129 Comments

1. Annoy Mouse:

“They tend to be fiscally conservative and strong on security.”

I re-registered as an independent a few years ago. Fiscal conservative, socially liberal… to a degree.

What happened to me was a trillion dollar drug prescription program, no child left behind, nation building, rotting of infrastructure, and a 40% growth of government.

Compassionate conservatism is neither.

Nov 4, 2008 - 8:51 pm 2. Annoy Mouse:

As Reagan once said about the Democratic party. I didn’t leave the Democratic party. The Democratic party left me.

Democratic party = Republican

+ McCain has no passion for partisan politics.

A perfect storm.

Nov 4, 2008 - 8:54 pm 3. Asher Abrams:

The death of party politics won’t be a bad thing for America.

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:01 pm 4. Thrasymachus:

As recently as 20 years ago somebody like Tom Delay would have been a Democrat- a conservative Southern Democrat but a Democrat nonetheless. The only thing these people like about the Republicans is the social issues. In terms of the shameless graft, Democrats all the way. Even stranger is Mike Huckabee- friend of rapists and murderers, he could be a liberal Democrat except for the abortion thing.

George W. Bush is a liberal Republican who somehow morphed into a moderate Democrat. And he’s a weak, foolish man who let State and CIA gut his foreign policy like a fish. There is really no reason to vote Republican, except that the Democratic Party has been taken over by the far left.

McCain would have been bad. Obama will be incalculably worse.

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:08 pm 5. James Kielland:

The way I see it, the talk of the return of the Fairness Doctrine is an effort to frustrate the development of a third party.

The standard democrat line on Fairness Doctrine is that it’s important to present “both sides of the issues.” That’s an astonishingly loaded statement. It’s based on the assumption of just what are the issues and the fact that there can only be two sides to them. It’s a doctrine for increased polarization, a doctrine for squelching the discussion of ideas or possibilities that the two parties are not interested in, a doctrine for complete intellectual constraint.

It’s funny how left wing types repeatedly ridiculed Bush’s simplistic “you’re with us or you’re with the terrorists.” Funny in that it perfectly describes the way the left seems to operate: if you don’t agree with them you’re coming from “the other side of the spectrum” and they immediately jump to all sorts of conclusions about your beliefs and have no interest in discussing things further. All attempts to discuss a point with them usually lead to them debating a bizarre caricature of what they only imagine you believe, because if you’re not with them you must be completely against them.

I welcome a third party. The republican party clearly has some serious problems. Tonight’s election was nothing but a choice between Bad and Worse. I’m sure other people feel the same. And expect efforts will be made to lock the two party system into place. That’s what I fear is the purpose of the fairness doctrine.

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:17 pm 6. Dave:

James Kielland #5: I have tried the 3rd Party Route. Don’t think too much of it.

Remember where there is man born of woman there have always been two parties and there always will be. They are the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. How do you tell them apart?

Well, the Stupid Party always says the Evil Party is misguided and the Evil Party always says the Stupid Party is evil.

Now if you want a different registered political party than the Ds and Rs, do not think in terms of a “third: party. Think in terms of a replacement party. One that starts off super well funded in all 50 states
plus a couple of commonwealths and territories
as well as at the national level. This new party pays organizers and then raids the party to be replaced for prominent personnel. Its goal is to destroy an existing party and take on the remaining major party at some future date.

In our case, that means letting the Evil Party rule uncontested for a decade or more.
Maybe that is the right way to go, but I do not think so.

I believe that the better course of action is to find out who the GOP problem children are and then field candidates against them in the GOP primaries. Such pressure may well have but limited electoral success but the pressure it puts on undesirable incumbents
will bend them our way.

For the moment, it is wait and see time.

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:36 pm 7. Charles:

10-20 million illegals legalized means the dems have a 2-3 decade lock on power. That means the Row V wade stays on. The culture wars are resolved in favor of the dems. Christians have been driven from the public square in the last 20 years. the retreat will continue. the influx of moslems will accelerate. the akaka bill will pass –giving native hawaiians the right to expropriate assets all over hawaii. This will eventually lead to the crack up of the union. obama will support all manner of reparations with calling it as such.

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:46 pm 8. ElMondo:

I considered voting for 3rd parties too… until I read some of their platforms (*shudder*).

Too many Libertarians – the only 3rd party I could remotely feel comfortable in – had the dumbest ideas on national security and the current financial crisis that there was no way I could vote for them. Other alternative parties are just crocks. Look at Green; they had Cynthia McKinney running. The only people excited about her candidacy were the 9/11 conspiracy peddlers, and that was driven by wishful thinking about one, single thing she said.

I’d like to see some viable alternate parties myself, but they just don’t exist at this time.

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:55 pm 9. Robert Mayer:

I wonder if lower party affiliation might be partly explained by lower union membership since the 1950s? Just a random thought I had, but it obviously doesn’t explain it all.

Nov 4, 2008 - 9:57 pm 10. Dave:

ElMondo: My learning experience was with the Libertarian Party. I walked away from them when it dawned on me that they were deathly allergic to any and all corrective actions that might work.

It was round about that same time that Murray Rothbard took a hike as well.

Primaries are the way to go, I think.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:08 pm 11. Herb:

“This suggests that the Republican Party’s low fortunes spring in part from becoming a non-ideological clone of Democratic Party…”

Well, isn’t it obvious? George Wallace called them tweedle dum and tweedle dee. At least that part he got right. Reagan was an ideologue. He followed ideas. Most of us simple folk in flyover country do too. Sending money is easy to brag over. It isnt leadership. Congress is a body requiring leadership.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:24 pm 12. Herb:

“This suggests that the Republican Party’s low fortunes spring in part from becoming a non-ideological clone of Democratic Party…”

Well, isn’t it obvious? George Wallace called them tweedle dum and tweedle dee. At least that part he got right. Reagan was an ideologue. He followed ideas. Most of us simple folk in flyover country do too. Sending money is easy to brag over. It isnt leadership. Congress is a body requiring leadership.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:25 pm 13. Alexis:

As much as I strongly disagree with George W. Bush on many of his policies, he is a well-meaning man who occasionally made good decisions. When has Mr. Obama EVER had anything good to say about George W. Bush? Given how Mr. Obama has ridden a wave of vilification against “the past eight years of George W. Bush”, there is no good reason for Mr. Obama to expect to be treated any better by his opponents than the example he has shown by how he has treated his opponents.

The whole notion of “Americans coming together to solve common problems” is flatly ridiculous in the present political context. I’m not coming together with the Weather Underground on anything and that’s that. One can accept the existence of a situation without accepting that it has moral legitimacy; an Obama presidency is one to be endured, not celebrated.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:33 pm 14. whiskey:

No, Obama won because he was Black. That’s it. It’s all he ran on. Being Black. It’s a strength. And like all strengths, a weakness too.

The popular vote was 51-49. The problem is that Reps are scared of being populist. A real, populist party that the Republicans are likely to transform to, will be different.

It will argue: Whites, you won’t GET ANYTHING out of the Welfare State, that is for Blacks and Hispanics only. You will be pushed to the back of the line. You are a second class citizen in your own country. White Men: Obama hates you, he is a “Race Man” who hates Whites (this has the virtue of like the others, being actually true and easily proven).

This is the proven way to win — to exploit the internal contradictions of the Democrats the way Lee Atwater and Jessie Helms did. By pointing out ala Rudy after Dinkins, that if you elect a Dem, particularly a Black Dem, they put the “race Man” politics over the safety and security of the White majority (Crown Heights Riots, where Dinkins let Blacks kill and burn with impunity).

The other way forward, is by labeling Dems and Obama as traitors, by reliance on easily proven foreign money. Show that both took lots of cash from Hamas, Hezbollah, Saudis, etc. Show people that the Dems took the Muslim money and follow Muslim orders: on security, on Gitmo, on terrorists, and more.

To win, a real Republican Party needs to focus populist anger and take great chisels to the Dem coalition and whack off great parts of it. You can’t be the party of Black Nationalism and resentment and be the party also of the White Majority. You can’t be for the average working guy and for mass immigration that turns him into a despised and discriminated person in his own nation. You can’t be the party of “we crave the world’s approval” and be the party of Patriotism.

No, we need the end of RINOs, end of GWB, the end of anything other than hard-nosed, brutal, populist politics. Defining the opposition as the enemy of the majority, and hammering that home.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:37 pm 15. Eggplant:

Alexis said:

“The whole notion of “Americans coming together to solve common problems” is flatly ridiculous in the present political context. I’m not coming together with the Weather Underground on anything and that’s that. One can accept the existence of a situation without accepting that it has moral legitimacy; an Obama presidency is one to be endured, not celebrated.”

I have to agree. The nation has been badly served by its MSM. People like Obama are terrifying. I am deeply worried.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:44 pm 16. Wadeusaf:

Notions of “I”, personal space and ownership of intellectual as well as real property are one way of defining a generational split. The Greatest Generation that shaped by the depression and hardened in the grist of a world war, are all but gone, their version of the American dream passed on to the “boomers” who are now followed by this new generation, struggling to make sense of more people, less space and an increasingly “we” sense of the world that abrogates personal responsibility, promotes cultural difference and celebrates individual submission to the larger mob.

Things will be different, that much, at least, is certain.

Nov 4, 2008 - 10:44 pm 17. JMH:

A polisci prof at UCSD has an animated gif showing the composition of congress from 1982 forward. He plots every member on a two-axis graph, with Dems as red Ds and Republicans as blue Rs (obviously he’s not in step with current color trends). In 1982, there was a clear boundary line between Ds and Rs, but there was no gap – both sides ran right up to the boundary, and there was a fairly even distribution from the far left to the far right.

As the gif animated, it showed the two parties drawing away from each other, a huge void opening in the center with each party congregating on what, in 1982, had been the fringe.

I wish I could find the link, it’s a fairly dramatic visual.

Anyway, I suspect if you plotted Americans on the same axis, you would see roughly the 1982 even distribution, and that it wouldn’t change very much over the years. Overlaid on the congressional plot, you would see probalby half the electorate hanging in the middle unsupported.

