We are *expletive deleted*ed

[Hawkmoon]

No surprise.  Gop lost this one in tampa.

Nope. Obama was over the 270 before Florida was decided.

To be honest, I was truly expecting a landslide for Romney. I guess I'm more hopelessly naive than I ever knew, because I just didn't understand how many really hard-core stupid people there are in this country.

[charby]

>Only way to get somebody besides one of the two wings of the Modern American Political Machine is to VOTE for someone besides one of the two wings of the Modern American Political Machine. My ballot had half a dozen candidate pairs for President and Vice President, one of which was markedly better in terms of respecting liberty than any of the others. Getting them to 5% of the vote total would have added another party to guaranteed 50-state (maybe 51, now) ballot access and access to the election funds donated via tax return every year, rather than having to waste time, energy, and money fighting off spurious ballot-access lawsuits as they do now. Might even get them into the debates, as well, assisting in public awareness that Tweedledee and Tweedledum aren't the only two choices in the race.<

You know, I've been hearing that for years now. Don't think the few who would endorse Third Party candidates are enough, not with the current lock the big 2 have.

Of course, no incumbent next election cycle. Maybe it's time for the third parties to... subvert the process

For a third party to be viable they will need to appeal to a larger segment of the population and not come off as some half baked Kook.

[seeker_two]

For a third party to be viable they will need to appeal to a larger segment of the population and not come off as some half baked Kook.

.....and get a solid footing in the state governments. A Libertarian majority in any state would give the Fed a major headache.....and the other states a good example....

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

For a third party to be viable they will need to appeal to a larger segment of the population and not come off as some half baked Kook.

^^  yup  and working against that is the way the loons flock to third party candidates and the loons are so loud they become the public face

[zxcvbob]

Nope. Obama was over the 270 before Florida was decided.

Did you intentionally miss the point in order to make a joke?  They lost it at the convention, the actual election was just a formality.

[lupinus]

.....and get a solid footing in the state governments. A Libertarian majority in any state would give the Fed a major headache.....and the other states a good example....

And this is what would build a sizable base. Without that, you aren't getting anywhere.

But they don't. They field presidential candidates that haven't got a chance of winning and that most people have never heard of.

[Hawkmoon]

Did you intentionally miss the point in order to make a joke?  They lost it at the convention, the actual election was just a formality.

Oh.

No joke intended, I guess I didn't see the sarcasm icon.

Personally, I thought Romney was a good (not great) candidate, and I thought he had the best chance among the Republicans to beat Obama.

[makattak]

To be honest, I was truly expecting a landslide for Romney. I guess I'm more hopelessly naive than I ever knew, because I just didn't understand how many really hard-core stupid people there are in this country.

You weren't the only one.

[Sergeant Bob]

The pubs should already be thinking about a candidate for the next pres election. Someone like Marco Rubio or Bobby Jindal. Someone who would appeal the the younger generation. They really have to get away from appealing to mostly white males of the baby boomer generation.

[Bigjake]

The pubs should already be thinking about a candidate for the next pres election. Someone like Marco Rubio or Bobby Jindal. Someone who would appeal the the younger generation. They really have to get away from appealing to mostly white males of the baby boomer generation.

At LEAST a damn moderate.  Run a Romney again and I'll either vote Libertarian (again) or go out for chicken wings and say hell with it.

[MillCreek]

The pubs should already be thinking about a candidate for the next pres election. Someone like Marco Rubio or Bobby Jindal. Someone who would appeal the the younger generation. They really have to get away from appealing to mostly white males of the baby boomer generation.

I have read and heard several political analysis stories saying the same thing: the current base of the Republicans is older white males who live in suburban or rural communities, and that base is shrinking.  Appealing more to younger voters, women and minorities is identified as key to the Republicans getting a larger number of voters.  

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324073504578105334012558100.html?mod=WSJ_GoogleNews&mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1

[Ron]

Younger folks, a majority of single women and minorities aren't interested in liberty.

They want wealth and property "spread around" "fairly".

They want government to fill the void left by the lack of nuclear and extended family support structure.

Welcome to the postmodern paradise, it has only just begun.

[Perd Hapley]

The pubs should already be thinking about a candidate for the next pres election. Someone like Marco Rubio or Bobby Jindal. Someone who would appeal the the younger generation. They really have to get away from appealing to mostly white males of the baby boomer generation.

That's easy. Just change the platform to tax the rich, spend all we can, marry the gayeses and open the borders.


In reality, women, minorities and young people have opted for the backward, bloodthirsty, barbaric policies of Barack Obama. That is what they demand. The only ways to attract them are to change the party to reflect that, or reform their culture.

We've all heard the charge leveled at the Tea Party, that it's too many white people and not enough color. No one seems to realize that it's the "diverse" crowd that needs to explain why they won't show up (or not enough of them) to rally in support of liberty, reason, progress, etc.

[RocketMan]

Younger folks, a majority of single women and minorities aren't interested in liberty.

They want wealth and property "spread around" "fairly".

They want government to fill the void left by the lack of nuclear and extended family support structure.

Welcome to the postmodern paradise, it has only just begun.

You may be on to something there, Ron.

