-
Time to Go for the Kill
May 22, 2013 | 67 comments
-
Obamacare Implodes
May 15, 2013 | 41 comments
-
Obama’s Rising Inequality
May 8, 2013 | 101 comments
-
Downsize the Liberals
May 1, 2013 | 53 comments
-
Fight Back! Privatize the FAA!
April 24, 2013 | 65 comments
A Further Perspective
Where Republicans and Conservatives Went Wrong
By their silence they in effect accepted Obama’s blaming it all on what he inherited from Bush.
The American people lost literally trillions in the financial crisis, in home values, in stock values, and in lost jobs and wages. Obama had a narrative as to what caused the financial crisis. It was Bush’s, and maybe even Reagan’s, tax cuts, and Republican deregulation. And the argument that won the election for Obama in my opinion was that Romney just wanted to go back to the same policies that caused the financial crisis (the mess we are in) in the first place.
Of course, that argument makes no economic sense at all. There is no economic theory under which tax cuts cause recessions. Even under Keynesian economics tax cuts are expansionary, not recessionary. Even Karl Marx never said that cuts in tax rates, like Bush and Reagan enacted, cause economic contractions. Just the opposite, cuts in tax rates increase the incentives for increased production and economic growth, by enabling producers to keep a higher percentage of what they produce.
Moreover, the deregulation Obama and his minions blame for the financial crisis, the bipartisan repeal of the old, New Deal era Glass-Steagall Act, actually helped ease the crisis, by enabling commercial banks, or actually their parent holding companies, to buy out failing investment banks, such as when JPMorgan Chase bought the failing Bear Stearns.
The business of commercial banks involves taking consumer and business deposits and making consumer and business loans. The business of investment banks involves issuing and dealing in securities such as stocks and bonds. But the financial crisis did not involve commercial banks failing because they were getting involved in investment banking activities. The crisis involved investment banks getting into trouble with their traditional investment banking activities. And it involved commercial banks and other financial institutions getting into trouble with the traditional banking activity of financing mortgage loans.
But at least Obama had a narrative, and an explanation, as to what caused the financial crisis, and one that worked directly against his opponent and his agenda. The Republicans had no narrative, no explanation, for the cause of the greatest destruction of wealth in world history. Nor did they effectively counter Obama’s narrative. So the millions of Americans angry over their losses, and sustained high unemployment, were left to figure it out for themselves, or to accept Obama’s narrative. Most took the easy way out, and just bought Obama’s line.
But it wasn’t just the Republicans who failed to propagate a full explanation of the financial crisis and its causes. The conservative movement in general failed to adequately engage the public on Obama’s ideologically self-serving financial crisis fairy tale. Sure some individual conservative scholars developed the full real explanation. But the leading conservative foundations and other intellectual outlets never took their case to the American people.
The true causes of the economic crisis were not the pro-growth policies of tax rate cuts or deregulation. They involved first the overregulation of President Clinton’s 1995 National Home Ownership Strategy, which included 100 or more specific regulatory initiatives that together forced financial institutions to abandon their traditional lending standards and create the subprime mortgage market. Those included not only greatly strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act. They included as well racial discrimination suits brought by the Justice Dept. or HUD against mortgage lenders. They also included regulatory mandates on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to finance subprime mortgages.
Because the market — correctly as it turned out —perceived the securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as effectively government guaranteed, the market continued lending these government-sponsored enterprises the money to finance new mortgage-backed securities, which are shares in pools of mortgages, especially subprime mortgages. Fannie then sold these toxic financial time bombs throughout the U.S. and world financial communities.
This overinvestment in housing created the housing bubble, bidding up the prices of homes beyond where they could be sustained. When that bubble inevitably popped, the financial time bombs represented by the runaway toxic mortgages all blew the lid off the toxic mortgage securities now spread across the global financial community.
The best explanation of these policies can be found in Paul Sperry’s The Great American Bank Robbery, and Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner’s Reckless Endangerment.
President Bush’s cheap dollar monetary policies and negative real interest rates further contributed to the housing bubble, providing the dollars and the negligible interest rate incentives for further overinvestment in housing and other long-term construction. When those loose monetary policies had to be stopped to short circuit budding inflation, the housing bubble popped, as the runaway housing prices could no longer be sustained.
The best explanation for this cause is by Stanford Economics Professor John Taylor’s Getting Off Track.
The conservative movement has lost the biting intellectual edge that caused it to intellectually dominate the Reagan era that extended for a generation from 1980 to 2008. The movement needs to focus more on advancing innovative and articulate intellectual leaders.
The Republican Party too needs to turn to intellectual, idealist leaders who know what they believe and why, and how articulate those beliefs, instead of the multimillionaire business leaders who can finance their own campaigns. Nominate the articulate idealists, who know what they are for and why, and raise money for their intellectual leadership from a broad base.
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (130) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Peter Ferrara
More Articles From A Further Perspective
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/11/08/where-republicans-and-conserva
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
H/T to National Review Online
ADVERTISEMENT
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.8.12 @ 6:48AM
The other part of the equation you don't mention is that
the Republicans always start in a hole and have to dig
themselves out thanks to negative coverage by the media.
The Republicans need friends in the media where over 90% of the
media identifies themselves as Democrats. There was a lot of
shameful behavior during the election cycle where reporters could
be observed applauding attacks on wealth.
Another part of the problem is that half the public has no idea of how
wealth is created or what it takes to keep it going. They have no idea
of wealth and how that makes their lives better.
Against these odds though the Republicans did not do badly. There was not
a landslide and Obama looks like he received 8 million fewer votes this time
but Romney also received fewer votes than McCain in some states.
The Republicans need a better internet presence that tells their voters how to
vote in each state and how they can vote without pain by obtaining absentee
ballots, etc.
There is a new media which bypasses the old media and that's where the Republcans must
become experts. So far, they haven't mastered the art.
Jack in Wi| 11.8.12 @ 6:59AM
The Bushes are to blame. Old man Bush and his old pal Dole gave us 8 years of Clinton. His dim witted son and his pals Romney and McCain gave us 8 years of Obama. It is time to bury the Bushes and all their pals like Rove. We have to rebuild the party on new lines pushing peace and prosperity. We have run an articulate conservative but once in my long lifetime. His name was Ronald Reagan.
Bob Grant| 11.8.12 @ 8:44AM
Jack,
You are correct. The Bush's (Both daddy and son) RUINED the republican party, probably for good.
From "kinder, gentler nation", "thousand points of light", "new World order" to "compassionate conservatism", the Bush's, via their ill-advised meta-messing, created the false narrative that Conservatism was inherently bad and needed to be changed.
Bush sealed his fate in '04 by touting record home ownership during the campaign, yet, remained on the sideline when time came to address the sub-prime mortgage problem which festered under his watch.
But the common denominator to most, if not all of these problems is RACE, and how it's addressed by the republican party. But that's for a new thread.
Von Mises Jr| 11.8.12 @ 9:31AM
You are correct, Bob. G.H.W. Bush is an Agenda21 statist. Bush 43 may not have been as strident as his father in central planning, but he expanded government and spent like a liberal Democrat.
We still see this in the Party with the likes of Chris Christie whom is about to pass by Executive Order a Development and Redevelopment Plan that is Agenda21. The Draft Plan states "decisions may occur at levels above the State's authority" and references EPA, HUD and the Transportation Department. The State seems to think that Port Authority has more rights to property than the person whose name is on the Deed.
