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The Campaign Spectator
Nice Losers
Someone once said that it is amazing how long the rotten can hold together, if you don’t handle it roughly.
Mitt Romney now joins the long list of the kinds of presidential candidates favored by the Republican establishment — nice, moderate losers, people with no coherently articulated vision, despite how many ad hoc talking points they may have.
The list of Republican presidential candidates like this goes back at least as far as 1948, when Thomas E. Dewey ran against President Harry Truman. Dewey spoke in lofty generalities while Truman spoke in hard-hitting specifics. Since then, there have been many re-runs of this same scenario, featuring losing Republican presidential candidates John McCain, Bob Dole, Gerald Ford and, when he ran for reelection, George H.W. Bush.
Bush 41 first succeeded when he ran for election as if he were another Ronald Reagan (“Read my lips, no new taxes”), but then lost when he ran for reelection as himself— “kinder and gentler,” disdainful of “the vision thing” and looking at his watch during a debate, when he should have been counter-attacking against the foolish things being said.
This year, Barack Obama had the hard-hitting specifics — such as ending “tax cuts for the rich” who should pay “their fair share,” government “investing” in “the industries of the future” and the like. He had a coherent vision, however warped.
Most of Obama’s arguments were rotten, if you bothered to put them under scrutiny. But someone once said that it is amazing how long the rotten can hold together, if you don’t handle it roughly.
Any number of conservative commentators, both in the print media and on talk radio, examined and exposed the fraudulence of Obama’s “tax cuts for the rich” argument. But did you ever hear Mitt Romney bother to explain the specifics which exposed the flaws in Obama’s argument?
On election night, the rotten held together because Mitt Romney had not handled it roughly with specifics. Romney was too nice to handle Obama’s absurdities roughly. He definitely out-niced Obama — as John McCain had out-niced Obama in 2008, and as Dewey out-niced Truman back in 1948. And these Republicans all lost.
In this year’s first presidential debate, Obama out-niced Romney. But, when he lost out doing that, he then reversed himself, became the attacker, and ultimately the winner on election night, despite a track record that should have buried him in a landslide.
When you look at this as a horse race, there is no question that the Republicans deserved to lose. But the stakes for this great nation, at this crucial juncture in its history and in the history of the world, are far too momentous to look at this election as just a contest between two candidates or two political parties.
Quite aside from the immediate effects of particular policies, Barack Obama has repeatedly circumvented the laws, including the Constitution of the United States, in ways and on a scale that pushes this nation in the direction of arbitrary one-man rule.
Now that Obama will be in a position to appoint Supreme Court justices who can rubber stamp his evasions of the law and usurpations of power, this country may be unrecognizable in a few years as the America that once led the world in freedom, as well as in many other things.
Barack Obama’s boast, on the eve of the election of 2008 — “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America” — can now be carried out, without fear of ever having to face the voters again.
This “transforming” project extends far beyond fundamental internal institutions, or even the polarization and corruption of the people themselves, with goodies handed out in exchange for their surrendering their birthright of freedom.
Obama will now also have more “flexibility,” as he told Russian President Medvedev, to transform the international order, where he has long shown that he thinks America has too much power and influence. A nuclear Iran can change that. Forever.
Have you noticed how many of our enemies in other countries have been rooting for Obama? You or your children may yet have reason to recall that as a bitter memory of a warning sign ignored on election day in 2012.
COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM
About the Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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Appleby| 11.13.12 @ 6:57AM
Canada is finally beginning to realize that when the USA goes down, Canada will swirl right down after her. They have spent the last 4 years industriously sawing through the branch they are sitting on -- 85% of Ontario and 91% of Quebec bow down and worship Obama -- and now that the gurgling sound below that cracking branch they're sitting on is very, very plain, panic is setting in up here. Look for Greece-style riots in Ontario soon; the teachers are going to be first, within the month, and government unions will follow right behind. Y'all better get ready to batten down the hatches. Your turn is coming. Our only hope is that somewhere in this melee some actual leaders will emerge, and this time we won't allow the Gucci Gulch parade to choose a plastic simulacrum and shove it in our faces as Our Only Hope. Meanwhile, we still have prayer. We are Americans. We shall overcome.
