Party Wages War on GOP Voters

Townhall.com ^ | January 14, 2013 | Mark Baisley

[Kaslin]

The very quotable British novelist Samuel Butler observed that, “Self-preservation is the first law of nature.”  Reports coming from Washington seem to show that this instinct is increasingly demonstrated in a very short-sighted set of actions by institutional Republicans in light of recent successes where grassroots held their elected representatives’ feet to the fire; a fire fueled by the party platform.

Real Clear Politics has uncovered an organized, well-funded and concerted effort by Washington Republican insiders to circle the wagons around incumbents who may see primary challenges.  Scott Rasmussen described it in a headline as, “Republican Establishment Declares War on GOP Voters.”

Post-election analysis of November voting by Real Clear Politics and other pundits reveals a telling message from the behavior of the two most essential blocks of voters for Republican candidates, (1) Registered Unaffiliateds who voted for the Democrat, and (2) Registered Republicans who chose to not vote at all.  

According to Rasmussen’s monthly sampling taken throughout 2012, party affiliation among American voters averaged 36.29% Republican, 33.40% Democrat, and 30.30% for all others combined including Registered Unaffiliated voters.  So, if every voter cast a ballot for their own party’s nominee, Mitt Romney would be President, joined by a majority of fellow Republicans throughout most elections at every level across the states.

The Democratic Party’s attack messaging, like the “war against women” campaign, certainly hit their mark against Republican targets.  And anemic responses by Republican candidates did little to salvage potential votes from the unaffiliated electorate.

But the stats show that it was the Republican undervote that made the biggest difference in the outcome.  Millions of the party’s own simply did not vote, giving the 2.89% disadvantaged Democratic Party the opening that it needed to win.

While Republican Party leadership is evidently crafting a plan for its own perpetuity, a contrasting party platform has been authored by the rank and file that includes a distinct message of decentralized authority.  The mission statement as updated at the 2012 Republican National Convention reads, “Trust the people. Limit government. Respect federalism. Guarantee opportunity, not outcomes. Adhere to the rule of law. Reaffirm that our rights come from God, are protected by government, and that the only just government is one that truly governs with the consent of the governed.”

Voters whose personal philosophy is to the right of the political spectrum respond to just this kind of inspiration.  What appears on the surface to be diverse communities of interest, like the Tea Party, liberty groups, and socially conservative minorities, are in reality the girl next door who was frequently overlooked by Grand Old Party leadership in 2012.  Their votes, combined with millions of other members from the usually reliable silent majority, seem to have been withheld in the general election mostly in response to a feeling of abandonment.

Seemingly unrelated, two personal achievement awards were announced this week, setting an intriguing example of contrasting principles for Washington leadership to take note.  The Father’s Day Council named Bill Clinton as Father of the Year for 2013.  At about the same time, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced that nobody will be inducted this year.

The Father’s Day Council explains that their mission is “to promote the celebration, observation, and preservation of the holiday ... Father's Day by focusing on the value of good sound parenting.”  Parenting Magazine’s understandably incredulous response was, “Clinton is certainly a tremendously accomplished man who has used his post-presidency to affect much positive change in the world. But father of the year?”  The reality is that the Father’s Day Council routinely disregards its own mission statement in favor of selecting a high profile celebrity who will bring in the bucks at their annual awards luncheon.  I hope they serve tongue in order to save the attendees from having to bite their own.

The membership of the Baseball Hall of Fame seems to respect their stated mission to “preserve the sport’s history, honor excellence within the game and make a connection between the generations of people who enjoy baseball.”  Cooperstown announced that, “There were 569 ballots cast, the third highest total in the history of the voting, but none of the 37 candidates in the 2013 vote gained mention on the required 75 percent for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.”  The disillusionment created by performance enhancing drugs have put Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa on hold while the sport enters its understandable phase of deliberation.

Washington Republicans will be making an enormous mistake if they choose to isolate themselves from the membership with immunity mechanisms in order to chase after the elusive hearts of unaffiliated voters.  A split party can have long-lasting consequences.  Here’s one; President Obama’s appointments will likely control every Supreme Court decision from year 2016 through 2040.

[onona]

“Trust the people. Limit government. Respect federalism. Guarantee opportunity, not outcomes. Adhere to the rule of law. Reaffirm that our rights come from God, are protected by government, and that the only just government is one that truly governs with the consent of the governed.”