Romney touted replacing ObamaCare, not ending it. He said government would create jobs when all it can do is repeal regulation and reduce taxes.
You hear this same elitism with Rove and Kristol, as well as that blowhard O'Rielly.
There are not many Republicans in DC that are truly on board with the conservative plan.
Al Adab| 11.8.12 @ 10:17AM
The GOP (not the Conservatives) refused to defend themselves after '06 and bought into the "Bushes fault" litany along with The Left.
Bush should have vetoed more GOP spending leading up to '06 but failed to do so. Nonetheless, the collapse is directly related to the Dem takover of Congress in '06 and the refusal of the GOP to attack and/or defend their own.
We now face this economy as the acceptable new norm. Our choice is no longer a political option but only an individual one; how to accomodate, survive , and oppose the consequences of this new reality.
Dai Alanye | 11.8.12 @ 10:27AM
The question now isn't whether Bush (or all the Bushes in the world) was to blame. The question is what to do about it. Republican failure to defend Dubya played into Obama's hands, allowing the Dems to control the narrative for this election. As we've seen, by allowing Obama an unopposed excuse -- effectively a Get Out of Jail Free card -- led directly to our loss.
Of course, Dubya's own easy-going -- Christian, if you will -- attitude regarding attacks exacerbated the problem. In politics the best response to an attack is an aggressive counter-attack, and we didn't have that, particularly with Romney choosing the prevent defense.
It would have been interesting to see what an approach such as Santorum's would have accomplished. If we can't find another Reagan, perhaps a mean conservative would be the next best choice.
Ghastlyone| 11.8.12 @ 7:48PM
I've posted on multiple left wing forums. What I've learned over the years while dealing with leftists, is you'll be eaten alive if you take the "polite, high road" approach in debating.
The only thing that makes these leftists back down or quit debating all together, is going straight for the jugular early on and being relentlessly fierce.
Nominate a true Conservative that's actually got some balls in 2016, that absolutely will not waiver on principles and that is not afraid to call these scumbags out on their BS and attack the crap out of them and we'll see way different results.
Until then, get used to losing elections.
Brubaker| 11.8.12 @ 10:14AM
"remained on the sideline when time came to address the sub-prime mortgage problem which festered under his watch."
Yes, the sub-prime mortgage problem did fester during his watch, but he didn't sit idly on the sideline. He tried to take action, but Barney Frank and Charles Schumer prevented it, maintaining that there was no problem and that tightening lending rules would be discriminatory.
With that said, I agree with your basic premise: Both Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. contributed mightily to the declining fortunes of the Republican party. We desperately need another Reagan.
Bob Grant| 11.8.12 @ 11:38AM
Bru: that's why I included race in the discussion.
In typical liberal fashion they took a legitimate problem (red lining) and brilliantly used it to their advantage by sowing the seeds for a future housing/financial disaster: the creation of the Community Reinvestment Act.
As the roots of the CRA began to spread, liberals freely referred back to it to justify any "fair housing" policy they wished to administer. The Clinton administration was the biggest culprit by implementing policies under the radar during a booming economy while no one was paying attention. And why should they? Everyone was getting rich from it: home builders, realtors, banks, the home improvement industry, and lastly, even home owners themselves when they realized double, triple, quadruple, on their "investment".
A classic bubble.
Anyone who tried to reign it in or sound warning sirens was predictably labeled racist. Do you remember the smear campaign unleashed by Maxine Watters, Barney Frank, and people from FMae/FMac?
Republicans quivered and caved like 2 week-old kittens, as usual.
Yea, Bush meekly tried to make an issue of it but election '04 was nearing and what better way to get reelected than to tout record home ownership? ...Bush Failure!!!!!
And now 8 years later we wander aimlessly through the ashes and rubble of the greatest financial calamity in history.
Suzyqpie| 11.9.12 @ 2:19PM
How is it you can loan people money that they can not repay and label it "helping?" It creates a total life nightmare and long term credit damage. I got turned down on my first home loan app by a very good banker. She explained what I needed to do, I did it, the house is now debt free.
OP4| 11.8.12 @ 9:53AM
Bush is to blame - for giving up after the Democrats took over in 2007. He vetoed no meaningful spending and signed a stimulus bill.
JP| 11.8.12 @ 12:21PM
"The Bushes are to blame. Old man Bush and his old pal Dole gave us 8 years of Clinton."
In that case, you might as well blame Reagan, for it was Reagan who chose Bush as his running mate over Ford and Howard Baker.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:04PM
It is time for all of us to stop looking for scapegoats and start accepting responsibilty for this mess. Once we accept responsibility for it , we own it and only than can we change it.
Joellen| 11.8.12 @ 7:16AM
One more part of the equation; what the youth is being fed in the schools. They are being taught Reagan=bad/evil. Stalin/Obama=good. It really is starting from cradle to grave. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.8.12 @ 7:22AM
I recently went to a middle school in Montgomery County, Md. While I was waiting to conduct my business I observed many drawings on the wall with knives in Romney or otherwise depicting Romney in horrible situations. I was not surprised.
JimP| 11.8.12 @ 8:53AM
Montgomery County, MD. I've been there. Never have I run into more angry leftists. They live in a state of anger and anxiety. The county crawls with them. They are unavoidable. There is a genuine negative atmosphere that pervades the entire place.
JayDick| 11.8.12 @ 12:49PM
I lived there for over 30 years, so I know whereof you speak. I moved out about 10 years ago partly for this reason. It has gotten worse since I left.
JimP| 11.8.12 @ 6:01PM
Glad to hear you made it out with your sanity, Jay. Hard to believe it could have gotten worse. Oy! I'll try to make sure I never go back again.
Liberty4x4| 11.9.12 @ 1:12AM
Not only does the Republican party not know what happened or how it happened, most, if not all, the comments on this site haven't the vaguest clue either. This is why the progressives will continue to win again and again. They have a plan. It is complex and complete, well constucted, and with long term vision. They have well organized politcal structures across the country set up and ready to activate with precision. They have the major political players in their pockets, both Republican and Democrat. There are many progressive Republicans. They have all the major venues of info disemination in control; education, entertainment, news media, legal and court systems, and many Christian churches and organizations. They have the funding from most of the so-called non-profit charitable foundations, sold out corporatist corporations, entertainment industry, etc. They are involved, dedicated, committed, and doggedly persistent. Most conservatives do not have a clue as to why this country has lost its heritage and foundations because they have been too busy with busyness to care. Its not Bush's fault, nor McCain's fault, and its not Romney's fault, it is our fault! We the people allowed this to happen due to complacency, self-interest, and self-absorbtion. I do not have much hope for reclaiming our country because I doubt our citizenry will turn round right.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:11PM
Liberty4X4 , you are right! People are scared, running on fear so they look for scapegoats, they whine and cry but nothing at all will change this way. They need hope, we all do. That hope will only be found if we can organzie the people and take action. The gov is not our employer, we are their employer, somewhere, everyone forgot that. There is only one way to stop this and it will take courage and effort. It is time for the people to take control of their employees.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:57AM
Republicans won't save this country either. Salvation of this nation is up to the people. The time for a major overhaul has come. All of us kid ourselves by thinking that either of these parties are going to save this nation. I ask all of you, what is the definition of insanity?
Appleby| 11.8.12 @ 7:09AM
Stand back and let it crash. Let Obama have his head and try everything he thinks is going to work, and let him stand in the ruins and take the blame.
