The Republican delusion that Mitt Romney had momentum and that the public would throw the Kenyan Socialist out of office has now officially ended. Romney has conceded—the GOP pity party will now commence, to be quickly followed by a truly epic civil war.
There are a lot of reasons why Romney couldn’t defeat an incumbent Democrat weakened by a bad economy, all of which deserve to be examined in a cool, logical way.
However, these days the Republican Party is anything but cool and logical. What promises to follow from this defeat is a torrential drama of recrimination, retaliation and ill will that will make the French Revolution look like the White Party. The two factions of the party—the party establishment and the Tea Party base—will be at each others throats.
Here are five attacks that you can count on in the coming weeks:
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* Mitt Romney was insufficiently conservative. The Tea Party was always suspicious of Romney’s bona fides as a conservative. After all, he was governor of a liberal state and passed a health care law that became the template for Obamacare (a.k.a., the death of liberty). Romney might have called himself a “severe conservative” and tried to run far to the right of his opponents in the GOP primary, but then he shifted back to the middle in the general election. A real conservative would have won the election. Instead, the Republicans chose a shape-shifter. Didn’t they learn anything from John McCain?
* The campaign muzzled Paul Ryan. Ryan has an adoring fan base convinced that he is a brilliant thinker and the future of the Republican Party (if you think the future is shredding the social safety net and redistributing income upwards). But instead of unleashing him and letting the GOP ticket run a campaign of fresh ideas, Romney reined Ryan in and made him soften his bolder views. Romney lost the chance to make the campaign about the base’s idea of the future. Didn’t they learn anything from John McCain?
Of course, Ryan’s ideas poll so poorly that Romney would likely have lost by an even wider margin if he took that path.
* The GOP establishment foisted a bad candidate on the party. Romney was the choice of the GOP establishment. He had zero charisma, a wobbly set of principles and little connection with the rank and file. But the establishment lined up behind him as the best candidate. See McCain question above.
* The Tea Party has taken the party off the rails. The firebreathers in the rank and file are so far out of the mainstream that the party can never win as long as they’re calling the shots. The GOP establishment needs to find a way to harness the Tea Party’s energy while keeping them in check. The party can’t do without them, but they can’t have them calling the shots, either.
The hard line on immigration is killing the party. The party has alienated Latino voters, who are making up an increasingly large percentage of the electorate. The GOP can no longer rack up big margins among white voters—it needs to make inroads into the Latino community, which means it needs to revisit its hardcore opposition to immigration reform. As Sen. Lindsay Graham put it, “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”
Photo by Gage Skidmore
Scott Rose
Very interesting analysis.
Charlie in Charge
Four years ago the Republicans were asking themselves if they should lean toward the Megan McCain hip conservatives who can be forward-thinking about some issues or the nut jobs that became the Tea Party. Glad to see they chose poorly.
2eo
Dear the majority of America.
THANK YOU.
Sincerely the whole planet.
davegun2
@2eo: Yes. Thank You.
jerry_pritikin
YES VIRGINIA AND THE OTHER 49 STATES, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUSE AND A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR AMERICA. I admit I was scared when looking at the Mitt Romney’s crowds because all I could see was white faces with a sprinkling of wealthy blacks,Jews and gays. However, looking at the Obama supporters I saw a sea of diversity. That is what made America great, from the smallest towns to the big cities… Tomorrow,tomorrow and tomorrow looks brighter for all Americans. Thanks Blue states for reelecting President Obama,the Election of Tammy Baldwin and making gay marriage a reality in those states voting on it to make it happen!
Dakotahgeo
“In the meantime, the GOP firing squad is forming a circle and about to start shooting.”
IN THE MEANTIME???? They’ve been circling for months and the victim numbers are staggering! You’d think the Republican/TPods would LEARN… SOON???!?
Geoff B
As a conservative who could not in good conscience vote for Romney, I will tell you the blame lies solely on the Christian right. Proof lies in the clean sweep of state referendums regarding massive equality. It’s about time the Republicans abandon the Fundamentalists (really, what kind of asshole wants to force a rape victim to bear her rapist’s child?) and start appealing to the moderates the far left have also abandoned. Snake oil salesmen like Bachmann, Huckabee, Akin, and Palin have been exposed for the empty suits they are. The GOP either starts trying to compromise instead of obstruct and discriminate at their own peril. They could have had my vote and from what I’m guessing millions of others and threw them away. Anyway, ME, MD, MN, and WA voters, way to fucking go!!!!!!
