Posted on 11/09/2014 5:12:48 AM PST by Kaslin
It’s one of life’s little ironies that the political party most often screaming about “democracy!” is also the party least likely to care what the majority of citizens actually vote for.
Tuesday’s election sent a clear message: We don’t like what the Democrats have been doing. What did Democrats hear? Well, one senior Democratic aide told Politico, “As a party, we need to change. [Voters] like our policies. All this leftie [talk], the country likes, but somehow the message about us as individual members of the conference isn’t breaking through.”
Yes, people love the policies of the past six years. They just have a weird way of showing it. Rather than re-elect the people whose policies they love so those policies can continue, voters treated Democrats like they’re Ray Rice and Democrats are the wife who doesn’t know when to give it a rest.
It’s not that voters loved the policies but somehow bewilderingly elected the people who oppose them. Voters are sick of failure. They don’t like what’s going on, and they voted against the people responsible. But that won’t work well in fundraising emails, so the narrative has to be changed.
President Obama set this tone when he said he not only heard the voters, but he heard the two-thirds of voters who didn’t vote. That rhetorical twist was a signal that the results, as embarrassing as they were for him and his party, weren’t going to pierce the bubble he’s constructed around himself. It’s “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” without the nobility of the cause behind it.
Democrats know they were rejected by voters, and they were especially rejected by many of the voters who stayed home too. Lots of Democrats stayed home because they didn’t want to support their party’s nominee, but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the Republican. The same thing happened in 2012, but Mitt Romney didn’t claim there was some sort of secret majority who really would’ve voted for him if only they’d had time, then start moving into the White House.
Not voting is as much of a choice as voting is. “Hearing” them is irrelevant. They didn’t say anything; they just flipped the metaphorical bird to whoever they would’ve voted for had they been forced to.
But people aren’t forced to vote. Some stay away because they either don’t care or don’t think their vote will make a difference. But not many stay away because they like how things are going and don’t want them to change. Those people vote for the people they consider responsible for that change or most likely to maintain it.
Mostly, people stay away because they don’t like their party at the moment and can’t bring themselves to vote for the other one. (Or they’re idiots who aren’t aware there’s an election, which means they would tend to vote for Democrats too, so I’m glad they didn’t vote.)
But the president heard them, and congressional Democrats know they’re on their side, so damn the voters, full speed ahead!
It’s going to be a frustrating next two years. But if Republicans are smart, they can advance the cause of liberty.
Out of power, Democrats are notoriously childish. Temper tantrums will be thrown, both on the floor of the House and Senate and on cable news. Normally, with the exception of talk radio, they’ve been mostly ignored. But the Internet and Fox News now reach tens of millions of people.
The media industrial complex and its Democratic Party allies won’t publicize them, but they matter less and less every day. The words of progressive Democrats will be the anchor that dooms them.
In 2012, Democrats won while simultaneously calling every American some sort of “ist” or “phobe” at least once. Most people didn’t know about it. But the growing influence of Twitter, and the increased importance of Facebook makes under-the-radar smears virtually impossible now.
How many people were aware of Sen. Tom Harkin’s crack about Sen.-elect Joni Ernst’s looks because of social media? How many female votes did that cost Democrats in Iowa? The mainstream media reported it and moved on, but people kept seeing it and sharing it on Facebook and Twitter. A one-day story in the media became a steady stream where people now live – online.
When First Lady Michelle Obama went on Roland Martin’s radio show and told a black audience not to worry about what candidates have done or said, just vote for Democrats, and then they could reward themselves with fried chicken, the Internet made that a story.
The rules have changed. The president doesn’t care what the voters want, and neither do the Democrats. But it’s getting harder and harder for the voters to remain ignorant of that fact. Ignorance now has to be actively sought, and some will seek it, but many more won’t be able to bask in its blissful glow. That could be the Democrats’ Achilles heel.
Good! Let them stay ignorant and thereby, stay in the “Lost” Column in future elections.
The media is becoming more irrelevant, especially for younger people.
They learned nothing...
Ok. We learned nothing? The democrats are not our children who need to be taught a lesson
The republican pres candidate and congressional candidates who get this and who move things along in a direction toward the founding fathers’ideals wins
No wherein the constitution does it state that winning the approval of communists in our midst or any enemy here or aboard ewas necessary or advised
But here comes Romney slapping at Obama two days ago, ‘and your foreign policy is silly...’
Yes, Mitch, we got that point across as soon as we could after you welcomed that policy in with your wimpy unfamiliarity and lack of trust in us and in the founding fathers
Go away. Now
To be fair, I remember a great deal of similar talk among freepers after the 2012 election. The country was "really" on our side, we just had bad candidates.
(Which I agree we had a lot of that year.)
Yeah, most people stayed home and fried chicken and drank some beer.
The left-wing wacko ideas weren’t the problem, they’ll say. The president’s lousy instincts are not to blame, and neither is the “leadership” of Harry Reid, or Nancy Pelosi, or Mark Pryor or Mary Landrieu, or Mark Begich, or Kay Hagan, or Mark Udall, et al. Democrats succumbed only to a few minor miscalculations coupled with a spot of bad luck. That is all. Move along. Nothing to see here.
If I were a billionaire Democrat, I’d buy FOX and change its editorial slant. Then there would be no mass outlet MSM alternative. I wonder if any such approaches have been made to Mr. Murdoch.
Which is why the government monitors it so thoroughly, and why they so desperately want to control what is said on it. The parasites in our government today would have outlawed the printing press when it was invented.
FR NOT mentioned? Wow.
This was one of the most telling comments of the week.
One interesting facet of the election events was the return to FR by former stalwarts that made wonderfully insightful posts. They are around but mostly absent. they were ( are) activists.
FR has lost the edge it once had
If that what that arrogant pos occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave said isn’t typical stupid liberal logic, I don’t know what is
No we did not have bad candidates. Most of them were actually quite good. Now go back to the 2004 election and the rats candidates, they were hilarious
In 2012, Democrats won while simultaneously calling every American some sort of “ist” or “phobe” at least once. Most people didn’t know about it. But the growing influence of Twitter, and the increased importance of Facebook makes under-the-radar smears virtually impossible now.
Sorry, this contention is nonsense. Social media was alive and well and thriving strongly in 2012. In fact, almost nothing has changed since that election with regards to the ability to hang the leftists with their own words. The same was true in 2008, but the media were able to create the Obama mythos that persists to this day in one form or another.
The most likely explanation is that 1) LIVs don't vote en masse in midterms, and 2) you have to work to find out about what dipshit leftists say, even in the age of social media.
You thought Romney was a good candidate? Or McCain before him?
Do not insult children throwing temper tantrums. They will grow up and (if they are raised by conservative parents and get homeschooled) get smart. Democrats never grew up...
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