# Will The Republicans ever figure out why they lost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 26, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224 "2012-12-26T21:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/121 "2012-12-28T01:59:03Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Assessing How Pivotal the Hispanic Vote Was to Obama’s Victory What?! Nonsense, there are no such things as Hispanics. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/122 "2012-12-28T02:00:59Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Obama proves time and again he has no leadership skills…he is a lame duck president. > > A great leader can bring people together…he is the most alienating president since Lincoln. Lincoln was divisive, certainly; the Southern states seceded just because he was elected, without waiting to see what he’d do. OTOH, Lincoln was also, by both popular and academic consensus, the greatest American who ever lived. Sure you wanna compare Obama to him? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/123 "2012-12-28T02:03:31Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Obama proves time and again he has no leadership skills…he is a lame duck president. > > A great leader can bring people together…he is the most alienating president since Lincoln. Oh please; the Republicans are bigots and moral traitors who were determined to make him a one term President regardless of the cost to the nation. There’s nothing he could have done to win them over. And comparing him to Lincoln is an _insult?_ ---
**Author:** ![SmilinJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@SmilinJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmilinJack)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/124 "2012-12-28T02:04:52Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > What do you think ‘lame duck’ means? I was certain some naive liberal would try and make an issue of the term…obama has taken it far beyond the original meaning of the term…the first President to begin a second term and already a lame duck. heh heh E-Edition EDITORIAL: Obama: A lame-duck president ---
**Author:** ![SmilinJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@SmilinJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmilinJack)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/125 "2012-12-28T02:10:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Oh please; the Republicans are bigots and moral traitors who were determined to make him a one term President regardless of the cost to the nation. There’s nothing he could have done to win them over. > > And comparing him to Lincoln is an _insult?_ Comparing hime to someone who could have prevented the Great American Holocausts but did not…yes a definite insult of the highest order. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/126 "2012-12-28T02:12:42Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > I was certain some naive liberal would try and make an issue of the term… Does _quantity_ of nonsense persuade where you live? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/127 "2012-12-28T02:13:21Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Comparing hime to someone who could have prevented the Great American Holocausts but did not…yes a definite insult of the highest order. 😕 What, you mean Lincoln could have saved the Indians?! How?! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/128 "2012-12-28T02:14:42Z")
Yup, Republicans, just go on thinking that comparing Obama to Lincoln is an insult. That kind of thinking will _definitely_ yield positive results in the next election. ---
**Author:** ![SmilinJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@SmilinJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmilinJack)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/129 "2012-12-28T02:14:57Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Comparing hime to someone who could have prevented the Great American Holocausts but did not…yes a definite insult of the highest order. Lincoln was President during a brutal War Between The States… in which an estimated 625,000 Americans died. This is nearly as many as all the Americans who have died in all the other wars of the United States. Although Lincoln was obviously not the only cause of the Civil War, he was probably more responsible for the nature of the war than any other individual. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/130 "2012-12-28T02:15:21Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > EDITORIAL: Obama: A lame-duck president > > Lack of convincing mandate will slow advance of liberal policies What could be a more convincing mandate than two landslide victories in a row, and the second after four-plus years of recession? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/131 "2012-12-28T02:16:04Z")
The worst cut and paste job I ever saw. You need a class in Remedial Internet 101. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/132 "2012-12-28T02:16:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yup, Republicans, just go on thinking that comparing Obama to Lincoln is an insult. Lincoln, Lincoln . . . He was a Democrat, wasn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/133 "2012-12-28T02:17:57Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Lincoln was President during a brutal War Between The States… in which an estimated 625,000 Americans died. This is nearly as many as all the Americans who have died in all the other wars of the United States. Although Lincoln was obviously not the only cause of the Civil War, he was probably more responsible for the nature of the war than any other individual. I take it you haven’t gone to see _Lincoln_. You really should. There are so many people portrayed in the movie who think just like you do! