Father-in-law had the distinct impression that the young fellow had never heard Rush but liked what he was hearing. Point is, some people just need some exposure to alternative viewpoints delivered in a logical way.

I am seeing the same sort of thing at Tea Party events. It may be that firing up conservatives thru Tea Parties will be the start of a conversion of the middle.

This doesn’t mean ignoring the 40%, but they are not folks you can get with short-term tactics… this are folks you have to get through long-term branding and actually changing people’s core beliefs. This is where I compeletely agree; only institutional change in the schools and, to a lesser extent, the media will reach this segment.

I never even gave the HR (human resources) industry a thought on this issue. Is this an ideological hotbed?

Unfortunately, John McCain didn’t do that.

Unfortunately, John McCain became just a symbol of four more years of George W. Bush: which a clear majority of Americans (including a fair number of truly conservative Republicans) thought was repugnant. Even many who hated and voted against Barack Obama as a socialist still thought George W. Bush was still bad.

But unfortunately, John McCain came to represent the third term of George W. Bush. In no way was this more evident when McCain came out in support of TARP 1. That support was not only bad policy in my opinion, it was bad politics.

And ultimately, I believe that that — which was in support of George W. Bush — is what cost John McCain the election.

Check out Daily Kos’s immediate attacks on anyone who threatens to become a potential leader in the Republican party. Right now, they are talking about recruiting Crist to run against Rubio in the general because they are concerned about Rubio both in the FL-Sen race and as a national figure. When Jindal was being discussed as a VP candidate and when he gave the State of the Union response, they had four or five attack lines that were repeated ad nauseum every time his name was mentioned. In short, they think they lost 2004 because we defined Kerry before everyone got to know what a great leader he was (cough), so now they are employing the technique against anyone with a hint of a future in the GOP.

Thanks for the comment!

I think the Bush years teach us that if we simply abandon the media war, we might string together a couple of elections but, eventually, the media narrative will win out with the broader public. Remember, Reagan did not just go over the media’s head, he also had a team that fought hard to get the best sound bytes, positive images, and helpful narratives through the mainstream media. It will always be a tough slog, because the media is corrupt and ideologically opposed to our candidates. But it can be done – Bush’s 1988 campaign being the classic example, in my opinion.

Thanks for the comment!

If we had hit hard and early, these folks might have been primed to disbelieve the cool, confident, intelligent, and competent image the media was pushing, and instead been primed to believe the image of an out-of-touch radical.

I think the folks you are referring to are the 40%-45% of the population we would never get anyway. Granted, they were more enthusiastic than normal, due to the reasons you cite, but that by itself wasn’t enough to give him the election.

Thanks for your comment!

While some want to believe what you have said I’m probably in the camp of nobody could have beat Obama this time.

My reasons are based on history, very few parties retain the Presidency after 8 years, the unpopularity of President Bush, the unpopularity of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the implosion of the economy.

Throw in some Johnny Mac ran a terrible campaign, did not excite much of the base conservative vote, the negative trend away from R’s started in ’06 and finally the silent Obama race card, this past cycle was never going to be a R. year.

Looking ahead to the mid terms in 2010, I’m not seeing the message quite yet that counters “Hope and Change” coming from the R side of the ditch or where that message is going to come from. In some ways the Republican party is still trying to figure itself out post President Bush and that figuring out is a long way from being done.

You are underestimating the pig-headedness of those who were determined to elect a black man (or a man who appears to be black). Get into the field with the average Obama supporter and get a feel for the level of self-deception that they practice and you’ll want to write a brand new article about how wrong this one is.

Read “Reading the Tea Leaves” on this site by Chris Wilson

or “Remaking Republicans” also on this site.

Republicans were to busy running against Hillary before the primaries were even started…. and they never were able to pivot from that when Obama won. That plus the democratic primary being as long as it was and you had an image that had already mostly solidified with the American public.

Palin on the other hand was introduced late with no public image as far as the public was concerned. The democrats (and in reality mostly Tina Fey) were able to shape public opinion quicker than McCains handlers were.

That right there in a nutshell is why the Democrats won and Republicans lost.