Category Archives: 2012

If only we got to run against both

File under “Awesome What-If Scenarios“: As Mitt Romney struggled in the weeks leading up to the Michigan primary, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum nearly agreed to form a joint “Unity Ticket” to consolidate conservative support and topple Romney. “We were … Continue reading

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A Tiny Bit of Honesty in Defeat

During election season, the right-wing made it sound like taxes had never been higher than they are under Obama, and that we were a .00001% tax hike away from pure socialism.  Now that the dust has settled a bit since the … Continue reading

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ACORN Fever

I love the understated way in which Public Policy Polling chose to report this particular finding: 49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole … Continue reading

Posted in 2012, Politics | 5 Comments

Contempt As A Poor Electoral Strategy

At the aforementioned DougJ post on Asian Americans’ decisive rejection of Mitt Romney, commenter rikyrah of the Mirror on America blog offered an explanation of what’s gone on in politics the last few years for nonwhite voters:

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Why “It’s Not A Traditional America Anymore”, In O’Reilly’s View. Explained In Cartoon Form

Well, this fits in with what we’ve been talking about lately:

Posted in 2012, Fun, Media analysis, Politics | 2 Comments

Exit Stage Far Right

It took Republicans about, oh, six weeks to forget about George W. Bush. But when he was president he was “the movement and the cause”, in Bill Kristol’s phrase. As he left office, Pres. Bush had a 28 percent approval … Continue reading

Posted in 2012, News and Current Events, Politics | 3 Comments

Busy Day Musings

So conservatism is dead as a political philosophy in this country, having been reduced to a subset of the infotainment industry. It’s at least darkly amusing, then, that due to a highly successful decades-long marketing campaign, more Americans identify as … Continue reading

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Minority Outreach Fail

Following up on RE’s post, it’s not just the heads of the GOP ticket that can’t seem to get their new “minority outreach” sweaters on right: Maine’s outgoing Republican Party chairman plans to investigate claims that “dozens of black people” … Continue reading

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If We Win, It’s Proof America Loves My Ideas. If We Lose, It’s Black People’s Fault

Characteristically thoughtful and sober reflections from Paul Ryan: In his first interview since losing the election, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) wouldn’t admit that voters rejected his economic vision and instead chalked up President Obama’s victory to a large turnout of the … Continue reading

Posted in 2012, History, News and Current Events, Politics | 2 Comments

Northern Whites Are Deserting The GOP

Latest in a series here on why the GOP can’t reform, here’s Nate Cohn taking a look at Republican demographics: Outside the South, Romney’s performance among white voters was anything but historic. He ran behind Bush’s tallies in most of … Continue reading

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Ross Douthat: The Slightly More Respectable Dick “Joke” Morris

Andrew Sullivan gives Ross Douthat an Yglesias Award (for telling truths his side doesn’t want to hear): ”Dick Morris is a joke to every smart conservative in Washington and most every smart conservative under the age of 40 in America. The … Continue reading

Posted in 2012, Media analysis, News and Current Events, Politics, The Mysteries | Leave a comment

Ruth Marcus: Arbiter of Mandates

I would rather be subjected to a steady stream of columns from the likes of George Will and Mark Thiessen than read another ill-formed sentence by Ruth Marcus. Marcus would probably describe her allegiance as Democratic-leaning, but in reality she … Continue reading

Posted in 2012, Media analysis, News and Current Events | 1 Comment

Decline Of The Elites

Picking up on this morning’s inequality post: I haven’t quite worked it out into a pithy sentence just yet, but there’s something about the democratization of our discourse that has been catastrophic for rationality in the Republican Party, and therefore for … Continue reading

Posted in 2012, Media analysis, News and Current Events, Politics | 2 Comments

Election Ironies

Had it not been for President Obama, this woman may have had to run her husband over with a foreign automobile instead of a Jeep: Police say a woman who was upset over the outcome of the presidential election ran … Continue reading

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Unskewed Nation

Nate Silver got his start writing about baseball. He ran into a smug, militant wall of ignorance in that milieu not at all unlike his reception from folks like Joe Scarborough and the UnskewedPolls guy. As James Fallows put it … Continue reading

Posted in 2012, Media analysis, News and Current Events, Politics | 2 Comments

And That’s The Difference Between God And Me

The image in Franklin Graham’s mirror God is really mad: [S]piritually [according to evangelist Franklin Graham], Tuesday’s results sent America further down a “path of destruction.” “Unless we’re willing to repent for our sins, we will stand in his judgment,” … Continue reading

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Mitt Romney As Mark McGwire

Conor P. Williams argues that SuperPAC money is like performance-enhancing drugs. There’s something to that analogy, but it breaks down a bit in application. Two main points: even without SuperPACs, Romney would have won the nomination, as Seth Masket pointed … Continue reading

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Doublespeak

Orwell “Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Karl Rove  GOP strategist Karl Rove went on Fox News today to argue that … Continue reading

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