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 12:40PM
Every Focal Point of EVIL in the World, is Arming themselves to the teeth. A Major War in the Middle East is as sure as is Our Young Muslim Pharaoh rushing off to play Golf, or to FUNDRAISE, or to a Party at his Homie's Crib, while our Embassies are being Sacked, and our People are being Murdered.
So, what are we supposed to do?
How can we find a Compromise that will Save The Country from the last 4 Years, before the Next 4 Years FINISHES US, once and for all?
What Half measures can we take? What can we COMPROMISE ON, to get a Deal, and Save Face at the same time?
Nothing. Do nothing. Go get one of those Books with The Jumbles in it, and figure out the words.
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 12:41PM
The worst thing we can do, at this point, is to Drag This Out over the long haul.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!
I say - Give the people what they want, IN SPADES.
If any of you have Kids? Then you know that, for the most part, you can't tell'em anything once they hit the Tweens and the Teens. Because they're your Kids, you Love Them. Because you love them, you try to make their Life's Journey a little less Rocky, by imbuing them with the knowledge you've gleaned from every Wrong Decision that you've ever made in your life. And, they NEVER listen. So you stand by, and suffer through it, as they learn one Hard Lesson after another.
Unfortunately.......This Country can't afford that. We don't have the time.
This Country needs an INTERVENTION.
The Muslim wants Higher Taxes on the Wealthy. The People knew this, when they cast their Votes. Give the People what they want. Step Aside and let the Tax Hammer fall.
He desires Higher Gas Prices, Higher Food Prices, and More Regulations. He has Promised since 2008 that: "My Policies will make Electricity Prices, necessarily SKYROCKET". Everyone who voted for him, knew that going in.
He Promised that he would: "BANKRUPT the Coal Industry".
He still got Reelected.
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 12:42PM
I say - Give the MFer what he wants, cause he's gonna get it, anyway. To Negotiate with him, knowing that he holds all the Cards while you have No Spines, is tantamount to Pissing Your Pants up on the stage, while you're stammering through your lines in your 4th Grade Thanksgiving Play.
I say that we give him everything he wants.
Like with our Kids? This bunch of Americans will never believe that they can get burned, by touching the Stove, until they touch the Stove and get burned.
It's time to let Nature take its course.
It's time to SETTLE THIS.
Once and for all.
Let him FINISH what he has Started. And, let him do it all by himself.
Do nothing, and remember what Paul Neuman's character said in the Uber Classic - Cool Hand Luke - "Sometimes NOTHING, can be a Real Cool Hand."
Indeed.
Nancy in NC| 11.13.12 @ 3:39PM
The sooner we get to the bottom the sooner we can start to dig out.
Unemployment will be 10% soon. Gas prices will rise again. If Karma was around only those who voted for the big zero would lose their jobs, but it won't go that way.
I'm closing my business after the first of the year. I'm tired of working just to pay taxes so a bunch of slackers can slack. Pack in some rice & beans, and lots of ammo. I'm done.
Can't wait for the RNC to call and ask for $. Hope they have big ears.
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 5:04PM
Contest on Friday, Nancy.
Join us.
It'll be at Monday's Column about Europe's Jerry Sandusky.
Bob Grant| 11.13.12 @ 6:46PM
It's like the Amazing Race to find your friggin' game.
Al Adab| 11.13.12 @ 5:07PM
Dr. Sowell, who should be President, hits in on the head. The GOP since Tom Dewey has admitted to the legitimacy of the administrative, social-welfare State, what we might call a Mandarin America. Admitting that legitimacy obviates the priority of Liberty in favor of a materialist security albeit at a low level. Sort of the, "we were better off as slaves in Egypt" scenario. Like Esau, we have finally sold our birthright for a promise of government pottage. No one can possibly have a moral claim to the earnings and wealth of others. Therefore, the only way to impose that equality is through the coercive power of government and its not so subtle threat of force.
There is now no turning back. Individuals must make their best accomodation to this new reality and find personal ways to avoid or coexist with it.
