We Got Beat
When you lose something -- a wallet, an election, money, a lover -- you ask yourself this question: did I lose it, or was it stolen?
Last night, we lost. No one stole it from us. We lost it.
Some thoughts:
1. It goes without saying -- I hope -- that Barack Obama, as painful as it is to admit, is the President of the United States for the next four years. I wish him well. He's my president, too.
2. Let's face facts: Nate Silver, the polls, the "establishment media" -- they were all right. It wasn't about weighting or poll skewing. They were right. We engaged in wishful thinking. We were in a bubble. Last night, that bubble was popped. The major polls called it close, and it was close. Barack Obama won about one half of one percent more of the popular vote than Mitt Romney. But that was enough. Mitt Romney may have won the popular vote, but the Electoral College map tells a different story: it was about population-center votes, not about enthusiasm or which side was more energized. They outsmarted us. We outsmarted ourselves
3. Last night was a complete and systemic failure of the Republican party -- both at the national and the state level. The DC-based Republican establishment couldn't deliver a victory -- couldn't deliver Florida. The state-level Republican operation failed, too. For example: in Missouri, a state that should be solidly Republican, the state operation nominated an ill-prepared, out-of-touch clumsy gaffe-machine for the Senate -- Todd Akin. Romney carried the state. But Claire McCaskill won a major victory. We forced our side to split the ticket. We muddied our message. The Republican party failed.
4. More facts to face: the media is liberal. The news organizations are liberal. They protected their candidate. And it worked. But that's part of the hand that we conservatives have been dealt. That ain't gonna change. We need to figure out a way to win despite the fact that we're swimming upstream in the culture. Whining about it isn't going to get us to a solution.
5. Latinos and women voted big for the other side. Either we figure out a way to connect with those groups, or persuade them to our side, or we're going to be a very small part of the national political scene and getting smaller all the time.
6. Our side drinks too much Kool Aid. We watch Fox News and think we're winning the rest of the country. But Fox News is at most a 3 million viewer proposition. Last night, each side garnered about 48 million votes. Each side.
7. We can't rely on the establishment Republicans. We can't rely on Fox News. We can't rely on talk radio. We can only rely on ourselves. We need -- all of us, especially here on Ricochet -- to connect with each other, keep each other informed and energized, and persuade our neighbors and friends. We need to evangelize the rest of the country that doesn't agree with us. We need to win the country back.
8. We need to win the country back. Not take it back. Win it back through argument and engagement and debate. Win it back by articulating our key principles, persuading more Latinos and women to our side, and evangelizing the rest of the country.
9. Forgive me for this plug, but I really mean it: the conversations and engagement on Ricochet, and the passionate and articulate members here, are the future -- maybe the only future -- for our side.
10. If you're not a member of Ricochet, today is a very good day to join. The slow march back begins now. And it begins here.
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Comments:
Sep '10
Re: We Got Beat
I believe Mark Steyn said in his latest book that the explosion in young, unwed single mothers in New Hampshire is among white working class girls. The underclass sensibility is everywhere.
Oct '10
Re: We Got Beat
Rob Long
Honestly? I have no idea. But this is a country worth fighting for. · 6 hours ago
But not a populace worth fighting for. You cannot persuade people who "feel" their way to an opinion. And that's what Liberals do. It's over. It's really over. Within a generation, with a populace who re-elected an incompetent disaster over an honest accomplished challenger, it's over.
Sep '10
Re: We Got Beat
Pig Man: Mr Long,
I am the soon-to-be-gone obnoxious liberal shill on richochet so my endorsement means nothing here. But your post shows what a wise and prudent man you are. I hope your brethren take you thoughts to heart and move forward to make this great country of ours even greater. The conservative cause is not dead, by the time 2016 rolls around many in the country will be looking for a change. The question is whether the Republican Party will listen to reasonable voices like yours or regress further into isolated extremism. If they choose the latter, they will continue to suffer defeats like tonight. · 5 hours ago
The Republican party is not in "isolated extremism". Your party (which by the way is the real party of the rich) has just found a way over the last several decades to push its far left agenda onto Americans by controlling virtually all social institutions and enforcing it with misinformation and political correctness, and then labeling any opposition they face, no matter how moderate, as "extreme", or "stupid", "beyond the pale", "racist", "greedy" etc.