[De Selby]

Obama's policies are essentially George Bush's - if we didn't think the bush tax cuts (extended by Obama), the bush trillion dollar deficit (Bush's last budget, continued by Obama), the worldwide war on terror (continued by Obama), or the handouts to the health insurers (Bush prescription drug benefit, Obamacare following in its footsteps)....if none of that was going to destroy America, why are we panicking now?

Thinking that Obama hates America or is a bad guy doesn't change his policies.  I agree they're the wrong direction for the country, but I find it curious that anyone would be so upset at Romney losing when he gave every indication of simply continuing each major policy.  

[MicroBalrog]

The answer of course is that we must not merely VOTE for our party candidate, but become emotionally invested in his victory, no matter how ridiculous the candidate in question.

[Perd Hapley]

Obama's policies are essentially George Bush's - if we didn't think the bush tax cuts (extended by Obama), the bush trillion dollar deficit (Bush's last budget, continued by Obama), the worldwide war on terror (continued by Obama), or the handouts to the health insurers (Bush prescription drug benefit, Obamacare following in its footsteps)....if none of that was going to destroy America, why are we panicking now?

Thinking that Obama hates America or is a bad guy doesn't change his policies.  I agree they're the wrong direction for the country, but I find it curious that anyone would be so upset at Romney losing when he gave every indication of simply continuing each major policy. 

Not each major policy. Also, you will understand this better if you recall that conservatives and libertarians have been bemoaning Bush's policies since about 2001. Many of us worried that panic-worthy stuff would result. The worriers were correct.

Of course, since you'd prefer to remember history in the way that suits your apparent need to needle Americans...

[TommyGunn]

Obama's policies are essentially George Bush's - if we didn't think the bush tax cuts (extended by Obama), the bush trillion dollar deficit (Bush's last budget, continued by Obama), the worldwide war on terror (continued by Obama), or the handouts to the health insurers (Bush prescription drug benefit, Obamacare following in its footsteps)....if none of that was going to destroy America, why are we panicking now?

Thinking that Obama hates America or is a bad guy doesn't change his policies.  I agree they're the wrong direction for the country, but I find it curious that anyone would be so upset at Romney losing when he gave every indication of simply continuing each major policy.  

Romney campaigned on repealing Obamacare which (unlike "Romneycare") has 21 new taxes in it and is the largest tax hike on the middle class American in history.  That's hardly "continuing" Obama's policies.  He also understood that some deregulation of business was necessary, as well as opening up oil production and that pesky oil pipeline.
Really, painting Romney as a Neo Obama is just silly.

[TommyGunn]

As requested, or as finally enacted by Congress? Obama has requested a $901 billion budget this year.

Frankly, I don't care what Romney's character is. I'm sure he's a good family man - but I'm not marrying Romney.

Romney's ideology was non-existent - he was therefore unable to compete with Obama in a contest of ideas.

I'm not some advocate for perfection - throughout this process, ever since the primaries started, every time this was brought up on those boards, I listed many candidates I viewed as superior to Romney - and most of them were not some kind of conservative radical bomb-throwers.

Romney's ideology was not  non-existant, it was poorly explained.  But over-all Romney explained himself and his ideas well enough for those who pay attention to understand how he differed with Obama.
Too bad so many Americans don't pay attention and are totally clueless.

[MicroBalrog]

Romney was always known as a mushy North-Easterner.

Romney had supported an individual mandate in Massachusets - and the major beef most people have with Obamacare is the individual mandate.

It's Romney's advisors that called it an Etch-a-Sketch, not evil Democrats.

[TommyGunn]

Romney had supported an individual mandate in Massachusets - and the major beef most people have with Obamacare is the individual mandate.

So he DID have an ideology it was just the wrong one.  Romney stated his case on more than one occasion: Such a program might be acceptable on a state level but not on a federal level.  See the 10th amendment to the USC.

It's Romney's advisors that called it an Etch-a-Sketch, not evil Democrats.

And that's what I call "poorly explained."  Q.E.D.

[De Selby]

Romney was always known as a mushy North-Easterner.

Romney had supported an individual mandate in Massachusets - and the major beef most people have with Obamacare is the individual mandate.

It's Romney's advisors that called it an Etch-a-Sketch, not evil Democrats.

His political beliefs and policies curiously changed in sync with each electorate he faced - what're the odds that he developed new views on healthcare and abortion at precisely the same moment he faced primary election by people who would've taken issue with his old beliefs?

[Perd Hapley]

His political beliefs and policies curiously changed in sync with each electorate he faced - what're the odds that he developed new views on healthcare and abortion at precisely the same moment he faced primary election by people who would've taken issue with his old beliefs?

A common beef against Romney, and I don't take issue with it. But I'm curious what it has to do with this discussion.

[TommyGunn]

His political beliefs and policies curiously changed in sync with each electorate he faced - what're the odds that he developed new views on healthcare and abortion at precisely the same moment he faced primary election by people who would've taken issue with his old beliefs?

Like Obamanoid changing his position on homosexual marriage?
Or whether Qitmo should be closed?
Or Obamacare being a mandate or a tax?

It would be nice if we could be a country not ruled by politicians, but it's what we have.  I've seen what other countries have in the way of the profession and I am usually much less amused by them than by ours.  

[De Selby]

Tommy, EXACTLY - that was the point.  Just like Obama.