Geoff B
Oh wait, I meant to say, the GOP starts trying to compromise instead of obstruct and discriminate or they’re screwed. I was going for two different thoughts. Sorry, just got home since working since noon.
Johnny_Lane
The financial implosion of the USA is now assured and is well under way. We are currently paying about 1/3 of the market rate of interest on our $16.3 trillion in debt. The next credit downgrade, as we print more electronic money will push interest rates higher for everything. $1 trillion a year in debt interest payments is just around the corner. If we were paying market interest it would already be well over $2.5 trillion per year which is 40% of the annual federal budget. And who do you think is going to be paying that? YOU ARE! Idiots, every last one of you who voted for Obama. This country is finished!
Geoff B
I@Johnny_LaneIf you’re looking for who to blame, blame the extreme right. Do I find Obama’s financial policies awful? Yes I do. I didn’t vote for him either. Exit polls had Romney well in the lead for who do people trust to handle the economy and yet Obama still smoked him. Am I happy about that? Not at all. If the clean sweep on social issues (marriage equality and marijuana legalization and abortion) are any indication, the Fundamentalist Christian right fucked this election up. Romney had a 10 point lead on economic issues and Obama still got over 300 Electoral votes. If that tellls you anything, it should tell you the Rebubs stance on social issues were so out of sync with the American public they didn’t were willing to risk this countries financial ruin than turn this country into an extreme Christian theocracy. The GOP has no one to blame for this but themselves for kowtowing to the likes of NOM and Focus on the Fucktards.
Dumdum
Oh it’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.
kw
And the world breaths a collective sigh of relief. I’m trult heartened that in spite of its high percentage of religiotards, Americans saw good sense and voted for progressivism. Well done Obama! Let’s hope that he pushes forwards to accomplish those things in his second term that he was too cautious to accomplish in his first.
Greg
@Johnny_Lane: and what would Romney have done to stop the financial implosion? Every time I heard him speak, no matter what the issue was, he had a “five point plan”, but never got past the second point or its sub-points. Romney had no solutions. He said he wanted to take the country in a different direction. Which was backwards.
2eo
@Johnny_Lane: Bless, I hope you enjoy 4 more years of Obama, his policies are helping America while you and your friends are content to let people die in concentration camps.
You lost, and no amount of new accounts created on Queerty will change that.
DickGreenleaf
@Johnny_Lame, If Willard could produce jobs, then why as Governor of Ma. did the state rank 47th in job creation?
Ron Jackson
Goodbye Willard! You Elitist, DREB P.O.S.
Dumdum
Willard? Wasn’t that the creepy guy with all the rats???@Johnny_Lane: I love this whole WE thing that people come up with. WE have enough bombs and arms to destroy this planet a thousand times. Yet billions and billions and billions of taxpayer dollars are funneled into the military for weapons and heated gold plated toilet seats. I never voted for that. Corporations and politicians and lobbyists spend all the money. There is so much waste and excess that I have nothing to do with. I pay taxes and they spend it. There is no WE. There are US and THEM. What are you like three. No three year old’s are way smarter.
kingkuy
@Johnny_Lane: you’re extremely wrong
first you have to look at who’s policies got us into this mess to begin with. a republican/conservative controlled congress
next you factor in the inevitable fallout. hello 07-08
sprinkle that with the only unifying cry many powerful republicans/conservatives had at the time Obama took office and the tea party kids came into power
“do not let him succeed”
what did that result in? a political position that was so warped it willingly put the entire nation at risk for the sake of combating one man regardless of his stance
and despite all that he and other members of congress still made progress
Wilberforce
Neener neener neener!
randalaw
@Geoff B: I agree completely with your assessment–I used to be a registered Republican, but gave it up out of embarrassment over the hijacking of the party by the religious right. I would just ask that you and everyone else stop using the term “Christian” right. They neither worship nor follow Christ in any way. They have made idols of a few passages of scripture which they interpret to support their alleged values. Thanks again for your statement here.
BJ McFrisky
@Johnny_Lane: Agreed. The moochers of the country see this as more opportunity for cradle-to-grave entitlements. Which is why my accountant is already working on ways to keep me from paying ANY federal income tax this year, because I’m tired of bailing out Obama’s campaign donors only to have them go bankrupt.
