Why Did Romney and the GOP Lose this Election?

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gut

Senior Member

15,058 posts
Nov 8, 2012 11:19 AM
ts1227;1315831 wrote:Sure, people agree with a lot of the GOP on a basic, moderate level.

However, the GOP is no longer a basic, moderate party
I think you have to look at the electorate though. Would-be fiscal conservatives have become increasingly socialist because that's how they get re-elected. That's not saying a fiscal conservative politician can't win an election and that's clearly not true, just as in the bible-belt and some other places hard-core social conservatives can still win. I'd argue it's very much a basic, moderate party but the media has railed on the extremes to characterize and paint the party with a very broad brush.

But I simply don't buy the case that Romney lost the election because his budgets didn't go far enough. I think we all know if a politician got up there and was honest about the problems and solutions they would get destroyed in an election every time.

Blank-check liberalism dominates the media (and, therefore, the culture or perhaps vice-versa). You're not going to drag people kicking and screaming to fiscal conservatism, you'll have to shift attitudes over time with a series of small victories. And I thought Romney would be a start, the failure of which is alarming to how far gone we are.
Nov 8, 2012 11:19am
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georgemc80

Senior Member

983 posts
Nov 8, 2012 12:39 PM
The country is becoming more and more diverse. The Tea Party faction is crippling to the GOP. Practicing extreme politics, either right or left, is inherently wrong. Noone lives on the extremes. Simply put, Republicans need to be more appealing to non-whites.
Nov 8, 2012 12:39pm
wes_mantooth's avatar

wes_mantooth

Tomfoolery & shenanigans

17,977 posts
Nov 8, 2012 1:48 PM
like_that;1315688 wrote:So you actually believe Kerry/Gore received practically the same amount of black votes as Obama?
This is pretty much what I am getting at. I wasn't backing RDI, I am just saying that the black vote for Obama was staggering. The republicans get no votes from minorities. I do love how angry it makes people though....lmao
Nov 8, 2012 1:48pm
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QuakerOats

Senior Member

8,740 posts
Nov 8, 2012 2:27 PM
georgemc80;1315920 wrote:The country is becoming more and more diverse. The Tea Party faction is crippling to the GOP. Practicing extreme politics, either right or left, is inherently wrong. Noone lives on the extremes. Simply put, Republicans need to be more appealing to non-whites.
The Tea Party is hardly crippling the GOP; where do you get this stuff? The Tea Party single handedly put the Republicans in complete control of the US House of Rep's. It is only the liberal media and its spoon-fed audience that cannot come to grips with this reality.

The Tea Party is merely a group of regular Americans who believe in defending individual liberty and advocating for fiscal sanity - period. And that is 'extreme'?? WOW. That is the most basic tenet of this country for God's sake; anyone villifying and demonizing such individuals are, frankly, an enemy of the country.
Nov 8, 2012 2:27pm
ptown_trojans_1's avatar

ptown_trojans_1

Moderator

7,632 posts
Nov 8, 2012 2:42 PM
QuakerOats;1316026 wrote:The Tea Party is hardly crippling the GOP; where do you get this stuff? The Tea Party single handedly put the Republicans in complete control of the US House of Rep's. It is only the liberal media and its spoon-fed audience that cannot come to grips with this reality.

The Tea Party is merely a group of regular Americans who believe in defending individual liberty and advocating for fiscal sanity - period. And that is 'extreme'?? WOW. That is the most basic tenet of this country for God's sake; anyone villifying and demonizing such individuals are, frankly, an enemy of the country.
The Tea Party kicked out Dick Lugar out of the Senate. And as a result, lost the seat to a Democrat, which is insane.
That speaks to what the Tea Party is, irrational, single issue focused, and good ideas, but piss poor in practice. Blinded by ideology.
Nov 8, 2012 2:42pm
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isadore

Senior Member

7,762 posts
Nov 8, 2012 3:13 PM
QuakerOats;1316026 wrote:The Tea Party is hardly crippling the GOP; where do you get this stuff? The Tea Party single handedly put the Republicans in complete control of the US House of Rep's. It is only the liberal media and its spoon-fed audience that cannot come to grips with this reality.

The Tea Party is merely a group of regular Americans who believe in defending individual liberty and advocating for fiscal sanity - period. And that is 'extreme'?? WOW. That is the most basic tenet of this country for God's sake; anyone villifying and demonizing such individuals are, frankly, an enemy of the country.
lol, Joe Miller, Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Todd Akin, Richard Murdock, Josh Mandel,
the tea party the gift that keeps on giving to the Democratic Party.
Nov 8, 2012 3:13pm
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rmolin73

Senior Member

4,278 posts
Nov 8, 2012 3:40 PM
wes_mantooth;1315991 wrote:This is pretty much what I am getting at. I wasn't backing RDI, I am just saying that the black vote for Obama was staggering. The republicans get no votes from minorities. I do love how angry it makes people though....lmao
My bad then wes_mantooth we were talking about numbers but in a different manner. I'm still waiting on RDI to support his 96% claim.
Nov 8, 2012 3:40pm
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QuakerOats

Senior Member

8,740 posts
Nov 8, 2012 3:54 PM
isadore;1316056 wrote:lol, Joe Miller, Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Todd Akin, Richard Murdock, Josh Mandel,
the tea party the gift that keeps on giving to the Democratic Party.
The Tea Party held all their gains in the House and added a staunch conservative latino senator to the mix. I know you are scared to death of people who defend liberty and want us to balance our check book, but I'm not sure why. Do tell.
Nov 8, 2012 3:54pm
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isadore