Oct '10
Re: We Got Beat
Mendel: I take slight issue to the premise of the post: Mitt Romney got beat - by a little. But support for limited government lives on.
And in this case, a fairly weak, inexperienced Republican candidate still garnered about the same number of votes as an incumbent. A loss for that individual, yes, but not a drubbing of conservatives or their principles.
Yeah, he got beat by a little...when he should've won handily. We put up an honest, decent, accomplished man against a proven incompetent, pure ideologue, anti-America incumbent. And we LOST. Support for limited government lives on? Where, pray tell. Where??
The American electorate is beyond repair. Liberals do not think, they feel. The media do not report, they advocate, lie, suppress. And not enough Americans even know what made America great, let alone appreciate it.
It's over.
Oct '10
Re: We Got Beat
A "like" was not enough. So dittoes. The only thing my heart breaks for are my two early-20s children. The rest of the world can go to hell. Because the electorate just stamped our ticket to there.
Aug '10
Re: We Got Beat
Here's the scary part; As always, Obama ran as a conservative - middle class tax cuts, friend of oil and coal, lover of capitalism, yada, yada - and despite his record of the past 4 years to the contrary the majority of Americans fell for it!
As Jonah Goldberg would say - that's not stupid, that's stupid on stilts!
Oct '10
Re: We Got Beat
Rob Long
I agree 100%. Time to hone the arguments.
To whom, Rob? And how? The Left controls the media and all levels of education. They control the culture.
In the past we've won elections in large part because enough Americans understood what made America great, so we could overcome the systemic handicaps. As each year passes, that ceases more and more to be true.
We now have an electorate that re-elected a proven incompetent, a proven anti-America/anti-Constitution president, an unaccomplished underachiever who ran against a decent, upstanding, accomplished challenger.
What argument can we make? Who in the electorate is open-minded enough to listen? How do we get the message to them? Sixty million of them voted for Obama, government control of their health decisions, $16 trillion of debt, $100+ trillion of unfunded liabilities, massive unemployment, national security failures.
It's over.
Sep '12
Re: We Got Beat
Unlike liberals, conservatives face a basic hurdle: we don’t order people what to think. We expect it’s better when ‘we report, you decide.’ That mostly works if you are reporting to smart, moral people.
Look at how conservatives teach their children – we encourage them to read books of all political persuasions. Look at liberals – they march their toddlers in union protests.
Rob and Peter need to collaborate on a sitcom set in the Reagan years, a happy, upwardly mobile family comedy that will sneakily make young and old people long for those days.
Aug '11
Re: We Got Beat
DrewInWisconsin: In the live chat, some were saying that of course we'll win in 2016, because after 8 years of Obama, the country will finally realize the mistake.
I don't think so. I think an Obama win tonight means that we're even less likely to win in 2016. · 6 hours ago
I tend to agree with this. You could excuse some of the votes for Obama the first time because he was in a sense more of an idea than an individual with a record. I think now we have reached the tipping point where too many people get "stuff"" from the government and are voting to keep it. In 4 years, the number of takers will be even larger.
Oct '12
Re: We Got Beat
I'm getting pretty sick and tired of people telling me to stop watching Fox News.
I don't watch Fox News.
The unions got out the vote for the Democrats, especially in California. That is what we must contend with going forward.
Edited on November 7, 2012 at 2:19pmSep '12
Re: We Got Beat
Pseudodionysius
I believe Mark Steyn said in his latest book that the explosion in young, unwed single mothers in New Hampshire is among white working class girls. The underclass sensibility is everywhere. · 54 minutes ago
"Live free or die!!"