That's the only answer. Stand back and let it crash.
mike 3/505| 11.8.12 @ 8:11AM
I agree....but only with annual legislation that has sunset provisions. Allow no, repeat no movement towards anything like OBAMACARE that has long term implications. Fillibuster those...for 4 years if necessary. Allow no Liberal judges to be confirmed.
Obama's real damage only comes when big stuff gets passed...or he appoints federal judges....that stuff lasts a long time and is difficult to remove.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:15PM
It's up to us to stop it. How do we begin? First step , we need to organzie , unite. I am at least making an effort, I am fighting back, will you? I am writing all orgs dedicated to ending the oppression of a out of control gov and asking those orgs to unite with other orgs. We must all come togather to make this happen. We can make it happen, it's up to us, not a poltician.
GreyLion+| 11.8.12 @ 11:44AM
I don't very often agree with you but this time I do.
Let 'er come down, they want this, let them have it and when they cry for help, walk away.
JayDick| 11.8.12 @ 12:58PM
Basically, I agree. But it needs to be done with the proper preparation. Boehner needs to have a press conference where he says something along the following lines:
Democrats say we oppose tax rate increases and other Democrat economic proposals because our opposition benefits Republicans politically. They are wrong. It would be of more benefit to Republicans to accept Democrat economic proposals and then watch as they fail. The Democrats won the Presidential election, so we have decided to let them try all their economic theories. We believe they will fail, and when they do, we will be here to fix the damage.
Martin kzovich| 11.8.12 @ 7:21AM
Romney ran a clean and eloquent campaign but it failed. What has to change is for our side to run a much harsher and critical campaign filling the airwaves with messages that challenge,contradict,indite and spark fear for voters of the consequences of the Communist policies. But always with a smile.
One more point. There will be no compromise.
There is no compromise.
If Beohner makes a really bad deal lets get rid of
him and get a new leader in the House please.
i
RJ| 11.8.12 @ 7:46AM
I would love to see Boehner replaced. When he had a stronger hand after the 2010 elections, he played to lose. The morning after this Tuesday's election, he already put up the white flag of surrender. He will support increased taxes. He said he would cooperate with Obama, as if he hadn't done so in the last two years. And he asked Obama to lead. No one representing the opposition should publicly ask Obama to lead. We know that he will "lead" us in the wrong direction. Instead, we want the Speaker of the House to be a leader in our cause of personal freedom and limited government, not surrender each and every day to the opposition.
JimP| 11.8.12 @ 8:55AM
Amen. Boehner must go regardless. I doubt it will happen unfortunately.
Appleby| 11.8.12 @ 4:01PM
Have you read Bob Woodwards "The Price of Politics"? I recommend it if you have not.
CJW| 11.8.12 @ 4:39PM
If you really want to get depressed try Woodward's "Obama's Wars" about how unprepared and uninterested Obama was and is national security.
Suzyqpie| 11.9.12 @ 2:25PM
I read it. Cliff notes version of 0bama world view, "if we are nice to Islam, et al, they'll be nice right back. Mostly because of Me." See Benghazi.
JimP| 11.8.12 @ 5:54PM
Jeepers, Appleby. At least give a clue. It's not just about Boehner, I assume, but does it condemn Boehner/guys like him or let him off the hook?
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:59AM
Everything indicates he is about to betray all of us, all Americans.
SCMike| 11.8.12 @ 7:25AM
GOP candidates did not have a common message for recovery, something they ought to try next time around. Even some good Senate candidates failed because they did not get a message out that could be reinforce by national ads of a common theme.
I understand that the media are not friends, but a single message present in all campaign ads would have an effect and could help a Scott Brown or one of the more conservative candidates elsewhere. If we leave candidates to fend for themselves, they’ll founder in the sea of MSM conventional wisdom. A common message should instead serve as more than just a lifeline, but as the foundation of the campaign.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:20PM
Neither did what sits in the wh now and worse yet with a already failed track record.
Appleby| 11.8.12 @ 7:33AM
Stop supporting people the Party throws in your face and tells you are "electable" even though you know they are not. Stand firm against those whose response is "vote for my chosen candidate or kill yourself." Until we insist on running candidates in whom we can believe, we will never elect anybody.
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 11:38AM
I share the feeling, but really, did the Party throw Mitt in our face? He emerged from a long, hotly contested primary process. The problem lies much deeper.
GreyLion+| 11.8.12 @ 11:46AM
By Golly there is two appleby....whats goin on here :)
RJ| 11.8.12 @ 7:40AM
No doubt the GOP could have run a more intellectually forceful campaign, but how many of Obama's voters would have listened. The liberals I know have built a virtual world image that is irrelevant to reality. They take the blue pill and follow their feelings with little concern about what works and what does not work. They are in two groups: 1) the self-styled elitists who crave the power of the masses; and 2) dependent people who want government to be used as a means for them to live off of others. Both groups know their goals. A better campaign of conservative ideas would have no effect on them. Dependent people destroy personal freedom.
Jacob McCandles| 11.8.12 @ 10:33AM
The liberal, educated white vote is going to have to turn. For that to happen, they must feel the pain of statism. Therefore, I agree- let it crash. Republican house- let them have the reins. Let them drive this baby off the cliff.
Words do not work anymore. As for the minority vote, not worth he effort. A crash will only reinforce their cries for more handouts. Hopeless.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 6:07AM
Not hopeless. I think it is time we accept the blame. We let this happen. We whine, we cry, we do nothing. You want your nation back? You want your freedom back? You want to secure freedom for future generations? Than, we will have to fight and defend our great nation! Willing to do that? It is not going to be given back, we will have to take it back! We can, we have the power!
Cato the Younger| 11.8.12 @ 10:44AM
Incisive comments.
Ralph Novy| 11.11.12 @ 1:12AM
Divisive comments.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 6:03AM
There you have it. I figured that one out about 20 years ago. I have watched as, im sorry i cannot even bring myself to give it a name - that traitor in office, imported in more votes, more dependants for us to support.
Matthew Quigley| 11.8.12 @ 8:06AM
Okay, NOW does anyone else see how WORTHLESS the RNC is? Either remove those accomodationist scrounges or FORM A NEW AND EXPLICITLY CONSTITUTIONALIST PARTY...else be doomed to be dominated by these islamomarxist traitors and their butt-kissing and eagerly Obama- fellating RNC toadies from now until the Second Coming! We have no other options!!!
mike 3/505| 11.8.12 @ 8:14AM
Matt,
It's gotta be the "either." The 'or" takes too long and dooms us to a long series of defeats....Oops. did I just say that? Seriously, it's more effective to take over an existing infrastructure....as long as we do some serious pest control before moving in.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 6:10AM
Matthew, we are of like mind. It is truth. If we want our nation back, our freedom, we are going to have to take it back and we can. It only requires standing as united people. Simple as that.
C. Vernon Crisler | 11.8.12 @ 8:33AM
So the GOP has run two moderates and lost both times, and for that reason must not run a conservative. This is the level of advice we're getting from Establishment Republicans.
Conservatives voted for Romney this time because they were told by leading conservative intellectuals and magazines that they had to in order to defeat Obama. Never mind that Romney would be likely to sell out conservatism the first chance he got. His "bipartinsanship" message in the general election was painful, but we held our noses, hoping he would win. After all, that's what undecided morons like to hear. Now there is no way of stopping Obamacare other than resistance.
