Posted on 02/09/2008 11:45:57 PM PST by The_Republican
I heard Fred Barnes and Brit Hume use the term "Enthusiasm Gap" in describing how Dems are having RECORD TURNOUTS even in Red States.
I think there are couple of reasons Dems are nearly doubling up our turnout (no particular order) -
RECORD TURNOUTS
1) Split Party and nothing new to root for from our side.
2) Obama and his empty but impressive rhetoric. Something new.
3) Dems smelling victory.
4) Dems selling out to EXTREME left wing of their party. Moveon.org type rhetoric. Shamelessly rooting for surrender to Al Qaida. That sort of stuff sells well with extremists in primaries, but once they change their rhetoric, their extremists would be JUST AS DISAPPOINTED as some from our sides, and feel betrayed.
5) Sitting President less popular then STDs.
6) Larry Craig, Florida Congressman sending page to male interns, Abramoff, Wasteful Spending, at time poorly executed War, ALL THINGS that PUBBIES had the high hand on, where they were respected (Moral/Social Values, Not selling Govt blatantly, Watching your money, and Great on National Security and Winning Wars and not just starting them and opposing afterwards) - Pubbies damaged themselves and their CREDIBILITY on ALL THE THINGS that they used to be considered strong on.
BIG MAC
There will be price to pay. MAC on other hand has ONLY damaged his crediblity amongst party base and STILL has good reputation in eye of the Masses on issues I touched upon above.
This amongst many other reasons is why I am TRULY HAPPY AND EXCITED about Mac being our presumptive nominee!!!
He can restore REPUBLICAN reputation and credibility in eyes of masses on issues where they always trusted them.
TRUECON VP
Mac can not mess this up. Thompson or someone from mid-west and true conservative HAS TO BE THE VP.
Moderate or any flip-flopper chosen as VP, will not help in overcoming "Enthusiasm Gap".
WHO IS THE LEADER OF CONSERVATIVES? - HE NEEDS TO GET BEHIND MAC - W NEEDS TO CORONATE ONE IF WE DON'T HAVE ONE.
There are conservatives, and they are searching for a leader, but there is no clear leader who can even unite Conservative. Who is that inspiring man, who all Conservatives look towards with enthusiams and love?
Thompson? He fits the bill but the way he slept through in early contest, and how he lost, doesn't indicate much passion for him.
Everyone is MAD at Mac. However, who is one leader that is OBVIOUS leader for Conservatives? Not Romney for sure. He was nothing more than a DEFAULT CANDIDATE.
Not Hucakbee. He is only a Religious Candidate more than a Conservative Candidate
So - Pubs need to help Conservatives identify their leader first, and then if he is good enough, give him VP or get his passionate backing for Mac.
STEP 1 in this process - President Bush needs to try and save GOP. ADMIT that he made MISTAKES, among others, FREELY SPENDING OUR MONEY and losing his way from FISCAL CONSERVATISM point of view.
Shed few tears. Claim that its not TOO LATE to fix few things. Veto some Pork.
Reclaim the title of "Leader of Conservatives" and inspire those guys and then slowly lead them Back to Mac.
HELP HILLARY
I think we can destroy Hillary and we should help Hillary beat Obama in Primaries such as Texas where Pubs can vote too in Democratic Primaries.
Yes your nose would really hurt from pinching it so hard after voting for Hillary in Texas Primary. But you have to help the Dems nominate the weaker candidate.
THEN WE WIN!
Yes your nose would really hurt from pinching it so hard after voting for Hillary in Texas Primary. But you have to help the Dems nominate the weaker candidate.
I would expect the highest % of the population to vote in our history.
And what’s to be done with the liberal media?
Yesterday it occurred to me that I do NOT see the usual demonization of Pubby candidates in liberal media that we almost always see.
It always used to be these guys would throw seniors out on streets, take food out of children’s mouth and take us back to days of slavery.
This time around I have yet to see a Pubby getting brutally attacked.
Remember the commercial that Jesse Jackson and company made when a Black man was dragged to death tied to a truck? Even though he got death penalty, Dems used that commercial to make African Americans HATE W.
No such dirty trick has been employed yet.
Why?
My guess is that they are so euphoric about Hillobama - a woman and black man, and so giddy at possibility of victory in November that they believe their victory is foregone conclusion.
They are simply sleeping at the wheel.
Good for us!!! ;o)
By the time they go into Demonization mode, they may find they waited too long. Also, the guy they LIONIZED in elections past to try and SPLIT GOP, is now actually the presumptive nominee.
They have EXTRA WORK to do if they want to DEMONIZE him. By demonize, I mean make people actually AFRAID of him.
“I heard Fred Barnes...”
Fred Barnes??? Talk about a guy who can widen the enthusiasm gap even further!
Voting for Hillary is one of the most harmful things you can do to this country. If she makes it to the general election, she has at least a 50 percent chance of winning. You’re playing with fire. She’s liberal AND corrupt. Her husband is liberal AND corrupt. The Obamas are just liberal. I’d much rather have the Obamas in the White House if it’s gonna be a Democrat year.
I am a Black American who would be proud to vote for a Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele or yes, even Alan Keyes. I will NEVER, in a million years with a gun to my head vote for an infanticide supporting, Defeat and retreat enabling, gun grabbing, ever more government expanding, gaseous platitude spouting, Saul Alinsky trained radical Fabian Socialist from Crook County Illinois like Barack Obama!!!!!
