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Republicans: the not-so-stupid party? — 46 Comments

1. I have mixed feelings, although on balance I am delighted that the GOP has taken control of both houses.

   The cliche, “elections matter”, like most cliches, has a foundation in bed rock truth.

   On one hand, I do admire some of the real “Mavericks”–and I do not mean McCain and Graham— who stand on principles. Still, if the party can cultivate winning candidates before the primaries, more power tot them. Candidates who cannot win are of no value.

   In 2012, I gnashed my teeth at the those who insisted on ideological purity, and threw the disparaging term RINO at any candidate who did not meet their personal standard on every issue. To the extent that this encouraged voters to sit out the election, it cost us dearly.

   Still, the inverse is true as so-called establishment Pundits continued to turn their backs on candidates who had survived primary battles, and call them Extremists. On balance I think it is healthy to have a Ted Cruz or a Rand Paul with a voice in government.

   Now, I just hope that Congress will focus on the essential issues and stand firm. To me the primary l issues are a return to Constitutional government, and chipping away wherever possible at the size and power of the governing Behemoth.

2. Oldflyer:

   My point about the Establishment backing Joni Ernst is that in the past she would probably have been thought to fit the profile of the extremist. And yet they were solidly behind her and helped her.

   That indicates to me the possibility that the so-called Establishment is not against conservatives (or even “extremist” conservatives) per se. It is against weird, easily destroyable by the opposition, “extremist” conservatives who are unlikely to win.

3. Yeah, Haley Barbour is my co-pilot. Just wow. Congratulations to the Republicans on doing better candidate prep. Congratulations on winning while ignoring and insulting your base. I’m sure that will work for you in the future when you’re not running in red states against Il Duce.
   And who were those establishment candidates in 2010 that lost? The ones we don’t talk about.

4. On election night on Fox News Karl Rove directly addressed the McDaniel incident. I’m not a big fan of Karl Rove, but I, for one, was impressed by what he had to say.

   Rove’s point was that all of this information about McDaniel’s propensity to make controversial remarks was being held in abeyance by the opposition only to be released when/if McDaniel secured the nomination. The fact that I was sitting there thinking “I didn’t know about McDaniel’s weakness” meant that they successfully avoided another Christine O’Donnell moment.

   . . . unlike the situation with Palin (where they may have damped down some of her unique appeal), this polishing helped make [Joni] Ernst shine.

   This just drives home the point of how, IMO, Palin has been absolutely mistreated by her own party. Not only have they damped down some of her unique appeal, but they failed to come to her aid or her defense as she was being treated as less-than-human by the left. The only possible excuse for this is that Palin voluntarily agreed to act as a Judas goat to draw the fire of the left, but I seriously doubt that to be the case.

5. Beauprez (CO) governor should have won. He narrowly (1-2%) lost to Hickenlooper. Gardner had 42K more votes than Beauprez. Those votes did not stay in the R column, which indicates that Beauprez was a weaker candidate than Gardner.

6. It’s all well that your candidate not be a knucklehead. Still, what are the polishers polishing – agates or emeralds?
   Any coaching classes on walking the walk? Talking like Patton, charging like Patton? Courage of convictions? Etc.

   BTW

   KLSmith: “Yeah, Haley Barbour is my co-pilot.”

   Brilliant – as in diamond. I may steal that when you’re not looking.

7. Regarding McDaniel I’m still pissed, but after this article much less so.

   First, they held back on a bunch of his inflammatory remarks. Why not reveal all of them up front instead of allowing tea partiers to support somebody they were ultimately going to destroy? Second, the way in which they attacked McDaniel was ham-handed in every sense and made the tea party base feel despised.

   Also, I’m aware of the media’s tendency to make every GOPer respond to every dumb thing any GOPer says. The most expedient solutions to this the establishment did, and did well. First, get people who won’t say dumb stuff. Second, train them on how not to say dumb stuff. These are the best responses WITHIN the media frame of GOP weirdos=the GOP, Dem weirdos are anomalies.

   But long term they need to fight the frame. No matter how carefully they vet future candidates, at some point in the future a Republican candidate for something is going to say something dumb.

   To alter the frame, when the media asks people for quotes, the correct response is to call them on it. “What Fred said is almost as stupid as your question. I’m not Fred. Why don’t you go ask my opponent whether he agrees with Biden that Obama’s a clean well-spoken Negro?”

