http://www.qando.net/ - More post-mortem

Many conservatives appeared to be detached from the political troubles of President Bush that put his fellow Republicans in trouble. With conservatives also discouraged about the progress in Iraq, there wasn’t much rallying to the defense of “their guy.” That might have been different had he vetoed a few big spending bills or led the fight for border security. I hope his future explanations about his intent with respect to Iraq are more strategic than stubborn.

John Pitney:

GOP disunity was on display during the 2006 campaign, and contributed to the party’s defeat. More and more Republicans tried to sidle away from President Bush’s Iraq policy. They never did get together on what to do about overspending or immigration. When the Foley scandal broke, they openly squabbled over who knew what and when.

Combine those with what Capt. Ed Morrisey observed:

Another thing that happened was that Americans finally got involved in a non-presidential election. Final numbers won’t be known for a day or two, but it appears that voter turnout was significantly higher than four years ago. We have hailed Karl Rove as a master at GOTV efforts, but apparently the Democrats learned from three successive losses to their bete noir. The Republicans turned out, but the Democrats appear to have bested them.

And you lose.

Some relatively immediately fallout (January '07), especially if the Dems take the Senate - Two SC justices announce their retirement and John Bolton tries to find another job.

Oh, and before I forget it, Rich Lowery of National Review said Rumsfeld should go last night on Fox. He's probably right, not that it matters politically anymore. I've heard others say that may be the bone Bush throws to the Dems. I'm going on record to say, "I doubt it". Loyalty and Cheney will prevent it.

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I’m not discouraged by the progress in Iraq. It’s war. It’s not supposed to be easy or clean.

I AM discouraged by the administrations lack of appropriate response over years to the non-stop drumbeat of negativity on the subject from the media and Dems. If you don’t communicate effectively, this (election) is the price you pay - no matter how inept or out of focus your opponent is.

Written By: BillB
URL: http://squidly.com

Nice quote from Kate O’Beirne that the outcome might have been different if Bush had led the fight for border security. I remember that you also thought the immigration issue would play a large part in the election. I note that two of the most rabid "border security" candidates, Graf and Hayworth, lost in their AZ races. "Border security" plays well with the Limbaugh-Malkin crowd, but to the large majority of Americans, it really isn’t a big hot button issue. One of the ironies of the results is that with Dem majorities in both houses, Bush may be able to get his immigration bill passed.

Written By: Steven Donegal
URL: http://

I don’t think that was O’Beirne’s point, Steven. She’s mostly pointing to the fact that he did nothing for his base while expecting his base to turn out for him (and the Reps). Doesn’t work that way as he found out yesterday. The sad thing is that you’d think he’d know that by now.

One positive outcome of all of this is we may see the end of the "Karl Rove, evil genius" meme.

Written By: McQ
URL: http://www.qando.net/blog

"One positive outcome of all of this is we may see the end of the ’Karl Rove, evil genius’ meme."

And that’s exactly what he was planning! Genius!!

Written By: Again
URL: http://

"If you don’t communicate effectively, this (election) is the price you pay - no matter how inept or out of focus your opponent is. "
==
I don’t know what ’communicate’ means in this statement. Speaking for myself, I have often longed to support Bush and the war, even though I felt from the very beginning that it was a huge mistake. There is a natural urge to want to support your President. But it was Bush’s manner of ’communicating’ that turned me away, every time.

I was never asked to support the war, by paying a tax to pay for it, for example, something which I would have gladly done. If I had doubts, I was accused of supporting the jihaddis. Every time the President ’communicated’, he drew the country further apart by driving a wedge deeper between the political parties.

What the President communicated was that this was a war waged by Republicans, for the glory of Republicans. Everybody else was the enemy.

And now you all whine that the Democrats are to blame for the sorry state of Iraq and the election results. The Democrats, the media, Europe, the UN - everybody is to blame, except those who demonize and alienate everyone who is not your clone in thinking.
This is not a good game plan for raising support.

PS I couldn’t vote at all in these elections, bacaude I was so sickened by the campagning. It seems there is no polotical party that represents me or my values.

And now that the elections are past, I am sickened by the political posturing and strategizing and finger pointing. It’s not helping the war in Iraq, and it’s not holping our troubles at home.

Written By: Laime
URL: http://

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