Something about the White Working Class (capitalized like so) not voting enough, plus his super-secret plan to save the Republicans that he’ll reveal when we are sufficiently enlightened.
Ah! So the old trick of “I’ll know it when you say it” as pointed out upthread is still in play. Got it.
And you, of course, took out a second mortgage and bet the farm on this, right? If not, why not?
Look, no matter what the outcome of the last election, someone would have predicted it. The fact you “predicted” the outcome is absolutely meaningless. None of us knew if the unemployment rate might have taken an unexpected spike a month before the election (to name just one of the unknowables in play).
Obama was certainly favored over most the campaign. The smart money was always on him. But that didn’t make a foregone conclusion except in hindsight.
And let’s not confuse a Romney’s loss with an inevitable Republican loss. That is the question inherent in this OP. People on the left and the right were shaking their heads all through the campaign at the repeated missteps Romney made. Not just one bad move here and there, but a constant barrage of them.
Because they did not take a hard line on nonwhite immigration; wasn’t that plain enough?
What were the missteps, though? The whole 47% thing seemed like a case of him being caught saying what he actually thought. Clearly, that’s a misstep from the point of view of someone who wants to win the election, but it’s the kind of misstep that I’m very glad happened. I that’s an attitude he holds, and which will shape his views on policy, I want to know about it before the election. And there were people at the time who said he should embrace the remark, admit it and repeat it, that it would energize his supporters more than it would alienate those who weren’t going to vote for him anyway.
The other missteps were things he concealed, like his tax returns or the details on his tax reform plan. Those may have been wise moves. It’s possible the real story would have damaged him more than the speculation about what he was hiding.
It seems like his biggest mistakes were in not hiding the truth better.
I think the general point was that the GOP lost because it did not take a hard enough line on nonwhite immigration.
I’ve been thinking about this, and I think I have this plan figured out. I’ll tell you later… but I think I’m three-fifths of the way there.
I think you’re on to something…
Oh, yeah, I got that bit. I thought he was still withholding some great, deep answer other than simple racism.
Must be tough being the last of your race, Goku.
Depends. Horizontally, by the acquisition of Mexican and Canadian territories? Tectonically, through bringing on the End Times prophesied when we’d have a Mormon leader? Erratically, under the bombardment of nuclear missiles? Culturo-temporally into the pre-Civil Rights era?
I think his goal was to use up all the ellipses in the world. Somehow that would save America.
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Shaka, when the walls fell.
The sad thing is: This was an interesting conversation before the OP came back.
Sokath, his eyes uncovered! Picard and Dathon, at el-Adrel.
How does Sokath, his eyes uncovered make you feel?
Temba, his arms wide!
This is nothing more than the standard “the Republicans could have won if Romney were a better candidate.” Or if Obama had gone crazy and raped Nancy Pelosi. Or if a meteor strike took out all the blue states. IOW, being a Republican candidate for president in the year 2012 wasn’t an inherently losing proposition in a shrinking white world.
And that’s wrong. You cannot spin the wrongness out of it. Republicans will never win again until they learn to accept the fact that this is wrong.
I wouldn’t get cocky about it.
I don’t think the primary system is set up for them to get an electable candidate through right now, but Americans don’t like single party politics. Any one party in power for any long period of time seems to spook us. The good candidates don’t tend to come out against an incumbent, we should see a stronger GOP field in 2016. And I suspect that if the rank and file don’t get it, the strategists do. You won’t see another Paul Ryan or Sarah Palin as VP - throwing a bone to the conservative wing. Strategically, you’ll see someone who can pull some Hispanic vote or another constituency (to some extent, Palin was supposed to be about getting Hillary voters - but since Palin was vetted so poorly, and the ruse was so transparent, it didn’t work well.)
And the Democrats are perfectly capable of running non-electable candidates and putting unpalatable items in the platform - that was most of the 1980s for them.
Stop saying Temba has fat arms. You’re hurting his feelings.
Please go on.