Not too much to ask, is it ?

[sickoflibs]

RE :”According to Rasmussen’s monthly sampling taken throughout 2012, party affiliation among American voters averaged 36.29% Republican, 33.40% Democrat, and 30.30% for all others combined including Registered Unaffiliated voters. So, if every voter cast a ballot for their own party’s nominee, Mitt Romney would be President, joined by a majority of fellow Republicans throughout most elections at every level across the states.
The Democratic Party’s attack messaging, like the “war against women” campaign, certainly hit their mark against Republican targets. And anemic responses by Republican candidates did little to salvage potential votes from the unaffiliated electorate.
But the stats show that it was the Republican undervote that made the biggest difference in the outcome. Millions of the party’s own simply did not vote, giving the 2.89% disadvantaged Democratic Party the opening that it needed to win”

O and Dems had real get-out-the vote efforts in key swing states while stupid Rs were too busy patting themselves on the back telling each other how O was toast, till judgement day=election day.

“No Mitt, dont bring up Bengazi, you have the election in the bag, Rush said so”

Besides, Mitt got more votes than McCain did. If these non- voting Rs were in Red states that R won anyway then it had no effect.

[TomGuy]

The Republicans have a communication problem. They just can’t seem to get their message across to voters.

Voters still perceive them as the party of big business and the wealthy.

Of course, maybe the voters ARE understanding their message.

==

See a Pubbie. Watch him fold.

[Tupelo]

“Not too much to ask, is it ? “

From professional politicians, yes. As I have ranted about for years, the GOP-E hates conservatives. Conservatives expect their elected officials to:

“Trust the people. Limit government. Respect federalism. Guarantee opportunity, not outcomes. Adhere to the rule of law. Reaffirm that our rights come from God, are protected by government, and that the only just government is one that truly governs with the consent of the governed.”

The professional politicians ALL think their ‘careers’ are much more important than the hope, fears, wants, needs and desires of us little people.

[izzatzo]

It is of the GOP elites, they’re no different that democrats.

[maine yankee]

Here at Maine’s state convention, over half the delegates were liberty leaning republicans. Over half.

The old guard,mainstream,myopic party leaders went to great lengths in both words and actions to make them feel as unwelcome as possible.

After the state convention these liberty candidates were ridiculed and vilified by these same republicans at meetings, fundraisers, and in the press.

Think about this. Half the active grassroots delegates were told to go to h*ll.

And we are surprised to find they stayed home on election day ?

[cripplecreek]

Rush Goes On the Record with Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren (Dec 2011)

The Republican Party is trying to do something in this primary that is unprecedented. They're trying to split the conservative vote and win the primary with a moderate, with Romney. It's the other way around. You consolidate your base and then you move to the center in the general. The Republican establishment has decided they don't want any part of conservatism. And this is really not new. People are surprised to hear this, but the Republican Party formative event with conservatism is Goldwater's landslide defeat. That's what they think of when they think conservative. They don't think Reagan. They think Goldwater.

They believe what the inside-the-Beltway philosophy is about conservatives. They're racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, Southern hayseed hicks. They're pro-lifers. They're embarrassing to have to go to the convention with them. And they're just embarrassed to have those kind of people in the party. They're dumb. They're not erudite. They're not educated in Ivy League schools. We'll take their votes on election day, but we really don't want to hang around with them. We don't want anybody in Washington thinking that we're really that close to them and aligned with them. So in the process -- you know, it's a very sophisticated electorate. The Republican primary voter can sense that the Republican Party really doesn't like them, really doesn't want them, thinks that they are the route to defeat. That's the problem in a nutshell. The Republican establishment thinks that a conservative nominee is the route to defeat because they think Goldwater landslides are going to happen because they believe what the popular misconception the left has created of conservatives -- they think everybody thinks that.

What Rush doesn't say is that it was those GOP moderates who set out to see Goldwater defeated and they were led by George Romney who made his hatred of constitutionalsts very clear when he sought to have them ousted from the party.

[IamConservative]

Sounds like they are preparing to bite the hand that feeds them.

There is a viable national party waiting to evolve out of voters the GOP has abandoned and Liberty loving Americans. At the end of the day, Americans have allowed the Democrats and Republicans to divide us more or less along lines/issues that aren’t essential to our long term prosperity.

