Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
A number of people and institutions let down the Republican party in general, and the Romney campaign in particular, this past election cycle. The institutions that failed ought to be dramatically reformed and the people who failed ought to be deprived of any future in politics unless they sufficiently abase themselves for their failures and demonstrate that they have formulated concrete plans designed to improve their performance levels going forward. There should be no sacred cows amongst either campaign operatives or campaign institutions; if they failed to do their jobs, they need to either be improved or eliminated. To wit:
- Karl Rove failed. Unless he admits failure, takes responsibility and shows how he will do better in the future, he ought to have no future in politics.
- The people who came up with Project ORCA failed. More here. I am pretty much prepared to advocate shutting those people out of politics no matter how sincere their apologies and no matter how much and how concretely they promise to reform themselves; so seriously did their failure set back the Romney campaign’s chances of winning the election.
- Republican pollsters failed. Maybe they and others should spend less time attacking Nate Silver and more time learning from him.
This list is not exclusive. The 2012 election cycle featured a widespread breakdown on the part of the Republican Party and on the part of those working for the Romney campaign. Those of us who identify as Republicans and who supported the Romney campaign expect better. If it is necessary to cut out the deadwood in order to do better the next time around, I am all for that. Elections won’t be won if Democratic personnel keep outclassing Republican personnel. For the past two election cycles, they have done so in dramatic fashion. It is time to get a better starting team to take the field on behalf of the Republican Party. And it is time to tell past starters that their time may well have passed.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
Agree with Pejman.
In addition: the conservative commentariat (by and large) failed. Once Romney was the nominee, there was nothing to be gained by the incessant complaining, kvetching, moaning, groaning, and carrying on generally that was widespread until after the 1st debate, then abundant, if sporadic right up to election day.
We can't act like the nominee is our champion in a gladiatorial contest, and all we have to do is cheer when things go well, boo when things go poorly, and complain when things go well but the champion didn't do it exactly the way we thought it should be done.
This is a such a pet peeve of mine because it's something we totally did to ourselves.
Jul '10
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
To no ones surprise, this election saw absurd levels of vote fraud and Romney and the GOP rolled over like a clown car on a bender. Allen West is an inspirational exception, and the Tea Party is using their ground game to assemble petitions and dollars in the four battleground states that permit recounts by voter petition.
Yes, the GOP is the problem. McCain and Romney both have shrugged off massive cheating by the other side instead of standing up on their hind legs and fighting like proper hominids. They will have a lot of time to reflect along with Maggot Roberts in the deepest pit of Dante's Inferno.
And the Tea Party is the problem, we failed to produce and unite behind the Candidate. After West wins his current fight, perhaps. How on earth did we come to find such a fine man in such a useless party. The Debbie Wasserman Schultz and GOP have swizzled his district, outspent him by astronomical amounts, targeted him with every pernicious slander they can summon, and nothing they do can take the fight out of this man.
Despair is a sin, Ricos. This was not an election, but a provocation. Rise!
Sep '12
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
I second that. I think I was so surprised by the election because so many people I respected predicted a Romney win. No more drinking the Kool Aid for me. I started doing opposition research this morning by watching "Meet the Press" and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" I have to find out what the other side is thinking. Also, I contacted my new Republican representative, Jim Renacci, to see what I can do to help his next campaign. I am getting more involved not less.
May '11
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
The articles I have read indicate that pollsters mis-judged the enthusiasm on the Dem's side and also on the Rep's side.
Why would that be? It is blatantly obvious that the Republican brand is no longer trusted by the majority of Americans. Heck, it isn't even trusted by the majority of people who still call themselves Republicans.
Four years ago, I switched my affiliation from Republican to Independent because of John McCain. I could no longer actively support a party so directly committed to failure that it would nominate a man who was guaranteed to lose. (As was Bob Dole as well.) The ONLY reason GW Bush won was because of his even more lack luster opponents. Gore? Kerry? Really? And Karl Rove is considered such a mensch because he managed a win over Gore and Kerry.
As far as I 'm concerned the Republican party can go the way of the Whigs, the No Nothings, the Bull Moose, and the Native American parties. It is time to have a Conservative Party! Allen West can be the new Chairman.
Nov '10
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
Re: the Orca fiasco, Michael Ledeen has an interesting post today largely about the Petraeus resignation in which he parenthetically touches on Orca and suggests that it may well have been a successful sabotage effort a la Stuxnet by the Chicago Boys. http://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2012/11/10/the-petraeus-espionage-file/
I am not sure that I can stomach reading and watching what the Tank Corps produces, but I'll be grateful for the intelligence product from y'all's reading, listening, and watching. And, I am all for the revamping of the Grand Old Patsies into something learner and more aggressive.
May '12
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
If I may, whatever shortcomings the GOP platform and campaign may have had, the real failure of 2012 was of the American people. We, conservatives, didn't even bother to vote, and yet we lay blame on Romney or the campaigners for not energizing us enough to vote. We blame them for failing to predict our unwillingness to vote.
