Why did the Republican Party take a Shellacking?

Why did the republicans lose so dramatically on November 6, 2012?

Despite the obscene amounts of money that poured into republican campaigns, the republicans failed to take control of the United States Senate, as it guaranteed it would, and the Party lost its bid for the White House.

“He [Mitt Romney] was shell-shocked,” reported a senior staffer of the Romney campaign after the news networks called Ohio for Obama.  Karl Rove was demanding that Fox News rescind its call.

That “shell-shocked” comment speaks volumes as to why the republicans “took a shellacking,” which was first coined by the president following the 2010 mid-term election results.

We are now seeing Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and their marionettes trip over themselves to manufacture excuses that explain why November 6th was a “Shock and Awe” to the whole party, including its leadership and its entire constituency.  In addition to the excuse machine operating under nuclear power, Rove and Norquist are throwing the losing candidates under the bus and pointing the finger of blame on them.  Some people are curious, did these guys do any due-diligence and vetting of the candidates they poured hundreds of millions of dollars into before the election?

We were hearing for months that the polls were inaccurate - skewed with a far left lean.  Let’s examine the credentials of the people who were alleging that the polls were skewed toward the left.  Rush Limbaugh [attended] showed up for two semesters and one summer at Southeast Missouri State University.  According to his mother, “he flunked everything.”   Limbaugh has a long history of substance abuse.   Some people would question wisdom before taking counsel on anything beyond a date and time report from such an individual.

What exactly are Mr. Limbaugh’s credentials to interpret polling results?  Polling is a sophisticated science based upon data and mathematical algorithms.  Nate Silver, the founder of FiveThirtyEight.com, called every election with stunning accuracy.  Mr. Silver understands arithmetic.

“The polls are skewed” campaign rhetoric was parroted by virtually every right-wing talk show host - none of whom have any credible credentials for making such conclusive statements.  It’s much the same as Meat Loaf commenting on how to fix a struggling economy, as though the few brain cells remaining in his reptilian mind have even a scintilla of understanding of macroeconomics.

The propaganda from right-wing media will remain on Google for decades.  The right-wing media literally had its audience, and the candidates believing beyond any shadow of any doubt that the republicans would win all of the elections by a landslide.  Just Google: “how many seats did the republicans gain in 2012.”

The incentives of Karl Rove and Grover Norquist to report that the polls inaccurately favored a democratic victory were obvious - they wanted to continue taking money from their wealthy donors.  Let’s not forget that although Karl Rove and Grover Norquist purport to serve their wealthy constituents, that facade is really just window dressing to continue filling the donations based trough from which they feed themselves.  If that were not correct, then Messrs. Rove and Norquist should be willing to provide refunds.  It will be interesting to see if the wealthy republican donors can be duped again.

The conclusions that the republicans seem to have difficulty comprehending and accepting are that they were dead wrong.  If that were not the case, then the results would be 180 degrees opposite and Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney would be measuring for drapes for their new offices.

The fundamental reason the republican candidates, media and constituents were wrong was because of the phenomenally successful propaganda campaign facilitated by Karl Rove and Grover Norquist.  If the wealthy donors thought they were buying a propaganda campaign, they should send these gentlemen large bonus checks.  It was the most effective propaganda operation and con-job in the history of the World.

It is difficult to say who were on the “inside” of the propaganda campaign.  Were John Boehner and Mitch McConnell on the inside, or were they also just victims of the modern-day version of Jim Jones Kool-Aid?  There is certainly no denying that whoever was drinking the Norquist and Rove Kool-Aid committed suicide.

So what now for the Republican Party?

The current post-election agenda of denial is not going to solve any of the Republican Party’s problems.  In fact, I am quite sure that the far left Democrats would like nothing more than to see the Republicans continue down this denial and blame path, which is akin to a death march.

The Republican Party is currently beholden to Grover Norquist and Karl Rove for money, and to the likes of Tony Perkins, Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson because they control enormous flocks of voters who parrot anything they are told and vote in strict and blind obedience to these evangelists.  Despite the IRS Regulations that prohibit tax-exempt religious organizations from lobbying and participating in the political process, the politicians who receive the benefit place these people and organizations above the law.

The Republican Party glorifies a platform fundamentally comprised of social wedge issues that have nothing to do with managing a nation, but everything to do with generating emotion, much of which is based upon fear.  Countries are not governed by emotion, and that is becoming abundantly clear to the American public.

The Republican Party needs to distance itself from all of the above.  Yes, it needs to reinvent itself.

Women, youth, and minorities phenomenally rejected the Republican Party.  It only captured the angry white man, but even that is showing a declining allegiance.  The angry white man is declining both from attrition, but also because we are a better informed and socially connected society.  Racism and bigotry is being replaced with a populous that simply sees people as people, and believe that all people should be free to live their own life.

Today’s America does not want the government poking around in our bedrooms or our women’s bodies, and it is growing tired of the War on Drugs industrial complex that serves only to support the prison industrial complex.  The people spoke very loud and clear on November 6th.

Now Republicans, you can say that abandoning your entire extreme right-wing support group would cause you to lose elections.  I sympathize with your concern about losing elections.  May I suggest that you make a cursory review of the results you witnessed this past Tuesday?  If you continue to do the same thing, you are going to get the same results, and you will eventually face extinction.

Yes Republicans, you can reinvent your Party, and I hope you do.  Yes, it will take time and you will forfeit a couple of election cycles.  But, once you are truly reinvented, you will be a force to be reckoned with, and that is what will serve our democracy.

Republicans, you need to revisit the policies of some of the real models like Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Gerald Ford, Colin Powell, Bob Dole, Nelson Rockefeller and pre-tea party John McCain.

Republicans, wake up.  Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, Tony Perkins, Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson are doing you no favors.

As Governor Romney stated, it’s time for real change


Please read the plan to fix our nation by clicking the link below, and sign the petition from the link at the bottom of the article.

http://dave-koch.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-morning-after-nineteen-point-plan.html