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/134 "2012-12-28T02:19:02Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Comparing hime to someone who could have prevented the Great American Holocausts but did not…yes a definite insult of the highest order. Lincoln wasn’t in a position to stop the extermination of the Indians, and he did stop the enslavement of blacks. > [@SmilinJack](#): > > Lincoln was President during a brutal War Between The States… in which an estimated 625,000 Americans died. This is nearly as many as all the Americans who have died in all the other wars of the United States. Although Lincoln was obviously not the only cause of the Civil War, he was probably more responsible for the nature of the war than any other individual. The utter, monstrous evil of the Old South was the cause of the war; everything else was secondary. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/135 "2012-12-28T02:20:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What could be a more convincing mandate than two landslide victories in a row, and the second after four-plus years of recession? Shhh. That was a carefully laid rhetorical landmine I stepped on and it blew up in my face because… I’m not really sure why, he was able to copy and paste a bunch of words so it looks real bad though. ---
**Author:** ![SmilinJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@SmilinJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmilinJack)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/136 "2012-12-28T02:21:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What could be a more convincing mandate than two landslide victories in a row, and the second after four-plus years of recession? A electoral landslide… Not a popular landslide much less of a percentage than what he had in 2008 win with 1.5%… a slim win. …just another example of how the electoral system needs to be done away with. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/137 "2012-12-28T02:21:35Z")
BTW, **SmilinJack,** [Scott Rasmussen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Rasmussen) (you’d count **him** as a “True Conservative,” wouldn’t you?) seems to think you are 180-degrees wrong about what the GOP needs to do to win, or so he told the faithful on [a recent _National Review_ cruise](http://nymag.com/news/features/republican-caribbean-cruise-2012-12/index1.html): > [@](#): > > Then, at 3 p.m., the group gathered into the Showroom at Sea, a three-tiered amphitheater decorated in a bright-red Art Deco style, for the first of several sessions deconstructing the loss. Onstage were Reed, now in lime-green pants embroidered with pink swordfish and navy polo shirt with white piping on the collar; and Scott Rasmussen, the pollster who consistently overrated Romney’s chances of winning the election. Rasmussen blasted the assembled Republicans with one crushing statistic after another. The exit poll data, he said, “create a negative brand image of the Republican Party as a party that only cares about white people.” > > The audience murmured unhappily. > > “And that image is hurting among the youth,” he continued. “It is hurting across the culture. It is something that has to be addressed across the party. It has to be addressed. You can’t just wish it away.” > > Reed expanded on the theme. “You can’t run and win a national election in an electorate that is becoming decreasingly white and increasingly minority and lose 80 percent of the minority vote,” he said. “That math just doesn’t add up.” > > Rasmussen offered some friendly advice about approaching minorities. “You show them that you really care, you talk to them as grown-ups on a range of issues, you get them involved,” he suggested, “and you accept the fact that it’s a long-term investment. And you accept that you can learn as much from them as you can teach them.” > > This was harsh medicine to reluctant patients, and afterward some of them made their discomfort known. “That depressed me!” one woman said. To my right, a man snapped, “That’s bullshit!” > > The man was Bing West, former assistant secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan, a former Marine and a National Review contributor. > > West, mocking Rasmussen, said: “If you stupid Republicans weren’t so goddamn bigoted you would have won the election!” > > His wife, Betsy, who bears a resemblance to Nancy Reagan, patted him on the back and apologized on his behalf, saying, “I don’t know why he said that. He’s usually not like that.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/138 "2012-12-28T02:23:12Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > A electoral landslide… Not a popular landslide much less of a percentage than what he had in 2008 win with 1.5%… a slim win. > > …just another example of how the electoral system needs to be done away with. And replaced with what? ---
**Author:** ![SmilinJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@SmilinJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmilinJack)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/139 "2012-12-28T02:25:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Lincoln wasn’t in a position to stop the extermination of the Indians, and he did stop the enslavement of blacks. > > The utter, monstrous evil of the Old South was the cause of the war; everything else was secondary. I was not talking about ther Indians…I was referring to the War Between the States. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/140 "2012-12-28T02:26:36Z")
> [@SmilinJack](#): > > Lincoln was President during a brutal War Between The States… in which an estimated 625,000 Americans died. This is nearly as many as all the Americans who have died in all the other wars of the United States. Although Lincoln was obviously not the only cause of the Civil War, he was probably more responsible for the nature of the war than any other individual. No, he was more responsible for the **outcome** of the war than any other individual including General Grant. The **nature** of the war was that it was an American civil war; therefore a high count of American dead is inevitable, since we’re counting both sides. Another reason it was so high was that each side got into the war expecting victory within weeks, because each side deeply underestimated the other’s resolve to win; and then once started it had to be played out, under those conditions, to the end. It was a tragedy in every sense of the word, including the classical – but not a holocaust. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224.md?page=8)