@Dumdum: The military spends its money on gold-plated heated toilet seats? Come on, Dumb-Dumb, you know you made that up. Unless, of course, you can cite where you garnered this information (which, of course, you cannot).
the other Greg
As a Democrat I must say, this Tea Party stuff seems to be working out rather well for us. Every election cycle there are predictions that the Republicans will win several major Senate seats. But every election cycle the Teabaggers win those nominations, and since they’re often lunatics who can’t help babbling about fetuses, and how wonderful rape is and so on, Democrats keep winning in unlikely places such as Indiana, Missouri and Montana.
@BJ McFrisky: Do most elected Republicans really even care about that boring deficit stuff? They spend SO much more time worrying about sluts getting contraception. Anyway, George W. Bush taught us that wars are FREE! It’s not like the deficit was actually caused by the wars… oh wait…
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: The military procurement horror tales of the early 1980s –
immortalized by the $435 claw hammer, the $640 toilet seat and $7,600
coffee makers — have returned, say investigators, thanks to Vice
President Al Gore’s “Reinventing Government” campaign.
When President Ronald Reagan first heard of the outrageous
overcharging on ABC’s 20/20, which exposed the labyrinthine military
purchasing bureaucracy that allowed $1,118.26 to be paid for a spare
plastic cap for a navigator’s stool on a B-52 bomber (worth about two
cents), he demanded answers from Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger. The biggest moochers of all are people who claim to love America But hire accountants to hide their money. The idle parasitic rich with Swiss banks and off shore accounts.The biggest moochers of all who have more money and pay less taxes that everyone else and then cry like little babies over big bad government. I hope you end up homeless and hungry so you can see how nearly 50 million Americans feel to be out of work and wondering how to get by with dignity. Reagan and the Bushes put us here as did you and all your ilk. Heartless, greedy, self absorbed little babies. ALL OF YOU!
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: The Department of Defense inaugurated a system (sometimes called “Pay
and Chase”), in which every bill that came in was paid, no matter how
apparently inflated or otherwise suspicious, and later chased down if
necessary in an attempt to retrieve the overpayment. The Defense
Accounting Finance Service writes $22 billion in checks every month.
Air Force fiscal expert Ernest Fitzgerald and veteran Capitol Hill
investigator Charles Murphy, both working for Sen. Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa, on a study of Air Force billing practices, recently examined 200
items selected for them by the Air Force. They discovered that not a
single one had been properly invoiced. This, they say, results in
serious fraud:
Take the case of Mark Krenik, a Pentagon fiscal oversight
officer, who created a phony company and then billed himself $504,000.
He had to repay the money, but was not sentenced to prison. Probation
only, and a $495 fine. He told the federal judge that he did it because
everyone else in his section was doing to the same, but he was not
required to name names.
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: Here’s the link read it yourself MOOCHER. http://www.wnd.com/2000/10/4314/
2eo
Bless, BJ, you lost. You completely and utterly lost. America has spoken. You have failed. The war of attrition has finally ceded to the most moral and smart people in the land.
Niall
Craziness doesn’t win you elections lol. The Republicans need to find a way to appeal to the minorities- women, gays, latinos and blacks.
BJ McFrisky
I just hope you folks understand that, now that he’s been reelected, Obama has to kiss the ass of NO ONE, and I expect in the next couple years people on this site will begin airing their disappointment in how the country’s “first gay president” has abandoned any and all talk of supporting gay rights of any kind. He pandered to us for our vote, and now that he has it, he will neglect us for the rest of his term. I hope I’m proven wrong, but I’ve been following politics for a long, long time, it’s a common pattern, and Obama has proven to be a very common politician.
@2eo: Actually, I lost nothing. It’s the American workers who will feel the pain of Obama’s exhorbitant spending practices, while the welfare groupies will continue partying in the streets in Guy Fawkes masks demanding more free stuff.
2eo
I can’t hear you over the sound of freedom and liberty and justice.
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: YOU CALL ME A LIAR??? I GIVE YOU PROOF? GOLD PLATED? So I embellish. SUE ME. I do research. That is what I do for a living now. I write papers for fat old professors with tenure, in Anthropology, Sociology and Theology. Challenge me. Do your worst. Poly Sci is not my forte, nor is economics. But I can certainly hold my own against the likes of you.
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.(1929-1968 “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.”
– Plato (427-347 B.C. “The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don’t have it.”
– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Dumdum
@2eo: Sour grapes from the money grubbing pseudo queer.