I voted for Romney mainly because of the idiot John Roberts. Otherwise, I would have written in Big Bird. The next time around, however, I will vote for Big Bird over another clone of Romney or McCain. The Establishment Republicans have had their shot -- twice -- and blown it. Another nomination like these two, and the Republican Party deserves only our contempt.
squalis| 11.8.12 @ 10:00AM
But then the candidate won't get Colin Powell's endorsement!
Warrior| 11.8.12 @ 5:58PM
The GOP has run 5 moderates (W twice) in a row.
JimP| 11.8.12 @ 8:40AM
As usual, thank you Mr. Ferrara. I agree with you 100%. From what I've read the 18-29 year olds went heavily for Obama again. Five million of them. That demographic alone was enough for Obama's win. I think also, the GOP and/or conservatives need to get out to college campuses and educate these ignorant voters. Based on my own experience with them over the last six to eight years, they are astonishingly (to me anyway) ignorant of basic economics and are completely vulnerable to the banal platitudes Obama was spouting, especially the 'fairness' idea and too that it is all Bushes fault, still. I thought the last four years would awaken them and at least they'd be no shows on election day. Boy was I WRONG. They are more useful idiots than I ever imagined. The GOP needs to be on their campuses 24/7/365 starting today and criss crossing the country informing all other adults as well. The GOP should not be trying to close the gender gap by moving left and all the other cliched leftward moves they have allegedly been making when they lose elections the last 40+ years. The problem with the GOP, IMHO, isn't that there aren't enough old white guys to win elections. The problem with the GOP is the particular old white guys who run the party. They aren't good at politics, except, I conclude, within their country club set.
Bob Grant| 11.8.12 @ 9:02AM
Jim,
I mostly agree with you, however, what put obama over the top was the ridiculously skewed non-white vote that went to obama: African Americans 95+percent, Hispanics 70+ percent, even the Asian vote was skewed.
There is a jaw-dropping chart at nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/politics/electoral-map...which breaks down the electoral vote by non-white/white voter preference.
If you look at the white-voter preference for this election, you will see a relatively diverse electorate but heavily favoring Romney nontheless. Romney wins California by over 10% points!...Romney wins PA by over 10% points!...Romney wins VA by over 25% points!...Romney wins NJ by a comfortable margin!...Romney wins (get this) Illinois by a comfortable margin!...Romney wins (get this) close in NY!!...Romney wins easily in Ohio!!...and when the result are in you will see Romney winning by 15-20% points in Florida!!
The white electorate is nicely diversified among gender, age, education, income, and cultural lines. Only when you include the non-white electorate, specifically African American, do you get wildly skewed results.
Yes, we are now a center-left country because of the skewed non-white voting electorate, but remove this group and it closely resembles 1984.
PJ| 11.8.12 @ 9:31AM
Bob,
If what you are saying is true about the White vote, voter fraud must have been tremendous at many voting polls. Many of those regions with voter list problems exposed before the election, I believe were in Black & Hispanic areas.
Which leaves me to wonder how important is my individual vote?
Bob Grant| 11.8.12 @ 10:03AM
I have no doubt voter fraud occurred in minority areas. No doubt whatsoever. And I'm sure most of it blatant and out in the open.
Just look at the countess obama murals in polling places and election "judges" wearing obama gimme caps!
Oh and get this: there are reports that obama himself was tweeting (he has a "friends" list in the tens of millions) voters to stay in line and make sure they get to vote.
How is this NOT a violation of election law?
But my main point is the "non-diverseness" of the non-white vote in America. Did you know that all things remaining the same, if John McCain received a mere 20 percent of the African American vote in '08 he would have won the swing states FL, OH, PA, VA, CO, and would have been more competitive in others that would have resulted in an easy win for him?
Is it too much as ask middle-class African Americans (and ones who aspire to be in the middle class) to vote in their best interest by selecting the guy who will more likely ensure greater job opportunities, energy independence, a stronger dollar, and a growing-vibrant economy? You know, to vote in their family's and country's best interest instead of what's perceived as the best interest of their race. After all, they became middle class because of 25 years of economic growth spurred mostly by conservative policy.
Oh well, that's a dream of mine. It was a dream of Martin Luther King as well.
In Obamaland, the point seems to be moot now.
JimP| 11.8.12 @ 10:07AM
Thanks for the reply, Bob. I'm not saying only the young put Obama over the top. Only that they were enough all by themselves. I agree that racist Blacks who only show up in representative numbers at my polling place over the last 40 years when a Black guy is on the ballot, and the Hispanics and others were over the top too. They are among the goups of adults that the GOP should be talking to 24/7/365 IMO starting today. The GOP needs to be talking to Stupid White Voters also. Like the ones in Wisconsin. All these people need to be educated on economics.
Gotta go to do a job now. Be back later.
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 12:39PM
And yet almost every Republican politician pays lip service to the "nation of immigrants" and there is no mainstream dialog whatever about immigration policy. Whose fault is that? Don't say "the media."
PJ| 11.8.12 @ 12:43PM
It's not about immigration policy. It's about the free handouts.
Appleby| 11.8.12 @ 4:04PM
Lots of us didn't "favour" Romney. We just voted for him because that's the only choice we had.
PJ| 11.8.12 @ 9:33AM
JimP,
Can't agree with you more!!!!
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 10:09AM
Wrong cause and effect conclusion, JimP. BOTH parties have lots of old white guys in the country club. Obama hangs out at Martha's Vineyard. Does that look like a rapper convention to you?
The problem is that the old white guys in the Democrat party are buying votes from non-whites and women via entitlements that are based upon reverse Jim Crow while the old white guys in the Republican party make a big squawk about any threats to raise the tax rates of rich white guys while they wonder why working and middle class white males either don't turn out or in the case of Pennsylvania or Ohio, turn out to vote for the Devil himself. And really, who can blame them? Even if Romney had won, whose to say he wouldn't be going through his "binders full of women" to help the most oppressed creature on earth: The borgiouse white woman, while his white male electorate is discriminated against and shrinks.
Bottom line folks: The Dems play the game to WIN! Learn to WIN! Simply trying to stagger through elections hoping the public gets disgusted with the economy isn't going to cut it anymore. Abortion and gay marriage opposition are losers. Get over it. Live. Learn. Or lose in 2016!!!
Now pray to Jesus and the Constitution. See how well it works!
JimP| 11.8.12 @ 3:29PM
OK, now that I'm back let me clarify my comment about old white guys. That is a quote from a VA GOP party leader. He said "there are not enough old white guys to win elections any more". My point is that not enough white guys is not why we lost/lose. We lose because of the old white guys like John Boehner and John McCain, to name only two, because these guys have no imagination or talent or interest in advancing conservative ideas. These guys couldn't sell sex in a brothel to Seventh Fleet sailors just back from 6 months at sea on a CV, IMHO. We need younger, energetic people who are excited about freedom, free markets and who can explain the advantages of these things to people. This new breed should be criss crossing the country talking to all these groups. I read where Obama made 50 trips to Ohio starting in 2009 and how he has been buying anti Romney ads since before the GOP primaries even started. That's the kind of effort we need. Our OLD WHITE GUY GOP leaders and campaing 'gurus' have failed. I will not recount the ways to save space. This is a great project for the Koch brothers. Go ahead and be our Soros, fellas. Gotta go again.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 8:07PM
Ok, I see what you mean. A lot of the elites in the Republican party came from an era before "affirmative action" and reverse Jim Crow and due to their station in life, weren't affected by it. They never had to compete for an entry level post-college position because they were in a position in life where it didn't matter.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 6:23AM
It works better than hoping the dems will not completley destroy this nation and all she stands for. Yes, I trust Jesus far more then dems, repubs and traitors. Yes, praying to Jesus works well, careful what you say, it might bite you. The constitution, that is what we defend, not pray to. That is what America is and that is what made America great. That is why immigrants come here. As far as abortion, don't believe in it, but, that is between whomever and God. Just don't expect an overtaxed tax payer who does not believe in it to pay for it. Gay marriage, don't believe in that either, but, again that is between whomever and God, as a matter of fact, it is not gov business, my business or YOUR business. Oh by the way Praise The Lord!