It’s not that voters are becoming Independant, it’s that both parties are becoming fringe parties.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:04 pm 18. Semi Cartman:

Maybe,just maybe the next few years will be just the challenge necessary to get people thinking outside their perimeter of comfort. A Party isn’t really much more than an association of people and organizations whose interests intersect more often than not. At least in the good old all American model. In ‘94 the republicans coalesced around a set of principles, and with Gingrich’s leadership, kicked some ass. For a brief period there was an effective party, with some level of cohesiveness, and even the hope of a libertarian flavor to their ‘domestic policy’. Then it factionalized and fell apart. A lot went wrong. a LOT. But it isn’t necessarily permanent. I think that there isn’t really room for more than two parties , given our system of government. The coalition necessary to stop the trend toward collectivism has to start at the grass roots level and work up to a single large hammer. As long as we’re still a reasonably free country, It’s doable.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:09 pm 19. elby:

The republican brand is low taxes. The average voter wants his taxes lowered, and also wants whatever government program he sucks on to be enlarged. The farmers, who we would like to think of as a self sufficient lot, are hardly that. They vote for whoever will give them the biggest farm subsidies. Peggy the Moocher thinks that Obama will fill her tank with gas and pay her mortgage. She probably also wants her taxes lowered. University professors want their grants increased, homeowners want their mortgages lowered, and the old people won’t even let you talk about changing social security! And they all want their taxes lowered.

See where this is going? The “independent” voter can be counted on simply to vote for whoever he thinks will help him financially. During good economic times, that translates into support for the tax cutting party. During bad times that translates into the party of giveaways.

What people don’t realize is that this can’t keep going on forever. At some point the debt will come due. I suppose most people think they won’t be around when that happens.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:28 pm 20. wretchard:

I think there’s a way forward without being partisan or gloating. It’s called doing the right thing. This means being willing to engage in principled debate just as ever. But now it’s necessary to go the extra mile in three areas.

1. Education. It’s necessary to revive the off-campus teach in, clubs with Internet favorites. The emphasis should not be didacticism, but information. Encourage debate. Don’t be afraid to agree with liberals when they are right. But understand there are plenty of cases where conservatives are right. Therefore fear no darkness and enter the educational melee.

2. Culture. Write plays, poems, anything. Produce videos. Again, the emphasis should not be didactic but informative. For example, do a documentary on DDT. Interview people on Global Warming. Draw comics. The truth shall not only set you free. It should make you laugh, or cry or be exalted.

3. Media. Be a reporter for the Belmont Club (or someone else you favor). Sorry I can’t pay a salary or always guarantee I’ve got the time to do justice to what you have. Maybe I’ll find a way of farming out stuff so it appears on other blogs.

Why not?

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:28 pm 21. Leo Linbeck III:

Congratulations to President-Elect Obama. I pray that he will be a good President. I fear he will be a disastrous one. I hope my prayers overcome my fears.

To the victors go the spoils. But it is the scale of the spoils – control of the richest, most powerful government in the history of mankind – that is the problem. It is simply too tempting an end for those who would use any means necessary. Obama won, but had any of the other Democrat candidates stood in his stead, the results would be the same, to the first order of approximation. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich (shudder) – any of these people would have been as troubling as Barack Obama, albeit in different ways.

And – sad to say – it is not clear that John McCain or any of the other Republican candidates would be in a position to achieve substantially better outcomes. The Congress would still be overwhelmingly Democratic, so the chances of really changing the system would still be slim.

It is not the person that matters in situations such as this; the system is broken, and it is the system that must be fixed. If the past 20 years have shown anything, they have shown that replacing one group of politicians with another will not result in a change in the trajectory of American history. The accumulation of power in Washington is self-corrupting and, therefore, self-perpetuating. It matters not whether the pork is distributed to Rs or Ds. The pigs are the problem, and we must “kill the pigs.” (© William Ayers, 1968. Used without permission, and in a completely different way.)

The problem, then, that faces us is how to organize an effort that changes the rules of the game, not the players. This is a non-trivial problem, as the Leviathan will defend itself to the death. But solutions exist – the Internet will certainly play a key role – and will be deployed in the fullness of time to this problem.

Obama appealed to the noble intentions of Americans – especially young Americans – to bring about Real Change™. Disillusionment is inevitable, however, as he will now preside over a system which is hopelessly corrupt. His experience, his training, and perhaps his instincts will lead him to use that corruption toward ends that are yet to be defined, but soon will be. He will seek to harness the power of the Leviathan for his own purposes, but he will soon discover that the Leviathan has a mind of its own, and will not be ruled by any man who does not feed the beast. It will likely end up devouring him.

The pattern is well-known: triumph, initiative, over-reach, disillusionment, defeat. When Clinton over-reached, Gingrich responded with the Contract With America. The defeat that followed brought a new generation of reformers into power, and they pushed to roll-back liberal “reforms” and replace them with conservative ones.

But that effort was ultimately a failure because it was an internal effort, aimed at changing the representatives in the system, not the system of representation. The people who signed onto this program did so to get elected to office, and once there were corrupted by the very power they were sent to curtail. We thought we hired Frodo, but we ended up with Boromir.

The strategy must be different this time. It must be driven from the outside, by people who seek to change Washington but willingly agree to forgo ever participating in it. This is a tall order, but many such individuals exist. I know this is so because I have met such people. They are rare, but in a nation of 300 million, they exist in sufficient quantity to bring about this change.

We need “An Army of Frodos” who act globally but live locally. Right now, they may be running a business, raising a family, serving their community, or praying in their church. They are people who get things done. And, thanks to providence, when the time is right, they will arise.

In the mean time, let us celebrate the peaceful succession of power in this greatest country on Earth. Let us celebrate the success of a people who are a beacon to the rest of the world. And let us prepare ourselves for the great work of our generation, the work of restoring the balance of power that will assure the survival of the American Experiment into the next century, and beyond.

God bless the United States of America.

L3

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:37 pm 22. whiskey:

Wretchard, I profoundly disagree.

At it’s heart, this is a deeply divided nation, and one that will see (a narrow, 51-49 victory) enact sweeping changes by a smug, self-satisfied elite over the populace.

For example, as Obama promised, skyrocketing electricity bills. Now, the smart thing is to be hyperpartisan. As the bills go up, as they must, to meet the Cap and Trade, run ads after ads after ads with Obama’s voice and face saying he will make bills skyrocket.

There is no middle. There is no muddle. One side must completely destroy the other. That’s the nature of the struggle. The elites hate/loathe/fear the populace (I know this, I work among them and pretend to be one of them) because they feel threatened and hate rivals from below. How can you be special, and attract that someone, in the mating dance that never ends, the endless audition that characterizes modern, single, dating life for a good 15-20 years, when there is someone just like you waiting to take your place as a “cool hip knowledge worker?”

The only way is to turn the entire nation into cool hip twenty somethings with Ipods and Iphones, and toiling and impoverished Central Americans and Mexicans.

This is at the heart of the conflict between the masses and the elites. For their part, the masses just want to move up into the elites. And you can’t be elite, by definition, if everyone is elite.

So no, the way forward is not to write plays (which will never be published or performed), or poems or comic books, since Hard Left lunacy dominates all the creative endeavors and orthodoxy is rigidly enforced to produce the hip herd consensus to achieve maximum mating/status points. Nor is it to teach and offer off-campus seminars — no one will come and no one is interested.

The way is what was shown by a fat old retired man who everyone wrote off as a crank, and a lunatic. The incomparable, improbably heroic, Howard Jarvis! A man who knew what he wanted to stop — taxing people out of their homes, and got it stopped. When everyone said he could not.

Jarvis was not nice. He did not play the middle. He did not write and perform plays, or educate, or play by any of the sneering, elite media and government and academia and entertainment rules. He bulldozed them by breaking all of them. The more they sneered at him for being old and uncool, the more he worked hard to get more seniors on his side. The more he was told he could do nothing, the more he organized his Taxpayers Association to stop taxes, and defeat pols in his way.

Elby — the way to defeat that mentality is to show that the average White voter will get nothing, in bad times, because a tidal wave of immigrants, all non-White, will overwhelm the system and he will be both a discriminated against minority in his own country, not even speaking the language, and far behind instant Affirmative Action people who the second they step into the nation, are eligible for preferential treatment before HIM.

In bad times, if you can convince most people they will get nothing, it will go to privileged minorities, well it’s political defeat for the Welfare State. It’s why FDR deported anyone who could be labeled Mexican, and citizenship was required for New Deal programs. Why the AFL and FDR kept Blacks out of the New Deal and labor unions. The only jobs for Blacks on the Railroads was the Porters Union. That was it. Ugly, but winning politics.

Welfare States are like giant patronage outfits. Convince a group they won’t get anything and they’ll turn over the whole thing. That’s the weakness of the cut. Everyone always figures someone will get screwed over, and they’re usually right.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:48 pm 23. naman:

A sincere, if not entirely enthusiastic, congratulations to President-Elect Obama. Now he gets to find out that winning an election and successfully running a country are two entirely different things altogether.

Nov 4, 2008 - 11:58 pm 24. James Kielland:

“Obama won because he was Black. That’s it. It’s all he ran on. Being Black. It’s a strength. And like all strengths, a weakness too.”

Then why isn’t Thomas Sowell our president? Or Walter Williams?

I’ll admit that I think the race issue brought some additional attention to Obama. But I think you’re selling him way short, and quite possibly not understanding just how absurd the republican party has become.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:02 am 25. James Kielland:

There are certainly plenty of people who seem to be expressing a lot of worry and concern. I’d encourage these people to relax a little bit. The American political system is remarkably robust and tends to be self-correcting. Secondly, the office of the presidency is probably not quite as important and many people suspect it to be.

Obama’s win was hardly a landslide. Big, but not big enough to have any sort of a mandate. The country is divided but I’m not sure how deep that division is in the middle.

The Dems poured a lot of energy into this race and the republicans have absolutely no ability whatsoever to articulate why they should be in power. As the race wore on, I became convinced that McCain really had very little idea as to what he would do with the presidency. I was listening hard for some good proposals. Still waiting for them.

When we look at how goofy the McCain campaign became in the final weeks, it’s really not surprising just a few percent of people in the middle decided to go with Obama. Those very same people will undoubtedly switch back over to the right if things get out of hand in the coming 2 years.

Obama’s in a tight position. Yes, he’s got Congress. Yes, he’s got the White House. But he fired up people with a lot of expectations devoid of specifics precisely so many people could imagine that the change THEY WANTED was what he was talking about. Now it’s time to act. And he will either bring forth highly divisive plans or disappoint his core constituency. There’s a delicate balance here. When confronted with the real world and real limitations, things won’t be so easy for him.

The republicans have a lot more freedom at the moment. It’s time for them to huddle and try to write at least a 3 paragraph sentence that describes what they are about. Something good that they can agree on. I’m not particularly optimistic about their ability to take on such a task, but one never knows.

Otherwise, I still believe the American system is robust and tends towards self-correction. Obama will undoubtedly be formidable in pushing and selling his message, at playing the political game. But he’s now entering a much more challenging game with much higher levels of scrutiny.

The republicans should have it easy now. Well, if they can begin the monumental task of figuring out just what it is they are for.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:16 am 26. whiskey:

James — what else did Obama run on? What did his supporters say?

