November 08, 2006
I went to a GOP "victory" party last night, and just everyone I talked to fell into one of two groups. The first group (the faithful) was depressed that the pre-election polls were actually on-target. The second group (the disgruntled) had long since resigned themselves to substantial Republican losses and had mixed feelings about those losses. In general, it was either "I can't believe this is really happening" or "Maybe they need to learn a lesson." Even at a collection of the faithful, it wasn't tough at all to find Republicans who'd been disgusted with their own party for years--and weren't at all too shy to talk about it.
You may BE one of the disgruntled Republicans, or you may HATE them, or you may be in the middle. For those of you who hate them, you can hate them all you want. You can think they're assholes, or that they're insane, or that they're high-maintenance bitches. None of that really matters. What matters is that they represent a huge chunk of the Republican base. If the GOP doesn't figure out how to bring these folks back into the GOP fold and give them some candidates to believe in, 2008 will look very ugly.
If you don't know what the lesson to be learned from November 7, 2006 is, it is this: a party can't disregard the interests and concerns of an entire chunk of its own base without paying a heavy price.
Posted by: Ragnar at
12:34 PM
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I think you are entirely right.
May I add 2 more things that it might mean?
1. There are alot of conservatives who believe that less government is better government - this "libertarian" arm of the GOP is growing.
2. The country is now more likely to face a nuclear battle against radical islam - making the fight so far pale in comparison.
Posted by: Heroic Dreamer at November 08, 2006 02:10 PM (bF+Yg)
Posted by: Greyrooster at November 08, 2006 02:21 PM (wkRws)
Every asshole who voted for them deserves what they get.
Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at November 08, 2006 02:30 PM (bLPT+)
Posted by: Heroic Dreamer at November 08, 2006 02:31 PM (bF+Yg)
Posted by: Gleep! at November 08, 2006 02:31 PM (UHKaK)
Posted by: Oyster at November 08, 2006 02:48 PM (I+VdL)
Actually, I think he Republican downfall was precisely becasue they pandered too much to what they decided was their base.
For exampled, a big part of the conservative base is made up of evangelical Christians. To gather them, the Republicans took hard lines on stem cell research, gay marriage bans and other highly divisive social issues near and dear to the Christian right.
Whether it was merely lip service or not -- and much of it was -- those positions cost them the Sunday-go-to-church moderates and secular conservatives.
They've alienated other true conservatives to varying degrees with issues surrounding the WoT, the Iraq war, socio-economic policies, etc.
Rather than finding ways to make their base ever larger with good, solid ideas, the Republicans allowed themselves to follow the way of Rove and kept defining their base ever more tightly until finally, they became the ultimate special-interest administration. The electorate just got fed up and you had what you had yesterday.
This is not to say the Democrats don't do the same by working their base. This just goes to show you what happens when you work ONLY for your base.
Posted by: Gleep! at November 08, 2006 02:59 PM (UHKaK)
Posted by: Gleep! at November 08, 2006 03:01 PM (UHKaK)
Posted by: Greyrooster at November 08, 2006 03:03 PM (wkRws)
Gleep! sed:
Actually, I think he Republican downfall was precisely becasue they pandered too much to what they decided was their base.
You're largely correct, but you write that as if it contradicts what I said originally. It doesn't. If you think it does, read my comment again.
Posted by: The All-Seeing Pirate Ragnar at November 08, 2006 03:09 PM (c/4ax)
Posted by: Gleep! at November 08, 2006 03:13 PM (UHKaK)
Posted by: RepJ at November 08, 2006 03:43 PM (T3Wz2)
Congratulations; we've proven that we're as stupid as the goatfuckers think we are, and we shall now pay the price.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at November 08, 2006 04:04 PM (Oew5j)
Posted by: Gleep! at November 08, 2006 04:16 PM (UHKaK)
Posted by: Jenny at November 08, 2006 05:10 PM (3Ah+H)
DOOMED! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!
AWMMAGODTHERESATERRORISTRIGHTBEHINDYOU!
Posted by: Chicken Little at November 08, 2006 05:15 PM (v7DMp)
The conservative Christians are exactly who stayed home, you raging ignoramus. You just cant hide your hateful bigotry, can you? You're such an asshole.
Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at November 08, 2006 05:46 PM (bLPT+)
According to you, the faith side won and the science side lost. There's nothing scientific about abortion, parental notification, or the notion that embryonic stem cells have led to a cure for anything.
