What lessons can be drawn from the 2012 election?

[drewtwo99]

@bup

Sorry to double-post - I’m outside the edit window.

Just read a funny article on the Washington Post about the GOP trying to figure out what went wrong.

I love this quote:
Creationism in schools? Global warming denial? Tax cuts will solve the debt problem? Rich people need less tax to get the economy running? The military should get more stuff than the Pentagon asks for? Rape is a many splendored thing? Build a border fence? All that’s fine. Let’s talk about tactics.

You left out that radiation is actually healthy for you in small doses (spouted off by some republicans after the disaster in Japan).

[HoboStew]

@Implicit

The economy sucked for the past 4 years and the Republicans did not sweep this year. This election should have been a cakewalk for them. My take from this is that they completely failed to get their economic message across, or perhaps they never had a message.

The Dems got a mulligan (correctly) because Bush ruined everything. That will fly for 4 years, but not for 8.

[Damuri_Ajashi]

@elucidator

Its way too early to be sure. But there is evidence, there are hints: money doesn’t work any more.

Don’t fool yourself. Money is critical. The money advantage on the right was not as large as you think and even that money advantage was diluted by the fact that campaign ads get MUCH better pricing than PAC ads (superPACs paid retail plus gouging) for their airtime. A democratic superpac in VA skipped TV ads and just sent out really fancy mailers for a lot less money.

After Romney buried Santorum and Gingrich in the primaries largely because of money, they thought (heck we ALL thought) money was going to make the difference. Election night shattered a lot of people’s view of the world. People who thought they OWNED America (see, Ann Romney).

@bup

Sorry to double-post - I’m outside the edit window.

Just read a funny article on the Washington Post about the GOP trying to figure out what went wrong.

I love this quote:
Creationism in schools? Global warming denial? Tax cuts will solve the debt problem? Rich people need less tax to get the economy running? The military should get more stuff than the Pentagon asks for? Rape is a many splendored thing? Build a border fence? All that’s fine. Let’s talk about tactics.

Karl Rove made a bet in the 2000 election that getting a higher turnout form a shrinking voter base could win the election. And he won… barely.

That tactic can’t work anymore so yes tactics are the problem but implementing those tactics required adopting a greater strategy of appealing to a more active fringe element of the Republican party. If they change their strategy, they have to change their tactics and the problem is that they don’t have a winning strategy unless everyone develops amnesia about what the Republican party has stood for since the adoption of the Southern strategy.

[YogSothoth]

I agree with the OP: There are some batshit crazy factions within the GOP, and they are entrenched and they are loud.

[Spice_Weasel]

I learned a couple of interesting things from the election. The first is that the two-party system is actually pretty effective at dragging politics back toward the center. Politicians are ultimately forced to compromise in order to keep the support of their constituents. We are a nation of the status quo, which I imagine keeps us pretty stable.

The second is that while a party may present a unified front, that doesn’t mean everyone shares the same ideology and strategy. Ever since the election, I’ve seen numerous Republican/conservative leaders come out of the woodwork to critique the Republican party, and it becomes clear that many Republicans have been dissatisfied with this extremist turn all this time. And I am fascinated by this and interested in hearing about their ideas.