I'm not writing this because I’m gloating over the results of Election 2012. I'm not writing this because I think “my guy” beat “their guy.”
I'm writing this because I think the election showed us some very important things about the citizens of these United States:
Our country’s electorate chose to recognize the plurality of all its people and cast their votes in ways to protect the rights of all its citizens. Our country’s electorate chose to promote the idea of governing for the benefit of all citizens rather than the benefit of a few. And our country’s electorate chose to cast the majority of their votes for candidates who ran on a platform of inclusion and compromise against those whose party staked its campaign on religious superiority, intolerance and values from the past century.
On the whole, we learned quite a lot about our country last Tuesday, Nov. 6.
We learned that the country doesn’t take kindly to the restrictions on women and women’s health that many Republican candidates promoted during the campaigns. We saw this in the overwhelming rejection of candidates that not only made outrageous comments about rape and contraception, but also proposed legislation restricting women’s ability to make their own reproductive choices.
Candidates like Todd Akin (of “legitimate rape” fame), Joe Walsh, Scott Brown, Richard Mourdock (who suggested pregnancy after rape is a “gift from God”), Alan West, and others were defeated. An historic mark was made in the Senate—20 women senators will now hold seats in the upper chamber, including the legislative body’s first lesbian senator. Tammy Ducksworth, Clair McCaskill and others won spotlighted, news-making campaigns. Pro-choice candidates (including CT’s Chris Murphy and Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts) received resounding support across the country and women voters cast ballots overwhelmingly—by 38 percent—for Democratic candidates who supported women’s equality measures.
I heard one pundit on the morning after the elections make a pithy, yet incredibly insightful, analysis of what happened during Election 2012 when it came to how the Republican Party positioned itself. Matt Dowd of ABC said, “The Republicans ran a ‘Mad Men’ campaign in a ‘Modern Family’ world.” That couldn’t be more on point.
The election showed us that voters support social issues, like marriage equality and even legalization of marijuana, that are more of today than 50 years ago. When the 18-month debate and election cycle hyped the GOP’s reproductive platform that was not only anti-choice but also seemed to be anti-contraceptive, the country seemed to scratch their collective head at the end point and say, “What century do they think it is?” With states as varied as Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington supporting gay marriage referendums, it seems the country is supporting diversity more and more.
What the country doesn’t seem to support as much is the Tea Party. Five Tea Party candidates lost their runs for seats and the standard bearer—Michele Bachman—managed to only eke out a very tight win. This only highlights another major conclusion from the election: The GOP is highly fractured and needs to reassess its priorities, its leadership and its direction if it’s going to maintain a large enough electorate to represent.
Even in the less extreme sectors of the party, there is recognition that party unity has taken a major hit. Former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said that Mitt Romney wasn’t the “spiritual leader” of the party. Former party head Michael Steele and former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani both spoke out about how the Republicans as a whole need to reexamine how to incorporate more moderate views front and center into their party’s platform.
There were other major miscalculations the GOP made, especially when it came to money, and we saw that big money didn’t necessarily equate to big wins. Despite outspending the Democrats, the Republican candidates in key battles lost to the surprise of some party stalwarts. Karl Rove, the high priest of the party, had to come up with every rationalization in the book to explain why the big bucks and his strategy didn’t work—not only to big money donors but to himself—to great embarrassment on live TV while serving as a pundit on the conservative FOX network.
Speaking of overspending and waste, just look what happened to Linda McMahon. In her second failed bid for political office, the Connecticut Republican spent $50 million, this after the first $50 million she spent losing a run for the Senate two years before. That’s quite a lot of money to spend on learning that what you stand for isn’t what voters want any more.
The Republicans failed to campaign in a 21st century way. The Democrats took much more advantage of social media platforms, fundraising and incorporating contemporary methods to economize what their less full war chests contained.
Overall, the Republicans miscalculated who would come out to vote and who was important in the electorate. Despite beliefs that the youth vote wouldn’t turn out for President Obama in 2012 like they did in 2008, the opposite happened: the youth vote increased and the overwhelmingly supported the President’s re-election. The enthusiasm amongst women and minority voters was at an all-time high for the Democrats once again.