Louis Jenkins| 11.8.12 @ 8:48AM
So we sat on our hands and kept our mouths shut? Hardly. It's always good for a parent to point out to the little children that if they don't believe the parent's story, a big bad gobblin in the closet will get them. Obama learned early on to always blame the other guy, not himself. Well, is he still going to blame Bush? Another four years of mismanagement, philanthropy for green energy that always fails (and has), dead diplomats and military personnel, and worse, now we will have higher taxes because he won, and the House is willing to negotiate? No, it's been Obama's house of pancakes for the last four years, and it will be another. The Republican party's defeat is due to give birth. Birth to a real conservative party. No more middle of the road, we see what that has gained us. Defeat.
PJ| 11.8.12 @ 9:19AM
Mr Ferrara,
Did you actually talked to those people who voted for Obama?
The youth voted because he is "cool." The Black & Hispanics voted for the handouts. And the Whites ------ because they are just plain stupid. All of them don't have a clue on how tax policies affect the economy & jobs. Your analysis is way above their heads!
I am not mad just shocked with the results & disappointed with my fellow Catholic, Hispanic & White. Last heard 50% voted for Obama.
I will write this to all those who voted for him (I just can't type his name anymore.): As your taxes go up, you're still not working, can't pay the rent or your mortgaged foreclosed, your quality of patient care rapidly declines, food & fuel prices continue to rise & Catholic Charities do not have the money to help you like it did in the past,------------------------------------
You got what you voted for. And stop blaming someone else other than yourself.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 10:31AM
PJ, it's easy to call the whites stupid and they are, but at another level, they're just not being REACHED.
Here's how Romney SHOULD HAVE answered the question about equal pay for women instead of looking for "binders" full of them to hire:
"EVERYONE in this country should earn their way. Many white males come from lower class backgrounds in Pennsylvania and Ohio and they work hard to overcome it. Most of them feel an obligation, reinforced by their wives, to live up to the traditional male breadwinner standard. Where's the concern from the Democrat party for them? Isn't it just as racist to bash all white males as privileged as it is to say that all black men are criminals? What do you think Obama?"
Oh, wait, that didn't happen. More goodies for women and minorities and keep those tax rates low for the rich.
How about it PA and OH whites males? That work for you?
PJ| 11.8.12 @ 11:36AM
Of course the stupid whites are being reached. They are either not intelligent enough or just too lazy, to screen out the "noise." If they voted against Romney because of the "binders" gaffe compared with the many serious gaffes of the incumbent & his VP, then they are obviously very shallow. They deserve what will happen to them starting on 1/1/13.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 12:27PM
I didn't say they voted against Romney due to the binders gaffe. On the contrary, it wasn't a gaffe. It revealed Romney pandering to the philosophy of the left to buy votes for the left via special privileges for women and non-whites. He tried to beat the left at their own game and naturally the left won since the left will always deliver more goodies for their electorate than he can.
In a way, this was similar to McCain going to LaRaza (the Race) and pledging allegiance to Mexico. It didn't get him any votes from the Hispanics but it didn't give whites a reason to vote for him either. But, oh wait, he'll keep those tax rates low for the rich out of principle. And abortion and gay marriage, that'll get the white guys in PA and OH out.
Didn't work.
Deal with it.
OP4| 11.8.12 @ 9:55AM
The Democrats have owned the economy since Jan. 2007. Unemployment was 4.9% when they took over Congress. Bush let them do as the pleased.
They own it - but nobody in the GOP was forceful about making the point.
Al Adab| 11.8.12 @ 10:11AM
Nor will anyone in the GOP make the point. Unlike Conservatives, the GOP has bought into the blame Bush syndrom instead of defending their position after the '06 elections from which point all our ills stem.
Bush failed to veto GOP spending and the result was a loss of control in '06 to the DEMs. Since then, it has been downhill for the economy and now the point of no return has been reached. This is the new norm and no recovery will take place. This is the economy the statists prefer; high unemployment, high taxes, social spending and central control. The question for us as individuals is: how to avoid and survive the consequences.
rjh| 11.8.12 @ 10:26AM
As much as I hate to be so pessimistic, this election has confirmed my low opinion of America's electorate. Following the 2010 midterms, I thought that the voters had realized their mistake, and had grown up. No longer. How anyone could have voted for obama after such a debacle of a first term is incomprehensible. There is no way the conservative message will ever reach the people who would elect such a man...they are unreachable. This country, as we have known it, is over. It is not so much a problem for me. I am old, obamacare will eventually remove me from the equation. I am truly saddened for my children and grandchildren.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 10:35AM
This year has been eye opening: Chief Justice Roberts basically said that if congress taxes it, they can do anything they please. How about a $1000 tax on abortions? (Now THAT'S an idea, eh?)
Next, as I point out elsewhere here, non-whites will show up for Obama at rates that make conservative issues IRRELEVANT. The Holy Constitution is DEAD! It's even being redefined by the left. But this is nothing new. The Holy Constitution has been dead for the last 50 years as the left took over the media, government, the police via unions, education and built an electorate of reverse Jim Crow entitlement seekers.
Deal with that stuff FIRST. Then worship the Constitution and stop abortion. Remember those instructions on the plane about "secure your oxygen mask FIRST and THEN help the children?" If you want to outlaw abortion, fine. But you're not going to get that done by making it a political issue now. Throw it on the backburner for the next 50 years or so and start taking territory. Winning elections on and off and putting a few SC justices on the court isn't cutting it ANYMORE. That is DEAD!
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 12:29PM
Blaming the voters is exactly the wrong thing to do. Normal people don't pay close attention to politics; they operate on broad impressions and a general desire to do the right thing. The GOP has done virtually nothing to connect with such people. And no, I am not talking about big-tent "inclusiveness." Look at Obamacare, for just one example. Polls clearly show that people dislike it and fear it. The 2010 tidal wave was largely a reaction to it. And what has the GOP done in response? Prepared the ground by educating the public and proposing better alternatives? Not at all. That would be risky. It would require actual ideas.
don| 11.8.12 @ 12:48PM
You are totally right, but who can explain it. You don't hear it during the campaigns. I never heard one commerical or anything in Southern California except Fox.
rjh| 11.8.12 @ 1:02PM
I must disagree. Part of being a responsible voter in this country is to become informed. It is not up to anybody to spoon feed you basic information. As you stated, the great majority of people were opposed to obamacare...did they all just change their minds prior to the election? One does not have to be a political junky to see the damage done to our country and to our economy in the past three years. A person would have to have had their head where the sun doesn't shine to be unaware that obama is a pathological liar, yet this is the man that over half of the country re-elected. They voted for obama because that is what they wanted, that is who they are. Yes, it is the right thing to blame them.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 1:30PM
Folks, I don't buy that paradigm not only because I don't think it's not true, but it's not useful. Let's try this: I think Joe and Jane sixpack ARE well informed in terms of the overall state of the candidates. Non white and/or male voters know the Dems are Santa Clause with welfare benefits but also race and gender entitlements. If you don't qualify for one, you probably qualify for the other. And if you're a wise latina on welfare, you're a 3-fer.