I mean — really. What else did he have to offer? What signature program, promise, or anything else did he have? Did he say he’d end poverty, like LBJ? Put America back to work with public works like FDR? End the Missile Gap like JFK?

He ran on being the Black Guy, and the gotta-have-it fad of the moment. The electoral equivalent of the Iphone. Call him the Obama-phone. He’s Black and that’s all he ran on. God knows he reminds people at EVERY turn, and then calls anyone racist who criticizes him. [Warning! This is the Obama-Corps! This post is RACIST! Whiskey -- report to Bill Ayer's "detention center" immediately for a shower! The rest of you, don't read this. We have plans.]

Also note, Conservative = “not Black.” Sowell and Williams and Justice Thomas are considered “not Black.” Given that they are conservative.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:17 am 27. Eggplant:

Leo Linbeck III said:

“We need “An Army of Frodos” who act globally but live locally.”

I think the Nazgûl have successfully taken the One Ring from Frodo and handed it back to Sauron. The Dark Lord fully revived has reassumed his prefered form as Annatar, “Lord of Gifts”.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:26 am 28. Ben Franklin:

The biggest problem we face is that it actually matters who we elect. If the government was confined to the legitimate functions as set out by the founders then there would be much less reason to worry about who is in charge. It simply wouldn’t matter as much.

People have found out that they can vote themselves goodies at the expense of their neighbors. There is no way such a thing can end well. Polarization is the only outcome of such a system. Bribery and graft and pork will be the order of the day because that is how votes are bought.

I have said before that the main challenge every society faces is what to do with its ignorant and its indolent. We have been bribing ours with government handouts. But once you start down that path the bribes get bigger and bigger until they become unbearable and then there is violence of one sort or another. We are already to the point that we are giving “tax cuts” to people paying no taxes. We should call these what they are… bribes.

About the only constructive thing I have to say is this… invade the opposition web sites. Libertarians and conservatives have been slow to answer the calumnies of the left and have not engaged them on their own turf. There was a time when anyone with the associations of an Obama, who muttered the inanities that he does, would never have been thought to be fit to hold office of any sort. The progressives have insulated themselves enough that they have lost touch with reality. Reality must be brought to them. They may not listen at first but as the dems start implementing their plans the results will be hard to ignore.

The other area we might focus on is cutting off the funding of the opposition. A good start has been made in bankrupting the newspapers and the network news operations. Something must also be done about academia. There is no reason in hell that Ayers and his ilk should be drawing air let alone drawing a salary. I am not sure how to go about this but perhaps we could push to have liberal arts requirements removed from most courses of study. It really avails an engineer nothing to have to listen to a Marxist prattle on about economics. You might as well have a numerologist teaching calculus or an astrologer teaching astrophysics. If you are hiring let the university know that such courses as the various flavors of grievance studies or anything to do with journalism will be held against applicants. Another possible way to do this would be to give money with stipulations that limit its uses to practical fields of study. Be creative.

We should also consider pushing to have universities and their endowments taxed at the corporate rate. This has the virtue of using the opponents momentum against them in that they will be looking for ever more revenue and will eventually have to start eating their own. We should encourage every regulatory impulse that focuses on our enemies.

Finally, it may be necessary to engage in civil disobedience. Just because a fairness doctrine is passed doesn’t mean it has to be followed. Regardless of what the courts say it would be an unlawful intrusion on our free speech rights and should be ignored so that the government is forced into shutting down the opposition outlets by force. The same goes for any involuntary servitude program forced upon our children. Do not allow your child to participate. 51% of the people cannot enslave 49% of the people without their acquiescence. Don’t give it.

The Republic is in greater danger than it has faced at any time since the Civil War. This is not the time to be squeamish or to hold back. It is the time to fight!

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:06 am 29. gumshoe:

“The coalition necessary to stop the trend toward collectivism has to start at the grass roots level and work up to a single large hammer. As long as we’re still a reasonably free country, It’s doable.

Semi-Cartman
Nov 4, 2008 – 11:09 pm”

but what’s *driving* the appetite for “collectivism”?

Lenin’s dead. So is Marx. And Che.

But we got’s Chavez.
And Billy Ayers.
Putin?
And our new prez.

Wade did a pretty good nutshell explanation here:

“16. Wadeusaf:
Notions of “I”, personal space and ownership of intellectual as well as real property are one way of defining a generational split. The Greatest Generation that shaped by the depression and hardened in the grist of a world war, are all but gone, their version of the American dream passed on to the “boomers” who are now followed by this new generation, struggling to make sense of more people, less space and an increasingly “we” sense of the world that abrogates personal responsibility, promotes cultural difference and celebrates individual submission to the larger mob.

Things will be different, that much, at least, is certain.

Nov 4, 2008 – 10:44 pm”

maybe Wretchard can pitch in here.
having one’s brain cells (hive mind) wired into everyone-else’s *has* to be pushing this trend too.

“it’s too tough”
“it’s changing too fast…fuck it.”
“i can’t cope”.
“make it stop
(or go faster…it’s going to anyway)”.

and, as far as I’m aware,
the singularity hasn’t even arrived yet.

present messiahs aside.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:09 am 30. whiskey:

Ben Franklin — along those lines Ace has helped start a “vet the media” campaign and website to do to the Media what they did to Joe the Plumber.

Expose every dirty little secret, shameful past, tawdry relationship, disgraceful behavior, and put up on the web for all to see and gloat over. Destruction matching destruction.

When the Germans hit London in the Blitz, the British did not answer with ever greater measures of politeness. No. They produced Arthur “Bomber” Harris, and practiced their own version of night bombing and firestorms. They did it better.

It is time for the Media and the Entertainment people and the rest to be on the same plane as Joe the Plumber. To suffer the same consequences. Total exposure of their lives, every bit that they would like hidden, out in public for people to paw over and laugh at and snicker and ridicule.

I’m sure things will go even further. TMZ has a nasty reputation for sticking cameras and provocative young stringers in celebrities faces and provoking awful behavior that is captured on tape and shown on their website. The same thing conceptually could be done to Murtha, to Pelosi, to Reid, to all those of that ilk. Along with Katie Couric, or Charles Gibson, and so on.

The websites might have to be overseas, but hey, there is a market for that. I am actually surprised it has not happened already and with a President Obama, it is quite likely. There is a brewing scandal over his own Monica Lewinsky, ala John Edwards, and whoever had information, on President Obama having sex with a woman not his wife would make his reputation the way Drudge did. Worth potentially in excess of $20 million dollars. A pricey sum, even with inflation.

I understand Wretchard’s reluctance, but the reality of the situation is that we are indeed at war. Like Sherman said, the best and most humane way to conduct war is to achieve total victory as soon as possible to minimize the horrors. We are at war with the elites who want to return to 9/10 forever, no less than we are at war with Jihadist Islam.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:24 am 31. Brian:

I always like Fernadez reads.He does indeed seem to have a good bead on generation X ers.It is us (gen-X) who dropped the ball.We did not pay attention to politics.I know i didnt between 1985 to 2000.Had i been paying attention to Bush’s rise over Mccain,I wouldve backed Mccain and pointed out Bushs obvious smears.
We were stunned to attention on sept 11 ,2001 but again we stumbled and ignored it until the war in Iraq started.Im not speaking for all Xers but my position.
Many paint Republicans as racists particulary from the black community.This stigma cannot be overcome it seems as this election has shown.I tried quite passionately to focus attention to national security,and fiscal responsibility but fell on deaf ears.The Bushism and the Teflon man Obama,held too much sway.Mccains ability to reach across the aisle is the kind of cooperation needed not just in america but the world.
Now im sure MSM is trash and deserves no attention any longer.This election coverage, biased in favour of Obama,has been noticed by other countries rest assured.
In particular the new breed on conservative who isnt loyal to any party but still believes in a strong democracy,human rights,a robust/advanced/mobile military,strengthening alliances with REAL allies and of course fiscal responsibility.
There is an opportunity to mobilize a united conservative front globally.Just an idea.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:32 am 32. whiskey:

After Jeremiah Wright, which is apparently “OK” because he’s Black, I don’t care if I’m called racist.

I’m not in a popularity contest. I’m not cruising for dates in a bar. What do I care?

Republicans need to stop CARING about being called Racist. Go full Atwater, Helms, and Jarvis. That’s the path to victory.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:42 am 33. wretchard:

whiskey,

One thing I learned from hard experience is you always start from where people are. Not from where you want them to start. You have to take people step by step, on the basis of their own experience, getting them to reflect on it to their own conclusions. Just because you “know” doesn’t mean you can force what you “know” down people’s throats. They have to figure things out for themselves. It’s not a function of being unsure of your beliefs. Just an acceptance of the fact that people have to travel their own road to the same spot you may be standing on.

There are no shortcuts. Fourteen years it took us to knock down a tinpot dictator. And we did largely by letting him expose himself. The key was to set up what I would call the reflectional infrastructure. You got people together. And they figured things out. But that required energy to overcome entropy. Just no way around it. I don’t think it necessary to create one big conservative opposition to socialism. You can create people who are opposed to socialism out of greed; some out of philosophy; others out of a desire for liberty. Still others for reasons they can’t articulate. It dudn’t matter. Also organizations have the disquieting tendency to fall apart after they’ve formed. Coalitions are always splitting up or coming together. It’s like trying to build a sandcastle. Still if you keep at, as the Temptations used to say, ‘Our Day Will Come’.

And when the Day comes it won’t solve all the problems of the world. It will just keep the night back for one more day. Our job isn’t to fix things for all time, but to keep this old world running for the time we’re on it. Like Gandalf said, “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Nov 5, 2008 - 2:05 am 34. EasyEight:

“Ben Franklin — along those lines Ace has helped start a “vet the media” campaign and website to do to the Media what they did to Joe the Plumber.”

The media bear a large part of the responsibility for Obama’s election. They covered for this man, they puffed him up to put him into the White House and acted as shameless shills. Look at the contrast — in 24hrs the media dug deeply into Joe the Plumber’s life…but in 20 months they didn’t do the same on Obama. Obama says he did pot and crack — did anyone talk to his former college and highschool friends about it? If they can find out Joe the Plumber owed back taxes, you telling me the media couldn’t find the guy that sold cocaine to Obama? That they couldn’t have dug into his life as thoroughly as they did Joe’s life?? No, they *wanted* this man to be president, they worked hard to put him there and to smear and destroy McCain and Palin. They need to start being held accountable for their actions, and for undermining the integrity of our democracy which rests upon *accurate information* to the voters.

Nov 5, 2008 - 2:42 am 35. Roland THTG:

Someone here paraphrased Ben Franklin:
“When the people find they can vote themselves money,
that will herald the end of the republic.”

