“How did [Republicans] not know we were going to get our ass kicked?”
“Everyone thought the election was going to be close. How did [Republicans] not know we were going to get our ass kicked?” lamented Rob Jesmer, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “I don’t understand how we didn’t know. That’s the part that’s most puzzling and frustrating and embarrassing.”…
Some answers are easy to implement: Pollsters should fix voter screens, used to weed out of their samples irregular voters who aren’t likely to vote. Including only likely voters often leads to a more Republican-heavy sample. But in an era of fine-tuned turnout machines and get-out-the-vote drives, even those irregular voters are likely to show up. Polling all registered voters, rather than those most likely to make it to the polls, would at least give Republicans an idea of the worst-case scenario.
Pollsters should also control more for age, gender, and race than for party identification. One prominent party pollster pointed to a late survey conducted for Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock that showed him leading Democrat Joe Donnelly by 2 points. That survey, conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, showed that 56 percent of Indiana’s electorate would be over age 55. Exit polls revealed that number to be vastly overstated; only 43 percent of the electorate was over 50…
Democrats “must be looking at us like we’re the biggest f—– morons in the world,” one frustrated Republican said. “That’s what I’d be doing.”
Blowback
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We assumed that a scandal ridden administration was still a bad thing.
labrat on November 13, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Can you explain how the dear liar’s rein would end in the Downgrading of the country?
Chip on November 13, 2012 at 1:04 PM
When I visit DU, Kos, or Huffpo (which is daily) I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love towards conservatives from the left. You guys really have the higher ground here.
Btw, you may want to check out AP’s post on the GOP alleged “Pauline Kaelism” from last night.
Kataklysmic on November 13, 2012 at 1:04 PM
it’s also possible that you’re once again absolutely fecking clueless about trends.
sesquipedalian on November 13, 2012 at 1:05 PM
It’s a pretty self-explanatory question – and your feeble attempt at deflecting only shows how damning the answer is.
Chip on November 13, 2012 at 1:07 PM
And Obama voters are clueless about economic collapse…
melle1228 on November 13, 2012 at 1:07 PM
An equal lack of confidence in their ability to, or a complete lack in their desire to take care of themselves. They are not alone as we saw on the 6th.
DrAllecon on November 13, 2012 at 1:08 PM
LOL– You should go over to twitchy one day and look at all the love and tolerance featured by the left.
melle1228 on November 13, 2012 at 1:08 PM
This is all academic.
We’re heading toward a fiscal collapse anyway, might as well happen on Obama’s watch. Doubtful Romney could have prevented it.
Norwegian on November 13, 2012 at 1:12 PM
Okay genius – explain how the trends Aren’t towards national decline.
Start with how we’re not heading towards bankruptcy with trillion dollar deficits.
Then explain how everything is going to be OKAY with entitlements.
And finally explain how reaming the rich will ever skyrocketing taxes won’t destroy the economy.
Explain that please – we’re all ears.
Chip on November 13, 2012 at 1:12 PM
Both political parties are guilty of exaggerating the faults of their opponents to rally their bases to secure more power for themselves, but having watched both sides, Republicans are living in a bubble where everyone that doesn’t vote for them is a moronic parasite feeding off society with the magical ability to vote eight times because they are part of the vast left wing conspiracy run by a Socialist/Marxist/Keynesian named Bill Ayers. Oh, and “Sandra Fluke is a whore” or something.
Mmm...Burritos on November 13, 2012 at 1:14 PM
We made the assumption that the economy was so bad, and that Obama was so antagonistic towards traditional American Values and Exceptionalism, that we could make an unlimited number of mistakes and it wouldn’t matter.
Romney, actually ran a pretty darn good race. REPUBLICANS, embarrassed themselves. They under performed even in solidly red states, where as Romney was easily the single strongest performing Republican nation wide.
