Posted on 11/12/2008 6:31:58 AM PST by reaganaut1
As Richard Nixon wrote, “history is written by liberals,” but the story of the 2008 campaign is too important to cede to them the analysis of what happened. A close analysis of the returns indicates several key realities:
a) Sarah Palin made a vast difference in McCain’s favor. Compared to 2004, McCain lost 11 points among white men, according to the Fox News exit poll, but only four points among white women. Obama’s underperformance among white women, evident throughout the fall, may be chalked up, in large part, to the influence of Sarah Palin. She provided a rallying point for women who saw their political agenda in terms larger than abortion. She addressed the question of what it is like to be a working mother in today’s economy and society and resonated with tens of millions of white women who have not responded to the more traditional, and liberal, advocates for their gender.
b) Turnout did not increase substantially. Despite predictions (by me and others) of a vastly greater voter turnout, it didn’t happen. About 127 million people voted in 2008, compared to 122 million in 2004. By contrast, turnout rose by almost 20 million between 2000 and 2004. The emphasis on early voting and the heavy participation in primaries indicated the likelihood of a huge increase in turnout, but, on Election Day, the turnout was modest.
c) The black vote made a huge difference; but young people did not. Obama, as expected, generated a big increase in African-American voter turnout. Fox News’s exit polls estimate that blacks constituted 13 percent of the turnout in 2008, compared with 11 percent in 2004 and 10 percent in 2000. But voters under 30 years of age were still the same 11 percent of the vote that they were in 2004.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Sarah definitely stopped this from being a Carter-esque 5 to 6 state election for McCant, no question.
Owl_Eagle
“When the stock market crashed,
Franklin Roosevelt got on the television
and didn’t just talk about
the princes of greed, he said,
‘Look, here’s what happened.’"
-Slow Joe Biden
And it is unusual because he usually says republicans can only win by appealing to moderates and Palin actually gave conservatives something to vote FOR. something McCain was lackling/
“Sarah Palin saved GOP from landslide defeat”
She kept McCain from getting a number in the 30’s.
“but were so turned off by Sarah Palin that they voted for Obama.”
I’ll bet you anything that these people watch MSM only and were completely manipulated by the biased reporting on Palin. Of course they’d be turned off by her; they never heard the truth.
We’ve got to do something about the MSM’s position as propaganda arm for the dem party. And we don’t have much time. 2010 is looming already. How, though?
I fear she has been finished off. The media bias against her is two-fold - they hate conservatives AND they are sexist. It’s too much to overcome - particularly in light of the tactics Obama has used, and will refine over the next several years.
Merciful heavens, I agree with Dick Morris. Must sit down.
Morris deserves credit. Heaven knows we may never hear what we know is true again about Sarah’s impact.
My RINO friend who btw told me after the election that he did not vote for his man McCain (he was for him in the primaries) but instead for Obama because of Palin. I realized my buddy is a flat out sexist when he said that Palin should be a schoolteacher and she is an idiot, blah blah blah.
I told him he might want to not say that in front of his new wife (remarried a year and a half back). She happens to be a second grade teacher.
He then begged me not to say anything in front of her. I said no problem. I’m warning you is all.
Irony.
So we may not “hear” about this again but you can be sure the real Obamatrons already know this. I told my buddy before the election that Sarah was the only thing keeping it close.
Folks already know that here.
IMO, you have to read Morris and at least ponder what he says for a minute without reaction. Yes, he is an attention whore whose best days are behind him, and he has the habit of being outrageous just to pump his dwindling franchise, and he’s not even right all that often. But, I find that in almost every one of his articles, there is that one single piece of clear thinking that he usually says first.
Earth to Morris: The GOP did suffer a landslide defeat!
And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 1 Samuel 8:7 NIV
Correct.
We have been saying the same thing at FR for days.
Dick Morris is wrong a lot of the time, yes.
But he is right on this one.
The fact that the GOP slid relative to its performance in 2004 (i.e. matters kept sliding downhill) reflects the failure of Palin to attract the "women's vote". One hopes that this failure will encourage the GOP to leave this sort of identity-politics crap to the liberals in future.
The difference in dropoff is simply the result of the GOP already (as of 2004) attracting few women voters -- it simply didn't have as far to fall in the "women's vote" as it did in the "men's vote".
You'd win that bet, for sure.
Look at the spike on Daily Kos right after Sarah was nominated! She scared the crap out of them.
Obviously not, since she did four percent worse than Dick Cheney at attracting the "women's vote".
This is the difference: Republicans don't win presidential elections in Massachusetts. Massachusetts doesn't represent the rest of the country.
If you want to feel your ears flap, as I did..read this article:
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/11/11/palin-everything-that-is-wrong-with-america/
As Sarah says (and I paraphrase) all of the blows she took only made her stronger...so, we need to keep on getting stronger in taking the GOP back from those who have infiltrated it and shifted it left...and for our next standard bearer...Sarah Palin 2012.
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.