It has now been turned over to the What’s in it for ME generation.

McCain offered nothing, no one really liked him. Thus the wild reception for Palin. He was just the best of the worst the Repubs had to offer, ala Bob Dole.

Obama was the feel good guy. Yeah, he got elected on being a man of color, nothing more. Everyone that voted for him can relax and smell their own smug farts.

Nov 5, 2008 - 3:09 am 36. Thrasymachus:

What most people don’t realize is that Barack Obama is not a real person, but a character on a TV show played by stand up comedian/ former ad man Jeff Morton. Morton is best known for his “Are You *Sure* This Is The Right Price?” car dealership ads but like everything else he has done these have been carefully suppressed. And no, not by threats or intimidation. All involved, including the You Tube employees who scrubbed the site of all Jeff Morton material, have been very well paid and signed ironclad non-disclosure agreements. What do you think they did with the $600 million?

Head writer David Axelrod is excited about the renewal of “Barack Obama- Hope and Change” and hopes to show a more reflective side of the characters while adding more conflict to the drama.

Nov 5, 2008 - 4:54 am 37. 3Case:

I’ll keep it simple for the Obamaniacs and the Bushaters:

Time for you to shut up and put up…it’s really that simple.

As I said in the last thread, the irresponsibility of the Lott/Hastert/Frist/Abramoff Republicans has rightly lead them back to their timeworn status as a rump of the Dems.

Nov 5, 2008 - 5:00 am 38. RattlerGator:

I feel you, Wretchard, I feel you. And I know that you are correct. But I hear Whiskey this morning louder than ever so I know that (far more than me) white people all over the country will hear Whiskey louder and clearer than I ever could.

That is going to have an unavoidable effect.

Our enemies have successfully created a breach in the wall; we shouldn’t make more of it than it is. Time to go to work so that Whiskey’s prognosis doesn’t become our only alternative.

Nov 5, 2008 - 5:05 am 39. 3Case:

…and for you Bushaters, we’ll be watching for you to give up your hate…in all it’s myriad forms. If you do, then you will have accomplished something real.

Nov 5, 2008 - 5:06 am 40. Doug:

It’s easy to define the challenge you face, Rattlegator, but difficult to address effectively in the Real World.

Somehow, you must find a way to re-establish your credibility, having squandered it completely on that foolish prediction of certain victory for the Rays!

Nov 5, 2008 - 5:30 am 41. Smitten Eagle:

There are three types of Republicans in the world:

1) Northeastern. These are the Rockefellar Republicans. They tend to be internationalists and fiscally conservative. This movement is all but dead. They were compelled to leave the party by the much more socially conservative Southern Republicans. George HW Bush was a NE Republican.

2) Southern. These are the social conservatives. They tend to support a strong national defense. This movement is still alive, but was repudiated both in the congressional elections in 2006, as well as the general elections of 2008. George W. Bush was a Southern Republican.

3) Western. The Western Republican is the Republican of libertarian leanings, generally favoring non-intrusive government in terms of social issues, and also favoring fiscal discipline. They tend to oppose nationalization of anything. They often, but not always, favor a strong national defense. Reagan was a western republican. This is the future of the Republican party, because the Western Republican can capitalize on the whims of the Independent Voter.

Nov 5, 2008 - 5:41 am 42. Beaglescout:

Thank God the Campaign is Over!

My team lost. In the days to come I will be sorry for that. When I have to pay increasing prices for everything, including gas, electricity, food, and taxes after Congress lets the Bush tax cuts expire and replaces them with lesser tax cuts, I will be angry. When the Dems abandon America’s allies in Iraq, who have been redeemed through a huge sacrifice in American blood, I will be angered and horrified. But at least for now the campaign is over.

Now I can think about other things. I’m not consumed by the battle of personalities, by the gotcha contests, by the obnoxious jerks on the other side (and some on mine, to be honest).

McCain wasn’t my first choice as a candidate. He was my last choice among the Republicans (even after Ron Paul), because a Republican who tries to appeal to Democrats and the media goes against what I believe are the eternal truths and deductive reasoning that underlies the entire American conservative movement. And his reaction to the Paulson (D-Goldmann Sachs) bailout proposal was nuts. If he had opposed it and led the Republicans in principled opposition to it, he would have won the election.

How can anybody pick an acceptable middle course between morality and immorality; between rational thought and irrationality; between seeing three moves ahead and blindness to the consequences of actions? I believe that conservatism’s main problem is not finding a middle way between American conservatism and socialism. For one thing, the American left already occupies that ground. Conservatism’s problem is getting its message to the people past a hostile and uncaring media that reduces political messages to soundbites and rejects all moral reasoning except for the most childlike “if it feels good” sort. The only path forward is for the conservative movement to build up its own media, in competition with the existing, leftist, government-monopoly, broadcast media, and its own education system in competition with the government-monopoly education system.

Nov 5, 2008 - 6:12 am 43. mika2k1:

Smitten Eagle,

3b) Green Libertarians. If staffed correctly, this could be the majority party in a future 3 way race. The Republican moniker (commie big gov) is poison. The Green Libertarians should form their own independent party.

Nov 5, 2008 - 6:13 am 44. RattlerGator:

Doug, I love you for making me laugh on this difficult morning! Still, damn those Phillies and any Hawaiian they have on the roster. Go Rays!

Nov 5, 2008 - 6:30 am 45. Mark:

L3 writes:

“The strategy must be different this time. It must be driven from the outside, by people who seek to change Washington but willingly agree to forgo ever participating in it. This is a tall order, but many such individuals exist.”

I would like to see Sarah Palin take on this role. I don’t think she has what it takes to be a successful presidential candidate. But I think she has what it takes to do what L3 suggests needs to be done.

Jindal is probably the right candidate, though others are going to be appealing, also.

Nov 5, 2008 - 6:51 am 46. outa my league:

Whiskey,

I respect Obama’s Kenyan grandmother’s testimony, asserting that she was present at the birth. And I don’t blame her for being proud of her famous grandson. My congratulations to Mrs. Obama.

I think you should figure into your gameplan the eventually-to-be-acknowledged fact that Barack was born in Kenya. The Democrats will likely seek to enact legislation saying “that is OK, merely a technicality.” Neither Bush nor Obama would veto such a bill.

The issue is not Hawaiian certification, etc. Even Obama, as awesome a personage as he is, couldn’t have been born in both Kenya and Hawaii. Not unless he had a partial birth in Kenya, got on a plane, and had another partial birth in Hawaii, neither of which was aborted.

Nov 5, 2008 - 6:55 am 47. Mike Sylwester:

Last night I decided I should stop obsessing about politics for the next year. Like 95% of Americans, I need to spend some time deciding how I should spend all the new money I will enjoy during the next four to eight years because of my promised tax reductions and refundable tax credits.

I thought I should spend some time researching the various electrical automobiles and deciding which one I should buy. Maybe I should look into those wind propellers and buy one of those too.

Maybe also I should spend some time on retraining. I might be able to get a good job in one of those new factories that will be manufacturing solar-energy devices.

But then I read all these intelligent and interesting comments in Belmont Club this morning, and I realized that I can’t give up obsessing about politics.

In my family, I’m the only one who voted for McCain. My parents, siblings, in-laws, nephews and nieces total about 20, and I’m the only one. No way can I ever influence my parents, siblings and in-laws, but I think I can gradually undermine the smug certainty of my nephews and nieces. I will pop their balloons relentlessly for the next four to eight years. Our main focus should be on educating the younger generation.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:02 am 48. programmer:

Okay, having sat in zazen for a while and contemplated the void, I have a question for those more knowledgeable. Were all the contributions to President-elect Obama that have been identified as “illegal” really illegal and what does the country do about it?

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:12 am 49. enscout:

Sometime between now and his swearing-in ceremony, Obama needs produce an authetic birth certificate and back it up with genuine hospital records.

There are plenty of folks out there, like myself, who have pledged to uphold the US Constitution.

He’s, allegedly, a ‘Constitutional Scholar. He knows this.

A pox on NBC, CBS, ABC, NYT, LAT, WAPO, etc, etc.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:16 am 50. Charles:

Samisdata

Unlike many, well, most of my compatriots, I am not filled with a deep sense of gloom and foreboding at the prospect of the most left wing president since FDR gaining the Whitehouse. In truth, I can see many reasons to think it may well be a far better outcome than if a Big State Republican like McCain won.

Of course Obama will bring an avalanche of policies that will be truly appalling and quite wicked, of that I have no doubt, much like his predecessors in office in that respect. As the global economy continues to come unglued, everything Obama does to deal with the mounting crises will I fact make things worse. Civil liberties will be hammered, all in the name of ‘fairness’, and the flood of regulations pertaining to every aspect of economic life will grow into a drowning ocean.

And that is actually the good news.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:29 am 51. Quig:

Programmer #47
There’s a goood piece on that at the Volokh Conspiracy.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_11_02-2008_11_08.shtml#1225873033

Looks to me llike the FEC should hire a few good forensic accountants.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:29 am 52. programmer:

Thanks, Quig. Excellent article.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:41 am 53. cjm:

political parties are like tv networks and music labels — un-needed middlemen who distort market signals and push adulterated crap onto their customers. clearly the future — the near future in fact — will see the use of specialized social networking software to allow citizens to self-organize and decide legislation directly. good-bye GOP and dems, hello kitty.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:48 am 54. Alexis:

Poujadism may have its place in American politics just as it does in French politics, but I don’t think the resistance against the nouveau regime will be dominated by the politics of Pierre Poujade. Poujadism does have a place in the opposition coalition, but if the Poujadistes americaines assume they will monopolize opposition to Obama’s presidency, they are mistaken.

I think that Richard Fernandez is seeking a broad based coalition of people who would defend American liberty against any encroachment by the new regime. There are many factions, from Nader supporters, PUMA’s, and coal miners to the Poujadists, libertarians, and partisan Republicans.

Let’s not assume that all resistance against the Obama regime will come from white people, particularly since this is certainly the impression the Obama regime would like to convey. The David Duke crowd would like to portray any resistance against the new regime as a race war, and in this they would have a tacit ally in the White House.

As a rule, “reaching across the aisle” should be tactical in nature and not strategic. In other words, bipartisanship should be used as a means to deprive Barack Obama of a governing majority by peeling off as many centrist Democrats as possible. The abortion issue is an example of how the Obama regime can be effectively opposed. For example, Barack Obama should be forced to decide whether to sign or veto legislation mandating uterine anesthesia during all abortions. Bipartisanship should not be used as a means to capitulate to the new regime, but rather as a means to confront it.