Additionally, had the electorate been mostly Caucasian, like it was even twenty years ago, Romney would have won in a landslide, similar to that of Ronald Reagans. Being that the Republican party tends to be most popular among Caucasians, its unsurprising that we were taken off guard. We’re used to fellow Caucasians deciding the outcome of elections, thus we subconsciously use them as a barometer for how well an election is going.
WolvenOne on November 13, 2012 at 1:14 PM
Again, Just What does that have to do with the Left meeting that definition?
Chip on November 13, 2012 at 1:15 PM
I said 2 years ago, that we needed a fighter in order to win.
Romney did better than I thought he would, but he wasn’t a fighter.
faraway on November 13, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Romney did his job. He won Independents. It was a statement of fact to his supporters. Should be have taken precautions to avoid being surreptitiously taped? Did you vote?
Basilsbest on November 13, 2012 at 1:15 PM
I always get a giggle when I see lefties come here and whine about tone. That’s after their post has been published.
They’re too dimwitted to understand and comprehend that we would not get the same courtesy on leftist sites.
kim roy on November 13, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Some folks have said it’ll take longer, but we’re not building the space shuttle. All of these tools are things that any good business uses. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, we just need to use the wheel.
Part of what we’d gain with the research and behavioral science would be finding a way to reach out to all of America. Obama did a great job of crafting messages to different groups. Conservatives can do that, too. We just don’t.
The GOP needs to learn that being right doesn’t help unless you can convince people that you’re right. For example, the GOP was on the right side of the Civil Rights movement. But the party of Bull Conner gets the black vote every election. We could reverse that, with the right message.
hawksruleva on November 13, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Question for you sparky – how long could they run the government IF they took all the property from the top earners and corporate entities in this country?
BTW, they could only do that ONCE – the answer will inform you of the futility of the dear liar’s Class warfare Socialist national agenda.
Chip on November 13, 2012 at 1:19 PM
There’s always a video camera around. Ask George Allen. Romney didn’t do his job. He ran a campaign that mismanaged the GOTV effort. He didn’t attack his opponent. He didn’t even have a consistent positive message.
hawksruleva on November 13, 2012 at 1:19 PM
It’s always “blame Romney,” isn’t it?
The anti-abortion fanatics in the Republican Party did more to sabotage the Party this year than anything Romney did.
Meredith on November 13, 2012 at 1:28 PM
They don’t consider the vitriol on the left to be as bad because what the lefties are saying is “correct” after all. It’s the same reason why all the war on terror tools they fomerly protested are fine now that Obama is at the helm because he is an honorable man who would never abuse them (unlike Bu$hitler)
Kataklysmic on November 13, 2012 at 1:28 PM
Okay, that last bit is bumpkiss. Romney consistently ran on turning the economy around and fixing problems. That’s pretty darn positive, and he was pretty darn consistent about it. Heck, even a couple democratic pundits this week admitted that Romney ran a far more positive campaign than his opponent.
As for GOTV, yes, the campaign could have done a better job. However, Roughly a dozen organizations claimed to have been focusing on Republican GOTV this year, and they all performed miserably.
Republican GOTV machines have HISTORICALLY been poor. The issue has been that Republicans are simply more likely to spend money on advertising and call it GOTV. That was the problem this year, hundreds of millions was spent on advertisements, very little was spent on busing people out to polling places.
Hopefully, we’ll have finally learned our lesson this time, but laying ALL that at the Romney campaigns feet is a little unfair.
WolvenOne on November 13, 2012 at 1:32 PM
I can see it now. We pass immigration reform and then they nominate a pro-choice candidate. They will lose so bad if that’s what they decide to do. I almost feel sorry for them.
mrscullen on November 13, 2012 at 1:33 PM
Good name for the generation. It all makes sense when on weed
How is WTF pronounced, WhaFu?
So my generation is the WeFu’s
Twitter dialog:
WhoFU?
MeFu
U-Fu?
MeFu Tu
WTF?
U F Call Me? Wer d Weed?
entagor on November 13, 2012 at 1:41 PM
How did they not know? The Romney campaign thought turnout would be higher amongst whites than it was. They thought turnout would be higher amongst seniors than it was. They thought turnout amongst young voters and minorities wouldn’t match 2008. It did.
