U.S. 2012 Election

[tomahawk6]

We never recovered from the 2008 economic meltdown. IMO we are experiencing a double dip recession heading for a depression.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Technically the USA is in a long, albeit slow, recovery. IF the worst Fiscal Cliff fears come to pass then you will have a double dip recession.

I doubt (guess, to be honest) that a depression is in the cards, unless both China and Europe have more problems that most economists currently predict.


Edit: grammar - double negative (which I, foolishly, edited in)  :-[

 

[dapaterson]

 

[Edward Campbell]

Former White House speechwriter (and Canadian) David Frum is first out of the starting blocks with an Election 2012 Analysis Book:

He must have had this 99% written before the polls closed.

 

[PanaEng]

Former White House speechwriter (and Canadian) David Frum is first out of the starting blocks with an Election 2012 Analysis Book:

He must have had this 99% written before the polls closed.

He must have started writing it way back when he incurred the wrath of the Tea Party - I think he is surprised that the popular vote was this close.

 

[GAP]

Clinton to Step Down Probably 'Days' After Inauguration
Nov 8, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER
Article Link

Hillary Clinton still intends to step down as secretary of state. That will take place likely "days" after President Barack Obama's second inauguration in January.

"The Secretary has been honored to serve as President Obama's Secretary of State, and has loved every minute of leading this Department and being part of the State family," a Clintons spokesman says in an email. "But yes, you can confirm yet again that she's been clear about her intention to leave after the first term."

When asked for clarification on what date Clinton would stepdown, the spokesman, Philippe Reines, says, "She has said that she wants to ensure continuity, and realizes the confirmation of her successor might take a period of days beyond that."

Reines, a long time Clinton loyalist, did not immediately respond to a question concerning what role he might play in (a possible) Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.
end

 

[Journeyman]

Reines, a long time Clinton loyalist, did not immediately respond to a question concerning what role he might play in (a possible) Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.

So did he respond eventually? If so, what was his response?

 

[TheHead]

Probably one of the craziest responses to the re-election of President Obama.

http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2012/11/the-end-of-liberty-in-america-only.html

However, for me, I'm choosing another rather unique path; a personal boycott, if you will. Starting early this morning, I am going to un-friend every single individual on Facebook who voted for Obama, or I even suspect may have Democrat leanings. I will do the same in person. All family and friends, even close family and friends, who I know to be Democrats are hereby dead to me. I vow never to speak to them again for the rest of my life, or have any communications with them. They are in short, the enemies of liberty. They deserve nothing less than hatred and utter contempt.

I strongly urge all other libertarians to do the same. Are you married to someone who voted for Obama, have a girlfriend who voted 'O'. Divorce them. Break up with them without haste. Vow not to attend family functions, Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas for example, if there will be any family members in attendance who are Democrats.

Do you work for someone who voted for Obama? Quit your job. Co-workers who voted for Obama. Simply don't talk to them in the workplace, unless your boss instructs you too for work-related only purposes. Have clients who voted Democrat? Call them up this morning and tell them to take their business elsewhere.

Have a neighbor who votes for Obama? You could take a crap on their lawn. Then again, probably not a good idea since it would be technically illegal to do this. But you could have your dog take care of business. Not your fault if he just happens to choose that particular spot.

And start your boycott of your Democrat friends and family today. Like this morning. First thing you can do, very easy, is to un-friend all Democrats from your Facebook account.

Boycott Business who accept Welfare payments

Thirdly, I believe we all need to express disgust with Obama and Democrats in public places. To some extent I already do this. Example:

When I'm at the Wal-mart or grocery story I typically pay with my debit card. On the pad it comes up, "EBT, Debit, Credit, Cash." I make it a point to say loudly to the check-out clerk, "EBT, what is that for?" She inevitably says, "it's government assistance." I respond, "Oh, you mean welfare? Great. I work for a living. I'm paying for my food with my own hard-earned dollars. And other people get their food for free." And I look around with disgust, making sure others in line have heard me.

I am going to step this up. I am going to do far more of this in my life. It's going to be my personal crusade. I hope other libertarians and conservatives will eventually join me.

What I plan to do this week, is to get yard signs made up, at my own expense, that read, "EBT is for Welfare Moochers." I will put the signs out on public property off of the right-of-way so it's entirely legal, in front of every convenience store or grocery store that has a sign out saying "EBT Accepted Here." I may even do some sign waving in front of these stores, holding up my "EBT is for Welfare Moochers," sign, and waving to passers-by.