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 9:28PM
Rules for Conservatives @
http://www.saveamericanow.us.com
Toinfinityandbeyond| 11.14.12 @ 5:25AM
Your love will-tard will be forever Legitimate Loser!
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.13.12 @ 7:11AM
Thomas,
try to give us a time-line. How long can our country stumble along this way before the goodies run ou.
The Avenger| 11.13.12 @ 7:25AM
It is hard to beat Santa Claus, even when he is leading us toward bankruptcy. I hope the dummies like the change that is surely coming.
Joellen| 11.13.12 @ 7:36AM
"When you look at the horse race, we deserve to lose". Yup, think about it - Loonie Tooonie Jackson, Jr. wins; Alan Grayson "Die Americans Die' wins and yet The Hero Allen West loses (or maybe not - still counting the votes). We've lost all sense of common sense.
Frediano| 11.13.12 @ 8:05AM
The GOP not only is not resisting centrally planned, command and control 'The Economy" running, but they have embraced the concept with candy, dinner, and flowers. So when they run against Democrats with the argument "We can be better Democrats," of course much of the nation is going to scoff and vote for the real Democrats, or at least, have little enthusuasm for voting for Demcrat-Lites. If the GOP can't come up with the brainpower to overcome James Carville's 4 word bumpersticker from 1992, then they don't deserve to be elected dog catcher. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989; the public global collapse of centrally planned, command and control 'the Economy' running was barely two years old when Carville showed up with "It's the Economy, Stupid!" as the intellectual bumper sticker argument that drove the GOP to its knees. Their non-response ever since-- "we can run it[sic] better" must have Marx laughing from the grave. Romney's latest campaign was based entirely on the concept "We can be a better Soviet Union when it comes to running a centrally planned, command and control 'the' economy DC.
It's the economies, plural, stupid. Not 'the' economy. Start with that.
Teflon93 | 11.13.12 @ 8:06AM
Once again, many conservative commenters on this site pointed this very fact out during the primaries and were shouted down by the MittBots who promised THIS time would be different.
Anyone had an Oldefarte sighting since the election?
Jack of Spades| 11.13.12 @ 8:31AM
Not many bloggers will post saying, "I was wrong."
OP4| 11.13.12 @ 8:32AM
Yes - But I found the entire crop of Republicans running for the nomination last year terribly disappointing. They were all badly flawed.
OP4| 11.13.12 @ 8:32AM
Yes - But I found the entire crop of Republicans running for the nomination last year terribly disappointing. They were all badly flawed.
Boar Hunter| 11.13.12 @ 12:41PM
I believe "Vote Romney" he does not suck as much as Obama was our game plan.
Frediano| 11.13.12 @ 8:08AM
My 24 year old son has a double major in economics and psych from UVa. He's been working now for 18 months, since graduating. And he has 18 months more actual business experience than Karl Marx and Barack Obama combined. So let's let them run America?
BackToBasics| 11.13.12 @ 9:22AM
The problems facing us have yet to breach the dam but they will. Only a major crisis that affects all Americans over a prolonged period can wake up enough people to put a Republican back in the white house in 2016. Such a crisis would also allow a 3rd party conservative candidate to have a better chance of winning than a democrat-lite Republican. It is time to consider a serious 3rd party. Republican leaders are too afraid to back a conservative at the presidential level and we need a true conservative in 2016 more than ever.
PolishKnight| 11.13.12 @ 10:11AM
As someone with family who lived in the former Soviet Union, I'll say: "Seen that, been there." The Soviets promised to transform humanity as well and in a way, they did. They damaged its psyche and left a legacy of sorrow and confusion, but they didn't achieve their claimed objectives except perhaps to retain power for their party elites as oligarchs in the new regime.
Obama and the left's agenda seemingly succeeds because they have enablers: The same working and middle class Republican core that they despise pays the taxes and fixes the roads and plumbing to keep their empire-corrupting-from-within going. Democrats can win elections, but they can't fix the economy. And they can bust up two parent families but they can't raise the next generation of children to be responsible citizens. Protestor hippies in the 60's were "cool" when they were busting the post 1950's era clean-cut America but now that these hippies control everything, it comes across as pathetic, doesn't it?