   Breitbart (admittedly not a candidate) did something similar to this on MSNBC, and it completely floored the interviewer and re-framed everything to his advantage.

   We can win some battles within the Democrat frame, but we’ll never win the war until we’re no longer on the defensive.

8. I find this very encouraging (despite still not entirely trusting the GOP). Especially liked the part about them pretending to be reporters at the airport hitting the candidates with a barrage of questions about abortion and rape. One thing that Scott Brown did really well when he ran to replace Ted Kennedy was reject the premise of loaded MSM questions. He would first explain why it was an invalid question, and then provide an answer to what he stated was the proper version of it. Gingrich soes this well, too.

   I don’t know how much of Cary Gardner’s campaign can be credited to him vs. his GOP consultants, but it worked beautifully. You may have noticed that at no time during Obama’s press conference yesterday did he mention any women-related issues, such as “unequal pay” or “women’s reproductive health,” despite rolling out a lot of his other favorites like climate change and immigration This election cycle may just have killed the ridiculous War on Women tactic. At least I hope so.

9. Outreach to Hispanics was an important factor in some races as well:

   The Republican rout Tuesday helped the GOP regain ground among Hispanic voters, a bloc that both parties consider crucial for the 2016 presidential race but that not long ago seemed an increasingly stalwart Democratic constituency. …

   “It’s not a massive phenomenon, but Latinos identified less with the Democratic Party and a growing share identified with Republicans,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, director of Hispanic Research at the Pew Research Center. He said the results suggest that, with the right candidate, Republicans could shave Democrats’ advantage with Hispanics and put states that Obama won back into play.

10. Republicans went ‘Up’ with all groups, even blacks. Latinos voting for Repubs were way up as were Asians and women. Didn’t they know we were waging war on them?

    I’m for the McConnell/Boehner stated goals now as long as they are in keeping with the STOP Obama agenda as well. My read of them is that’s exactly what they’re planning. YaaaaHoooooooo..!!

11. That was a fantastic article and good job on the ‘polishing’ because we don’t need any more exceedingly dumb remarks by random people bringing down other candidates. Happy to hear they paid more attention to the nuts and bolts this time.

    Now lets see what they can do in the presidential in two years.

12. I can’t remember where I read it, but someone said that one advantage Scott Walker has is that he hasn’t yet spoken on foreign policy. The author said that with the uncertainty of how things might develop in the next year and a half, it’s probably better that Walker can’t be labelled as a hawk or isolationist.

    I like the fact that people are starting to think strategically (although for Walker himself, it may just mean he has been focussed on his current battles). And I like that people are looking for good candidates and fresh faces.

13. Gotcha Neo.

    I understand that your are speaking mostly of the GOP Insiders; the ones who are actually working to build the party and win elections. At least this cycle, they seemed be able to adjust to the environment that a candidate faces. I applaud their efforts and successes. I guess I have in mind the Punditry–the Noonans, and others, who have a public voice, but no responsibility.

    Looks as though KL Smith illustrated another of my points. Ideological purity trumps election success? Better to have no power, than to compromise at all?

    Since her name was raised, I don’t know the complete story on Sarah Palin. McCain obviously tried to bring her into the establishment fold, one of the few things for which I credit him, and there was obviously some push back. It may be that the “establishment” just ran scared because of the solid wall of vitriol against her from media and other liberal shills. Or maybe she just rattles them, as she always has. I often wish that she had run for the Senate from Alaska for the same reason that I like to have a Ted Cruz and a Rand Paul there; and yet, I always understood why she would not expose her family to any more abuse than they get. I did adore her; still do.

14. Oldflyer: no that isn’t my position but thank you for playing.

15. Fooled me. Re-read your post, and I guess I still don’t know your position.

16. The campaign of weird was in Texas this cycle. It got so I wondered if MsDavis was a poser or if her campaign manager was a Republican operative. She became like a freakish caricature of the War on Women.

    I also think the timing of the brouhaha over Kaci Hickox hurt the Dems because of her loutish belligerent demeanor. Lots of regular people were talking about her, not just the political junkies. She was a metaphor for the bureaucrats putting the interests of the credentialed and anointed ones over the well being of everyday Americans. I don’t mean to suggest that it was a tipping point but rather that it reinforced the negativity toward Obama.