Jul '11
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
Karl Rove has a record of success, especially in the 2002 and 2004 elections. Stuart Stevens has a record of hanging out with George Clooney.Stevens will probably become a commentator for one of the liberal networks (see Steven Schmidt) and urge the GOP to move left.
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
We are to blame if we don't vote. But if the Romney campaign was unaware that turnout might be bad, they are to blame for that lack of knowledge.
Feb '11
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
We need a Lee Atwater type
May '12
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
It is hard to say whether or not republican staffers and so called pro's are doing a good job.
Before we can judge them we have to know what the republican party stands for and what we are fighting for.
Last election all we fought for was 'not Obama'. That is a fun tag line, but it doesn't win anything.
When the republicans can a) clearly annunciate what they stand for in concise terms and b) run for office and vote consistent with what they stand for then we will have something to measure.
Nobody is going to win an election saying 'I'm not the other guy'.
Jul '10
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
If you don't know what the Republican Party stands for and what they are fighting for, then they are as big a flop as ORCA. And, BTW, ORCA is dead center in my field of expertise and is a major indicator of gross incompetence. Serial gross blunders. Either they lacked the skills or the money to do this right, or both. In Virginia, the morons counted on having camera phones in the election places, a notion that any competent review by a lawyer practicing in Virginia would have nixed. Did anyone even ask the question or do any specialty review? Obama did not deserve the win, and quite likely did not receive a majority of legitimate popular or electoral votes, but the Romney is Ultracompetent crowd just took a fatal cannonball to the head. ORCA certainly explains the disaster that is Obomneycare.
And, to echo Pejman (welcome), if Romney was unprepared to cope with widespread Chicago-style voter fraud, he never should have stood for the office and should remove himself permanently from the public sphere in disgrace. Putz of the Century. Worst GOTV project ever. None would have been less embarrassing.
Edited on November 12, 2012 at 3:15amMay '10
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
Totally agree. I think it was shortly after the 2008 win that Axelrod was dispatched back to Chicago to start working on re-election. Looks like they were way ahead of everyone else. Spend a lot of time on the internet and occasionally pulled up a YouTube video and there would be a Obama ad lead in. We better get our act together.
Aug '10
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
Where is all this evidence of massive voter fraud tipping the election? I haven't heard of any.
Jul '10
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
A bibliography of fraud reports is being accumulated here.
Jan '11
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
I agree with this entire post, most strongly with the line about learning from Nate Silver, rather than attacking him.
In this election Republicans exhibited the trait we usually apply to liberals - that they are emotion-based, that everything they believe is based on feelings. After recalling all the useless anecdotal claims about "yard signs" and Democrat "malaise" we were fed by talk radio and our commentariet, who can deny that most of us thought Romney would win because we wanted him to, not because the data indicated he would. (It didn't.)
Listen to John Hinderaker on the last HWE podcast mocking Nate Silver. "He doesn't know politics," Mr Hinderaker said, twice. No, he doesn't; but he sure knows how to read data, doesn't he? Silver's projections were 50 for 50!
We made patsies of ourselves and made the indictment of the Left - that conservatives are reality-challenged and live in a Fantasy World unconnected to contemporary America - true. We lived up to the caricature they drew of us.
Like many others I hope that none of us now thinks that the snake-oil salesmen of 2012 have the right prescription for moving forward.
Apr '11
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
Right on. The RNC is a joke. Has been since Reagan left office.
And the party base has been in lalaland, too. For too long, conservatives have denied the existence of a de facto liberal majority. And it's not a Hispanic or black outreach problem either. Most whites voted for Obama. Most religious voters chose Obama. Most Catholics voted for Obama.
They did this in the worst economy since Nixon-Carter! Obama is worse than Carter!
This not a wishy-washy liberal majority. They are hard-core. You ain't persuading them. We need to become more realistic about GOP prospects and the prospects for liberty in general.
It's not looking good.
Oct '12
Re: Advice to Republicans: Don’t Have Any Sacred Cows, Man
I don't think the failure was merely the Republican party. The conservative intellectual elite also failed this election and should not be let off the hook.
I'm talking about people like Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Michael Barone, Bill Kristol, everyone at the Weekly Standard and National Review, the editorial board and contributors at the Wall Street Journal, all the think tank folks. They have allowed intellectual conservatism to go stale.
They spend all their time criticizing Republican officeholders and Republican candidates instead of thinking hard about how to make conservatism appealing to young voters, Latino voters, and most especially working class and middle class white voters.
Instead, they spend all their time appearing on TV, writing useless popular history and sociology books, appearing on any college campus or corporate conference that will pay their fee and spinning out weekly syndicated columns that focus primarily on placing critical distance between themselves and the GOP regulars & grassroots conservatives they secretly and sometimes not so secretly disdain.