What happened to the moderates and independents?

McCain, Bush, and the RinoNC blew the 2008 election. 9 out of 10 voters were opposed the bailout. It became simply impossible to knock on Ohio doors for McCain-Palin after the pork ladened bailout bill.

McCain and Republicans could have opposed the Senate’s “bailout pork package” to an easy victory; instead McCain and Bush went along with it. Stabbed conservatives in the back. Again.

It was Voter Fraud in Ohio, PA, VA and FL.

I will agree there was some voter fraud. However, if you want to deceive yourself by saying McCain lost tonight because of voter fraud...then you are doing yourself a SERIOUS disservice.

Almost 600K votes in PA....160K in OH...O is slightly ahead in IN....a state Bush won by 20%. O was competitive in Montana. NV...Gone. Blown out in NH (despite all the Freeper delusion earlier).

NM, CO, IA...were enough to give O 270+ without ANY other swing states...and all of those were margins greater than ANY voter fraud could have produced. O won them fair and square.

Across most states it is the same story: It wasn't fraud...it was the candidate. The faster you and others grasp that concept...the better we will be.

It looks like the popular vote will end up about 51-47 for Obama. We are in the midst of not one, but two, long wars, with a fragile peace looming in one and a ;potental quagmire in the other. We have just experienced the worst finanuial crisis in decades. The fact that it was even this close is really a miracle, especially considering the remarkable pro-Obama bias in the media. By all logical considerations, it should have been 65-35 or worse. But it wasn't.

So what is the lesson for Republicans?

1. Balance the budget.
2. No foreign nation-building. We can't afford it and it is way too chancy.
3. Come up with a market-based health-care plan similar to McCain's, and take the time to EXPLAIN IT to the public and REFUTE distortions of it put forward by the Dems. Neither McCain nor Palin were up to the task.
4. Put forward a proposal to make social security solvent for future generations.
5. Articulate an anti-terrorism policy that will be effective and won't commit the U.S. military in endless international conflicts.
6. Appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule according to the principal of original intent.
7. Affirm American sovereignty in all domestic and foreign policy decisions.
8. Affirm traditional marriage and a pro-life position somewhat to the right of the Democrats. (In practice, this would oppose MOST abortions, and prevent the government from opposing oranizations such as the Boy Scouts who have moral opposition to homosexuality. Even in today's liberal America, MOST parents don't want their sons going into the wilderness with homosexual scoutmasters.)

So that's my conservative agenda.

An addendum to my own comment: I think 7 of my 8 proposals are consistent with traditional conservatism; the one on health care might not be. But conservatives need to realize that health care is a HUGE issue to any person or family who is not wealthy. We can't escape this; we have to deal with it.

Expressing fears of "socialized medicine" will not resonate with the public. This issue alone could put the public in the arms of the Dems forever if we don't have an alternative - that works for most people - to a government monopoly.

I can’t get health insurance...not one company will cover me, as I have high blood pressure.

Every company I have appled to has sent me rejection letters saying they won’t cover anyone with a pre-existing illness, even though my hbp is completely controlled with medication.

So the irony is, as much as I despise the Dear Leader Comrade Obama, it is through his election that I will probably finally be able to get health care.

“The total number of people who came out for this sorry election is less than in previous years according to current reports. Even Obama was panicked and did some last minute campaigning for fear he wasn’t going to get all the votes he needed.”

I thought everybody said there was a record turnout for this election????

It's the "most" since 68 in terms of percentage, but we need to have a complete count to contrast presidential vs. senatorial vs. representative vote totals to see what people were really interested in.

For a variety of reasons this is our first "racist election" where the primary focus of a substantial chunk of the electorate was the color of one of the candidates.

We are moving backwards America, away from Martin Luther King's dream of voting on the basis of the candidates' characterl.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.