Senior Member

7,762 posts
Nov 8, 2012 4:01 PM
QuakerOats;1316086 wrote:The Tea Party held all their gains in the House and added a staunch conservative latino senator to the mix. I know you are scared to death of people who defend liberty and want us to balance our check book, but I'm not sure why. Do tell.
no but thank you for giving claire mccaskell and sherrod brown another term. but gosh your tea party efforts did manage to throw out of office one of the most admired men in the us senate, richard lugar to run richard murdock, rape is part of God's plan.
But again thanks for increasing the democratic control of the Senate. Best regards from Harry Reid.
Nov 8, 2012 4:01pm
ptown_trojans_1's avatar

ptown_trojans_1

Moderator

7,632 posts
Nov 8, 2012 4:22 PM
QuakerOats;1316086 wrote:The Tea Party held all their gains in the House and added a staunch conservative latino senator to the mix. I know you are scared to death of people who defend liberty and want us to balance our check book, but I'm not sure why. Do tell.
They kicked out Richard Lugar.

Go read what he has done for this country and say he needed to be kicked out for that clown that beat him.
I respected the idea of the Tea Party, but after that, I said enough is enough. They are clowns and run by ideological fools.
Nov 8, 2012 4:22pm
justincredible's avatar

justincredible

Nick Mangold

32,056 posts
Nov 8, 2012 4:29 PM
QuakerOats;1315861 wrote:I know, defending individual liberty and advocating for fiscal sanity are soooo extreme.
LOL. The GOP isn't doing either of those things. If they were I wouldn't have left.
Nov 8, 2012 4:29pm
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QuakerOats

Senior Member

8,740 posts
Nov 8, 2012 5:09 PM
BoatShoes;1315869 wrote:Private Property is being abolished as we speak! Why Work? LOL!!!


Do you get a 1/3 cut of that too for processing the paper / nice
Nov 8, 2012 5:09pm
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QuakerOats

Senior Member

8,740 posts
Nov 8, 2012 5:20 PM
justincredible;1316112 wrote:LOL. The GOP isn't doing either of those things. If they were I wouldn't have left.
It would be preferable for you to have stayed and held them to it. In '06 many of the RINO's got fired, and rightly so, and then in '10 many true conservatives replaced them, all for the better, and just in time. Imagine had they not been there to stop the regime over the last 2 years; hell it would be over for sure.

As for Dick Lugar, there are always going to be instances where a guy loses in certain circumstances that maybe many wished were otherwise. Politics is far, far from perfect, but it is what it is. On the other hand being inculcated for decades inside the Beltway doesn't necessarily resonate well with a lot voters, especially when one was present for the entire duration of our demise into insolvency. In the private sector, heads roll, sometimes good ones.
Nov 8, 2012 5:20pm
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isadore

Senior Member

7,762 posts
Nov 8, 2012 5:50 PM
and those circumstances leading to the defeat of Richard Lugar were the bigoted fanaticism of tea party loons. thank you for a democratic senator from very red Indiana.
Nov 8, 2012 5:50pm
Q

QuakerOats

Senior Member

8,740 posts
Nov 8, 2012 5:56 PM
isadore;1316168 wrote:and those circumstances leading to the defeat of Richard Lugar were the bigoted fanaticism of tea party loons. thank you for a democratic senator from very red Indiana.
The Tea Party is not associated with bigotry; it is a group of regular Americans who are focused on tax and spending issues. If you want to talk about bigotry perhaps you could do a book report on democrat Robert Byrd, KKK member, and share it with the group.
Nov 8, 2012 5:56pm
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isadore

Senior Member

7,762 posts
Nov 8, 2012 6:11 PM
QuakerOats;1316170 wrote:The Tea Party is not associated with bigotry; it is a group of regular Americans who are focused on tax and spending issues. If you want to talk about bigotry perhaps you could do a book report on democrat Robert Byrd, KKK member, and share it with the group.
you mean the people who spit on black congressmen and claim our first African American President was not born in America. gosh a ruddies at least byrd apologized for his racism, the tea party marches on the bath of bigotry.
Nov 8, 2012 6:11pm
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georgemc80

Senior Member

983 posts
Nov 8, 2012 7:50 PM
Anyone that lives on the extreme right or left is wrong. Not on everything, but on most things. That is what I meant by extreme. Factions are bad.
Nov 8, 2012 7:50pm
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I Wear Pants

Senior Member

16,223 posts
Nov 8, 2012 10:16 PM
georgemc80;1316231 wrote:Anyone that lives on the extreme right or left is wrong. Not on everything, but on most things. That is what I meant by extreme. Factions are bad.
"By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." -James Madison in Federalist 10

You are certainly correct in that factions are bad and I would definitely characterize what the Tea Party became almost immediately after gaining popularity as a faction.
Nov 8, 2012 10:16pm
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Classyposter58

Senior Member

6,321 posts
Nov 8, 2012 10:24 PM
Black people
Nov 8, 2012 10:24pm
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I Wear Pants

Senior Member

16,223 posts
Nov 8, 2012 10:28 PM
Classyposter58;1316339 wrote:Black people
And women, young voters, LGBT voters, Latinos, etc. Basically anyone not an older white male.
Nov 8, 2012 10:28pm