17. Oldflyer: actually I agree with most of what you said and I voted for McCain and Romney who are far from ideologically pure.
    It just frustrates me when people on our side completely buy into the extremist candidate meme and somehow forget that in 2012* we also lost winnable seats with establishment candidates. (Rehberg, Berg, Thompson, Allen, Mack).
    I will admit that sometimes I exhibit the zealotry of the newly converted. But yes, I prefer people of principle that can articulate their message.
    I think it was stupid of Mitch McConnell to say he wanted to crush the Tea Party. And I don’t buy the hidden oppo stuff about McDaniel. Why shouldn’t people be angry with the despicable tactics used against him? Thad Cochran was well past his due date.
    As for compromise, too many in the Republican party think that means give in to the other side and then brag about about how moderate and reasonable they are.

18. Martel,

    Agreed. The narrative contest is vital.

19. Hopefully, there is a sign of unity. Tea Partiers voted and GOP establishment decided to fight instead of compromise. I sense a healing in the force.

20. Good question posed by Victor Davis Hanson:

    After three elections, voters finally caught on that Obama’s faults were not in the stars, but in himself. They apparently tired of the usual distractions from a dismal presidential record.

    Republicans assumed that Obama was always the issue, ran against his policies, and rarely offered much of a comprehensive alternative agenda. It worked, but it left a question unanswered.

    At Waterloo, it was never quite clear whether Wellington’s redcoats had won the battle or Napoleon’s veterans had blown it.

    In the same manner, did the Republican agenda win on Tuesday, or did the predictable Democrats simply lose?

21. The right needs to exploit the foaming at the mouth ravings of people like rangel, waters, warren, pelosi, and reid. Any time a gop candidate or elected official is peppered with outrageous questions from the msm they should respond, why aren’t you asking rangel about his venonmous spew when he said blah, blah, blah?

22. I’m very happy that Joni Ernst won, but they didn’t do quite enough polishing. She has a pretty annoying cackle/laugh.

23. Speaking of voter outreach, this profile of Tim Scott, which, despite the faintly snarky title, is quite nice, talks about some of his refreshing ideas on the topic. Two takeaways for me:

    1. Scott says that it’s hard to offend someone into changing their minds.

    I heartily agree. I know that conservatives often lose patience with being mischaracterized as greedy, racist, and sexist when we’re are anything but. However, I think it would serve us better sometimes to dial down the rhetoric and be more painstaking in making our arguments. Against ILLEGAL immigration, not immigrants in general, etc.

    2. Scott wants to build his name recognition very slowly so as to become a credible messenger.

    This surprised me. Like neo said the other day, I was hoping that people like Scott and Ernst might step forward to become the fresh faces of the GOP. But this go slow approach might have some validity. Palin’s relative anonymity when she burst onto the national scene, for instance, may have been her undoing since it allowed the press to define her.

24. Did you notice how Romney was pushing the idea of immigration reform a couple days before the election? And Reince Priebus was doing the same immediately after the election? Oh yeah, the GOP establishment has its finger on the pulse of the electorate. If they were French, they’d be called cheese eating surrender monkeys.

25. I enjoy Ernst’s laugh, much like I enjoy Palin’s twang. There is honesty in their voices. The refusal to defend Palin is a black eye and numerous fractured ribs on the part of the gop establishment. The gop has many new, likeable, new blood faces. Cruz, Gowdy, Gohmert, Tim Scott, Walker, and now Ernst and Mia Love. These people need to be the new face of the gop. And, lets not forget Ben Carson.

26. Steve, I was wondering if she started the celebration a little soon. If that was the real sober her, I hope she doesn’t give too many speeches.

    I have been pretty happy with what the GOP Congressional leadership has said in the past day or so. Time will tell.

    For some reason, the meme among the sophisticated set, even some who declare themselves Conservative, e.g., Krauthammer, is that we need some immigration reform NOW. Someone, O’Reilly or Kelley they tend to all run together after awhile, tried to get Laura Ingraham to say this evening that immigration reform backed by promises, written laws that the border will be secure, blab, blab, blab, etc. would be the way to go. LI wasn’t buying. She very correctly pointed out that we know full well that laws are meaningless to an Administration that chooses to ignore them. She said we need proof by actions that show results over time, then we can talk about “reform”. I think she even mentioned that Ronald Reagan promised in 1986 that his amnesty program would solve the problem once and for all.

    I hope that McCain, Graham, Rubio et al will just shut up and let Senator Sessions take the lead on this particular issue.