Now the question the GOP has to answer is why. Was it their message? Was it the candidate? Did they just assume the base would show up without the campaign convincing them to go to the polls? Is the brand still too damaged nationally 4 years removed from Bush leaving office? They need to figure all of this out.
The problem is too many in the party seem way more interested in finding short-term solutions all of which involve p-ssing on the base and abandoning their conservative principles(i.e. amnesty). If they think that’s the pathway back to power, they’re in for a rude awakening not in 2016, but in 2014 when they lose the House.
Doughboy on November 13, 2012 at 1:41 PM
We were told constantly that Republican enthusiasm was off the charts, and that the tea party was going to storm the polls on election day.
Uh, no and no.
Moesart on November 13, 2012 at 1:42 PM
Romney lost. McCain lost.
The left’s fanatics won their races.
Obama wants to kill babies. He won.
Campaigns must be won in spite of setbacks and idiots. The left does it. RINOs cant stomach it.
faraway on November 13, 2012 at 1:45 PM
Yup, they need to use every trick in the book.
the_nile on November 13, 2012 at 1:46 PM
The Romney campaign was in lala land, and we were completely decieved by the genuine optimism coming from them. People were skeptical pre-debate, but after that first debate, even the Romney critics were largely persuaded by the optimism.
This stuff about “superfast demographics changes” is nonsense dreamed up by the GOP consultants and leadership to excuse their spectacular failure.
Doomberg on November 13, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Things actually seen on Twitter.
Statement actually made in Obama TV ad.
rockmom on November 13, 2012 at 1:49 PM
People keep talking about the base, which they say is socons, and that they are this huge number of people.
Socons can’t even get a socon a victory in the primaries, except in a couple of backwards states. Worrying about pacifying the ever-shrinking number of ignorant ban-happy socons is the last thing Republicans should be concerned with.
If you want to live in 1950, that’s up to you. Your business. You can’t make everyone do it, though.
Moesart on November 13, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Please give us a list of these ‘backwards’ states.
faraway on November 13, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Being opposed to government subsidized birth control is “going back to the 1950s”?
If voters are foolish enough to believe the “war on women” nonsense coming from the communists then I don’t know what you want the GOP to do…
People voted for a party that centered their campaign around Big Bird, free birth control, evil rich people, and binders. WTF do you want the GOP to do?
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:03 PM
non-socialist states.
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:03 PM
Well when there is rampant voter fraud like 108 and 141% of registered voters voting and when 100% of the vote goes for Obama…kind of hard to win.
nazo311 on November 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Scott Brown lost, right? Tommy Thompson?
So…
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM
But what message would do that? How do you sell the message that the poor should receive worse health care and education to the black population?
ernesto on November 13, 2012 at 2:14 PM
You are obtuse. He was using ONE example. It was how your party is able to claim to be the party of “womyn” and yet have a murderer of women Ted Kennedy in the Senate for decades. And you sell the same message to the poor; that you do to the middle class. Be reliant on your own two people, learn to find opportunity and when the economy is booming i.e., people are getting rich- then there will be jobs for your families. No one is denied healthcare in this country and as far as bad education-vouchers to better schools would help the black population immensely. Washington DC, mostly black school system is the most overfunded school system there is and the worst. Keep focusing on your daddy government and your shiny things and let the grown ups do the work.
melle1228 on November 13, 2012 at 2:30 PM
this is absolute nonsense.
visit a housing project where the “government provides”
the government has created more poverty than any force known to man, especially in the black community.
The Democrats keep blacks in “acceptable poverty” while at the same time blaming “rich people” for that poverty.
That’s the truth of the matter.
Crime, poor education, poor health care, broken families and all the rest are a result of the government’s “war on poverty”
Is there a Republican out there willing to say this?
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:30 PM
“How did [Republicans] not know we were going to get our ass kicked?”
