Why, Why, Why

For the next few days, and perhaps even the next few months, the topic of conversation among political pundits will be the loss of Mitt Romney.  It is not beyond expectations that I offer my opinion.  As mentioned in the headline of this blog, I was ( and might still be if it were possible) an Eisenhower Republican.  Unfortunately, that is a dead species, a fossil, a relic of the past.  The Republican Party of Mitt Romney is, first of all, a party of Archie Bunker (who, by the way, is dead).  With primaries controlled by the so-called Tea Party, the nomination process of the Republican Party forces potential candidates for office to take losing positions on too many issues.  Another fact is the Republican Party is a living example of political hypocrisy.  While claiming to be the party of less government, Republicans have enacted far more intrusive legislation.  While claiming to be for small government, under Republican administrations, government grew far than under Democratic administrations.  Their claim for fiscal conservatism and fiscal responsibility failed to live up to the reality that Republicans spent more and increased the deficit far more than Democratic led administrations.  One can also look at the issue of honesty and character and still not find WMDs in Iraq, evidence Jeep is moving to China, or that Obama eliminated the work requirement in welfare, to name but three of prominent Republican lies.  Romney’s comment about self-deportation was not the best way to secure a Latino following and vaginal probes failed to endear Republican candidates to women. The Ryan budget, condemned by many in the Catholic hierarchy was not the best way to attract voters from the poor.  Then there was the voter suppression activity that took place under the auspices of Republican governors and Republican legislatures guaranteed to alienate the African-American voter.  Then there is the matter of competence on the part of the campaign staff.  The Jeep incident, not withstanding, in that very same week Romney criticized Obama's stimulus program while standing in front of a company that actually benefited from that program. In that same week, when claiming he (Romney) would get tough on China he stood in front of a business that benefited from Obama's China policy. That along with other gaffs and misstatements were the result of a campaign staff that was totally outclassed by the opposition. About the only group Romney, Ryan, and other republicans failed to piss off was wealthy, white men and their wives.  Unfortunately, elections are no longer won by less than 10% of the voting public.  Even though Republicans were able to convince a large number of non-wealthy white men they represented their best interests it was only those non-wealthy white men who listened to Rush or Beck who bought their line of bullshit.  Republicans lost the election because today’s Republican party is the party of political dinosaurs and the appeal of their positions plays only to an extinct pool of voters.  The real question should not by why Romney/Ryan and other Republicans lost but how they managed to get as many votes as they actually received.  National Republicans should have one thing to feel good about and that is the reality that the Tennessee Democratic party screwed up to a far greater extent.