WHY WE LOST

Vanity | November 12 2006 | Nathanbedford

[dmw]

All of the reasons you state are true of course, but the biggest reason in my opinion why the Republicans lost is because of the MSM. As the comedian Jackie Mason recently said on Neil Cauvto, "The MSM won the election for the Democrats". Nothing could be further from the truth! Here's something I copied and pasted from Powerlineblog.

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That's the title of this provocative post on the Power Line Forum. T>2 writes:

I’ve read the post-mortems and the analysis as to why the Republicans lost (i.e. lack of progress in Iraq, Republican lost their way and betrayed conservative principles etc.). I’m sure those reasons played a part. However, I think that one only has to understand what Hamilton referred to as the “Ignorant Masses” and their susceptibility to the old media’s influence to identify one of the greatest contributing factors to Republican losses. I’ve encountered a lot of people in my travels and I must say that I find it depressing how astonishingly ignorant most are in regards to all things political. I also find it amazing how readily these people parrot conventional wisdoms and clichés created by the mainstream media regardless of any factual basis. ***
An article in the American Thinker states: “The New Media have not yet beaten the Old. They are making a difference, but the Old Liberal Media have protected their power, at the cost of major alienation from millions of America. Over time, the Old Media will continue to move to the Net, but the political debate will continue. The New Media have a voice, but not as powerful as ABCCBSNBCPBSNPR.” ***

Not only is the old media still more powerful, but they are – in my opinion – doing an effective job at marginalizing the new media. Conventional wisdoms created by the old media include: Fox News is a right wing news service, Talk radio consist of a bunch of mean spirited right wing nut-jobs, and the blogosphere is comprised of a bunch of pajama wearing wannabes that don’t have any more credibility than any other source on the internet. I had once found hope in the belief that the new media would be able to make a breakthrough in reaching the masses. These days however, I fear that the new media is being relegated to preaching to the choir (as Rush has been doing for many years in my opinion – his audience hasn’t seen change in composition or size for some time).

I think he's mostly right. In my view, the old/mainstream/legacy/drive-by media have taken the gloves off, and have become more nakedly partisan than ever over the last two election cycles. I think this has a lot to do with the Democrats' victory on Tuesday.

Do you agree? You can post your thoughts on the Forum by following the link above. If you haven't already registered to post on the Forum, it takes only seconds.

UPDATE: As of 10:00 p.m., there are 54 posts on this thread. It has exploded into a vigorous debate on the roles of new and old media and their relevance to the Democrats' victory last Tuesday. Check it out, and if the urge strikes, contribute to the discussion. One more thing: please remember to register with a valid email address, because you will get an email that you have to click on to activate your registration. Don't worry; we don't sell email addresses and you won't be spammed.

For more on this go here http://www.powerlineblog.com/powerlinenews/index.php/forums/viewthread/8297/

[rodguy911]

Partially true, however I see our loss as a "my megaphone is bigger than yours" type of victory for the DBM.
It took the msm 6 years to lie, deceive, spin and undermine George Bush's adm. They picked him apart at every turn, ignoring any good news and concentrating on daily death tolls and anything that would pull the adm. down.
They won on that basis.
Next time it won't happen.
We here at the New Media were fooled once but won't happen again.
Next time we will counter them so fast, so often they will think twice about just how much they re- invent the truth and the news.

[GadareneDemoniac]

Words, words, words.

The simple and true answer is that 85% of the people are fat, lazy, and WILL NOT SACRIFICE or give up anything that will prevent the seeking of pleasure and personal gain.

Nearly one hundred years of mediocre public "education", seventy years of welfare, fifty years of stupid so-called "entertainment", and thirty years of avoiding personal responsibility by abortion have taken their toll.

It was all over for our government when our Senators refused to even consider the evidence in the trial of BJ Clinton; the election of a Democrat majority in 2006 with no platform other than anti-war hysteria proves that its all over for the people.

"What's on TV tonight?"

[rodguy911]

pIng!!

[Just mythoughts]

These liberals NEVER EVER wanted Saddam removed!!!! The facts of what is now are irrelevant, Saddam and his oil were the keys to the EURO economy of which liberals bow down to daily, with the 'new' Russian empire.

Rummy was the most hated man in WDC prior to 9/11/01 cause he came to town to modernize the military with the "bottom up review". There were RINOS all over Congress who wanted his head as much as all the liberals cause their constituents were squealing about modernization was hitting them in their pocketbooks.

9/11/01 removed from the public the unadulterated hatred held for what Rummy was to be doing, and his "Old Europe" comment hit home for a number of American players whose fortune and future were to be built upon the Clintons formation of globalism.

It was McCain and his pet William Kristol that spent the majority of 2004 before the presidential election beating the off with Rummy's head drums.

Now you can point your finger at the "childish 100%ers" as cause of this loss but simply not the case, nobody within the Republican Party told McCain to sit down and shut up and stop playing politics with this nation's national security.

This mess can be laid in large part at the feet of that want-a-be president. I will NEVER EVER vote for him.

