Frustrated union and Democratic Party leaders from Madison,
Wisconsin, to Washington, D.C., while wiping the Badger State
recall election bloodbath from their shoes, are bombarding the
nation with excuses, mitigating circumstances, and outright denial
of their own declining reality.
A leading excuse emanating from Democrats everywhere, not least
from the Wisconsin Democratic Party which is still stinging from
President Barack Obama’s refusal to campaign for their man, is that
the campaign of the past and future governor, Scott Walker,
substantially outraised and outspent his Democrat challenger,
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
It is true that Walker received more financial support,
including from outside the state, than Barrett did. But the lesson
to learn is not the truism that money can impact elections; it is
that Republicans, conservatives, capitalists, and perhaps even a
few libertarians were willing and able to match, and then outmatch
the famously deep pockets of Big Labor. Republicans were every bit
the equal of Democrats in grassroots organizing, in passion for
their candidate, and in influencing independent voters without whom
the margin of victory would not have been possible.
Beyond direct excuses, the Obama Administration — which clearly
saw this coming, resulting in Obama’s full contribution to Tom
Barrett’s campaign consisting of a two-sentence “tweet” — planted
an excuse landmine by having the Department of Justice “monitor”
the election. A DOJ press release
notes that the “City of Milwaukee [is] required to provide
assistance in Spanish.”
It was a cynical ploy to turn out minority voters to cast
ballots for the Democrat without having President Obama’s
fingerprints on what was likely to be a losing effort. And even
though Milwaukee is run by Democrats, the DOJ’s action smacks of
trying to taint a Walker victory with implied racism. It is a
gutter tactic that Democrats across the country routinely employ,
trying to paint their GOP opponents as
anti-everyone-but-straight-white-men when the facts or the
Democrats’ records would incline people to vote Republican.
And when excuses aren’t enough to cauterize Democrats’ gaping
electoral wound, denial and misdirection are the name of the
game.
In a headline which was reminiscent of the reporting style of
Pravda (Правда), CBS News’ first exit poll
story (to be fair, during a time period when they embargo the
results of the election at hand while the polls are still open) was
headlined “Early Wisconsin recall exit polls show Obama has edge
over Romney in presidential race.”
Of course, the recent Wisconsin
poll most trumpeted by “mainstream media,” done by the
Democratic-leaning polling organization PPP (having an amusing
header on their web page saying “Highly Accurate Polling Across the
Country”), showed Scott Walker up by only three points and “a race
that’s tightening.”
If there’s a burning question following the Wisconsin election,
it might be about the relevance of polls, especially when done by
automated systems and by partisan organizations.
CNN was also a gold mine of Democratic rationalizations, with
Paul Begala saying that this has “no predictive capacity for
November” and, like CBS’s brain trust, Wolf Blitzer and John King,
telling us breathlessly that exit poll data shows Wisconsin voters
trusting Barack Obama on the economy. It was refreshing to hear
Republican National Committee Reince Priebus predict “a circular
firing squad on the Democratic side tomorrow”; after all, that
particular form of suicide has been particularly characteristic of
Republicans since Ronald Reagan left the White House.
The CBS diversion from the Democrat destruction they must have
seen coming mirrors the continuous efforts by White House Press
Secretary Jay Carney to suggest that President Obama was putting
little thought and less effort into trying to unseat Scott Walker,
and that due to Governor Walker’s spending advantage his victory
“won’t tell us much about a future race.”
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney disagrees with
Carney, responding to Walker’s victory with a statement suggesting
that Tuesday’s results were a reflection of a larger picture:
“Tonight voters said ‘no’ to the tired, liberal ideas of yesterday,
and ‘yes’ to fiscal responsibility and a new direction. I look
forward to working with Governor Walker to help build a better,
brighter future for all Americans.”
Despite the brave words of Jay Carney and his Oompa Loompas in
the low-ratings arm of the news media, this election portends grave
danger for Barack Obama’s reelection. Beyond prying open the
wallets of pro-liberty activists, Democrats and their supporters
made a historic strategic error in forcing this recall.
By doing so, they forced the Republican Party, which in 2008
nominated as their presidential candidate a man who admitted
publicly that he was computer-illiterate while Obama bombarded us
on Facebook and with text messages, into the 21st century. With
improved organizing, data acquisition and management, and
get-out-the-vote efforts, all of which were substantial tactical
advantages for the Obama campaign nearly four years ago, the recall
hand grenade has exploded in Democrats’ hands.
A Tuesday evening memo from RNC Chairman Priebus (who was born,
raised, and educated in Wisconsin) emphasizes the lessons learned
by the GOP:
Working with the Wisconsin GOP, the RNC ran joint voter contact
Victory operations and opened 26 statewide offices. Since January,
our volunteers made over 4 million voter contacts, more than the
GOP did in the entire 2008 campaign and substantially more than
Democrats and their union allies in this election.
We spearheaded a joint effort with neighboring states to drive
grassroots supporters to Wisconsin, and we mobilized volunteers
from across the country to get involved through our innovative
online Social Victory Center and phone-from-home program.
In the process, more than 3,400 Wisconsin volunteers have signed
up to help the party. And the data collected by door-to-door
volunteers for Governor Walker was all promptly added to the RNC’s
data center, thanks to the use of iPads, iPhones, and
iPods.
This is no longer your father’s Republican Party, and Democrats
have no excuse but their own miscalculations.
