2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumHow the right wing lost in 2012 - By E.J. Dionne Jr.
The right wing has lost the election of 2012.
The evidence for this is overwhelming, yet it is the years best-kept secret. Mitt Romney would not be throwing virtually all of his past positions overboard if he thought the nation were ready to endorse the full-throated conservatism he embraced to win the Republican nomination.
If conservatism were winning, does anyone doubt that Romney would be running as a conservative? Yet unlike Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater, Romney is offering an echo, not a choice. His strategy at the end is to try to sneak into the White House on a chorus of me-toos.
The right is going along because its partisans know Romney has no other option. This, too, is an acknowledgment of defeat, a recognition that the grand ideological experiment heralded by the rise of the tea party has gained no traction. It also means that conservatives dont believe that Romney really believes the moderate mush hes putting forward now. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if the conservatives are forgiving Romney because they think he is lying, what should the rest of us think?
Almost all of the analysis of Romneys highly public burning of the rights catechism focuses on such tactical issues as whether his betrayal of principle will help him win over middle-of-the-road women and carry Ohio. What should engage us more is that a movement that won the 2010 elections with a bang is trying to triumph just two years later on the basis of a whimper.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-the-tea-partys-drubbing-in-2012/2012/10/24/185416ea-1e0e-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
Wednesdays
(17,380 posts)Wonder if Repug finger-pointing will start now, too?
And we're not even ten days from Election Day!
Tutonic
(2,522 posts)O is stickin it to em in 2012, Hill in 2016 and 2020. By that time, Castro will be ready to ascend and 2024 and 2028 are gone. Wonder how that Tea Party thinigie is being viewed by Eric Cantor and Jim DeMint now? Look for Ailes and company to start throwing them off in 2013. The remnant of the Republican Party is cooked for the next quarter of a century. By that time, I'll be dead and living large on some unknown planet with Tom Cruise and Tagg rMoney.
creon
(1,183 posts)I will believe it when the votes are cast and counted.
There are a lot of hype ( there usually is) about - including polls.
amborin
(16,631 posts)courseofhistory
(801 posts)wolf in sheeps clothing trick and too many people are falling for it. But I know Obama will prevail.
wildeyed
(11,243 posts)Remember when Bush was the Compassionate Conservative? That didn't last long. Romney has a bunch of the same nasty neo-cons waiting in the wings to take over if he does manage to deceive his way to a victory.
Grammy23
(5,810 posts)to do next! They have morphed him into so many different candidates that I am not sure his own mother would recognize him anymore. The books that are going to come out are probably already partially written, just waiting on the final outcome to get them done so that we're going to see a whole slew of 'em released as "e" books ....just in time for the holiday season.
Any guesses on what their next move will be?
Third Doctor
(1,574 posts)These polls this year have been all over the place so they are not that reliable. So we can't get complacent.
struggle4progress
(118,295 posts)MightyAfrodite
(157 posts)I'm always nervous regarding "count your chickens before they hatch" stories (although I like EJ Dionne).
PsychProfessor
(204 posts)There is no way the Right Wing learns a lesson from this election. If Romney wins it is because, at last, they nominated a "true conservative" (as if). If Romney loses it is because they failed to nominate a "true conservative." What will it take for the republican party to actually "put asunder" their marriage to religious fanatics? What Ronald Reagan has joined, let no man....