To post this comment click here:
Otherwise click cancel.
I also think this race seriously hurt what was a prospective chance at the Governors office in the future. Never say never, but this was a very poorly run campaign compared to last.
Live by the stupid attacks, die by the stupid, childish attacks. Works in Georgia, not in MA.
The "hold your nose and vote for Tierney" meme over at the kiddie table is evidence enough of that.
The election of a vacuous, unaccomplished carpetbagger based solely on name recognition is evidence enough of that.
As a state party we need to offer something other than democrat-lite / bipartisan. I had the same impression about the local senate races - the candidates offered to be better at bringing home the local aid instead of fundamentally asking why we have this patronage system to begin with. Democrats are winning because they have realized this - don't hide from who you are go out and fight for it. Make the other guy look bad for not compromising with you don't offer to be the one to give in...
I don't know if libertarian is the right place but at some point I think we need to come up with an alternate brand to republican - especially in Massachusetts. It has become too tied into the social conservative movement in the country. It is impossible to get anywhere in this state as a republican - too easy to bring up the Todd Akin bogeyman anytime you get any traction. I think a serious attempt at a party that stood for fiscal conservatism but not evangelical conservatism could gain a following - and not just at the fringes. We just can't start by taking it to the extreme and offering a vision of immediately blowing up the existing system.
Just as the democrats realized they can't come in the front door with single payer healthcare and need to take over/break the legacy system first we need to do the same. If the tax code sucks - don't offer a plan that eliminates it completely - that is easily written off as extremism. Offer a plan that begins by simplifying it - but without the baggage of abortion/gay marriage/etc. Once you are in and have proven that your ideas work you can make bigger changes.
This state truly is a cesspool.
No canvasing in my town - I held signs on my own motivation.
After their votes for delegates were essentially invalidated, I imagine they had a bad taste in the mouth and probably voted for Fishman.
The GOP's actions in that instance really ended up coming back to bite them. We had opportunity to pull these voters into the party, instead we further eroded our numbers.
I think it's a mistake to assume Fishman's voters would have done anything other than blank the race had he not been in it. One thing third party candidates do is allow us to count some of the ballots that otherwise would have been blank.
If Tisei did lose the votes of libertarians who might have otherwise voted for him, then he made a monumental blunder by not pitching to them directly. There really wasn't any daylight between Tisei and Fishman, so it wouldn't have been a hard case to make.
When you run a fake republican against a fake Indian...the fake Indian is going to win every time.
Scott Brown beat Coakley because she was perhaps the worst candidate in the history of bad candidates. She should have "hammered" Brown.
Brown spent too much time pandering to women; trying to prove he's a "get along" kind of guy; apologizing for things he had nothing to do with. At his core, he's a compromise artist. The trouble with those, and Mitt displayed it too...by not going after Obama on Libya...is when you have your political enemy in your sights, you fail to pull the proverbial trigger. Brown's case against Warren was dictated by the media, not by his principles.
Face it...he is who he said he would be....he's a "moderate", which translates to "more donkey than elephant".
I think the same thing hurt Tisei. There is room for the Fishman's of the world because the GOP isn't conservative enough.
Just my 2 cents. I've been saying this since I joined RMG. Some of you disagree, but election results confirm my thoughts time and time again. "Gee, I had no idea..." Simple J. (Festus) Malarkey
Brown lost because of Warren's good ground game and presidential coat tails.
Brown would have won if this was not a Presidential election.
The Tisei outcome is just sad
I agree you can't run as a fake republican or fake conservative. But we can realize our arguments are falling on deaf ears, and find new conservative arguments, new ideas, and new ways to confront 21st century America.
Marriage Equality is Conservative at it's core. Romney-care was conservative at it's core. Paying down debt (yes with revenue AND frugality) is conservative at it's core.
We have options. We choose not to make the arguments, and have instead ceded them to a growing Democratic party. We've severely put ourselves into a corner in a pursuit of purity that isn't very conservative in nature. It's hampered our ability to adapt and connect with new demographics we sorely need.
Brown won in my almost south coast town 2:1 and Romney won - which I find amazing.
The problem is the cities vs. the suburbs.
I believe that a more serious soul searching tells us that this is NOT a "center right country"...and not even "center left" country...but a LEFT WING country...for now.
The USA looks a lot like England did in the decade before Thatcher. What is worse... we have lost the young (if by a smaller margin than in 08) and that means they STILL are not getting it about the debt, unemployment, and their future.
The country is on the dole; the "have nots" have won. The majority of people in places like Massachusetts, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania want a Shining City on the hill, but want it paid for by someone else. Too many people have accepted that it's okay to suck off their neighbors success.
Regarding the Presidential race...A liberal Republican lost to a Marxist Democrat. It's that simple.
Brown lost because he failed...he based his campaign on media talking points and not on the issues....he failed....because he pandered to women....he ran a piss poor campaign and the only one he has to blame is himself. "Gee, I had no idea..." Simple J. (Festus) Malarkey
Word choice is very important. "Marriage Equality" is a BS term used to gin up emotions to something that is a logical fallacy. The vast majority of homosexuals don't desire "marriage"; rather, militant homosexual activists desire to use "same-sex marriage" as both a tool to normalize homosexual behaviors and as a weapon to tear down the institution of legitimate marriage.
You don't become MORE conservative, or appeal to more conservatives by adopting LESS conservative values.
Essentially what YOU are advocating is a wholesale takeover of the GOP by the moderate wing of the democrat party.
MARK LEVIN: We conservatives, we do not accept bipartisanship in the pursuit of tyranny. Period. We will not negotiate the terms of our economic and political servitude. Period. We will not abandon our child to a dark and bleak future. We will not accept a fate that is alien to the legacy we inherited from every single future generation in this country. We will not accept social engineering by politicians and bureaucrats who treat us like lab rats, rather than self-sufficient human beings. There are those in this country who choose tyranny over liberty. They do not speak for us, 57 million of us who voted against this yesterday, and they do not get to dictate to us under our Constitution. We are the alternative. We will resist. We're not going to surrender to this. We will not be passive, we will not be compliant in our demise. We're not good losers, you better believe we're sore losers! A good loser is a loser forever. Now I hear we're called 'purists.' Conservatives are called purists. The very people who keep nominating moderates, now call us purists the way the left calls us purists. Yeah, things like liberty, and property rights, individual sovereignty, and the Constitution, and capitalism. We're purists now. And we have to hear this crap from conservatives, or pseudo-conservatives, Republicans.
We are the alternative. We will resist. We're not going to surrender to this. We will not be passive, we will not be compliant in our demise. We're not good losers, you better believe we're sore losers! A good loser is a loser forever. Now I hear we're called 'purists.' Conservatives are called purists. The very people who keep nominating moderates, now call us purists the way the left calls us purists. Yeah, things like liberty, and property rights, individual sovereignty, and the Constitution, and capitalism. We're purists now. And we have to hear this crap from conservatives, or pseudo-conservatives, Republicans.
http://www.realclearpolitics.c... "Gee, I had no idea..." Simple J. (Festus) Malarkey
I'm fine with other peoples religious definitions, but let them keep that to them selves, and their church.
Bringing GBLT people into the fabric of our society with civil marriage is conservative. Period. It's a good thing, unless you like to selectively [s]read[/s] bible verses.
And most young Conservatives agree. The only question is how long it will take for the party to change, and if the current leaders will have to be cast aside before we get there.