Sadly, it was reflected in the faces of the Republican candidates and spokespeople out front and center of the party. Donald Trump and the Todd Akins of the world did the GOP no favors. White men who seemed to be out of touch with the electorate became equated with what the party stood for. And in the immediacy of today’s news cycle, those kinds of newsmakers hurt the Republicans in critical ways.
Here’s what did win: Truth. Tolerance. Compassion. In the days following, we’ve seen an acknowledgement of that as Republican leaders, like John Boehner, have made more conciliatory remarks about some of the president’s major programs that voters favored—health care and immigration among them. Key to these initiatives is the intangibles of compassion and inclusion. Those are hard messages to get around and it worked in the Democrats’ favor.
We all can take away lessons from Election 2012. Compromise is something voters want. Middle ground and moderates—especially when it comes to social issues—is the way the majority of the country trends. And finally, the country is different now in racial makeup, in priorities and in the direction it’s heading. Politicians would be wise to heed what it is the citizens of this great country want when it comes to representing them.
Update Nov. 12, 6:00 PM The article has been corrected to update the position that Linda McMahon ran for in 2010. She lost a Senate bid that year against Richard Blumenthal. She did not run for governor, as the article originally stated.
Big money does mean winning - unions and PACS pumped tremendous amounts in states where photo ID is not required. Why don't they put their boots on the ground to help the poor Hurricane Sandy victims? BTW, what does it mean to say that a state is 'varied?' Marlyand lumped into the category has been decidedly Democratic for years. It like CT has many problems that it has not been able to fix. Is a more moderate view that God should be taken out of a platform? Does that provide for a 'varied' representation? Reproductive rights - who is taking control? Not paying for birth control or demanding that all people pay for birth control whether they need it or want it or for viagra(take it out also) is NOT the same as denying access. Denying access would be not making it available to purchase. Twisting social issues is unbecoming.
Apparent ineffectiveness of big money, don't agree. THe race was very close and there was tremendous voter fraud and irregularities and money was used in these districts . Where does the media come in wrt 'ineffectual campaign strategies?' and the lack of coverage or questions and investigative reporting and accountability regarding Fast and Furious, how the health care bill was handled (closed door sessions, no review, back door deals, exempted unions...), green energy debacles and cronyism, Benghazi, giving billions we don't have to other countries ( i.e., Brazil to fund their own off shore drilling)... To demand that all people pay for coverage of birth control as one example, a relatively inexpensive prescription, and turn that into a campaign of women's right of access when no access has been denied is ludicrous.
"This might be some kind of record, even for Chicago. Just five days after winning a landslide victory in his re-election bid to the House, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has begun negotiations for a plea deal that will send him to the big house instead: Jackson, Jr., the son of civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., and husband to Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, has not yet pleaded guilty to alleged misuse of campaign funds to decorate his house and purchase a $40,000 Rolex watch for a female friend. But CBS Chicago reports the congressman’s lawyer, white-collar criminal defense attorney Dan Webb, is negotiating with the federal government a plea bargain that will likely be reached by year’s end. The tentative deal includes Jackson, Jr.’s resignation from Congress for health reasons, a “guilty” plea involving misuse of campaign funds, and repayment of any contributions that were converted to personal use. At least some jail time is expected. Jackson, Jr.’s pension, which would pay out between $65,000 and $80,000 a year when he turns 62, is also part of the talks." And, 49.5% voted against Obama
...I may not agree with Heather here, but your comment tells us that you are not at all interested in all the details and not willing to do the work necessary to recognize that we are all being duped by the people who have gotten elected....and by the media who is beholden to the power of the elected....
"Tax havens are in fact essential, especially international financial centres. Tax rules are often unjust... nobody should be taxed twice on investment returns. ...it would be to the detriment of us all if there were no tax havens. Most predatory activity is actually undertaken by governments and not by companies. Governments are trying to spend more and more with the UK government now spending 50 per cent of national income – in common with other European Union countries. This is deeply damaging to general welfare and business in particular and it is very difficult to hold the elites who continually expand the size of the state to account. Elections are very imperfect mechanisms. One effective method by which we can keep the size of government in check is if labour and capital can exercise its freedom to move to lower-tax jurisdictions. Capital is much more mobile than labour and so tax havens do us all a favour by ensuring that governments have to keep tax rates lower - thus creating a better environment for business."
