Posted on 11/08/2017 3:01:01 AM PST by Moseley
People asked a few months ago during debates “Can Ed Gillespie win in Virginia?” It struck me how this is a totally meaningless and absurd question.
Of course Ed Gillespie could win.
Of course Ed Gillespie could lose.
Months ago, I rejected the dominant thinking that Candidate A (automatically) wins while Candidate B (automatically) loses. It’s how a candidate campaigns for office that counts. Yet all of our thinking and talking suggests that Candidate A wins merely and exclusively because she is “A” while Candidate B loses merely and exclusively because he is “B.”
First, the Republican Party has to grapple with what is the correct theory or strategy for winning elections. I keep saying: Tell me your theory about how to win a general election state-wide and I will tell you whom you are backing as your candidate. The wings of the GOP are torn among different theories for how to win. The wings are unable to cooperate or agree on anything because our theories of elections are incompatible.
We have to break the fever and kill the infection. The GOP cannot prosper until the disease is driven from the body. The establishment’s strategy for winning (general) elections is the problem. It’s not the candidates. The candidates are chosen to carry out the electoral strategy. It’s the strategy that is a proven loser.
So November 7 the establishment insider theories about winning elections were once again burned to the ground in Virginia’s campaign for Governor. Time and time again, the liberal Republican establishment’s view of the world has a head-on collision with reality. Unwilling to learn the lessons of Ronald Reagan and his “bold colors, no pale pastels” and the clarion call A Choice Not an Echo by Phyllis Schlafly, the establishment clings bitterly to their losing game plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at fairfaxfreecitizen.com ...
Jill Vogel ran for Lt. Governor as a conservative and is the warmest, most “real” candidate I can remember (okay, second warmest, second most “real” next to a friend of mine). John Adams ran for Attorney General as a Virginia conservative. Those perceived to be conservative did better than Ed Gillespie who ran as Mr. Rogers. Gillespie—apparently a really nice guy as a human being—ran explicitly hoping to be all things to all people. That is not my interpretation but what he proclaimed.
Read this please. It is a very accurate appraisal of last night VA debacle and to the point.
Thanks for posting this. I am sure Rush Limbaugh will ignore this. Too bad.
Remember: The establishment theory is that a Republican candidate must match the political leanings of the state. So Ed Gillespie running as a moderate would do better in divided Virginia than an out-right conservative. Yet the results—once again—prove that theory completely false.
bkmk
To quote the brillian Mitch McConnell “Winners make policy, losers go home”. Well, it seems that McConnell’s candidate Gillespie is “going home” and next month, I predict, Roy Moore will be packing his bags to go to his new US Senate office.
So Mitch, your “fought for” candidate is going home and your “fought against” candidate will be making policy. Do you still expect us deplorables to follow your recommendations in the upcoming 2018 primaries?
The uniparty doesn’t care about the letter after the name of the unipartier winning the election.
State and county GOP are uniparty.
Voters need to purge them, or find their own candidates.
Every time a Republican runs as a "Democrat-lite" the voters would rather have a real Democrat. The GOPe does cling to a losing strategy.
Barbara Comstock will be next if she does not change her strategy, if she is willing and able. She may not have the will.
Ed Gillespie did not get the message sent by Corey Stewart's voters. Maybe he will have time to reflect on his loss and work on a better strategy. Of 372,000 votes, Gilliespie got 117,080, 31% in Fairfax County.
It seems to me that both Democrats and GOPe lie to their voters to get elected. That may not work as well in the future as it has in the past.
I wish Rush would read this on air, the entire thing.
Proof once again the Mitch McConnell/Karl Rove wing of the GOP are certain losers. They still don’t know what’s going on.
The future of America is California.
Bankrupt welfare state ruled by a very thin, very rich Neo-Marxist ruling class and populated by a vast majority of low-income-to-poor non-whites and illegal/legal immigrants.
Get used to it.
I’m my area I saw very few Ads run for Vogel. I thought they were letting her lose, but she pulled more votes.
Ed Gillespie gave his voters no reason to vote for him. There you go.
Trump lost VA by 5.... Gillespie by 8.
If you run a Gillespie at the head of the ticket, you’re gonna lose. He was a weak candidate, just the same as he was when he ran for Senate. Lack of enthusiasm at the top killed the chances down ticket.
In a year or two we will be able to say “I remember when Virginia had a history”
Gillepsie’s loss doesn’t explain why so many Delegates were lost.
That is troubling.
What lessons can we learn from that loss?
We need to start working now to get conservatives to the polling booth next November!
Go ahead Republican crafters of bills, keep intentionally writing poison pill bills you know won’t pass either house, by Democrats or Republicans. Political suicide for what?
establishment clings bitterly to their losing game plan - bump for later.....
They still lost by 6 to 7 points.
>>Gillepsie’s loss doesn’t explain why so many Delegates were lost.
Perhaps it does. I don’t know the details of VA politics, but perhaps a lack of enthusiasm for Gillespie among the conservative base translated to less conservative enthusiasm and turnout in general?
But you are right, the House of Delegates losses are troubling and lessons do need to be learned.
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