If I meet a Democrat in my life from here on out, I will shun them immediately. I will spit on the ground in front of them, being careful not to spit in their general direction so that they can't charge me with some stupid little nuisance law. Then I'll tell them in no un-certain terms: "I do not associate with Democrats. You all are communist pigs, and I have nothing but utter disgust for you. Sir/Madam, you are scum of the earth." Then I'll turn and walk the other way.

Buttons. Boy, you can have a lot of fun with this. I plan to make up a bunch of buttons, and wear them around town, sayings like "Democrats are Communist Pigs," or "Welfare moochers steal from hard-working Americans," "Only Nazis support Seat Belt laws" or "No Smoking Ban: Nanny-Staters go frig Yourselves."

There are so many other nasty little things I plan to do against the communists and those who support them. Perhaps I'll keep Jim informed and he can report on my activities here at LR.

For now, off to my first assignment: Telling all my friends and family who voted for Obama to "frig off, don't ever speak to me again you slimeball mother ****ers." Wish me luck!

Edited for typo.

 

[OldSolduer]

Heads have started to roll.

 

[Jed]

'The South shall rise again' Except it ain't the Civil War and it ain't just the south.

 

[Brad Sallows]

>Starting early this morning, I am going to un-friend...

The more I read further down, the more difficult I found it to imagine how he came by friends in the first place.

 

[JorgSlice]

>Starting early this morning, I am going to un-friend...

The more I read further down, the more difficult I found it to imagine how he came by friends in the first place.

Yup...

Also sounds like someone who can't keep gainful employment either... or they do, but screw their employer by "...telling clients to take their business elsewhere..."

I understand if you work for one company, but know that another provides better services... you're supposed to suck it up and lie because it's a paycheque. Geez Louise... kids these days...

 

[Kat Stevens]

Sounds more to me like someone trying to mock the more extreme reactions to the election results, but I'm probably waaay off.

 

[Remius]

Sounds more to me like someone trying to mock the more extreme reactions to the election results, but I'm probably waaay off.

I thought so too. But we are both waaay off.  just go look at the forum/blog he runs or rather used to run.

Heck, Donald Trump sounds like a big joke too.  But he isn't joking.

 

[Kat Stevens]

Mea culpa, and may I say, as a lower case "c" conservative;  Holy flying loony moonbats, Batman.

 

[a_majoor]

As a response to the Culture Wars, the post is probably not intended as a joke, but it is certainly far too crude a method to be more than marginally successful.

OTOH he does have the essence of this correct; since Progressives are in the business of offering and taking "Free Stuff" the best way to fight them is to simply not offer to pay the bill for "Free Stuff" anymore. People talk of this as "going Galt" after the lead character of the Ayn Rand novel "Atlas Shrugged", and rearranging your affairs to minimize your tax exposure, reducing your paid/billable hours or refusing new projects and extra work that might place you in a higher tax bracket are all forms of "going Galt". Not buying newspapers or watching Legacy media hurts their bottom line, and we know that the Legacy media has been bleeding for years. Personal boycots of business that support Democrats or Progressives don't have to be loudly announced, and lots of personal relationships will probably cool or end over political differences, although from experience the trend is to reduce and eventually stop associating with the loud mouth "progressive".

The results can actually be quite impressive. Reducing your expenditures by $1-200/month puts a bit of savings in your pocket, deprives the government of tax revenues and makes it harder for Progressives to offer or provide "Free Stuff", especially if the process is expanded over thousands or milions of people.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Former White House speechwriter (and Canadian) David Frum is first out of the starting blocks with an Election 2012 Analysis Book:

He must have had this 99% written before the polls closed.

And here, reproduced under the fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the National Post and featuring extracts from his insta-book, are David Frums thoughts on how the GOP managed to seize defeat from the jaws of victory:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/11/10/david-frum-republican-victory-in-six-easy-steps/

Republican victory in six easy steps

David Frum

Nov 10, 2012

It’s time for the Canadian government to consider a new form of foreign aid: Assign Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to teach the U.S. Republican Party how to do conservative politics in a diverse country.