If you're a white and/or male, they know that Romney isn't doing much for them. He's got a "binder full of" democrat special interests he's trying to help while wondering why his base doesn't turn out.
FIGURE IT OUT GUYS!
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 2:05PM
I work with a bunch of smart, hard-working, decent people who pay taxes and don't get any kind of handouts. Virtually all of them voted for Obama because the alternative never even occurred to them. In their mental landscape, Republicans are some weird sect which they have no desire to join. A large part of it is that they do not perceive Republicans as competent problem solvers. You will say that they are wrong and perhaps call them names, but that is the reality.
rjh| 11.8.12 @ 2:58PM
Smart people ? Really? Do not perceive Republicans as problem solvers (which may be true)? Are you saying they perceive obama and the Dems as problem solvers? Based on what? Romney is not a true conservative, but the difference between obama and Romney could not be more clear. Smart people? That may be the reality of the situation, but those smart people do not live in the world of reality. This election was about stopping the destruction of our country.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 8:15PM
rjh, leftists don't perceive Obama as a problem solver. He's a "cool" guy who proposes making the world into Sweden and laughing at STUPID people who disagree with him (and are the reason why he fails.) It's all about being good and calling others bad.
Which is something I keep in mind when posting here. We can gripe to each other about what amoral and stupid jerks are on the other side and they're doing that with us, but we should truly understand what's going on at least. Romney lost. Let's figure out why. Romney wasn't really going to do much other than put in speedbumps to slow the panzers down. Let's figure out maybe why his losing in that context was a good thing and capitalize on it.
I found that in working in business that if you have a good idea, it appears as if others seem to hit on it at the same time and rush to get it published before you do. If we come up with good ideas here, I think there's almost this psychic force that communicates it outward.
Some useful ideas: The Constitution is dead. GET OVER IT! Republicans need to develop and protect their base if they want to win. After eliminating the primary reasons why the majority of democrat voters vote for them (race and gender preferences), that's the only way that the rest of the Republican agenda, including the anti-abortion agenda, will EVER pass and not before.
Those are realistic ideas. Someone had better listen or accept 4:1 odds of losing in 2016.
Bob Grant| 11.8.12 @ 2:59PM
Fascinating. Can you tell us who these people are: Age, marriage status, religious affiliation, occupation, location of country, etc.
I really would like to know because I've got other questions but need these answered first before asking them.
Bob Grant| 11.8.12 @ 3:00PM
Oh, and of course, race.
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 3:29PM
Sure, Bob. I am in the Silicon Valley. Leaving aside the large number of Indian immigrants (and a few Chinese), the people are all white. They are educated and smart in a cognitive sense. They mostly own homes, get married and stay married, have kids, and go to Little League and PTA meetings. They rejoice in the competition of free markets and dream of striking it rich with their own businesses. They are well-meaning and have no interest in class warfare or remaking society. Forget about minority outreach--if the GOP can't get through to people like this, they are doing something drastically wrong.
Bob Grant| 11.8.12 @ 4:07PM
One would think a white, educated Californian would understand the utter fiscal catastrophe that is about to befall on their state. A catastrophe exclusively caused by democratic policy. And yet, I'm sure they blithely walked into the voting booth to bring back that utter failure of a re-tread Jerry Brown.
How far is Silicone Valley from Stockton? 100 Miles?
Stockton is the epicenter of fiscal stupidity. Stupidity caused solely by failed liberal policies.
Living in Silicone Valley and living off inflated salaries, living in nice but inflated-price homes, and basically living large while their state is on Fiscal Fire, they must think they are in some nice, protective cocoon. Immune from the soon-to-be economic disaster caused by the idiot(s) who they elected.
I have no pity for these people, and have no idea how republicans could possibly get to them. They are just as hopeless as Obamaphonepeople.
Sorry but it's impossible NOT to call these people names!
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 4:18PM
OK, but what is to be done?
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 8:10PM
I get a phone call every other week offering me a job in Sili Valley and I laugh and laugh. Get a six figure salary to live like a monk? No thanks! The main people who take that nonsense are hardcore leftists or gays who just HAVE to live there. Send the jobs over to Texas and import those H1B's to work for $20 an hour and live 10 to an San Jose apartment. Remember democrats, it's DIVERSITY!
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 3:16PM
Actually, it's the smug, white liberals that are "calling" people names indirectly by wanting to be in the "cool" crowd of socialist Europeans and someday make the USA into Sweden. That's not stupid but rather insane, I guess. OK, I called them insane I suppose.
But these are a fraction of the leftist demographic. The average leftist voter now is non-white as the leftist blogs smugly proclaim as they gleefully chant off falling white demographics. "Tee hee! Those white males will soon be gone! Except for the ones in MY neighborhood of course! Now where's my limosine?"
OK, another name: hypocrite. Smug jerk. But fortunately, they are dying out. It's a rather expensive lifestyle. You have to be well educated and smart, when it comes to earning a living, or lucky to be a limosine liberal white leftist nowadays. The rest of the normal "losers" are not so fortunate to be able to afford that hypocritical lifestyle. I guess some of them in Jersey like waiting in line for $10 a gallon gasoline and living in a shack though. Good for them.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:32PM
There are many immigrants who are another burden on this society not doubt about and they need to be sent back from where they came from. We can't afford then. But, there are many who are contributing members to America , let's not turn this into a race issue. It an American issue! Race and color do not have anything to do with being American! Being American is a philosphy, a belief and conviction, in Freedom! Being American lives inside us of us.
Ralph Novy| 11.9.12 @ 12:55AM
Yowsers.
Your tone is so sweet, but the tenor is so foul.
Obama a pathological liar and Romney not?
Whooo!
Topsy-turvy.
Re-assess, I'd say.
loulou| 11.8.12 @ 11:15AM
Can we at long last insist that Karl Rove butt out?
He is not a conservative and actively undermines true conservative candidates.
If Fox News continues to showcase the loser I'm going to have to stop watching Fox.
Appleby| 11.8.12 @ 4:07PM
And take Dick Morris with him.
NC to WA| 11.8.12 @ 11:29AM
Maybe in 2016 or 2020 if we have a country left maybe the populace will blame Obama for the economy like they have with Bush. That would be poetic justice.
PJ| 11.8.12 @ 11:39AM
We have no more USA for those who wish to improve their living conditions. Do what you can to make your life as pleasant as possible along with your children. AND stay under the radar!!
Al Adab| 11.8.12 @ 1:27PM
The voters have just told us they accept this economy as the new baseline, the new norm. Therefore high taxes, high unemployment, slow growth and the welfare State are now reality. This was the tipping point and there is no return.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:40AM
There is a return and we the people can make it happen! We have to blame ourselves as well! This is a time to stop flapping our jaws and whining and start taking action! All of you can laugh, I don't care. A good place to start would be organizing Americans across the nation to go to gov offices on July 4'th, all at the same time across the nation, raise a flag , say the pledge of allegicance , sing the national anthem and have our intellectual, idealist leaders at our sides to deliver our message. One little rally, followed by whatever action(s) is necessary to regain this country and freedom! Freedom and prosperity were not taken away, we gave it away! Now let's take it back!