Nov 5, 2008 - 7:55 am 55. Shivermetimbers:

Wretchard,

You wrote: “I think there’s a way forward without being partisan or gloating. It’s called doing the right thing. This means being willing to engage in principled debate just as ever.”

Unfortunately, one side, the democratic side, gave up on fairness a long time ago and will do anything, say anything to win. I remember the 2000 democratic debate between Al Gore and Senator Bill Bradley where Gore called him a racist. Bill Bradley, the former NY Knicks player was shocked and didn’t know how to respond. If he called Gore a flat out liar, he felt he would have wrecked the party. So, instead, he took the high road, and it cost him being nominated.

You cannot play by ‘fair rules’ when up against an evil party out to win at all costs. Just look at the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae crisis – where is Barney Frank’s, Chris Dodd’s or Chuck Schumer’s heads, never mind Obama’s? Somehow, most people think this was a republican mess. Why? Because that is the narrative these people have spun and the MSM have aided them.

This occurs in some cases because people are stupid and lazy, but I think mostly because people do not have the time to seek out the truth. Places where they used to go for information in what little time they do have is the MSM, and they have an agenda.

The fact that so many people voted for Obama/Biden in the current global environment we are in scares the hell out of me. I hope he rises to become the greatest president in our history, but he has no track record of anything, except for hanging out with people who think this country is bad, and voting to let infants die who survive abortions.

Nov 5, 2008 - 8:00 am 56. Marcus Auerlius:

Hurray for partisan and rancorous politics! I too offer a sincere and unenthusiastic congratulations.

I am not going to come down with ODS (don’t be an odious person), but I am not going to support this man’s policies or ideals. Despite the raving lunacy of many on the left (Al Franken is within 1,000 votes of Coleman in MN and is going to get a recount) they managed to win, I guess most people think “both sides do it” and write it off. We’ll see how much of their ranting and raving gets translated into policy and action.

I too believe the GOP’s main problem is it came to be seen as Dem Lite. McCain and even at times Sarah Palin came out in ways that made it seem to me to invite people to vote for the real thing (i.e. Obama/Biden) rather than a cheap imitation. Still, Sarah Palin was a benefit to the McCain ticket.

Social conservatism is not a bugaboo, socially conservative measures won throughout the nation. Back in ‘06 many Republicans (Country Club types here in WI) moaned how the marriage referendum would bring out Dems in droves to vote against the measure and our candidates. They were wrong, the marriage amendment polled much better than the GOP candidates. Social conservatism has a much broader base than fiscal conservatism.

Congratulations Democrats, it is ALL yours now.

Nov 5, 2008 - 8:01 am 57. marymcl:

This is OT, in a way, but yesterday was the 29th anniversary of the American embassy takeover in Teheran. And today is the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

#48 enscout – We are not going to see the man’s birth certificate before he leaves office. Somehow I feel that in my bones. Nevertheless, check out Daniel Pipes’s website. He has done a lot of research into Obama’s childhood in Indonesia (where he was registered as a Muslim at a Catholic school)

http://www.danielpipes.org/pics/new/706.jpg

Note as well as his adult connections to Islamic radicals.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1008/pipes102308.php3

This may or may not matter to the kool-aid drinkers who voted for him but it will surely matter to our enemies.

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5845

Nov 5, 2008 - 8:15 am 58. Charles:

Medvedev Confronts U.S. on Missiles After Obama Win (Update1)
Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) — Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev said he would deploy new missiles in Europe, confronting the U.S. hours after Barack Obama won the American presidential election.

Medvedev said he would place a short-range Iskander missile system in Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad, wedged between Poland and Lithuania, to “neutralize” a planned U.S. missile-defense system “if necessary,” Medvedev said. A radio-jamming installation in Kaliningrad will also be aimed at elements of the U.S. system in Poland and the Czech Republic, he said.

Nov 5, 2008 - 8:26 am 59. Peter Boston:

The Athenians ended one of the most promising and fascinating centuries in history by voting to hasten their own destruction. Voters are not always smart. Things do not always turn out for the best.

The system has failed. Obama is President. A man who could not get a security clearance is CIC. A man who left Chicago streets to attend the most expensive universities, live in the most expensive cities, and travel internationally while doing it – without any visible means of support – is privy to our most sensitive secrets. Who paid for this? What does Obama owe them?

We are being smashed with a reality that doesn’t meet the standards of a bad movie plot and we congratulate the perpetrators?

Nov 5, 2008 - 8:33 am 60. Unsk:

The good new is that Republicans won at least enough senate seats to have 42 votes, and perhaps if Chambliss and Coleman hold on, 44 votes against cloture

44 votes is enough to hold out against Barack’s worst instincts. There still will loads of bad stuff like probably Cap and Trade and C02 defined as a pollutant. But probably no huge tax increase, Fairness Doctrine or Civilian Security force.

And perhaps, because Barack won’t have his way all the time, the market will muddle through with only a recession and not a depression.

All is not lost. We can come back from this without resorting to exra-legal or violent means. We can count on Barack to screw up big time. It’s the Dems show now, and they have to produce in difficult circumstances.

The silver lining is that the Rino’s don’t look so good this morning. Turnout was considerably less than 2004. Mc Cain lost because he couldn’t pull in the base.

Conservatives may be stronger in opposition than with a RINO in power.

Nov 5, 2008 - 8:38 am 61. Calthrop:

Unsk, I hope you are right about the Senate Republicans being able to sustain a filibuster. With RINO’s still around such as the ladies from Maine, Spector, Hegel and others, I’m not so sure. The party must be cleansed of the Rockefeller Republicans. We need new Reganite leaders and I see some coming up in the House, but I’m fearful of the weakness of the Senate Republicans in confronting what will be the most left wing onslaught ever seen in our country.

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:01 am 62. mika2k1:

KunstlerCast #37: Impotent Politics
The Increasing Irrelevance of our Two Political Parties

James Howard Kunstler muses on the increasing irrelevance of the two political parties in America. Neither party seems to be truly facing our energy predicament and the coming obsolescence of suburbia. Yet this is with the complete connivance of the voting public, which is too heavily invested in the status quo.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/kunstlercast/KunstlerCast_37.mp3

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:05 am 63. Marcus Auerlius:

I don’t think it fair to characterize McCain as a RINO, his ACU rating is not that different from the great conservative hope of Fred Thompson. However, I do agree with you he was not the person conservatives hoped for.

Still, it McCain’s status as a maverick his rumored ability to lure the moderates & centrist Dems proved to be greatly exaggerated. The analysis is showing the base did not turn out McCain the way it did for Bush.

Byron York has a good analysis here on the base turnout.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzNlZDkxYWQ0OGM3MmI2YWE4Mjc0ODk3NWIxZjZlNDk=

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:07 am 64. RattlerGator:

#56. Marcus Auerlius: good point.

Yesterday in Florida, while Obama was polling a 51% to 48.5% win, here is the result on the Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman:

Total [Yes] 4,724,173 [No] 2,885,790

The Yes vote out-polled Obama by around 700,000, more than twice the gap between Obama and McCain in Florida — there won’t likely be much discussion about that but those are the facts. The amendment passed by nearly two million votes! With very heavy opposition from the Obama folks!

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:08 am 65. rumcrook:

he will never leave office.

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:10 am 66. Jim Nicholas:

wretchard #33

Written as a true conservative. Thank you.

Jim

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:21 am 67. enscout:

#57 marymcl “We are not going to see the man’s birth certificate before he leaves office.”

Therein lays the dilemma. What is an honest office holder to do? We took an oath to uphold the US CONSTITUTION!

Wretchard: I’ve had it with platitudes. These types clearly have lost all sense of objectivity. Your appeal will fall upon deaf ears – it has become an increasingly one-sided discourse. When rules and laws don’t matter to 51%, is the other 49% still expected to follow them? There is no way this will be handled both successfully and civilly.

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:34 am 68. buckets:

#55

I think most of us here recognize that blatantly illegal means were used in order to facilitate Obama’s presidency. I am disgusted and outraged that no one besides a small minority seems willing to call him on it, and maybe he never will have to account these crimes and illegal activities.

As outraged as we are, and as transparent as some of these electoral/fundraising/you-name-it crimes were, we do need to be careful in our response to the new administration. If we simply declare that because the Left broke all the rules of the game, then we should no longer be bound by them either… we risk becoming like the Left.

The Left declared total war on Bush and conservatives after the 2000 election, and they justified their fanaticism by claiming the Republicans stole the election. That left them free to break all the laws they wanted, hurl all the slanderous charges they felt like, and use any means necessary to discredit conservatives and elect Lefty politicians.

We need to be careful not to fall into the same mindset. True, the situations are different, because we now face actual illegal acts and real threats to liberty, not just prodcuts of the Left’s fevered imagination. But restraint and caution is the best policy right now, until the dust has settled and things are a bit calmer. There will be enormous amounts of discussion in the blogosphere about what to do now. Better minds than myself can help to articulate goals and strategy.

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:38 am 69. Marcus Auerlius:

#64 RattlerGator,

The trick is how to wed fiscal conservatism and social conservatism. I believe both are intimately related because if you mess up your social values you are likely to mess up financially as well.

If you covet your neighbor’s goods and overextend your credit you get into trouble.

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:39 am 70. programmer:

President-elect Obama is where he is because of three things:

1) Most Americans have a certain set of beliefs and one of those beliefs is that anyone can be president, regardless of sex, race, creed, etc.

2) The Republicans in power, really, really, really, really (let’s see, is that 6 reallys, ahh no..), really, really ticked off a whole host of people, Democrats, Independents, AND Republicans alike.

3) The “pure” conservatives did not support McCain/Palin and in fact, actively repudiated them.

I’m going to change party affiliation and register Independent.

Nov 5, 2008 - 9:48 am 71. cfbleachers:

The Pit and the Pendulum is what has emerged from the tenacious grip on our political process and what remains after each election.

We swing wildly from right to left and back to right and now to even further left…because the alternatives for a protest vote…or more precisely, a vote that is representative of the rational middle of this country, is unavailable.

We are simply voting the last guy…out. We swing the pendulum in a wider and wider arc, and throw into the pit the remnants of the last administration, burned beyond recognition in a fire of rancor and disparagement.

Unless and until we break the two party system’s vicelike grasp, giving us no real representative choice or voice, we will continue to devolve as more and more people retreat to the center, where rational thought and calm contemplation are not thought weaknesses of spirit or devotion.

Can there be politics of compromise without passion verging on fanaticism? Can a base be formed upon a lack of demonization of an opposing viewpoint or worldview? It is this very middle that needs to grab the reins of our runaway politics of mutually assured destruction. Until we do, we face more of the horrors of the Pit and the Pendulum.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:07 am 72. Roderick Reilly:

“”"”"”8. ElMondo:

I considered voting for 3rd parties too… until I read some of their platforms (*shudder*). “”"”"”"

I feel your pain. The Libertarians would be my choice, except they don’t take themselves seriously, so why should I?