Bottom line: Republicans need to protect the civil rights of their base (whites and males) and remove the incentive for the core Democrats (racist and sexist entitlements.) It's as simple as that. It doesn't take a genius.
cclusn| 11.13.12 @ 10:56AM
Until a viable candidate enlists the support of intelligent and articulate advisor, such as Dr. Sowell, we will contuinue to founder. As he correctly points out, the only effective way to counter the fallacious garbage and nonsense emanating from liberals is to lay out specific economic arguments.
Joe D.| 11.13.12 @ 12:22PM
You are right. I would rather have a mean rough winner than the sorry nice losers. They need to be able to stomp not only the democrat loser but the media as well. Call a spade a spade.
Petronius| 11.13.12 @ 12:45PM
The Republican Party is finished because not only do they refuse to fight, they don't know how. The Democrats are all street trash and the ones with the big money will rule us until we have nothing left they can take except life itself. No Obamacare for Conservatives. The only thing we posses that cannot be gotten from us short of physical torture is Our disapproval of their policies and behavior. They shall have mine Never!
Dear GOP thanks for nothing for the last time.
EclecticHorzman| 11.13.12 @ 12:53PM
Romney was wrong in many ways, but most of all in reducing the campaign to the economy. There is, was and will be so much rotten about Obama and his works, at some point Romney had to address all of it. He never did. And as the campaign drifted toward its close he lowered not raised the temperature as Obama's attacks escalated. We needed a fighter, we got a host for a Sunday social.
PolishKnight| 11.13.12 @ 1:07PM
I think Romney, like even Reagan, didn't want to be an "extremist" and rock the boat too much. They're spooked. Romney hoped that the economy and obamacare would get out the 50.1% of voters he needed to win. More more or less. Then the storm hit and two senators made gaffes about abortion, and it was over.
Even so, apart from that poor political strategy, I think he worked hard to meet with as many supporters in battleground states and drum up the vote. I feel bad for him. I'm sure he's shocked he lost as we all are. But by the same token, this day was inevitable: The day when race entitlements trump EVERYTHING else, even the old "third rail" of social security.
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 9:25PM
Well I would have gone after Obama's communist associations & McCain didn't do that in 2008. Are Republicans Chumps?
cicero| 11.13.12 @ 4:46PM
Okay. We get it. Romney wasn't your favored candidate. So you stfayed home? How nutty was that? A presidential election is always a choice between the lesser of two evils. That is because no candidate is perfect. Except this time, Obama was the perfect candidate for the party set on the destruction of the country. Romney was the ONLT candidate running against him. He lost because too many of those who opposed Obama and the Progressive Party stayed home because they wantedd someone other than Romney as their candidate. So, we will now have to endure the consequences, and hope that not too much damage will be done in the next four years. Thanks guys. Good job.
Occam's Tool| 11.13.12 @ 5:02PM
You know what? Romney should have said that Akin said something stupid. Then he should have said that Joe Biden says moronic things every minute, and that Akin was a good man who misspoke.
Then he should have asked about the Bathhouse Barry uses, and why was he cheating on his wife with a gay homosexual (as Cartman might put it). Then he should have asked what Obama was doing using a convicted felon (convicted on money crimes) to get the mortgage for his house. Then he should have asked why the Press gives a free pass to Obama for palling around with copkillers.
Every day Obama should have wondered about what filthy attack dog crap Romney was going to hit him with next. Romney should have stated "I approve this message, and my opponent is a truly disgusting drug abusing individual and a poor excuse for an American who I despise."
Next time, the GOP needs to use nukes early and often. Smear and smash. This ain't beanbag, and our opponents smear Trig Palin. Screw 'em.
RCV| 11.13.12 @ 7:06PM
Fortunately, no person worthy of the office would ever run a campaign of the kind you suggest. And if he or she did so, the American people would reject them soundly.
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 9:23PM
George W. Bush is LBJ with a human face.
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 9:22PM
Stop blaming Romney- he doesn't deserve it. Karl Rove maybe, the campaign sucked- David Horowitz would have done a better job of running a winning campaign. Bush43 had more of the responsibility of where we are presently at - growing the government like LBJ.