27. Oldflyer,

    How many Ernst speeches have you listened to? She is very well spoken. She is clear about her values. She is forthright about what she will bring to dc. I hope she becomes a major voice in the district of criminals. The speech you heard was an acceptance speech she gave after 36 hours of continuous campaigning to get out the vote. To quote my dad, jesus christ on a #$/&£_é· cruch give the lady a break.

28. I agree with Martel and KL Smith: a line was crossed in Mississippi, and there’s no going back.
    I note also the self-serving nature of this “revelation” about McDaniel; why didn’t Cochran simply make ads with McDaniel’s offensive statements?
    It would’ve been the easiest thing in the world, but it didn’t happen.
    I also note that the establishment is good at burying their turds. Didn’t they vet Terri Land? What about all their other candidates that lost?

    I’m getting the feeling this is rationalization. Whatever.

    If they follow through on the conservative agenda, I’ll give them a pass. If they betray us, no mercy.

29. Matt_SE:

    You write:

    …why didn’t Cochran simply make ads with McDaniel’s offensive statements?
    It would’ve been the easiest thing in the world, but it didn’t happen.

    I can’t say I’m a master tactician/strategist, but I can see a big problem with making such ads. A BIG problem. Do you really think such a tactic would have endeared Cochran to conservatives any more than what actually occurred endeared him to them? If he had aired McDaniels’ very dirty linen for everyone to see, before the Democrats had done it? Handing the Democrats such very potent ammunition to smear McDaniels (and by extension ALL Republicans and/or conservatives) as insensitive racist clods, without being 100% sure the Democrats had found it yet? What the Cochran camp actually did was more subtle and less destructive than that—at least they probably thought it was (and I happen to agree).

30. If you expect/demand 100% purity, you will always be disappointed, I ihnik I am pretty hardcore conservative, but I am willing to meld with rino leanling folks to obtain a majority. Oherwise, its the cartridge box and who wants that except as a last resort?

31. parker:

    Ben Carson won’t let us forget Ben Carson 🙂 .

32. Steve:

    Did YOU notice how they never describe exactly what they are proposing?

    You could describe enforcing the border as “immigration reform.” You could describe increasing deportations as “immigration reform.” You could describe any number of restrictive measures as “immigration reform.”

    If they do end up proposing something that is way too much like Obama’s plan, then of course that will be a betrayal. But there are many other kinds of “immigration reform” possible.

33. waitup:

    You wrote “Tea Partiers voted and GOP establishment decided to fight instead of compromise. I sense a healing in the force.”

    I assume you meant that GOP establishment decided to fight the Democrats rather than compromise with them—they already were fighting the Tea Partiers rather than compromising with them 🙂 .

34. Ideological purity is only part of the package. Candidates who have spent their adult life at the public teat are a deal breaker for me. I don’t care how glib and ideologically pure they are, especially if they are a lawyer or Senator/lawyer.
    So, as an example, here is another way to looking at Mitt Romney. Besides being a Governor, he has a solid record of success and accomplishment in the PRIVATE sector, not the inflated “credentialed” resume of the public sector. Granted that he is not exceptionally glib, still he is not your average blustering ideological gasbag so typical of other public figures. He is a doer not a talker. I think he is one of the few who might have actually succeeded in pushing back the Technocracy, a Herculean task, to be sure.

35. Rush played some of the keening, wailing and garment rending done by the Lib-Left on air in the wake of their huge thumping. Charlie Rangel & Revrund Tawana Sharpton topped my “favorites” list!!

36. Neo said:
    “That indicates to me the possibility that the so-called Establishment is not against conservatives (or even “extremist” conservatives) per se.”

    Originally the Establishment was threatened by the Tea Party since we are a genuine grass roots movement which they can’t control. The Establishment itself has changed. The Tea Party is a genuine grass roots movement with little political experience. Because of this inexperience, the Tea Party made some serious missteps including weak candidates. Both sides need each other and are learning how to work together.

37. Malloy should have been beaten as CT governor. His record is terrible, he’s as close to President Obama as possible (Obama campaigned for him!) and he’s far from charismatic. But Tom Foley was not a good candidate.

38. Random thoughts: The “establishment” playing the race card against McDaniel supporters was most certainly not better than airing any “dirty laundry” they now claim to have had. Revealing the comments allegedly made would not have endeared Cochran to Conservatives in MS, but the after effects would last through 4 November 2014. Instead the race card has poisoned the well for many around the country who will never trust the RNC/RSCC/et al in the future. Elephants have long memories.