GreyLion+| 11.8.12 @ 11:55AM
Mr. Ferrara
You have a boatload of credentials but you don't seem to understand that the United States of America is dead. The country that I loved, the country that I fought for, the country of which I was a citizen died Tuesday night. I don't know what replaces it. At this point I don't really care. Gonna let it crash.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:48AM
I understand your feelings of despair, but, all the same if America is dead it is because we killed her! Do you think this nation was just handed over to our forefathers with the Kings blessing? Freedom has a price and everywhere I look , I see, people want thier freedom back, they want their nation back, but, they just want it handed back on a silver platter. Not gonna happen! If we want it back we will have to take it back! That will take effort, courage and sacrafice. America is not just a place, America is a people! America is a people who are willing to defend their nation, their constitution, their freedom! All of you, you want America back? Then defend her!
Tom of the Missouri| 11.8.12 @ 12:22PM
Great thesis in this piece. I think it dovetails nicely with Jeffery Lord's piece. It is all about having candidates that can articulate conservative principles because they believe in them. Conservative principles of course include not having government directed economic activity like Fannie Mae and the Fed directed easy money policies. A big problem though is how do you explain basic economics (not to mention John Taylor's arguments) and the importance of it to nation of economic illiterates even if you are fluent in conservatism. I cannot explain it to my girlfriend or my ex wife is in a way that can overcome their emotion from the leftist propaganda they are immersed in, so how the heck do you explain it in some sound bites.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:31AM
It should in all reality be pretty easy. Ok, sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil. Draw 2 stick figures side by side. Draw another stick figure in front of those 2. Give the lone stick figure an income of 10.00. Than give the 2 stick figures who are keeping company an income of 0. Then, explaining that one stick figure must now support 2 other stick figures, deduct 5.00 from the lone stick figure and now give the 2 stick figures keeping good company each 2.50. Now, add a third stick figure to the company of 2 stick figures. Now, the third stick figure wants money, so now take 3.00 from the lone stick figure , give 2,50 to the new stick figure and due to cost of living divide the remaing 50 cents among the happy threesome. Now just kind of take it from there. I am being serious. It is this simple.
The Bruce| 11.8.12 @ 12:41PM
"So the GOP has run two moderates and lost both times"
The GOP ran them, eh? Did the RNC chairman drive up to Romney in a windowless van, kidnap him, and made him run? No. He himself decided to run and the majority of us voted for him in the primaries.
Why was Mitt Romney the candidate running against the President? Because we put him there, that's why (not the "GOP").
The Bruce| 11.8.12 @ 12:45PM
Why is it that we put these candidates forward (by voting for them in the primaries), and then disavow all responsibility for it, making the excuse that the "GOP" ran them? We ran them, folks. We did.
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 1:01PM
I think that that was Peter Ferrara's point. The conservative movement has become intellectually impoverished. The debate isn't happening. The candidates aren't there. Our spokesmen are dim bulbs like Todd Akin. If there is going to be any turnaround, we'd better find some of those "intellectual, idealist leaders" that Ferrara is talking about. And fast.
The Bruce| 11.8.12 @ 7:29PM
Not to mention we need to put forward actual conservatives, not candidates that simply go through the motions when it's politically inexpedient (as Romney did during the primaries).
I'm sure Romney's a good, decent man. And he certainly was more qualified than the empty suit we have in there now. But we need to stop listening to the "advice" from the MSM, and vote for real conservatives because real conservatives win elections.
And as far as Akin or Mr. "rape is God's will," I hold them partially responsible. Those two idiots threw away two Senate seats that were for the Republicans to take handily.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:21AM
Yes, that is what we need. A body that has at least a few working brain cells left and can add 2 + 2 without counting on their fingers or using their calculator.
Zeppo| 11.8.12 @ 1:01PM
I think that that was Peter Ferrara's point. The conservative movement has become intellectually impoverished. The debate isn't happening. The candidates aren't there. Our spokesmen are dim bulbs like Todd Akin. If there is going to be any turnaround, we'd better find some of those "intellectual, idealist leaders" that Ferrara is talking about. And fast.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:36PM
Yes we did! We let this happen, not politicians. We empowered them because we want them to fix everything. Well , they can't and even if they could they don't want to. We, the people are responsible for this, we let it happen. Now, let's fix it.
don| 11.8.12 @ 12:42PM
You people still don't get it the country has changed. The people want socialism. It doesn't matter how one articulates conservative values to the electorate; they won't listen. These values should have been with them from past elections; they don't want conservatism. Even if the country is going broke, they will still vote Democrat; they did in California (now with even more Democrats). The battle was lost in the sixties with the immigration law which allow more third world people into this country and the amnesty law in the eighties. These people are going to vote Democrat no matter what because the Democratic Party is similar to the political parties of their home countries.
PJ| 11.8.12 @ 12:54PM
Yes, this country has changed but not for the reasons you state. It has nothing to do with immigration & everything to do with free handouts.
Appleby| 11.8.12 @ 4:10PM
That's why I say stand back and let it crash over the cliff. I'm living in Socialist Kanukistan and only this week have they started to realize that when America goes, it's taking Canada with it. They've been so busy sawing through the branch they're sitting on that only this week have they heard that ominous cracking sound...the only thing that's holding Canada together is the fact that 80% of its population live within 2 hours of the US border.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:20AM
So they came here to partake of American prosperity and now unwittenly participate in recreating the nightmare they left behind. So I wonder, once this country has breathed its last, where will they go next? For that matter, for those of us who believe in freedom, where we will we go?
Ralph Novy| 11.11.12 @ 1:22AM
Go somewhere where suffered more lightly than here, I'd suggest.
YOU are a "they," pal.
Duh.
ww4cash| 11.8.12 @ 1:18PM
I agree, re the Housing Bubble Cause, but where were the so called investigative journalists on the Right? Not a peep. They should have cue cards to debunk the crap from the left. It just kills me to sit here and watch the Left walk all over the Right with lies with impunity.
Ralph Novy| 11.8.12 @ 11:09PM
Duh.
Einstein: The "investigative journalists" on the right couldn't deliver because there wasn't anything to deliver.
Ginned-up situations (Benghazi) aren't sufficient.
They are demonstrably fact-free.
Americans might be all-too ignorant and persuadable, but they're not completely stupid.
That's where Karl Rove and Dick Morris show THEIR utter stupidity and cynicism.
ww4cash| 11.8.12 @ 1:32PM
(150 characters limit in letter to the editor? They don't want letters, obviously.)
It was NOT because we did not coddle the Illegals, gays, Latinos, Blacks, etc.. It WAS because the 47%, Unions and MSM voted for Obama. Now look where we are. The Supremes will get a new Leftist Judge, we still have Eric Holder, AG, and, as I understand it, Impeachments come from the Senate. So no Impeachments or Prosecutions for the next 2 or 4 years. So, Obama can ignore Congress and issue Executive orders with Impunity. Fast Forward to 2014, nothing will change, the left can tweak up the Poverty Level and/or percent to add to one or more of the 80 entitelements to buy the number of votes they need, like they did this time. They can give title to companies to the Unions like they did last time. They can give Illegals the right to vote, as many states did this time (Nevada, for example). They can fight Voter Laws for picture Ids, like they did this time. How many votes do Dems need ?? No problem. No need to campaign, just spend our money to buy votes for them, like they did last time. So, if we can't vote or impeach them out, are we a Kingdom now, and have a Sultan? What can Conservatives do to take back Anyting?? Please reply, I need someone to talk me out of moving to a third world country, where things make more sense.
Ralph Novy| 11.8.12 @ 11:03PM
It's 1500, not 15o.