I believe that Connecticut 15 and Evelyn have pointed out some facts that a google search will support from a variety of new sources... there is not enough space to include all the links to all the info that is out there that support the statements made by those who you appear the think only…”regurgitate Liberal and Conservative wingnut party lines”. And don’t worry about my panties….but thanks for caring.
George Washington, the founder of this great country!
Obama was voted in by them and the Takers, who believe in "Barack O'Claus" who tells them "you better not work," "you better not try," but they are still going to get 'presents' of support by confiscating and redistributing the fruits of others' labors! "The election showed us that [about half of] voters" CHOOSE to be ignorant of simple fiscal realities--that there IS NO more MONEY for bailouts, to put off the consequences of irresponsible DEFICIT SPENDING! Their foolish votes to re-elect a FAILED president and defeat common sense fiscal conservatives for congress mean that the U.S. is on "The New Road to Serfdom" and financial collapse ie Greece, Italy, Spain, France--FAILED "nanny state European socialist" countries. Heather, do you ever read/watch international news and see the disastrous results of those big government policies you have been taught to prefer, ie "cradle to grave nanny state" socialism--such as the total dystopia of violence, deprivation and destruction in Greece?
If you (AZ, Kelly Anne) want to argue, then make an argument. Your grade school taunts just make you look stupid.
If you really "don't care" whether Bush won Florida, then please stop perpetuating the canard that Gore would have won Florida if the votes had been properly counted.
Not to worry! Az & now KA are just so happy everything will soon be free just because they happened to be born in the USA...they don't understand they too will lose their rights to choose. Serfs were also dependent upon their dark age masters.
On the topic at hand, I believe the mismatches between the Republican platform its candidate's beliefs, coupled with the changes in the current voting demographic of the nation, left no opportunity for the Republicans to win the electoral college. When your own candidate has a track record of supporting the issues in the other party's platform, there is a built in credibility issue that is difficult to overcome. With the shifts in gender, age, race and financial status of the electorate, the Republican party will need to move toward the former "Reagan Democrat" style moderation. Otherwise it will risk losing every national election by virtue of being on the less popular side of a number of key social litmus tests.
I implore you to become more strict about inappropriate comments. I understand your Terms of Use do not require you to remove comments, but anyone who makes personal attacks with no topical content should be removed from the site, never mind the discussion. From your Terms: "...you should act in a civil manner and refrain from personal attacks – after all, these are your neighbors." and "... Patch is under no obligation to enforce the Patch Terms of Use on your behalf or based on a claim by you that another user has violated it." If commenters are continued to be allowed to make personal attacks on authors and others, I suspect more of us will make dailyvoice.com and other sites our choice for local news and discussion. Stop alienating the majority of your readers for the sake of a few consistently rude and disrespectful participants. If you enforce civility without censorship you protect the value of your site. (So when you remove a comment, give an opportunity for the commmenter to rephrase it in a topical, non-abusive manner.) Editors: Your feedback in this thread, or in a separate article would be appreciated. Thank you, Brian
Brian K: that is by far the most sober comment I've read on this thread yet.
I sincerely hope the editors of Patch will heed your suggestion/counsel. In the past, when addressing e-mails to the editors re violations of Patch Terms of Use, I have found some editors to be responsive, and others to ignore flagrant violations.
ouisiana Governor Bobby Jindal hurled harsh criticism at his own party after the GOP was blindsided in the 2012 elections, telling Republicans to end "dumbed-down conservatism" by putting a stop to "offensive, bizarre" comments. “It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments -- enough of that,” Jindal told Politico. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.” Jindal told Politico Republicans should “stop being the stupid party” by working to embrace a larger group of constituents rather than becoming the party of "big anything."
Watch the GOP now look to push him out or marginalize him even fuhrer..err further because he dares to speak out against Das Party. I don't think the GOP will change in time for the 2016 elections. They might very well continue to push further and further to the right and make the same mistake the DNC made. Hubris and Arrogrance. Hallmarks of the GOP.