Oct '12
Re: We Got Beat
dittoheadadt
A "like" was not enough. So dittoes. The only thing my heart breaks for are my two early-20s children. The rest of the world can go to hell. Because the electorate just stamped our ticket to there. · 21 minutes ago
As my heart breaks for my 4 and 9 year old kids. Unfortunately, if the rest of the USA turns to Detroit or Greece around them, they're screwed, so I can't wish what you do regarding the rest of the world. How do we prepare the next generation for the new realilty? I'm afraid the answer might be what John Derbyshire often used to say on his podcast - "Get a government job! Maybe we can get to 40% of the working population like Greece.
Aug '11
Re: We Got Beat
My bubble isn't Fox News or talk radio. My bubble is the state I live in and the people I associate with. How am I supposed to persuade a lib in NY, MI, or CA??? Time to double down on the 10th amendment, those are the arguments I want to hone. Elect state officials that will give the Feds the bird occasionally and maintain some semblance of liberty at the local level.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Aug '11
Re: We Got Beat
Pseudodionysius
I believe Mark Steyn said in his latest book that the explosion in young, unwed single mothers in New Hampshire is among white working class girls. The underclass sensibility is everywhere. · 54 minutes ago
Thanks. I guess that's true as well. But we've got to do something to change the way people in this country think. But I don't know how we do it. Obama supporters use the Obama victory as a chance to become even more myopic-- "because Obama won and had to fight so hard it's proof that the country is even more racist than we thought!"
I'm all for retooling but I can't convince myself that putting politicians in office is important enough for me jettison all of my beliefs and become a pure libertarian party. I'm not saying that Ricochet as a whole is suggesting that, or that most conservative magazines are suggesting that, but I feel that subtext floating in the background. That bothers me as much as losing this election.
Aug '11
Re: We Got Beat
Alan Peugh
Pseudodionysius
I believe Mark Steyn said in his latest book that the explosion in young, unwed single mothers in New Hampshire is among white working class girls. The underclass sensibility is everywhere. · 54 minutes ago
"Live free or die!!" · 7 minutes ago
They should get a new motto and take that off their license plates.
Sep '12
Re: We Got Beat
Goldgeller
Alan Peugh
Pseudodionysius
I believe Mark Steyn said in his latest book that the explosion in young, unwed single mothers in New Hampshire is among white working class girls. The underclass sensibility is everywhere. · 54 minutes ago
"Live free or die!!" · 7 minutes ago
They should get a new motto and take that off their license plates. · 2 minutes ago
You got that right. They voted a big government leftist over a northeastern moderate Republican with terrific economic credentials.
Oct '12
Re: We Got Beat
Alan Peugh
Goldgeller
Alan Peugh
Pseudodionysius
I believe Mark Steyn said in his latest book that the explosion in young, unwed single mothers in New Hampshire is among white working class girls. The underclass sensibility is everywhere. · 54 minutes ago
"Live free or die!!" · 7 minutes ago
They should get a new motto and take that off their license plates. · 2 minutes ago
How about "Free Stuff or Die"?
Edited on November 7, 2012 at 2:42pmOct '12
Re: We Got Beat
The Fall of America
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential cause of America's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.
~Will Durant in Caesar and Christ
I simply substituted America for Rome. Drives the point home, doesn't it.
To those who voted for Obama, Charlton Heston speaks for me.
God help America.
Jun '12
Re: We Got Beat
We will not win back the culture by argument. During the 1920's people were warned that the sky-high market couldn't last, but they didn't listen. They put all they had in the market and it all came tumbling down when that bubble burst. And it took a painful depression and a world war to turn us around financially, although the seeds of the rotten fruit blooming today were planted then. Today, instead of the market, people are putting their belief that they will get a piece of that pie in the sky in the gov't. It may take longer, but that bubble too will burst. But this time the depression will be more painful, because we will have a huge class of takers who do not know or care about self-reliance. If we ever regain our financial health, lost freedoms and independence it will only be after the body of the republic is picked clean by the last parasites/vultures. Which, in my mind, means after the death of the Baby Boom generation.
Jan '12
Re: We Got Beat
There was a clear choice before Americans this election cycle. I don't blame Romney in the least. Even though he was never my ideal candidate, Romney performed better as a candidate than I ever expected. No, we lost because Americans care more about who they sleep with (and getting approval from the majority of society for it) than they care about having a job.