And for folks with focus it takes but a few words to say what they mean.
For example, regarding your post, my response is "Total Bullshit."
... except to say that I can't think of a single reason why you SHOULDN'T move to "third-world" country.
Go!
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 7:52PM
He can only do this , if we , the American people let him. Are we going to let him? We have options, it starts with organizing , it starts with uniting and as a united America tell our employees , NO! We are the people , we are the employer.
Marc Jeric| 11.8.12 @ 2:18PM
Another RINO bites the dust. Mitt Romney never mentioned President Obama's friends and mentors - the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, his Marxist father, his Muslim faith, his bringing to power the jihadist governments in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt (with more to come in Yemen, Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, “Palestine”…); his "social justice" program of confiscation of private wealth and properties, his plan for gigantic nationalizations of private enterprises in oil $ gas, coal, electricity, transportation, health care, insurance, the mortgage industries; and the Benghazi murder cover-up; the Fast & Furious murder cover-up.
Another decent Republican bites the dust, defeated by the criminal Chicago machine. Decency in the fight against deadly communism is no virtue.
Ralph Novy| 11.11.12 @ 1:20AM
You have no conception of what "decency" is, Marc.
I'd hate to be your next-door neighbor.
You'd probably think shooting my dog for peeing on your beloved lawn is "decent."
And ... you know ... I'll just bet you fancy yourself a Christian too, don't you?
SusyQue| 11.8.12 @ 2:54PM
We, Republicans, lost the election because 3 million Republicans stayed home! Shame on them!
Stkman| 11.8.12 @ 3:12PM
We lost because we nominated Romney, thats why we lost. We lost because we have a pussy for a speaker of the house and and mute as seante minority leader. We lost because young people aren't stupid and they see the rich paying lower tax rates than their middle class parents and they see the freeloaders getting all the things they pay for for free. They've asked themselves why should we work hard and pay for the lazy guys stuff. If it works for them I might as well do it too.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 7:49PM
The rich pay much more than we do. The truth is those rich people for the most part, not but most, worked hard for what they have. The truth is the number of rich have declined in this country due to this attitude in America that they should have to give most of what they to them. The truth is that we have all but lost the opportunity to become wealthy should that be our desire because there are people in this country who think they are entitled to the rewards of other hard work. I am upper middle income, roughly 50% of my income goes to gov. I am not rich. I grew up in extreme poverty. The rich take their business out of this country and jobs because they cannot afford to lose 60% or more of their profits to a weak and pathetic America. There is your truth. Go do your math, gather real facts or what we see happening will just continue on. One more thing, many rich, despite an oppresive tax burden donate millions to charity. We all need to stop looking for scapegoats , we need to start looking at ourselves!
Stkman| 11.8.12 @ 3:12PM
What worse is we are losing the war. The war right here at home. We've given up our freedom and everything we work so hard for so we can watch tv and sit in an air conditioned home. We didn't even fire a shot. We didn't have a ten million man(and woman) march Washington. We just rolled over.
Ben Franklin is right, you deserve the government you get. Mostly I blame the Tea Party for not having the courage to make themselves a lgetimate party instead of aligning themselves with lying whore Republicans like John Boehnor and Mitch McConnell. Or that other whore of a politician from my homestate of Texas John Cornyn. May they all hang together.
We lost because we were ball less. We lost becaused we are only half the men our forefathers were. We lost because we don't deserve a government of the people by the people for the people.
Now we are going to be forced to lock and load. Will you hide in your home or join the fight? Will you be a man or a mouse? Will you shame your children or make them proud of you? And exactly what will you say to God when you meet him and he asked if you were a rightous man or not?
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 7:56PM
I have not given up my freedom nor will I and many hundreads of thousands have not given up their freedom. The solution is simple, but, so many just won't do it. We organzie, we unite and we stand togather and go to the Wh and we tell our employees, this is how it is going to be.
Datsun 2000 Mark| 11.8.12 @ 3:52PM
Peter,
Don't forget one of the biggest culprits of all....the Bond Rating companies (Moodys, Standard & Poors, Fitch, etc) who rated these toxic securities as AAA. If they rated them as *junk* perhaps none of this would have happened. (What was their kickback I wonder?)
Ralph Novy| 11.8.12 @ 10:52PM
"Of course, that argument makes no economic sense at all. There is no economic theory under which tax cuts cause recessions."
And no-one is saying that, Ferrara. Not Krugman, not Stiglitz, not anyone.
So, right off the bat, you're setting up some fictional "liberal economist" straw man to attack.
Childish.
And shameful.
Go back to the drawing board, son, in lots of ways.
Ralph Novy| 11.8.12 @ 10:59PM
I will say, Mr. Ferrara, that there's at least a grain of truth in what you had to say about Clinton-administration officials helping to create the 2007-8 "housing bubble."
But it was the "deregulatory" part of it that was the poison pill, not the "overlending" part.
That's where you get it wrong.
Phil Gramm wasn't just wrong; he was utterly corrupt.
You should, by now, recognize that.
Eh?
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 5:13AM
Good story. The reality is thou, all Americans should have seen this coming - 20 or 30 years ago. It does not take a genius to do math. Gov has created a society of Americans who now believe it is their "right" to receive something for nothing. Too many exercised that "right", not only Americans but foreigners as well , the "freebies" extorted from other Americans has all but laid waste to this nation. We, the tax payers , are outnumberd by those whom we support, we now struggle to survive and still the gov believes they can continue this trend and finance it by higher taxes. Even if we were willing to comply with higher taxes and I don't believe we are, it won't solve anything. The current trend will continue , the economy will collapse. The time to learn simple math has come. The time has come for all Americans to contribute. The only Americans who have a "right" to tax payer dollars are our seniors. Time for a reality check.
Politics Debunked | 11.10.12 @ 3:00PM
A major reason Obama won: People didn't realize how much he lied. Many liberal newspapers reported his claim he will "pay down our debt".. and never printed anything questioning it. He constantly repeated the lie, contradicted by his own budget document. The anti-Obama media likely didn't bother pointing out his lie because they thought it was obvious.. but it wasn't to many people it appears.
Obama claimed at the Democratic National Convention on Sept. 6th, 2012: "I'll use the money we're no longer spending on war to pay down our debt".
Yet the White House site contains his 2013 budget proposal with a table showing his planned national debt at the end of each year through 2022. It adds at least $900 billion to the debt every year, $9.6 trillion over a decade.
If a CEO lied about his company's finances to get people to buy stock, the public would cry "fraud! send him to jail!". Should we trust someone to run our government that we wouldn't trust to run a company? This isn't a one time gaffe, he has repeated it from the State of the Union in January, through dozens of speeches into October and a campaign commercial.
For details about this, or to see the issue described in an amusing cartoon&video; mashup of Obama's own words, see the new site: http://PoliticsDebunked.com
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:02PM
We can send him to jail as well as those who have participated in the freud. I will probably accomplish nothing, but , at least I am trying to solve the problem. I am contacting every org involved in a movement bring gov to heel , I am asking them to unite all these orgs, unite the people and than we go to the wh , our house, and we take control of our employees.
FreedomFighter| 11.10.12 @ 8:42PM
I, one of the people, take responsibilty for allowing a gov to grow out of control. I take responsiblity for have been negligent in my duty to this country, to freedom. I take responsibilty for the economic crisis. I take responsiblity for having been lazy and slothful, wanting Big Bro to fix all the problems of our nation because I did not want to be bothered. I accept that responsiblity and I own this crisis.