Then replace the elephant with a new party symbol:
"Don't Mess With US!
Posted on 11/21/2008 4:48:17 AM PST by Kaslin
During the recent election season pundits talked constantly about how the deck was stacked against Republicans. They suffered the misfortune of having as their party head an extremely unpopular President, they were defending more Senate seats than the Democrats, and the top issue in the election ended up being the economy rather than national security which traditionally benefits Republicans. Conventional wisdom was that even with outstanding candidates and unlimited money this would be a hard year for Republicans to win.
I guess I have never been big on conventional wisdom. Instead of the glass half empty view of the election, I saw some opportunities arise for Republicans. There is no doubt the Democrats had the upper hand, but there were some things within the control of Republicans that might have led to success if the candidates and the party had used them effectively.
The Democrats nominated arguably the most liberal candidate ever to run for President, and that candidate had a lack of experience and a long list of questionable acquaintances (from Ayers to Wright to Rezko) in his background.
The event most attribute Democrat success to -- the meltdown at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the sub-prime mortgage mess -- could have been tied to the Democrats considering the connections of Obama advisors like Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines, and with video evidence of high ranking congressional Democrats like Barney Frank thwarting efforts to reign in Fannie and Freddie. To top that off Republicans were handed a Mark Foley-like October Surprise when the man who defeated Foley two years ago, following the revelations of inappropriate instant message conversations with pages, was caught in a sex scandal of his own. The scandal surrounding Congressman Mahoney involved mistresses and hush money from campaign (and possibly even taxpayer) funds.
The media were more interested in making sure the public knew about the sex life of Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter and the cost of her campaign wardrobe than they were in Barack Obama’s ties to a domestic terrorist or how much money his advisors received from Fannie/Freddie. They were not interested in reporting how Obama talked one day about Iran being a tiny country that posed no threat to the United States and on the following day talked about how Iran was a grave and serious threat. There were much more pressing matters to report – like how Sarah Palin tried to ban Harry Potter (before it had even been written).
A project called HowObamaWasElected.com provides evidence of the shoddy job the American news media did educating the electorate. As part of the project, those who voted for Obama were asked questions about their knowledge of facts and issues related to the campaign. Some of the answers were shocking, but they helped explain a lot.
I wondered why the Congress controlled by the Democrats for the past two years was not suffering the wrath of voters’ intent on “throwing the bums out.” It wasn’t because the public loved the job they were doing. The approval numbers for the Congress have consistently been lower than that of President Bush, sometimes dipping close to single digits. But those interviewed on camera by HowObamaWasElected.com overwhelmingly believed the Republicans controlled Congress. I guess the voters’ intention was to throw the bums out of Congress after all – they just didn’t realize which bums were in charge. I guess they missed all those network news reports on the record low approval ratings for the Democrat Congress.
Media bias is nothing new. Although it reached new levels this election, it is not entirely to blame for losing so badly. No Republican has won national election in my lifetime because the media were on their side. It has always been necessary for Republicans to take their case directly to the people. With the rise of the DVR, which makes it possible for television viewers to fast forward through commercials, the best time for them to do this is during widely televised, unedited events -- particularly the party convention and the debates.
Republicans made good use of their convention, but in the debates, John McCain did not effectively challenge Barack Obama’s assertion that all the problems with mortgages and the market were due to George Bush’s economic policies. You can’t sit by and let your opponent repeat something again and again without calling them on it, then try to come back later and make the case that what they said was wrong. When you allow your opponent to spread misinformation about the issue voters rank as number one, you seal your defeat.
There is a debate raging on the right about what is more to blame – the message or the media. Republicans were not able to effectively get their message through to the voters because the media was so busy working for the Obama campaign. What made things worse, though, is that Republicans never really articulated a coherent overall message and some Republicans did not hold positions different enough from their Democrat opponents to provide an alternative message. The only message that has ever won nationally for Republicans is an unapologetically conservative one.
When John McCain rushed back to Washington to jump on the massive bailout bandwagon it became hard for him to argue that his approach to the problem would be significantly different than that of Barack Obama and impossible to argue that his was a conservative solution.
If Republicans hope to have any chance to win in 2010 and 2012 they will have to find more effective ways to combat the liberal bias in the media, but even more important they need to decide what they stand for and then to stand firm. Since country is the music preferred by many in the red states, I’ll borrow a line from a song by Van Zandt:
“…Stick to your guns, if you believe in something, no matter what, ‘cause it’s better to be hated for who you are than be loved for who you’re not.”
Currently Barack Obama is being loved for who he’s not and it’s working out pretty well for him, but if he continues down that road and governs as someone voters don’t recognize, he may pay for it later.
Republicans are afraid of being hated for being conservative, so many have gone the “moderate” route, with poor electoral results. If they would stand solidly for conservative principles and policies voters might actually learn what conservatism really is, rather than the stereotypes they have in their heads. Maybe they would even win a few elections along the way.
I agree 100% with this writer’s analysis of the election. McCain really dropped the ball on the mortgage crisis. Instead of pointing out the role that Democrats played in it, he echoed Obama and just blamed Wall St. While his pick of Palin as as V.P. helped, it wasn’t enough to get the base out to vote.
The only silver lining to this election is that the Republicans might embrace conservatism, if they don’t, then party is doomed to minority status for a long time to come.
Absolutely right that we need to bypass the media. It’s time we find a better way to communicate. Talk radio only works for the faithful, there has to be a way to get beyond the networks and the cable stations. And I include FOX in that statement.
