Election Post Mortem: Some Reasons for the Loss

In sober moments it was hard not to see big problems in the campaign but I must admit to thinking we might squeak by and somehow deal with them later.

In no particular order (many of these reasons are linked.)

Acting like Bush was an awesome president who made few mistakes:

This of course is a popular one with Neo-Cons and RINOs who want to pick up where we were: Bush may have been more decent and sincere as a person than portrayed, but he made many huge mistakes. One of the biggest was not acting to limit The Fed pumping and housing policies that helped fuel the housing bubble.

The best, simple answer is to make people aware these policies were fueled by high ranking Democrats and liberal interest groups and ask what Barack Obama did to received $126,349 in contributions from Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac?

Telling people who mostly knew better that Bush handed Obama a healthy economy was never a good idea. The right plan is to say, Obama inherited grim the results of policies he often supported.

Not fighting fear of budget cuts by telling the truth about the vast debt and entitlement bomb.

Again we have a problem with Neo-Cons and half hearted Republicans either afraid to confront the welfare state or afraid to touch the "third rail" of politics by telling a public the truth about the entitlement state. Surprise- A lot of people are already pretty aware that something is wrong- making light of it by acting like Romney could easily keep Medicare and Social Security as they are made him look shifty.

Rick Perry hit the nail on the head- Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme-- and it's high time the GOP stoked anger at this rip off and passed the bulk of the blame for it where it belongs. Of course that may mean throwing some RINOs under the bus, which sounds good to me. The massive shift in recent years towards the GOP by older voters tells one, the welfare state is far less universally loved than most imagine.

Allowing Democrats to portray themselves as defenders of the poor rather than existing power elites; crony capitalists; too big too fail banks and the speculative casino economy.

I attended only one early Tea Party rally on April 15 and strongly remember the big theme was anger at bank bailouts, The FED, Wall Street insiders and crony capitalists shoving their mistakes on the taxpayer --" the aristocracy of pull", in Ayn Rand's words. Sadly, the later campaign and the 47% remark made it look like a "crude rich vs moocher poor" conflict that played into Obama's hands. Many, of the hard working poor know they are not moochers and many "moochers" long to be independent citizens.

Not acting as defenders and passionate supporters of the grass roots economy and the hard working, deserving poor

This relates closely to the GOP's dramatic, continuing fall among Hispanic and Asian immigrants. Instead of actively pointing to the ways Democrats have undermined opportunity among the poor- The party refused to mention the word poor.

Not actively promoting a pro Legal immigrant agenda

It didn't take a genius to figure out the party was counting on low growth, Rust Belt, white voters - a strategy that rightly seemed to appeal to a backward nativist base. The GOP must send a clear message that it supports an open clear path to the American Dream for legal immigrants-- and become their active champion.

Being Anti Gay Marriage.

Not sure what else to say about that. Here in Pittsburgh, you couldn't get to first base about Romney- without hearing homo-phobe. I actually know a Romney voter who felt safer showing his opposition to Obama by having a Gary Johnson yard sign for that reason.

Literally, never engaging urban voters

This is a huge subject worthy of a later post. The term "disrespect" fits perfectly, It takes nerve to expect a group of voters you almost never engage directly to vote for you. Shunning large diverse urban areas while scouring exurbs and rural areas fed the meme that the GOP is a racist party, with an agenda they are trying to hide from urban voters. Of course- Obama did almost the exact same thing in reverse- the main difference being that cities are a growth voting block.

 

 The reality is that a candidate has a limited chance to fertilise and till new ground in a short campaign and to a large extent has to deal with the existing perceptions of voters. The GOP's immigrant and urban problem is a result of years of neglect. The positive thing is we are doing as well as we are.

 

Political Math Shows How Vulnerable Obama's Healthcare Law Is To Repeal

The general rule that Obama, Pelosi are counting on is that almost no major government entitlement programs have ever been taken back once passed into law.

However, the website called Political Math, also shows that the recent Obamacare law is very unique in having absolutely zero Republican support. This as you can see was not true of Social Security, The Civil Rights Act or Medicare. In fact, the law came close to being defeated by a bipartisan coalition united against it that included almost 20% of all Democrats.

This does not look like something built to last and we can only hope it doesn't.

Blog Will Be Back

I am going to try to get rolling here again. Tired, depressed, overwhelmed and very afraid, wishing my bad feelings would not be confirmed.

I know this blog can't likely say all the things that need to be said, or cover the hail of stories in the way they should be. But, we also know now that people like you and me are all the country has now. Should my stories, links and assertions be more complete or followed up on--Of course; that's what the real professional media and journalists should have done. Most are clearly not interested.

Posting will be erratic.

Democrat Style Free Speech

One could come up with many, many, many other examples of "gocha style" press interviews, but this is sort of a classic.

Peter Schiff, a potential candidate for Chris Dodd's senate seat is hardly allowed to talk as the host desperately attempts to shove words in his mouth and catch him in some type of trap.

Notice how the thing starts. Even the highly partisan host has to acknowledge Peter's very accurate predictions regarding the economic crisis.

Sadly--- most press interviews are not much better.

Video Of Georgia Congressman Shows Contempt For His Constituents

No time to put this video in a wider context. As we all know more and more of the bloom has gone off the Democrat's rose and more and more people are doubting and publicly questioning their agenda in hundreds of events and protests around the country.

Here, Georgia Congressman, David Scott goes postal during a supposedly open town hall type meeting and makes the mistake of assuming a doctor in his own distrct, who questions his plans is an out of district paid lobbyist or crazed racist.

Obama Joker

Let's just say those who have made a profession out of being offended are shocked and upset at the above posters showing up around the country.

To put this in context, here's a small taste of the images you may have seen around during the last few years. Can't seem to come up with all the great anti Reagan images that were plastered all over NYC in the 1980's.

Tough Times For Community Organisers

There are many reasons to be very depressed as our nation sleepwalks toward disaster.
However the recent videos of people actually asking tough questions shows that for many, the Kool Aid buzz is gone and they are wide awake and angry.



The AARP is not an organization I know too much about-- I think mostly it's grown as people seek discount deals and other membership benefits. What most don't know or never cared to object too before was that mere membership was taken as a full endorsement of AARP's agenda.

Here a group of members seem to think that a "town hall healthcare meeting meant a two way conversation. Instead they are told too shut up and listen to what the AARP's unelected leadership and staff thinks is best for them.

Exits Blocked & The Real Pain Begins

Sorry, for not posting- hopefully I'm not needed to shout fire anymore. Peter Schiff has another great update video about what's likely the next leg down.

To recap- We all know about dramatic fall in asset prices, the pain from the debt bubble and the dramatic rise in unemployment. But it really looks like the real pain is just getting started.

The near total collapse of the private economy has been offset so far by a dramatic increase in federal spending that we only thought we could afford. The initial Lehman shock caused a massive pull back from almost every asset class except super duper safe-- US government debt which allowed team Obama to cheaply- if temporarily push out trillions in new bonds most of which are short term notes.

Meanwhile our real ability to pay off this debt has gotten much worse.

"The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion.(or more)

Other figures in an Associated Press analysis underscore the recession's impact: Individual income tax receipts are down 22 percent from a year ago. Corporate income taxes are down 57 percent. Social Security tax receipts could drop for only the second time since 1940, and Medicare taxes are on pace to drop for only the third time ever."

As foreign economies seem to be leading the recovery, the conditions which made finacing the U.S debt so easy are going into reverse- exposing the country to far higher interest rates-- or galloping inflation.Our rising market has underperformed most and in fact has hardly kept up with the rapid decline in the dollar's value.