I figured out that I’m probably a “Classic Liberal” acording to the older (much older!) definition of liberalism. I define a classic liberal as what a libertarian becomes when he or she grows up.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:08 am 73. enscout:

programmer;

Whatever trips your trigger. My experience with ‘independants’ is they stand for nothing. If it sounds good at the time, they are all for it. And Obama, Clinton,(fill in the blank) has elevated the craft of telling folks what they want to hear to an art form. That’s how we got to this point.

People need to be able to discern when they’re being lied to. Lies need to matter to them.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:10 am 74. Roderick Reilly:

“”"”"”The Yes vote out-polled Obama by around 700,000, more than twice the gap between Obama and McCain in Florida — there won’t likely be much discussion about that but those are the facts. The amendment passed by nearly two million votes! With very heavy opposition from the Obama folks!”"”"”"”"

You do know that the results will eventually be overturned by some judge or panel of judges? That is the way of things now, and has been for some time. Remember, the left has always been in power, if you define “always” from the New Deal on. Thwarting the will of the people has been a specialty fo theirs for decades, and they keep refining the techniques.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:14 am 75. Cannoneer No. 4:

Den Beste predicts:

1. Obama’s “hold out your hand to everyone” foreign policy is going to be a catastrophe. They’ll love it in Europe. They’re probably laughing their heads off about it in the middle east already.

2. The US hasn’t suffered a terrorist attack by al Qaeda since 9/11, but we’ll get at least one during Obama’s term.

3. We’re going to lose in Afghanistan.

4. Iran will get nuclear weapons. There will be nuclear war between Iran and Israel. (This is the only irreversibly terrible thing I see upcoming, and it’s very bad indeed.)

5. There will eventually be a press backlash against Obama which will make their treatment of Bush look mild. Partly that’s going to be because Obama is going to disappoint them just as much as all his other supporters. Partly it will be the MSM desperately trying to regain its own credibility, by trying to show that they’re not in his tank any longer. And because of that they are eventually going to do the reporting they should have done during this campaign, about Obama’s less-than-savory friends, and about voter fraud, and about illegal fund-raising, and about a lot of other things.

and 6. Obama will not be re-elected in 2012. He may even end up doing an LBJ and not even running again.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:15 am 76. enscout:

Wretchard used the adjective ‘pragmatic’ is describing the gen-X independents. While I understand the sea of politics is a realm of compromise, there are times in history that necessitate absolutism.

We may not be at such a place yet, but we are accelerating rapidly downward.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:17 am 77. JMH:

I hear Whiskey this morning louder than ever so I know that (far more than me) white people all over the country will hear Whiskey louder and clearer than I ever could…Time to go to work so that Whiskey’s prognosis doesn’t become our only alternative.
and
When rules and laws don’t matter to 51%, is the other 49% still expected to follow them? There is no way this will be handled both successfully and civilly.
and
blatantly illegal means were used in order to facilitate Obama’s presidency…As outraged as we are, and as transparent as some of these electoral/fundraising/you-name-it crimes were, we do need to be careful in our response to the new administration.

Much to be unhappy about, but the key question is, do 51% of the population really think the rules don’t matter? Have we really become 51 wolves and 49 sheep voting on lunch? Clearly the leadership of the Democrat party feels this way (will to power and all that), but I don’t think all of their voters feel that way. In fact, I think a good deal of D support the last two elections came from people disgusted with Republican corruption. The D leadership played upon that by using their media monopoly to hide their own corruption.

If 51% of the voters (real and fabricated) really do support winner-takes-all politics, then the Republic is lost and it will take heartbreaking amounts of blood to recapture. But if we haven’t tipped over yet…

If we haven’t tipped over yet, it would be tragic for our side to be the one to push it over. Considering the cost of going down that, shall we say, Roman Road, it is worth it to continue fighting for the Republic by targetting the corruption. Let’s face it, the K-Street project, the Bridge to Nowhere, Paulson’s Piggy Bank, all of these were bad examples that undermined what could have been a strong anti-corruption message.

Specifically to Whiskey, I am an American. I value my American heritage above and beyond my white racial heritage. As long as there is any chance of salvaging the ideal of America (whether here in the US or elsewhere), I will fight for that above all else. I will sacrifice my racial heritage to secure my American heritage in a heartbeat. The path you suggest seems unlikely to be good for the American ideal.

We lost the communication war. Blame it on the MSM if you wish, but ultimately we must bear responsibility for getting our message out. No strategy will work without effective communication. If we are to have any hope of avoiding two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch, we need to ensure that the corrupt are held accountable for their corruption, and that requires winning the information war. That voters would turn to Democrats in the wake of a financial crisis created by Democrats is a testament to our Info War failure.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:24 am 78. NahnCee:

On the shuttle bus this morning, three 20-something hispanic and black young people were chirping and gloating over their candidate’s victory. Puffed up like proud melanin-enhanced pouter pigeons, “we did it!”

And I’m thinking to myself, “just you wait” — wondering how chirpy they’ll be when the next American city goes up in flames and B. Hussein reaches out to “negotiate” with the perp’s whom the chirpy will doubtless be calling freedom fighters.

Steven den Beste has a new column up, “Not the End of the World” which I recommend (as does Cannoneer). Just the end of Israel and Afghanistan, and maybe Europe.

http://chizumatic.mee.nu/not_the_end_of_the_world

den Beste’s calm certainty that the nation will last and overcome the debacle that will be Obama (and his millions of minions) is comforting.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:39 am 79. enscout:

JMH:

51% did not vote for a centrist. He is an extreme left wing radical with known ties to domestic terrorists and sympathies to terrorists abroad. He has not demonstrated his legitimacy per Constitutional requirements. Do you think that unimportant?

This is not a situation where congratulations to the victor are in order. It won’t garner any favor from the likes of them.

I don’t know how this could be any clearer.

Nov 5, 2008 - 10:47 am 80. johnclubvec:

The moral dimension of the conduct of conflict among men has of course been the subject of many lively discussions at The Belmont Club, for as long as I can remember; this is but one more facet of it. Jeff Medcalf elucidates one aspect of the current topic when he writes that “Elections are, very simply, a substitute for violence. Election fraud is a route to civil collapse, and thus to violence.”

And “Donny Baseball” asks “The Big Question”: “So the big post-election soul searching among libertarian/conservative folks seems to be, “should I engage in principled opposition or should I give Obama about as much chance as lefties gave George W. Bush?” … Most seem to agree that the former is the way to go, but before this becomes consensus, let me ask ‘when has graciousness and magnanimity ever been repaid in kind by Democrats and ‘progressives’?’ When? Tell me and I’ll be as principled and respectful as anyone.”

By implication, “Donny” also brings to mind the possibly relevant game-theory strategem, Tit for Tat.

The meaning and origins of the Geneva Convention, torture ‘rules’, how to react to implacable enemies — the very question of whether power should ever be resisted through violence — are subjects, it appears, never far from the minds of many Belmont Club commenters, and certainly, never far from the mind of its host.

What, ever, serves to pull us back from a world in which absolute power is good, so long as we are those who possess it? Is it only exhaustion, the laws of physics, the imperatives of finance? The historian Donald Kagan, reflecting in his book, “On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace,” might call us to remember that the origin of peace is power — used, maintained, but also deliberately bridled, for good. In another way, the economist Mancur Olson, particularly in “Power and Prosperity,” calls to mind a similar lesson: well-being results from strength that defends — makes possible — an order in which men may freely interchange what they have of value.

Or do we, with Samwise Gamgee, simply trust, at times almost despite the evidence, that there is something good in the world worth fighting for? And hence, that we must, in season and out, bridle (though not refuse) our own power, lest it too become yet one more sword of Death.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:06 am 81. Peter Boston:

We lost the communication war

Perhaps the real tragedy of this election cycle is how casually people gloss over the perfidy of the MSM. With very few exceptions we do not have any national media organ that we can rely on for truth and objectivity on anything.

The implications are enormous. Democracy is dependent on an informed electorate. When we’re all being fed a party line then freedom is a mockery. Instead of citizens we become subjects ratifying the decisions made for us by the self-anointed elites.

Do you believe for a moment that the Democrats will be satiated with the WH and a mere majority in Congress? If you do then you choose to ignore the history of the Left. Political elections are but one theater in this battle. Cultural values are the grand prize. If you are Christian you are the enemy. If you are conservative you are the enemy. The vileness, irrationality, and meanness that we’ve seen the last several years has not gone away.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:08 am 82. Marcus Auerlius:

Enscout,

You don’t offer congrats to win points, you do it because it is deserved. This does not say anything about whether one or will not roll over.

We need to be clear headed not enraged.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:13 am 83. mika2k1:

Observations by JHK:

There’s a lot about the way we live now that is disgusting, degrading, demoralizing, and socially toxic — from our suicidal diet of processed fat, salt, and corn syrup byproducts to the spiritually punishing everyday realm of the highway strip to the fantastic loneliness and alienation of a people made hostage to a TV-consumer nexus of corporate colonialism. We’re done with that. We just don’t know it yet.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:14 am 84. Eggplant:

Wretchard said:

“There are no shortcuts. Fourteen years it took us to knock down a tinpot dictator…. But that required energy to overcome entropy. Just no way around it. I don’t think it necessary to create one big conservative opposition to socialism. You can create people who are opposed to socialism out of greed; some out of philosophy; others out of a desire for liberty… Coalitions are always splitting up or coming together. It’s like trying to build a sandcastle.”

These are wise words. Obama as a socialist has no long term potential. One of the main lessons learned from the 20th century was that socialism doesn’t work. Also as a socialist, Obama is under a huge handicap in having almost no money to work with. Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to pursue a socialist agenda because the US federal government had relatively little debt at the beginning of Roosevelt’s administration. Unfortunately, there was an explosion of debt under the Republican Congress (Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” was shamelessly violated). The Republican Party is now a smoking wreck because they did not remain true to fiscal conservatism.

It’s ridiculous to hope that the moonbat congress under Pelosi-Reid can deal with the financial mess that the US is currently in. The Democrats will crash-and-burn taking Obama along with them. However as of today, the Republicans have NO “come-back” plan and I do not see one in the near future. The nation is drifting aimlessly.

I think it is time for Newt Gingrich or someone like him to appear and provide the nation with a new direction. This new leader has about 4 years to get his act together. Let us hope the nation can survive the next 4 years under the current leadership (this is in doubt).