Once again the root cause was a lousey candidate, with nothing to offer, no principles, no spine, No McCain!
RE” they will have to find more effective ways to combat the liberal bias in the media, but even more important they need to decide what they stand for and then to stand firm”
Somewhat obvious but how? Right now with economic problems Obama is favored to give out addictive handouts. The natural response of the public is against the bailouts, but wont be for handouts where they get a few $$$. The press beats up on economy and anyone opposed to bailouts until voters are terrified to lose THEIR job, and many believe next bailout is required, a bad cycle.
The message republicans need a (anti-GWB/anti-democrat) message that the national debt is strangling the country,to ask over and over where the money is coming from , China, Japan, and ask how long congress (must sound bi-partision at first) can borrow before democrats will claim they have to take all our money. Ask what will happen when interest rates (or inflation goes up.) In other words deficit mania ala 1992 that got Clinton to raise taxes in 1993. Point out Obama website says ‘restore pay as you go’
agreed communication is EVERYTHING.
when we have a kook like huffington with a dominant and unopposed voice then we have a problem.
we need a “conservative web ring” to bypass the media and WE HAVE TO RECRUIT.
During the recent election season pundits talked constantly about how the deck was stacked against Republicans
I am not interested or worried about Republicans winning. I am more concerned with American Citizens winning for a change and neither Political Party represents that. Government grows like a blackhole sucking the life out of everything else no matter if a Republican or a Democrat is in power. For both parties it has become about them and not about the Country.
Original birth certificate ——————————————Unavailable
Obama/Dunham marriage license -————————Unavailable
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Soetoro adoption records-————————————— Unavailable
Dept.of Education Hawaii Kindergarten Records-—Unavailable
Punahou School records-——————————————Unavailable
Occidental College records —————————————Unavailable
Passport (Pakistan) -———————————————— Unavailable
Columbia College ——————————————————Unavailable
Columbia thesis ———————————————————Unavailable
(Topic: Nuclear Disarmament, written during Cold War ’83) Harvard College records -——————————————Unavailable
Harvard Law Review articles ———————————— Unavailable
(Evidence that one may have been written, yet it is unsigned) Baptism certificate ——————————————————Unavailable
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Illinois State Senate records -————————————None
Illinois State Senate schedule ————————————Lost
Law practice client list ———————————————— Not released
University of Chicago scholarly articles –—————— None on file Indonesian Besuki School Application—————————Located (Enrolled with name Barry Soetoro-faith “Islam”) Selective Service Registration- -— Released, but suspected as fraudulent
The event most attribute Democrat success to — the meltdown at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the sub-prime mortgage mess — could have been tied to the Democrats considering the connections of Obama advisors like Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines, and with video evidence of high ranking congressional Democrats like Barney Frank thwarting efforts to reign in Fannie and Freddie.
We will have to continue on this subject. This cannot and should not go away. If this economy gets worse there will be an attempt to blame this historically on Republicans. We have to fight this. This is where we all know it started. People need to know how this happened.
I heard an idiot Dem-hack on Mark Levin’s show last night come up with some senseless explanation of how this belonged to Republicans, I would type his perspective but it made NO SENSE to the point I don’t know where to begin in rewriting it.
The best thing to do is when Osama is sworn in; do what they did to Bush—This is “Obama’s watch.” NOW they will have to be on the rhetorical defensive and will have to explain how this is NOT Obama’s fault—they won’t be able to. We can’t let these fools write the history on this.
total bs
We have the misfortune of a timely economic meltdown, and a media pimping their lil Marxist for 2 years....plus gigantic VOTER FRAUD
The simple fact is that most people do not pay any attention to politics until a week or so before the election. they then count on Katie Couric, Letterman, The View or Oprah to tell them who to vote for. 70% of single women voted for the O. It is that simple.
There were times during the campaign I wondered who McCain was campaigning for, him or Obama. McCain was the wrong candidate with the wrong message.
Yeah, I’m sure there would have been a McCain landslide then. /sarc
He did have a WONDERFUL VP choice - but when the media went on full scale attack to destroy her, McCain was not coming to her defense. Which brings us back to your “no spine” comment.
If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear its fall, does it make a sound?
The message needs to be better, agreed. And your recipe for that message is very good. The problem is the media will ignore it or twist it to show how “uncaring” all the Republicans are.
Obama won 52% to McCains 47%. The media gave at least 15% to Obama, who only won 5-6%. So, if they hadn't been so blatantly biased this year what would the outcome have been?
Media bias is sometimes subtle. For example, many say Ross Perot's run in 1992 took enough votes from Senior Bush to give Clinton the election with only a plurality rather than a majority. Others argue that if Perot hadn't run, Bush would have lost more resoundingly. However, what was the intrinsic value of having TWO opponents gang up on you and focus their efforts on your problems, rather than a true three way fight? I can tell you I rarely heard Ross criticize Clinton. It was all anti-Bush, all the time, by the media. And they could say with a straight face, “Hey, we're only covering what the candidates say!” Too bad if it's two against one.
This time the media didn't even attempt to defend themselves as to their unfairness. As far as I could see, it was the worst bias ever.
Another point McCain could have pressed. The Dems had a huge part in the whole mess. McCain would mention it a bit but never drove it home.
The way to win - be conservative.
Not a landslide but maybe enough to get the job done.People I talk to still don't know jack about BO because the press kept it that way.
Then replace the elephant with a new party symbol:
"Don't Mess With US!
People who are paying attention will see the ideas and understand they are good--especially if the libs on TV are screeching about them.
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