[Maine Mariner]

It is also clear one reason we lost was MSM.
It was all over Allen for his macaca comment but no similar investigation or exposure of Webb's racist comments. Where was the MSM when left-wing Democrat Representatives call conservative blacks house n_ggers.
Where are the demand from the MSM for apologies or resignations.
I have long observed that any negative stories about Republicans will come out a few weeks or days before an election and be on the front page. Any negative stories about Democrats will come out several years after the Democrat has left office or died and then it will be a short sentence in a story in some obscure part of the paper.
The moral of the Allen story: anything you say will be used against you. The MSM are not our friends-their goal is to defeat conservatives whom they hold with the upmost contempt and distain.

[rodguy911]

Don't give up on the New Media yet, we screwed up big time by a lot of in-fighting from Boortz to Savage(he's a little unbalanced anyway) to Rush taking on a popular celeb to feed his ego only hors before election.
Mccaskill credited him with her win she may have been right, we need to learn and get a little smarter if we want to lead and win as a party.
Once we get our act together we will become a more formidable force.
After all the old/msm/DBM has had years to perfect their act, we need a little more time to get it together.
Bottom line is that people are basically conservative,
When liberal values are presented to a voting populace they don't fly. People want a strong defense, they want secure borders they want balanced budgets etc.
We have lost of work to do in all those areas but in the long run it will be ours to lose,just like 06.

[uncbob]

WE lost because the brain dead voters haven't and hadn't the foggiest idea what their " Send a Message" vote would do in REALITY

51 Federal Judge Vacanies ( message voter who probably hate the lefy judge's decisions they hear about thinks they arrive via UFOs )

All the committee chairs in the hands of the left wing nut bags ( ask the meassage voter if he considered that and you would get a blank stare--What is a committee ?)

Ask them what kind of message it send to the military--Iran--Korea--Syria--Our Allies in Afganistan
Another blank stare-"Well I didn't think of that "


And genius Rove should have nationalized the individual elections by educating via campaign literature the voters
to those facts of life

[cripplecreek]

On FOX this morning they were talking about some politician in a small local race. Apparently there's an investigation because not even his own vote for himself showed up. LOL

[Just mythoughts]

If you look closer at the near loss of that amendment you will find what Rush did, did not cause the amendment to win.

Mccaskill sneer that Rush helped her was a LIE!!!!

Further what gave the liberals and their amendment their win in this state of Missouri was the minimum wage increase, the UNIONs had cause to get out their vote.

[Mojave]

The ONLY people who stood tough on the Border, the US House Republicans

[uncbob]

Rush taking on a popular celeb to feed his ego only hors before election.

Rush was absolutely correct but after the MSM got done misrepresenting what he said it was over

It all really goes back to the same thing

The majority of voters are pathetically uniformed and incapable of much real analysis--They always have been that is why there CAMPAIGN STRATEGY ( how best to BS the voters)

Should Rush have known what was going to happen --Yeah

Sad isn't it when telling the truth is the wrong tactic

Voters should have been POed at FOX for what he knowingly did and being so crass as to do it But the boob voters think with their emotions

[Jim Noble]

The Democrats and the media contrived to make Katrina a metaphor for Iraq and the people largely bought it because they were uneasy about Iraq but patriotic enough to want victory. So they could resolve their ambivalence by reacting to Katrina

A real gem from an essay full of them.

Thanks for a great job.

[sirchtruth]

America has repudiated the war in Iraq.

No it has not! That's B.S.! Liberals may have, but what war haven't they ever repudiated?
You were right, this election was about repubs getting fired simply because they acted like
dems in legislating. Conservatives with a solid agenda rarely lose...The message was not only
NOT there, but all over the place.

[Fresh Wind]

The FBI released a tape of him accepting $50,000 to get an Arab into the country...

Not true. The tape showed Murtha considering the bribe, but not accepting. This is why he was never indicted. He preferred the money to pass through intermediaries rather than directly into his own pocket. He's corrupt, but smart.

[texas_mrs]

No screams of DISENFRANCHISEMENT this cycle, huh?

[Jim Noble]

Another reason we lost is reflected in the poor quality of the comments on this thread so far.

I'm not sure that the President was all that upset by the election results, by the way. Except for his "Muslims love Peace and Liberty" hobbyhorse (and honestly, who would not be looking for a way off of that horse by now), his real desires for actual legislation are much more consistent with the new majority.

[ovrtaxt]

See post 6.

[TomGuy]

Much of this analysis will fall on deaf or closed ears. The loyalists don't want to hear.

But, if they don't, and adjust accordinging in the next year, the GOP won't win control of either Chamber in Congress for decades.

[dmw]

I agree with you. But I am concerned about how gullible people are who just vote for reasons that have nothing to do with their political philosophies or beliefs (they don't have any). So many people just don't understand that who they vote for will make a difference on how our nation is shaped. They don't understand that their vote could make a difference in whether or not we win or lose the war on terror, they just think, "Oh, lets try something different and hope these guys get along better than the other ones did". I believe 30-40% of the people in the US just don't understand politics. They don't understand that their vote will determine the future of their children and grandchildren. That worries me.