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:15 am 85. Cannoneer No. 4:

Rage works, Marcus. It is a proven successful TTP.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:23 am 86. enscout:

M A

How is it deserved. The left has willfully abandoned all truth in getting this man elected.

No rage, just fact.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:25 am 87. joe buzz:

As usual good points all. Perhaps what we need are IINOs pronounced “I knows”. Independents in name only, but actually strong conservatives.
Hatred of Team 43 galvanized the left’s resolve to a degree that no republican could have defeated Obama or even Hillary. This victory will unfortunately embolden the far left to slip further left (see Schumer’s remarks yesterday comparing conservative talk radio to pornography).
I wish the new commander luck and God speed as his work of hope and change is cut out for him and his tbd team.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:28 am 88. Eggplant:

Mike Sylwester said:

“In my family, I’m the only one who voted for McCain. My parents, siblings, in-laws, nephews and nieces total about 20, and I’m the only one.”

Rejoice that there was at least one person in your family who was not deceived. Four years from now, you’ll be able to say “I voted for McCain” and NOT be a liar.

I’m fairly sure that everyone in my family voted for McCain. My mother is a life long Democrat and suffers from terminal BDS. However I suspect (don’t know) that even she voted for McCain.

The MSM did a very good job of hypnotizing the nation. It was hard to do the right thing when everyone around you was chanting “We must have Change! Vote for Obama, our Messiah, the Chosen One!”

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:30 am 89. Taxpayer:

The Republicans need a list of 10 or 12 things that 60%+ of the people agree on to re-build the party around, ala the Contract with America. Newt again seems to have done yeoman’s work in identifying at least some of these. There has to be a postive message. But the “Democrat lite” – we are not quite as bad as the other guys – won’t work. The party also needs to adopt a zero tolerance policy toward ethical misbehavior.

We must not cede the language war. They will call Republicans racists. Actually, the Democrats are the only party that is racist, by policy (see affirmative action). Tax credits are actually welfare payments. Etc. If we don’t call things by their right names, we will lose. And it will infuriate them , which should make it more fun.

Its likely that we will see some real-world effects of Obama and the Dems being in power – electricty blackouts for instance. The Republicans should start now to identify half a dozen of these and lay the groundwork to hang these on the Democrats.

The Democrats need to be made socialy unacceptable, figures of ridicule. Every blooper utubed, etc. This won’t be easy, as the media will play defense. See Frank ala Fannie/Freddie.

Democrats like Shumer, Leahy, Frank – the list goes on – are just bad guys. No point in compromise there. They won’t keep their agreements, and they will never, ever stop.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:34 am 90. programmer:

enscout, I understand your comment re: independents. That is not the type of independent that I intend to be.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:37 am 91. Eggplant:

Cannoneer No. 4 said:

“There will eventually be a press backlash against Obama which will make their treatment of Bush look mild. Partly that’s going to be because Obama is going to disappoint them just as much as all his other supporters. Partly it will be the MSM desperately trying to regain its own credibility, by trying to show that they’re not in his tank any longer.”

I agree with this prediction. However we must not forget about the MSM’s egregious misbehavior during the Iraq War and how it ultimately inflicted Obama upon us. The MSM has become a threat to our national security. There needs to be long and careful thought about how to reform the news media in this country (I certainly don’t know the answer). A Constitutional amendment is probably in order but doing it correctly will require much careful reflection.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:42 am 92. enscout:

programmer:

Adopting the same stealth as employed by The One…

Just don’t let their ambivilence rub off on you.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:46 am 93. enscout:

Eggplant:

They simply need some good, old fashioned, capitalistic competition.

I would not know where to start, but I would seriously like to have a go at them.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:49 am 94. Justin:

It’s not the end of the world. Steven Den Beste has made an excellent post about the elections and the next 4 years. It’s required reading – http://chizumatic.mee.nu/not_the_end_of_the_world

Ah the good old days of the USS Clueless! Steven Den Beste is probably one of the brightest writers to have ever graced the blogosphere (and of course our beloved Belmont host!). If anyone is unfamiliar with Steven’s work checkout the archives of the USS Clueless. Tragically he isn’t posting anymore due to medical problems, but does keep an anime blog going.

Archives – http://www.denbeste.nu/archives.shtml

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:50 am 95. mika2k1:

A Constitutional amendment is probably in order but doing it correctly will require much careful reflection.
==

How about a careful reflection on who exactly is subsidizing and propping up the MSM with its declining viewership.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:54 am 96. Doc99:

When will Obama take care of that lady’s mortgage and pay her gas bill?

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:54 am 97. Whitehall:

Certainly Obama and the Democrat Congress will enact policies that I think wrongheaded and that I will oppose but accept. These may be wrong and dumb but yet legitimate.

However, there is a line that they should not cross. They are already talking about some proposals that threaten the democratic system of governance and hence our republic.

1) the civilian security force. What purpose would it serve EXCEPT for domestic political intimidation?

2) Fairness Doctrine – any effort to shut down political speech and limit communications (including the internet) must be seen an attempt to solidify the left’s hold on policial power.

3) further delegitimization of the electoral processes and the opening to foreign interests of our political processes.

4) purges of the military based on political support. If we see this starting, be VERY worried! Our military may wind up being our last defense against dictatorship.

The Chicago Way and the Weathermen creed are to keep power once seized, using any and all methods.

Nov 5, 2008 - 11:56 am 98. Peter Boston:

There are two things that if done in large numbers would cause immediate change in behavior.

Do not vote for anybody for any public office that has graduated from a liberal arts program at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Columbia. Do not hire any such person. Better yet never vote for a lawyer.

Email, write or call anybody who advertises on any CBS, NBC, ABC news program or in the NYT, LAT, WaPo and several others and tell them that you will not buy their products for so long as they continue to do so.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:05 pm 99. mika2k1:

Peter Boston @96 has the right idea. Time to take personal responsibility.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:10 pm 100. aconservativeteacher:

This ‘non-ideological’ and ‘post-partisan’ stuff is pure garbage. James Madison wrote about factions warring with factions, because he was writing about inherent human nature. There is no ‘post-partisan’ or ‘non-ideological’- there is right-left, conservative-liberal, fascist-nonfascist, etc. The Republicans lost because Bush governed like a liberal, and McCain was a moderate. A right wing Romney would have done more for the party than McCain did.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:12 pm 101. enscout:

P B:

Agreed.

Furthermore, any conservative politician, at any level, should refuse to advertise using these outlets.

OK what does that leave us?

I’m not being facetious.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:19 pm 102. Cannoneer No. 4:

Actually, eggplant, Steven Den Beste said that.

I’m not so sure he is right on that one, either. Old Media will slip comfortably into the role of Administration lapdogs in return for their Messiah’s help in squelching their competition.

Wretchard once started a thread about the the news media being the public’s intelligence service, upon whom voters, business people and consumers rely in gathering information on which to make decisions. I’ll have to dig that up.

Barack Mugabe will still be in power when I die if the opposition does not find a way to do Political Warfare, Information Operations, Psychological Operations, Morale Operations, influence operations, perception management and strategic communications better than he does.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:20 pm 103. Eggplant:

Cannoneer No. 4 said:

“Actually, eggplant, Steven Den Beste said that.”

I stand corrected.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:28 pm 104. mika2k1:

OK what does that leave us?
==

With a lot of money to spend on other things.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:30 pm 105. sgi:

“letting him expose himself” Wretchard

For the past two years Obama has been following a carefully crafted script and image. Even so, he slipped up occasionally.

As President, he will not have a script or hundreds of campaign spokesmen covering for him. His real intentions domestically and internationally will be revealed by his words and actions.

He will be unable to conceal himself in his soothing, calm rhetoric. He will have to respond, react, and produce actions that will have real, documented results. He will be exposed, for good or ill.

We shall see how the American people like their President, their Commander in Chief, negotiating with tyrants, legitimizing socialism, Marxism, Islamic fundamentalism, and sundry despots around the world.

Unfortunately, the left don’t think that the US has any dangerous enemies. They don’t realize that other men are evil. The left hate the American right more than they hate the enemies of the US. It is tragic that they believe that Obama will “change the world”. If anything, he will reveal the world and by so doing, will cause the left to rue the day they ever hated their fellow Americans.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:37 pm 106. Eggplant:

Aconservativeteacher said:

“A right wing Romney would have done more for the party than McCain did”

I beg to differ. Obama would have annihilated Romney. As it stands, McCain lost by 6% in the popular vote. By comparison, LBJ beat Goldwater by 22.6% and Nixon beat McGovern by 23.2%. Those are the sorts of loses that Romney would have experienced.

McCain probably did the best that was possible, given the fiscal misconduct of the Republican Congress, President Bush’s (correct) decision to invest all of his political coin into the Iraq War, the sub-prime economic implosion and the extreme bias of the MSM. I allowed myself a moment of hope when the Democrats attempted political suicide by nominating Obama. However there were too many negatives working against the Republicans. The situation was so bad for the Republicans that the Democrats could nominate a crypto-Marxist and still win.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:41 pm 107. Doug:

Michael Crichton dies of cancer

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:47 pm 108. ketchikan:

The press is so far left that I don’t think they will suffer much if any of a backlash. They have just elected their guy. If he messes up they will find a way to blame it on the previous administration, (like Clinton did), circumstances, the Right and/or, I dare say, race. It is obvious that too many of the powerful press are blind to what the consequences of their own beliefs will bring.

Nov 5, 2008 - 12:58 pm 109. Cannoneer No. 4:

Found it.

The Wedding Party Thursday, May 20, 2004

One of the challenges facing intellectuals at a time when the political and cultural dimensions of war have grown in relation to the purely military is how to make sense of information acquired through the public intelligence system: the news media. Because modern American warfare now involves only a very small percentage of the population it has become a kind of spectator sport where the plays are actually called from the stands. One would hope on good information. Yet a news industry whose techniques were adequate to cover traffic accidents, murders or cumbrous wars in which armies moved a few hundred yards a day must now must cover events whose complexion can alter in hours. The difference is that this time there is no low-tech acetate overlay, maps, or timeline in battalion notebook. Battlefield events are still reported like isolated traffic accidents, conveying no sense of spatial location, temporal development or continuity. To the extent that any symbols are plotted on the public mental map, they remain there, hours or days after the information has been updated.

Cultural Revolutionaries, which includes most of the Anti-Left in America still allowing themselves to be identified in terms given to them by their enemies, must somehow develop superior OSINT. More Michael Yon/Michael Totten/J.D. Johannes types, only oriented on domestic stories. Better analysis. Smarter pundits. Hipper, trendier technology.