Because you had a**holes like Dick Morris who knowingly lied to you and you drank the koolaid down like lemmings to the slaughter:
“Sean, I hope people aren’t mad at me about it… I spoke about what I believed and I think that there was a period of time when the Romney campaign was falling apart, people were not optimistic, nobody thought there was a chance of victory and I felt that it was my duty at that point to go out and say what I said. And at the time that I said it, I believe I was right.”
Dave Rywall on November 13, 2012 at 2:30 PM
Look at all the large cities in America… all have Democrat mayors.
Look at Camden and Newark NJ.
Exhibit A of the government’s welfare state failures.
But they aren’t failures to Democrats because they use the welfare state as a way to gather votes.
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:31 PM
Democrats keep people in poverty and reliant on the government and the welfare state to gather votes.
This should be the GOP’s message because it is the truth.
Democrats and unions prevent black children in inner-cities from going to better schools.
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Pretty accurate if you look at the precinct map
My friends, try to find this map on the web.
I found this private effort at Wikipedia, but my original sources from the MSM have all been removed. They don;t want you to see this map, but just like the Bush Red State, Blue State Map, every Conservative should keep this map up and center.
As soon as the counting settles down, Tee shirts, bumper stickers, and badges are needed displaying the final precinct map
The Electoral college map, state by state makes the Obama win look like a bigger chunk of the USA, but even then, they both got about half the states
This precinct break down is damning to Obama, and to get there they had to be as crooked as Hades.
They can falsify the news, hide evidence, and pass unjust laws, but they cannot eliminate this huge population that is not on their side
The DEMs lost more votes than the GOP lost, but the GOP missed one big group. Had they been able to win that group – the missing finincially dispirited and totally disenchanted rural blue collar, they would have also dug into the lost obama voters. There were 8 million lost Obama votes, and they were not all super left wing ideologues
The fact this map jas been rapidly hidden from view should tell you they are afriad you will understand how precarious is their win
entagor on November 13, 2012 at 2:43 PM
You forgot Detroit.. etc.. Your forgot how many minorities in Obama’s neck of the woods are getting shot daily. And lets not forget blue states like Illinois and California which are going under due to pensions while red states economies are growing because they are business i.e., rich friendly.
melle1228 on November 13, 2012 at 2:43 PM
These reports of voter fraud are total bullsh*t. Take off the tinfoil hat, please. See AP’s Green Room post on this topic. Also,
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57548626/romney-earned-zero-votes-in-some-urban-precincts/
cam2 on November 13, 2012 at 2:49 PM
Detroit falls under “large cities” but I agree.
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:49 PM
Well when there is rampant voter fraud like 108 and 141% of registered voters voting and when 100% of the vote goes for Obama…kind of hard to win.
nazo311 on November 13, 2012 at 2:04 PM
———
A tinfoil hat loser clings to the top of bullshit mountain proudly waving the flag.
Dave Rywall on November 13, 2012 at 2:53 PM
Democrats spent the campaign running around claiming that Romney was going to outlaw birth control so…
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Democrats spent the campaign running around claiming that Romney was going to outlaw birth control so…
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:57 PM
———
Ohhh look, another clueless person who doesn’t know the facts.
From Romney’s own website:
“Mitt believes that life begins at conception and wishes that the laws of our nation reflected that view. But while the nation remains so divided, he believes that the right next step is for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade — a case of blatant judicial activism that took a decision that should be left to the people and placed it in the hands of unelected judges. With Roe overturned, states will be empowered through the democratic process to determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate.”
Dave Rywall on November 13, 2012 at 3:05 PM
Democrats spent the campaign running around claiming that Romney was going to outlaw birth control so…
Joseph Russo III on November 13, 2012 at 2:57 PM
———
Wrong fact.
Here you go
Romney “supports a constitutional amendment stating that life begins at conception, and because some forms of birth control – such as intra-uterine devices and morning-after pills – prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, he believes they cause early miscarriages and should be banned.”
Dave Rywall on November 13, 2012 at 3:13 PM
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