Unfortunately, the only thing significant about the constituancy that I represent in my community is it’s tiny size. But those of us who feel the way I do had better find a way to stop these two DemoncRATS, because everything about their philosophy is alien to the traditions of American liberty. They are the most dangerous presidential candidates sincve Henry Wallace, particularly if they get a compliant Congress.
After watching Obama tonight I am convinced more than ever that McCain will get his A** kicked in November and, in the process, will pull many, many otherwise good conservative Republicans down with him. This is the fruit of your efforts and I respectfully ask you and the others to recognize the consequences of your actions not only on yourselves but on the rest of us.
Sorry. With all due respect, you and others have constructed this unworkable machine and I doubt you will be able to enlist the support of those who have been ignored in order to try to fix it. The so-called enthusiasm gap is really just a shrug by people who would otherwise be energetically involved had they not been disenfranchised in this sham - And yes, IMO it IS a sham.
McCain is acclaimed the presumptive nominee after 'Winning' everything with an average of about 35% of the votes in these stacked Primarie? Give me a break.
I could go on but it is late and, from what I've seen from McCain Bots or Party Bots around here, you do not really care what I and many others think. You just want us to get in line and accept this treatment 'For the good of the Party'. Doesn't fly with me and I suspect I am not alone in this response.
I think the turnout gap and the contribution gap are for much more basic reasons:
People are just fed up with the terrible leadership and conduct of republicans from the president on down.
The almost total abandonment of conservative fiscal and social principles by the president and Republicans in Congress.
Such as:
Record high spending by republicans in congress and the president over the last 7 years.
The McCain/Kennedy/Bush Immigration-Shamnesty disaster.
The conduct and attitude of Republican leadership (including the president) toward the base during the McCain/Kennedy/Bush Immigration disaster.
The name calling, the insults, the indignation that we dared try to influence the outcome.
Massively expensive new liberal style entitlements initiated and passed by Republicans.
Almost no use of the veto to control spending, earmarks, pork.
High inflation on the cost of gasoline and food.
Failure of the President to push construction of the Border Fence. His foot dragging hasn’t fooled anyone.
Failure of the President to push aggresive enforcement of laws against employers of illegals. His foot dragging here hasn’t fooled anyone either.
Amen Brother!
You can’t say that too often or too loud!
Great Points! If their was an edit button I would cut and paste them in original post.
I am sure or I hope that is the case that you still want to win in November.
What you described is all that has gone wrong.
I want to start a debate which leads to victory in short term as well as long term.
Short term victory will require some politiking but I think its still achieveable.
He can't of course.. many republicans wont go to vote at all and many that do will not vote for ANY presidential candiate of either party.. Some will vote for the House and or Senate but not President.. if its Mclaim..
If the economy tanks better the democrats get the blame.. They WILL raise taxs bad for a stressed economy.. OH!.. and the Muzzies will "sense" a weak (military) government who knows what they will do.. The democrats are all about caving in and the evil powers know it..
Godspeed, my friend.
Man, that’s a good post!
I was ready to throw an ashtray through my TV the other day watching McCain's speech at CPAC when he came to the spot in his laboriously delivered speech about Immigration. You would have thought he was dealing with a minor faux pas, on the order of magnitude of having issued an audible fart in class, instead of the deadly serious issue many of us think it is. His smirk and laughter at the boos was, to me, an insult. I'll promise you and anyone else who is interested that I will never forget it!
And now this guy comes and tells us how excited he is about McCain and how we need to work with him to close the enthusiasm gap? Infuriating and, frankly, insulting! From where I stand, it's their problem, they are the ones who are 'Excited' and they can solve it the way they made it - On their own.
Thanks, please see my follow-up #15
At this point (and actually always and not just now) the primary concern should be the GOOD OF THE COUNTRY and not good of your personal platform.
Klintons are traitors - they handed keys to nuclear facilities to Chicoms and gave them missle guidance technology.
Now they want to surrender to Al Qaida.
Mac Won’t.
For me this choice is not very difficult compared to some others.
Because they don't need to. It would be like kicking a dog that just got hit by a truck and is spasming out its last breaths, blood and guts running out on the asphalt.
Republicans are no longer a part of this race. It's either Obama or Hillary, most likely Obama.
it is a damned year. i’m damned if i will vote for mccain, and between the 3 of them they represent the middle to the far left of the democrat party.
That's smart. Obama is pure liberal (not something that majority of population really likes) and wants to be loved. He is also inexperienced and will be easy to deal with and pushed around by the Congress (including his former Democrat colleagues in the Senate), which means he will accomplish very little with his liberal agenda and there would likely be a repeat of 1994, if GOP Congress-critters grow some Newticals.
Clintons, on the other hand, think (or thought until now) that they are loved, want to be loved, but they also know that they need to be feared and that they can make others to fear them (they have ways). They also mask their true socialist agenda with the Third Way rhetoric and gradual intrusion of government into private economy, business and personal lives of people.
Obama will be unquestionably easier to deal with as a President, and defeat his agenda and take over in midterm elections, and the most important part, Hillary's defeat in the primaries destroys both Clintons' "invincibility" and "legacy" and a myth that they were "loved" and "popular", and their future influence over Democratic party relegating them to the back of the Democratic "bus", only worrying about their own financial scams for their own benefit.
Whatever happens in general, it's much better if O!bama beats Hillary! It will set Clintons' true record straight for all to see, and offers a weaker challenger or President in almost all respects than Hillary.
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