Whatever party or parties arises out of this Republican Götterdämmerung will need a polished, professional, slick media arm. Just don’t call it The Clouds.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:05 pm 110. Staring In Disbelief:

Man I miss Steven den Beste! I didn’t know his “Blog Retirement” was due to health problems. Best wishes to a wise and erudite man who always enlightened.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:12 pm 111. Eggplant:

ketchikan said:

“The press is so far left that I don’t think they will suffer much if any of a backlash.”

The MSM is already getting slaughtered in the market place. The New York Times is hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

mika2k1 said:

“How about a careful reflection on who exactly is subsidizing and propping up the MSM with its declining viewership.”

That’s the $64,000 question! Wikipedia claims that the Unification Church spent $1.7 billion in subsides to keep the Washington Times alive. How much has George Soros or some other puppet master spent to keep the New York Times and CNN alive?

Enscout said:

“They [the MSM] simply need some good, old fashioned, capitalistic competition.”

It’s not about capitalistic competition. If the MSM was driven by capitalism, McCain would now be our President.

Follow the money and you’ll see who controls our MSM.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:12 pm 112. JMH:

This is not a situation where congratulations to the victor are in order. It won’t garner any favor from the likes of them.

I don’t think you actually read what I wrote. I didn’t offer congratulations to anyone, let along the Democrats. Yours seems to be another autopilot response, and I’d like to ask you why you thought I was congratulating Obama? I know that Obama is not a centrist and that he and his party do not stand for American ideals. I know that Obama and his party leadership do not play by the rules. I konw that the fact they are able to get away with breaking the rules that we are held to (by ourselves or by society) is a crippling liability for us.

And I know that if we allow that situation to continue, we, and our country, are doomed.

The question is what sort of change do we pursue? Do we, as Whiskey suggests, wave the bloody shirt and attempt to incite a race war? Do we start stuffing the ballot box ourselves? Do we recruit our own brown-shirt army to threaten and intimdate voters? Do we, in short, declare Civil War? Not pretend Civil War, not rhetorical Civil War, but real, honest to God shooting people dead and burning our civilization to the ground so we can rebuild on the ashes Civil War. Because that’s where it leads if we ape the lawlessness of the Democrats and agree with them that it’s a winner-take-all game. Do we want that?

Or is there another way?

I don’t know that there’s still time for another way, but I pray that there is. I do know that it’s worth asking the question, because if we declare the game rigged and flip over the table, then whatever else happens, the Constitution hits the floor along with everyone’s chips, and whatever hits the floor has a high probability of being trod into dust by the brawl.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:13 pm 113. mika2k1:

Follow the money and you’ll see who controls our MSM.
==

I mainly see car and oil companies advertising. Drug companies too. But mainly car and oil companies.

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:16 pm 114. Mark:

ketchikan writes:

“They have just elected their guy. If he messes up they will find a way to blame it on the previous administration . . . .”

That reminds me of an academic joke. A new dean moves into his office and finds an envelope on his desk. It’s from the former dean. “At the first crisis,” it says, “open the envelope in the top right drawer. Second crisis, open the envelope in the top left drawer.” The first crisis comes, and he opens the envelope: “Blame the former dean for everything.” He does. It works like magic! The second crisis comes. He opens the second envelope: “Prepare two envelopes.”

Nov 5, 2008 - 1:21 pm 115. enscout:

Obama inherits plenty of crises. I don’t envy his station.
That more will arise is certain. Already Medvedev is rattling sabers.

JMH:

It is evident that we are thinking along the same lines. And my statement about congrats to the Dems was rhetorical & not addressed specifically to you.

I wish there were easy, sound bite answers for your questions.
I’m thoroughly convinced, however, that if we do not expose the deception that has been perpetrated upon US by big NEWS, the donkeys in Congress and & BHO himself, that we cheat not only ourselves, but our progeny.

For right now, it seems we will be adopting the role of ‘the opposition’ as some here have recognized. It is a role that doesn’t suit us much better than governance suits the left.

Clearly we need to become more organized and adopt a common, clear vision, set goals and implement action steps. The common vision thingy has always been the biggest hurdle to those of us on the right due to our unwillingness to compromise.

Nov 5, 2008 - 2:00 pm 116. Cannoneer No. 4:

JMH, I have run plumb out of cheeks. America belongs to those who want it bad enough to do what must be done.

Whatever it takes.

Nov 5, 2008 - 2:08 pm 117. Bill in NC:

I’d say it’s clear that, along with everything else noted here, we can never again expect to prevail with a candidate that lacks extreme telegenic appeal as well as immense rhetorical ability. This is evermore an image age, and McCain got crushed by this metric. the media noise and distortion is too profound to field a candidate that cannot break through it.

Nov 5, 2008 - 2:12 pm 118. Marcus Auerlius:

THe press will feel backlash by declining revenues and stock prices. They are already feeling it.

Nov 5, 2008 - 2:36 pm 119. bud:

Can we get past the “birth certificate” nonsense? I don’t care whether he was born in Kenya or Hawaii – unless his mother is not Ann Durham, he is a “natural-born citizen”. IF he was born in Kenya, he may hold dual citizenship, but unless he formally, in writing, renounced his US citizenship after reaching the age of 18, forget all this legalistic pipe-dream that he can be denied the office of President because “he isn’t a citizen”.

“For persons born on or after November 14, 1986, a person is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true:

One of the person’s parents was a U.S. citizen when the person in question was born;
The citizen parent lived at least 5 years in the United States before his or her child’s birth; and
At least 2 of these 5 years in the United States were after the citizen parent’s 14th birthday.”

Nov 5, 2008 - 2:54 pm 120. ketchikan:

Yes the MSM, (blue media), are getting hit in the stock market and circulation dept. But is this the kind of backlash that will change their beliefs and the way they promote the “news”? Or will they continue to believe so strongly that the next four years will just be a continuence of the past with lies, willful ignorance, stupidity or whatever passes for “objective journalism?.

As has been said: “follow the money.”

Nov 5, 2008 - 3:07 pm 121. Angry Dumbo:

I don’t believe in the social/fiscal breakdown of conservatism.

Is cutting funds to the head start program socially liberal or fiscally conservative? On what basis does a fiscal conservative cut spending?

The new independent is just the product of the ideological pendulum swinging back to liberal.

In response, conservatives need to rephrase traditional small government, free market principles, not abandon them. Limited enumerated powers as defined in the Constitution remain the framework for smaller government.

Nov 5, 2008 - 3:30 pm 122. Angry Dumbo:

For those who may have missed it, this was a funny post over at the Peoples Cube this Spring on the theme of out-democrating democrats.

http://thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=1964&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Nov 5, 2008 - 3:35 pm 123. Bob W:

Bill in NC said:
“I’d say it’s clear that, along with everything else noted here, we can never again expect to prevail with a candidate that lacks extreme telegenic appeal as well as immense rhetorical ability.”
I’d go one step further: the Republicans, right from the beginning, must have a plan to communicate their message to the masses for every single moment. You can’t simply bemoan the fact that the Press is biased against your campaign, even if it is true. You have to aggressively get your message out through every possible medium, and compel the rest of the media to cover your campaign on your terms.
So you can’t catch a break in the Times/Post/Networks? Should that be a surprise to any Republican Presidential campaign? Only if you were asleep at the switch for the last 16 years! No Republican Presidential Candidate is going to catch a break from Maureen Dowd in the six weeks prior to the election, so have a plan to outreach via blogs, talk radio, podcasts, regional newsmedia, et al.
But even if McCain/Palin had an aggressive messaging plan, the actual message was garbled at best; his heroism and selfless service are well established, but really, what did his campaign truly stand for, especially on domestic policy? He differentiated himself a bit after the third debate (thanks to Obama providing him an opening) but for the last two weeks he sounded like a crappy moderate democrat running against a great democrat during a democratic primary ( e.g., like Biden!).
At least it’s all over now, as I talk about here

Nov 5, 2008 - 4:55 pm 124. Marcus Aurelius:

No, the members of the press will not change because the shares of their company lose value, but they will lose ability to spread their views.

AngryDumbo, you are onto something, I think this divide is also a false one. A lot of what is considered to be socially unacceptable are also characteristics that often lead to poverty.

Nov 5, 2008 - 4:57 pm 125. Angry Dumbo:

I’ll leave the last word to Rush Limbaugh. Still I have to echo his sentiments, I don’t think young voters reject conservatism, but rather they have simply not been exposed to conservative principles. Honestly, do you know any mainstream media outlet where conservative principles of limited government/enumerated powers are articulated and defended?

The blueprint for success rejected by centrists is to be true to limited government principles at the cost of losing compassionate conservative voters who seek economic security from the federal government.

This from Rush this morning:

“What we are dealing with today, the opportunity that we have actually is the rebirth of principled opposition, an opposition rooted in conviction, not opposition for opposition’s sake, not opposition for political expedience. I don’t know if you know this, I don’t know if you heard this on television last night. Do you know that with the defeat of the moderate Chris Shays in Connecticut, we don’t have a single conservative — sorry — we don’t have a single Republican member of the House of Representatives from the great Northeast? All of those moderates, all those moderate Republicans, liberal Republicans who thought the only way to get elected and run the affairs of the House was to be moderate, was to be centrist. Guess where they are? Gone. They are gone. An opportunity for cleansing, ladies and gentlemen, like we haven’t seen in a long time. This is all positive, well, for our side, the opportunity to build. We’ve got some serious challenges ahead in pushing back what no doubt is going to come.”

Nov 5, 2008 - 5:01 pm 126. Shivermetimbers:

If there is one bright light in this I believe, is that the democrats now own the executive branch, the senate, and house. But, they do not have a filibuster majority in the senate. This will allow the republicans to filibuster the worst measures the democrats send through, and at the very least, expose them to the public. If we did not have this, I would things to be pushed into law with out the public being aware.

So, the dems are in charge and should have full accountability. Hopefully, if they try to push their crazy left wing agenda, the republican’s can effectively expose it.

If the situation was that McCain won, the dems would have blocked all of his initiatives and blamed him for everything.

The republicans need to be smart in how they use this time.

Nov 5, 2008 - 5:52 pm 127. Aether:

America needs a Re-Constitution

Nov 6, 2008 - 5:21 am 128. Snowflakes in Hell » Lessons from Toppling Tinpot Dictators:

[...] Belmont Club has an interesting lesson I think Second Amendment Activists could take to heart.  In the comments: One thing I learned from hard experience is you always start from where people are. Not from where [...]

Nov 7, 2008 - 11:34 pm 129. Ms. Know:

I don’t believe everyone who said they were independent, truly were. Those polls were majority in favor of the left-wing illuminati, and turned some GOP voters away, thinking they didn’t need to vote.

Nov 15, 2008 - 10:17 am

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