle Phester   2012-11-08 12:39  

00:00