    Despite extensive efforts to change the memory, Akin (R-MO) was not a Tea Party or Conservative candidate, he was the Establishment candidate, though we wouldn’t know that now. So we can add Akin to the list of Establishment candidates who’s loose lips sunk their ship.

    I agree with the statement that “Immigration Reform” does not mean only Amnesty. It COULD mean closing the border, investment in a comprehensive e-Verify system, mandatory use of the e-Verify system with criminal penalties for hiring illegals, effectively closing the border, etc., etc. But do we really believe that any of that is what is on the mind of more than a handful of politicians in DC? If anyone really believes that, there is the proverbial bridge or ocean-front property.

    I tend to agree with Rush that had the Establishment moved to accept the Tea Partiers, instead of attempting to destroy them, there would have been far fewer Democrats left in office after this election (alright NY City, Chicago, SF, MN, Seattle, etc. are lost causes).

39. Indeed, there have been attempts to rewrite history on both sides. Todd Akin was neither the Tea Party candidate nor the establishment candidate. From what I’ve read, his primary run was heavily financed by Claire McCaskill supporters since they believed he would be such a weak candidate that Claire McCaskill could win in a conservative state.

    Unfortunately, Achin is just one of many people on the right who have moved to an extreme prolife position in which they are determined to use the power of the state to force a raped woman to carry the product of the rape to term.

40. I think it is important to note that with all the excellent candidate selection and preparation and message discipline that the Republican majority in the Senate is only 2-4 seats. Also critical was the low voter turnout, much of which might be low information voters who tend to vote Democrat.

    Bottom line is don’t get cocky. Conservatives and RINOS need to work together to hold the line on judges and wild spending.

41. In Florida, low Dem turnout – Charlie Crist has never inspired anybody, and the D’s shot down some leading Florida democrats in order to take advantage of the opportunist’s name recognition. Also some very good ads by Scott on his effectiveness at job promotion here.

    Thanks to those who took on the Akin issue so I didn’t have to – I have been fighting the misapprehension that he was TP since he came to light. However, its a convenient legend for the Institutionals. I now see the same thing coming for McDaniel. History is being re-written to mask Haley Barbour’s complicity in the whole thing, in order to salvage the Senatorial seat ( within a year or two) for his son. No Tea Party animus there, just good old fashioned nepotism.

    Which brings me to the question – why are the Institutional R’s so in your face combative? Is it lese majeste, “its our party, how dare you try to crash it”? Being politicians, one would think they would be able to cut the legs out from under the movement with kindness and deception. Instead, we get outrage. Makes very little sense, unless this is existential – “OMG, these idiots are breaking our rice bowls, quick kill them all.”

42. Illuminati: “Originally the Establishment was threatened by the Tea Party since we are a genuine grass roots movement which they can’t control. The Establishment itself has changed. …”

    “… The Tea Party is a genuine grass roots movement with little political experience. Because of this inexperience, the Tea Party made some serious missteps including weak candidates. Both sides need each other and are learning how to work together.”

    I disagree with the first part. I agree with the second part.

    The GOP initially embraced the Tea Party as a grassroots movement that could boost the GOP in the populist arena of the electoral contest. The GOP is willing to be ideological, but its chief priority is pragmatic: winning the electoral contest. The GOP initially embraced the Tea Party but the Tea Party failed to deliver on its early promise.

    As long as the Tea Party can deliver on its promise of an effective activist social cultural/political movement in the populist arena that will boost the GOP in the electoral contest, the GOP will work with the Tea Party – fair exchange of value for value.

43. Mr. Frank: “Bottom line is don’t get cocky. Conservatives and RINOS need to work together to hold the line on judges and wild spending.”

    That’s up to the people acting as Right activists to be effective enough to hold the politicians accountable and, by taking and controlling critical ground in other parts of the social cultural/political spectrum, to boost/empower and enable likeminded elected officials to hold the line and make desired changes.

44. Mr. Frank:

    The Republicans got all the Senate seats that were possible to turn over except NH and Virginia, and those were longshots. Only a third of the Senate seats were up for grabs, so they were limited to those battles.

    Now, 2016 will be quite a test.

45. fiona nails it with the rice bowl comment. GOP = big govt, Tea Party = shrink govt.
    good points by Illiminati and Ed in NTx, too.

46. What they did with Chris McDaniel was despicable. It was utterly ham-handed and disgusting. I’d like to hear just what was so horrifying that they had to do everything in their power to Cochran in. Seriously, let’s hear it, now that Cochran is safely elected.

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