The new Liberty (or Freedom) party should also make the media impotent by not listening. The media only has power when we listen, care and react to what they say.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”Here at Maine’s state convention, over half the delegates were liberty leaning republicans. Over half.
...
...And we are surprised to find they stayed home on election day ?”

I said that Rs in Red states staying home didnt matter, but the same goes for blue states like Maine or my state Maryland that picked a loser as GOP governor candidate, were going O anyway.
Didnt they both just pass gay marriage at the state level?

OH, WI, PA, FL, NM, maybe Rs should have focused on these like O did.

What idiot R in MA would stay home when Liz Warren is running as the Dem?

[brownsfan]

“The Republicans have a communication problem. They just can’t seem to get their message across to voters.

Voters still perceive them as the party of big business and the wealthy.

Of course, maybe the voters ARE understanding their message.”

You make an interesting point. I thought that the GOP just didn’t have a message. Perhaps it is as you say. The message is out there, and people don’t like it.

[brownsfan]

“Sounds like they are preparing to bite the hand that feeds them.”

The GOP is in an incredibly bad position, and they seem determined to make it worse. After watching how feckless the Republicans are in dealing with Obama, I’m done. I have no incentive to vote Republican. Obama is going to trash America anyway, why elect some Republicans simply so they can be the foil? (And get wealthy in the process).

[Kadric]

I think the biggest mistake was to move so much effort to PA so late in the game.

[ArGee]

Not too much to ask, is it ?

There won't be any good solutions while victims claim their answer is in restitution or compensation. The black victim group has shown this is a powerful way to get goodies, and other groups have jumped on board - including women.

If you can consolidate power, then get access to the reigns of that power, why would you want things like equal outcomes and God-given rights?

As John Adams observed:
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

[EternalVigilance]

Not too much to ask, is it ?

Nope.

America's Party Platform

[sickoflibs]

RE :”I think the biggest mistake was to move so much effort to PA so late in the game.”

Remember those cheering crowds there in PA shown on FNC ?That helped convince many here it was 'in the bag'

Romney lost WI yet state Rs picked up seats.
MR ran a safe ‘don't take risks because we are winning’ strategy, yet his 47% blunder was one of the biggest.

And Sunnu-nus comments after the first debate didnt help much. This guy is downright stupid.

[Orangedog]

Of course,maybe the voters ARE understanding their message.

They understand it, it's just that more and more people aren't buying the bulls**t anymore. Seriously...the idea that mitt romney, the architect of obamacare and the man who banned gun ownership would repeal the individual mandate and not infringe on gun rights didn't pass the giggle test unless you were a koolaid drinker or gullible child. And a running mate who voted for the biggest expansion of entitlements ever and bailouts for banksters put to rest any lie of them being fiscally responsible. They simply had no credibility.

[ArGee]

The professional politicians ALL think their ‘careers’ are much more important than the hope, fears, wants, needs and desires of us little people.

The real problem is we all fall into the same trap. We send our people to Washington to fix the problem. Conservatives just identify a different problem or a different fix.

We need to send people to Washington to make their jobs irrelevant. I'd give the maximum allowed by law (or that I have to give) to the first candidate who said, "If I do my job correctly, you won't give a rat's behind who you send to Washington after me, because Congress and the President won't have any power when I'm done there."

Good luck with that.

[Carry_Okie]

Sounds like they are preparing to bite the hand that feeds them.

Uh, no. They like the hand that feeds them just fine: Corporate money from inside the beltway, money "given" to both parties. From the perspective of the consultants who run national campaigns, conservatives are notoriously stingy. "Screw 'em." The consultants make their money on a percentage of how much is spent, not on whether they win.

Sadly, conservatives are tapped out, paying taxes to support everybody else because of the government said "somebody else" paid for. Hence, the rule, if you want to elect a conservative, dig deep, into your wallet. Nobody else will.

[TomGuy]

I think the biggest mistake was to move so much effort to PA so late in the game.

I have posted similar listings a few times:

Kerry - Theresa takes over the campaign. Kerry loses.
McCain - Cindy takes over the campaign. McCain loses.
Gingrich - Calista takes over primary campaign. Gingrich loses.
Romney - Tagg and Ann take over campaign. Romney loses.

I see a pattern. Maybe, running a political campaign should left to the professional political campaign advisors.

==

Part of Romney's loss was due to his going into cruise mode after winning the first debate. In the second debate, Crowley debating him on Benghazi caused him to shrink. In the third debate, he just phoned it in.