In 1996, the Democrat candidate was the incumbent President, and Bill Clinton was seeking re-election at a time of prosperity and apparent peace. Whenever an incumbent President runs at a time of prosperity and peace, the incumbent wins; it’s that simple.

In 2008, the incumbent Republican was not running; the economy had gone into recession; we had years of war; the media was part of the opposition camp.

One other point: if the country had the same demographics in 2008 as it had in 1992, McCain would have won in 2008.

To deal with what happened in 2008, look again at my March 20, 2009 10:59 PM post. It is important because if conservatives are going to win future elections, thay have to think clearly about what really has gone wrong in recent years and not rely on clever comments that do not work when thought through.

-Dave

Del Dolemonte on March 20, 2009 at 9:12 PM

Nice shooting, Del.

-Dave

Mr Purple on March 21, 2009 at 8:56 AM

Purple states announce sea changes and charismatic new political stars. The GOP has neither right now, except possibly Palin.

We lost NC, CO, VA, OH, FL and IN. Running on a Democratic platform, or even running candidates who vote with the Democrats, is not going to cut it. Dissent within the ranks while the filibuster is in jeopardy is a recipe for disaster.

The Porkulus 3 have got to go. Snowe will probably be hard to take out. She is old, anyway, and she did us a solid by exposing the AIG bonus hypocrisy. But Specter should definitely go. His constituents are unhappy with him and would have voted him out if not for George W. Bush and Rick Santorum.

This 2010 election I think we should focus on eliminating the RINO hunters more than anything.

I’m ALMOST tempted to promote Snowe, Specter, and Collins for re-election.

At least that is the ‘current’ RINO list – which is sure to ‘evolve’ and change daily depending on what issues are being treated.

Tell the RINO hunters to go f#$k themselves. Vote the person you think will be best for the country.

Mr Purple on March 21, 2009 at 8:56 AM

Oh, brilliant. Just one little problem: winning without the “RINO hunters” and convincing Democrats to vote for Democrat Lite. Good luck with that.

Unfortunately I hate his policy decisions almost across the board. I do question his vaunted foreign policy experience and then hanging out with one of the top Red Mafia chiefs who is the favorite of Putin. His military acument leaves something to be desired being the cheerleader of the post-Cold War drawdown and then proposing that one-third of the remaining force go to an unready status so as to save cash. Letting President Clinton hang out two Army Divisions in Kosovo until they would come back at the lowest readiness state of any US military unit since Vietnam when he could have joined his fellow Republicans into calling the Administration into account for its lack of oversight is inexcuseable. Plus the man loves the idea of ramping up government and paying for it at the same time, which is the ‘moderate’ position only if you like big government.

His financial acumen in the bailout showed much to be desired, but then that was true of both candidates… though his going to ‘sort things out’ and press forward instead of asking for a Senate ‘time out’ is inexcuseable. If it was so horrific you had to act fast, you will not act well and perhaps even make things worse. And would a week truly have made a difference? Instead of pointing out either of those, it became all about Mr. Maverick Goes To Washinton To Sing In The Choir. One would think that a Maverick would have done something other than become part of a rubber stamp process, but that was not to be.

Being better than your opponent in no way makes you ‘good’. I voted for the only executive in the race, who had carried through with campaign promises, attacked the crony support system in the R party and generally seemed to have a lick of sense on how to deal with things you may not know in detail instead of ‘faking it’ like the others did on both tickets. Doing what you say, Saying what you mean, and Meaning what you do are highly important to me when looking at politicians. Too bad she was at the bottom of the ticket, but then she knew she had no support base and record to back herself and yet came when asked by a candidate for the good of her party and the country. She convinced me not to throw my vote away on a third party candidate who had no chance of winning. Otherwise that is what I would have done again as I have done in a few past elections when both parties have put up ‘lesser evils’ as their standard bearers.

MY OPINION OF COURSE

We’re dead as a movement if we keep looking to these losers.
seanrobins on March 21, 2009 at 12:26 AM

Nonsense. Obamateur’s popularity will be in the toilet before the end of 2009. The Obamateur recession will last to the end of his term. The GOP will win a landslide in 2012.

So you equate a GOP landslide with advancing the conservative movement? Where have you put your brain?

The GOP has to be purged or we’ll simply retreat from Obama fascism to Bush-style big government liberalism. There currently is no conservative party to put into power.

Phil Byler on March 20, 2009 at 10:59 PM

Actually I think he does have a point.

The problem IMO comes form the ‘No RINO’ crowd who refused to support McCain in their deluded fantasy that McCain was somehow not ‘conservative’ enough.

Congratulations. You helped elect Barack Obama.

This 2010 election I think we should focus on eliminating the RINO hunters more than anything.

I’m ALMOST tempted to promote Snowe, Specter, and Collins for re-election.

At least that is the ‘current’ RINO list – which is sure to ‘evolve’ and change daily depending on what issues are being treated.

Tell the RINO hunters to go f#$k themselves. Vote the person you think will be best for the country.

Phil Byler on March 20, 2009 at 10:59 PM

The explanation is much easier than your drawn out defense of McCain: Cranky old men don’t do well against young charismatic ones (See Dole Vs Clinton) and he told the base to go screw themselves. Problem solved.