2eo
@Dumdum: You should go over to the Free Republic forum, there’s literally 10,000 BJ and Avenger’s there. It’s been hilarious all day.
They genuinely think they’re going to form a militia, they also believe Black Panthers were knifing republicans last night.
BJ McFrisky
@Dumdum: Calm down, dude. I never called you a liar (that’s the job of cherry-picking liberals). But highlighting an event from 30 years ago to demonstrate how the feds misspend our money just shows how desperate your argument is. They do overspend, but it’s not the Republicans, it’s the Dems. Here’s a fact: In 8 years, GWBush upped our debt by $3 trillion; in less than 4 years, Obama upped it by $5 trillion. And he wasn’t using it in a noble way to help the American people, he was giving it to his campaign donors (who, I might add, subsequently went bankrupt).
Geoff B
@randalaw: Regarding the use of the term “Christian Right”, fair enough. Those idiots wouldn’t know Christ if he sat on their face anyway.
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: That is politics bro. What I am talking about is being part of the world community. Everything is connected!!! I know that sounds like new age hyperbole. But you NEED to understand. As a white man I have been given a rare insight to the very complex web of life. And that in itself is an over simplification. I have sat and felt things with native peoples. I have felt the earth. Been so close to death that I prayed for release. How can I convey these things to my brothers and sisters without sounding insane? OUR WORLD is alive we are all connected. Yes. I am the crazy person who saw everything and everyone all at once, the beginning and the end, everything before and everything after. And the only thing that is important is that we evolve together. WE SHARE a common thread with each other, the earth and all the life here now. Kill the natives. Take everything in the name of greed. Aborigines taught me the value of life beyond making babies and getting stuff. I will sing the songs of life for everyone and our mother earth. But do not expect me to be nice or rational when the rest of you are being childish or superficial. Yes and I did it all without drugs or booze, so you all can just suck it !
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: Don’t make me get medieval on your buttocks. Cause I can do THAT TOO.
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: CALM DOWN??? WHEN ALL YOU MORONS ONLY CARE ABOUT IS MONEY??? I call foul and pray to the goddess that you are struck dumber than I shall ever be. At least I HAVE A HEART!!! I Have to go bake cookies for my man now.
Dumdum
@Geoff B: That really is quite funny. I recall Joshua. Later referred to as Jesus or The Christ. We all thought it was very amusing at that time as it seemed to piss off all the right people. It was really quite amazing. He had learned so many things that the common folk just did not know. From the east, herbs and hygiene that improved health and longevity. And from his own mind a new way to see god and one another. Such innovation of thought and ideals. Completely against the status quo. How could they not crucify this MAN. He made them all look ridiculous and superfluous. It is no wonder that people of that time would attribute supernatural abilities to such a man.
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: Sorry but I was remiss in pointing out that time is relative, but stupidity is forever. I also think that I was able to illustrate the infantile imperative of I want, I need, NOW, NOW, NOW!!!
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: In a duel of wits. You sir are unarmed. I see that like ALL COWARDS… you do not respond.
Little-Kiwi
you’ll have to forgive McFrisky and the other faceless anonymous GOP Gay trolls who came on here to get all angry and butthurt.
you have to understand that their own white republican families are ashamed of them, don’t love them, dont’ accept them, and so when the “Black Liberal” President supports the gay community, it reminds gay white republican wimps how much their own families don’t care about them.
these Gay Republicans are raised to hate liberals and blacks. And then here we have a black liberal president doing more for the LGBT Community than their own white families ever have, and ever will.
It really must hurt them.
hating blacks and liberals is the only thing they can do to distract from the reality that their republican families don’t love them.
Dumdum
@Little-Kiwi: Dang Girl! Cut to the bone. Butt-hurt!!! LOL.
Michael
@Dumdum…I think I love you.
Rockery
Paul (Lyin’) Ryan was the comedy relief, Mitt (Twit) Romney does not know if he is coming or going, it was doomed from the beginning, I am not unhappy with the result
Dumdum
@BJ McFrisky: @Johnny_Lane: September 6, 2012 From a public policy point of view, the national debt accumulation since President Obama took office is largely a result of policies put in place prior to his inauguration, says a new analysis by University of Maryland expert Philip Joyce. He adds that Obama’s policies will make little impact in the debt over the next decade.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-national-deficit-outlook-unchanged-obama.html#jCp