He might not be available, of course. Between tea with the Coptic pope, lunch with the Ismaili-Canadian chamber of commerce, giving away the bride at a Korean-language wedding reception, the ceremony for Sikh-Canadian military veterans, the speech for Jamaican independence day, his interview with Bengali-language TV and his regular online chat with the Dalai Lama, all on top of his normal parliamentary and cabinet duties, there is not a lot of slack in Jason Kenney’s day.

As a poor substitute, I’ll try instead to synthesize some lessons from my new e-book, Why Romney Lost (And What the GOP Can Do About It), released Friday by Newsweek/Daily Beast.

Show up

When smart analysts like Karl Rove and Michael Barone fail to foresee a massive electoral defeat like Tuesday’s, something has gone very seriously wrong with the Republicans’ ability to read a voter map. Conservatives are losing their knowledge of the country they want to read. Romney lost Florida unexpectedly because — as one Romney insider said — they were taken by surprise by voters “they didn’t even know were there.” You hear a lot of worry about the Republicans’ poor performance with Latino voters. Asian-Americans as a group are much more affluent than Latinos and more likely to own their own businesses, and Romney lost them by an even bigger margin.

You want votes? Begin by going where the voters are. Show up, shake hands, learn the names.

Demonstrate respect

After Tuesday’s vote, I tweeted: “First step to Republican recovery: insult fewer people.” I was joking, but unfortunately, not only joking. Sandra Fluke, the 47%, Kenyan anti-colonialism, “legitimate rape,” birth certificates … you felt the need to bathe after it all.

Here’s a classic piece of instruction from Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s campaign manager, James Farley, had publicly referred to Roosevelt’s opponent, Alf Landon of Kansas, as “governor of a typical Midwestern state.” FDR fired off a memo to Farley: “If the sentence had read ‘one of those splendid prairie states,’ no one could have picked us up on it, but the word ‘typical’ coming from any New Yorker is meat for the opposition.”

Listen

How often have I heard conservatives say something like this: “What we need to do is reach out to these new constituencies and explain our principles to them.” No. What Republicans need to do is talk less and listen more. Instead of lecturing people about one’s principles, hear them describe their concerns, their values, their aspirations.

Who knows? The listening process may yield information, even change minds.

Hire

In the end, any outsider can only enter so far into the feeling and thinking of a community. If a political party wants to venture deeper, it must find pathfinders who can lead it all the way home. Sometimes a language gap must be traversed. Sometimes cultural mistrust must be overcome. Oftentimes only insiders can appreciate the subtle gradations of a community’s priorities. (The polls suggest, for example, that while Hispanic Americans regard immigration as a threshold issue of respect, it’s job and health care that most sway their votes. But you don’t want to hear that from me, you want to hear that from somebody who knows from the inside out.)

Reach

whom you can Remember the old joke about the two campers and the hungry bear? Punchline: “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I have to outrun you.” No political party need achieve a plurality of the vote in every demographic category. It need only achieve enough. It’s understandable that a majority of African-Americans vote Democratic. But 90+%? What about black military veterans, why can’t Republicans reach them? Latino small-business owners? Korean-Americans who attend church weekly? Don’t try to win them all. Just win enough.

Deliver

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s defeat, some American conservative commentators have denounced American voters — and especially ethnic-minority voters — as rapacious “children” (Rush Limbaugh’s word) who want government to deliver them free stuff at other people’s expense. But in fact, voters — including minority voters — are pretty reasonable people with moderate, reasonable wants: employment, economic growth, education for their children, some basic minimum of security in hard times. Deliver them that, and they’ll remember for a generation. Fail them, and they’ll remember that too. Insult them, and they’ll never forgive you — no matter what their ethnicity or identity.

National Post

The ethnic vote numbers are pretty astounding ~ memo to GOP: there are not enough, angry, white, poorly educated, Christian men in America.

 

[Brad Sallows]

What are the grounds for assuming it is the GOP's failure to reach out instead of the Democrat's successful smear campaign?

 

[Edward Campbell]

I don't think the Democrats' smearing was in any way more widespread or "nastier" than the GOP's - it may have been better focused but that's the fault of the GOP, in my view.

My perception is that, in smearing, "money talks" and since the GOP had at least as much as the Democrats they should have had at least equal results. That they did not suggests, to me anyway, that they were/are politically "tone deaf."

 

[Edward Campbell]

The Associated Press, via the Twitterverse says: "AP RACE CALL: Obama wins Florida, topping Romney in final electoral vote tally 332 to 206.