I am reminded of the Star Trek episode where Capt Kirk is split in two, a good Kirk and an evil Kirk. I wish that we could split McCain in two, his foreign policy and conservative good McCain, and his evil liberal mcamnesty lib posturing McCain, and then drive a stake in the heart of the latter McCain(or at least send that McCain back to Arizona), and only have the decent McCain in Congress.

eaglewingz08 on March 21, 2009 at 6:52 AM

Excellent point – and that is why McCain is and always was a mediocre candidate.

I’m not really a McCain fan or basher – but I know his place.

McCain and Lieberman would have been a great 3rd ticket option for Americans – and I actually wish we would have had this during the past election.

As the Republican candidate he didn’t inspire. As a 3rd party candidate with Lieberman they were ‘change’.

Instead, Republicans bickered over Fred and Rudy (my choice) types while McCain split the difference and conquered.

His selection of Palin did inspire me. His speech to ‘Stand Up and Fight’ inspired me. Pretty much everything in between was a big yawn fest.

Sarah inspired me everytime she spoke.

Put the Cons, the Libs, and the Tweens all on separate tickets and see what happens. That would have been interesting.

In 2012 my dream ticket would be Petraeus/Palin.

To me, that is a winner. I don’t know if anything else will inspire enough votes to overcome a rerun of the ‘hopenchange’ miniseries.

I know – imagining a 2nd term of Zero is a horrific thought, but do you honestly expect the media and the Kool-Aid drinkers to vote against the propaganda they are constantly being fed and have become completely dependent upon?

We need to UNITE and expand support in our battle with Zero.

These constant calls of identifying the RINO du Jour and driving them out of the party is silly infighting and nothing more.

There should be no ‘litmus test’ on social issues with us. Not this election cycle.

I could give a damn if you prefer these candidates or not – but look beyond ‘abortion’ and ‘amnesty’ or your other secondary concerns.

Sometimes a compromise needs to be reached. Do you prefer illegals who want to be Americans or jihadi’s that want to lie and blow up America?

The President should NOT be expected to decide social issues at his own whim. I really don’t care if they are abortion hating liberals or abortion loving conservatives.

Would you really be upset with a President who was fiscally conservative and had a defined plan for economic recovery, was pro-choice, and was strong on national defense?

His views on abortion would not trump Roe v Wade. All other issues he is dead on, completely and infallibly right on.

It is those social issues I choose to elect my local politicians on and hopefully dictate the law of the nation, or state, or community as such laws allow.

As long as Republicans demonize other Republicans over social issues I think we are only crippling ourselves. The divisers of the party are the real enemy.

The ‘No RINO’ crowd voting out the non-confrontational abortion critic that is strong on defense and fiscal responsibility in favor of an abortion loving weak on defense welfare distributor Dem is a loss.

STFU with all that noise already.

Your ‘No RINO’ campaign is dead.

Rino’s will be elected as long as you constantly redefine your description of RINO.

Would you really vote for a Democrat you didn’t like simply because a fellow Republican held a single different view than you did?

Meanwhile, if McCain knows what Geithner needs to do to save the economy, he ought to spill the beans so poor old Geithner can get a break. If McCain doen’s know the answer, how could he possibly know if Geithner is on track or drowning?

entagor on March 21, 2009 at 3:58 AM

That will never do. Much too logical.

I’m not unsympathetic to this position myself — or at least, I wasn’t before the timeline of when TurboTax Tim found out about those bonuses began to shudder and creak from all the movement.

Allah

Really? So a tax cheat being head of the US Treasury is just peachy with you? You think he’s done an ‘outstanding job’ so far?

You are pleased with the failure to appoint other high ranking Treasury members to assist us in this most trying economic crisis since the Great Depression?

You really think Zero and ‘Too Big To Fail’ make quite the dynamic duo resolving this economic crisis as Zero takes in an NBA game, makes his NCAA picks and flies off to appear on Leno so he can insult the disabled? Really?

You’ve been impressed enough to not criticize the glaring gaffe’s and downright harmful policies instituted?

Obama’s rosy outlook while boldly forging ahead amidst a $2 trillion dollar discrepancy between his budget estimates and the bi-partisan CBO doesn’t worry you at all? Really?

If your head gets any further up Zero’s ass he’s gonna look like a totem pole.

“Everyone acknowledges he needs help,” said Mr McCain, in reference to the Obama administration’s difficulty in recruiting nominees to the Treasury department, where Mr Geithner remains the only official to have been confirmed.

If Geithner can’t perform until he hires some unnamed expert, why wasn’t the expert appointed instead of Geithner?

Meanwhile, if McCain knows what Geithner needs to do to save the economy, he ought to spill the beans so poor old Geithner can get a break. If McCain doen’s know the answer, how could he possibly know if Geithner is on track or drowning?

We are being told that unless we let the talent at our faiked banking houses take million dollar retention bonuses the talent will flee to other nations. Why don’t we ask the talent from the failed banking houses to tell Geithner how to fix the system. These million dollar retention bonus execs have pricesless talent. If they just meet with Geithner and tell him how to fix stuff, the failed banking houses will spring back to life and million dollar retention bonuses will flow like lava. They could do it for free, just to keep the retention bonuses coming

My next best suggestion is everyone should leave McCain alone until he figures out which party he’s in. Once McCain figures that out, we will have a better idea which side of his mouth he is talking from