Oh my. I guess I have a different perspective. I thought we lost the Senate this year because we nominated two idiots, at least with respects to their political capabilities: Akin and Mourdock both lost because they were stupid enough to make statements concerning rape. Both should have known better. The fact that they did not shows how weak they were as candidates (sorry to the purest out there but you can have principles while avoiding idiotic statements).
Romney was the perfect foil for Obama, and many on this site tried to highlight that fact. His staff made matters worse by allowing Obama to define him unanswered throughout the summer. Demographics had little to do with it.
It is important to remember that following W's victory in 2004 the Republicans were supposed to never lose again. We all remember 2006. These things tend to swing back and forth, and it is likely we will see gains in the Senate in 2014 followed by the presidency in 2016. Nothing guaranteed, but there is a deep bench of diverse Conservatives to choose from ... the advantage of holding 30 governorships.
We did nominate two idiots in Akin and Mourdock. Generally speaking it’s troubling that Republicans can be so unprepared for obvioius gotcha questions from a hostile media. Between the two, Mourdock is the bigger idiot since he made his idiotic remarks after Akin made his. It was really stunning to hear that moron say what he did.
But even if we had won those two races, we still would have come up at least 3 seats short in the Senate. We had the popular, moderate, former governor Tommy Thompson lose to a far-left open lesbian in Wisconsin. We had two seemingly good, establishment yet mostly conservative candidates in Montana and ND lose. We had another idiot in Virginia (G Allen) lose to the awful Tim Kaine. We had an establishment dolt with a great name (Connie Mack Jr) lose to another unpopular incumbent in Florida. We had a liberal Republican tailor made for Mass in Scott Brown lose to the ridiculous Elizabeth Warren.
We had conservatives, moderates, and liberals losing. We lost with good and bad candidates. We lost to unpopular, vulnerable incumbent Democrats. There was no pattern except that people didn’t want to vote for the candidate with an ‘R’ beside their name.
And I disagree about 2004. Yes there was some doom and gloom from some Democrats (I remember C Schumer and C Matthews actually suggesting the Dems may have to make peace on gay marriage). And there was some misplaced triumphalism from Republicans. We did do well in Senate races, winning all the competitive ones except Colorado I believe. But Bush only beat Kerry by a few points. I was actually discouraged by that, but then again I am a pessimist.
Romney probably did make a mistake by letting Obama have the summer to define him. And I actually did mispeak to say the loss was totally demographic. It is a media-driven exaggeraton to say Hispanics, Asians, and single women won the day for Obama. I mean, had Romney done a little better with white voters in a few key states then he’d be President-elect Romney right now.
But going forward the white share of the electorate will continue to shrink, and that is bad news for the GOP. We are not going to win Hispanics (even if we nominate Rubio, who is afterall, a white Cuban) or Asians. Single women will continue to support the party that wants government to be a surrogate husband for them. These groups are lost to us, and they are growing.
I would like to be hopeful about 2014, but after the lost opportunities of 2010 (Sharon Angle) and the ass whooping of 2012, I just can’t. And I can see us winning the Presidency back in 2016, but I can’t see us with much chance after that. In a few more cycles Texas will become a battleground state, and then it’s pretty much lights out.
We did nominate two idiots in Akin and Mourdock. Generally speaking it’s troubling that Republicans can be so unprepared for obvioius gotcha questions from a hostile media. Between the two, Mourdock is the bigger idiot since he made his idiotic remarks after Akin made his. It was really stunning to hear that moron say what he did.
But even if we had won those two races, we still would have come up at least 3 seats short in the Senate. We had the popular, moderate, former governor Tommy Thompson lose to a far-left open lesbian in Wisconsin. We had two seemingly good, establishment yet mostly conservative candidates in Montana and ND lose. We had another idiot in Virginia (G Allen) lose to the awful Tim Kaine. We had an establishment dolt with a great name (Connie Mack Jr) lose to another unpopular incumbent in Florida. We had a liberal Republican tailor made for Mass in Scott Brown lose to the ridiculous Elizabeth Warren.
We had conservatives, moderates, and liberals losing. We lost with good and bad candidates. We lost to unpopular, vulnerable incumbent Democrats. There was no pattern except that people didn’t want to vote for the candidate with an ‘R’ beside their name.
And I disagree about 2004. Yes there was some doom and gloom from some Democrats (I remember C Schumer and C Matthews actually suggesting the Dems may have to make peace on gay marriage). And there was some misplaced triumphalism from Republicans. We did do well in Senate races, winning all the competitive ones except Colorado I believe. But Bush only beat Kerry by a few points. I was actually discouraged by that, but then again I am a pessimist.
Romney probably did make a mistake by letting Obama have the summer to define him. And I actually did mispeak to say the loss was totally demographic. It is a media-driven exaggeraton to say Hispanics, Asians, and single women won the day for Obama. I mean, had Romney done a little better with white voters in a few key states then he’d be President-elect Romney right now.
But going forward the white share of the electorate will continue to shrink, and that is bad news for the GOP. We are not going to win Hispanics (even if we nominate Rubio, who is afterall, a white Cuban) or Asians. Single women will continue to support the party that wants government to be a surrogate husband for them. These groups are lost to us, and they are growing.
I would like to be hopeful about 2014, but after the lost opportunities of 2010 (Sharon Angle) and the ass whooping of 2012, I just can’t. And I can see us winning the Presidency back in 2016, but I can’t see us with much chance after that. In a few more cycles Texas will become a battleground state, and then it’s pretty much lights out.