Talk about a fanatic.
Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at November 08, 2006 05:52 PM (bLPT+)
Terrorists have been murdering Americans for over 25 years. Only a lying moron could claim that they aren't a threat and that the Dems don't enable them.
Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at November 08, 2006 05:54 PM (bLPT+)
The example of the evangelicals was raised merely as an example of identifying what you believe to be your base and addressing their needs to the detriment of other members of your potential electorate. There are other examples that have nothing to do with religion. No bigotry took place and you know it. Hell, even Ragnar agreed with the gist of my comment.
Now, you're right, Bush lost the evangelicals he courted because he did so inconsistently and didn't follow through on his promises, such as funding faith-based initiatives. That doesn't change the fact that instead of making the tent larger, Republicans have kept on finding new ways to chase certain people out--including secular and fiscally conservative Republicans. Far-left Dems do the same. Centrist tend to win out in the long run the majority of the time.
Now, that said, let me say this: how you can engage people who's opinions you differ with on this site is your business. It's a blog and blogs aren't like tea parties or the Welcome Wagon. But you know, you may want to entertain the thought of doing it as an adult rather than a pissed-off teenager. There are plenty of opinions out there and some of them may even (gasp) differ from the great Jeff Bargholz. That doesn't make them morons or raging ignorami.
And I call no one here an asshole except you, because frankly, you act like one. Do what you will.
Posted by: Gleep! at November 08, 2006 07:55 PM (a7sMc)
Fuck me, but your stupid. I'm not a Congressman so I don't have any consituents.
The Republicans tried to appeal to the left, you hopeless moron. That's why they lost.
You wear your anti-Christian envy and bigotry like a kick me sign.
You misunderstood Raggy's story and comment, because you're a fool.
The Republicans lost the Conservative Christians (every Christian on the planet is an Evangelical, you ignoramus,) because they didn't court them. Bush wasn't running for office, retard.
Many centrists voted for the Democrats, but the democrats are about as centrist as the ACLU.
Spare me the priggish routine asshole. The only reason you come here is to troll, and I stomp on trolls. You don't have an opinion. You just regurgitate DNC talking points like a trained parrot.
The only people who hate everyone with a different opinion are leftists like you. purveyors of projection, all.
Christians make up over 90% of the country. That's a lot of people to hate, little man.
Posted by: Jeff Bargholz at November 09, 2006 02:22 AM (bLPT+)
Posted by: Greyrooster at November 09, 2006 05:47 AM (dk0ga)
Neither was Post # 9.
Just some libturd attempting to ruin this blog. Why Rusty doesn't trace him down I don't know. If they continue to get away with commenting under others names perhaps we should all do it. The chaos that follows would be pretty funny. Up to Rusty and group.
Posted by: Greyrooster at November 09, 2006 05:51 AM (dk0ga)
Until we replace most of the congress with folks like Sen Tom Coburn (R-OK) we all lost. I say no Elected official should be allowed to raise money in DC. They should do it at home among the people they represent.
Posted by: Ronson LeVau at November 09, 2006 07:55 AM (tBLyx)
Good luck with all those SoCal women.
Posted by: Gleep! at November 09, 2006 04:34 PM (UHKaK)
His anti-pork barreling stances and apparent dis-interest in the politics of being a politician are refreshing.
Posted by: Gleep! at November 09, 2006 04:47 PM (UHKaK)
Posted by: Granite at November 10, 2006 03:34 PM (E7FBk)
I beg to differ with you about the campaign financing.
I would say that as long as campaign finances and money spent are the overwhelming factor in who gets elected, we are royally screwed no matter where the money comes from.
I blame MTV and the 'We don't care who you vote for, or why, or even if you know which candidates died last week, or if you pay attention to what the people you elect do, just go out and vote. Going out and voting is what's important.'
If I were the conspiracy type, I might look at the political leanings of the groups that wanted massive numbers of uninformed voters to go out and vote, and maybe draw conclusions about who they thought the uninformed voter was going to vote for.
Posted by: Granite at November 10, 2006 03:38 PM (E7FBk)
Posted by: Gleep! at November 10, 2006 07:16 PM (a7sMc)
so keep up the good work Bargholz, I guess.
Posted by: John Smith at November 20, 2006 04:03 PM (+/ws4)
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