Friday, November 30, 2012

Stuart speaks.

Mississippi native Stuart Stevens defended his management of the Romney campaign in this Washington Post essay:

"Over the years, one of the more troubling characteristics of the Democratic Party and the left in general has been a shortage of loyalty and an abundance of self-loathing. It would be a shame if we Republicans took a narrow presidential loss as a signal that those are traits we should emulate.

I appreciate that Mitt Romney was never a favorite of D.C.’s green-room crowd or, frankly, of many politicians. That’s why, a year ago, so few of those people thought that he would win the Republican nomination. But that was indicative not of any failing of Romney’s but of how out of touch so many were in Washington and in the professional political class. Nobody liked Romney except voters. What began in a small field in New Hampshire grew into a national movement. It wasn’t our campaign, it was Romney. He bested the competition in debates, and though he was behind almost every candidate in the GOP primary at one time or the other, he won the nomination and came very close to winning the presidency.....

On Nov. 6, Romney carried the majority of every economic group except those with less than $50,000 a year in household income. That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters. While John McCain lost white voters younger than 30 by 10 points, Romney won those voters by seven points, a 17-point shift. Obama received 4½million fewer voters in 2012 than 2008, and Romney got more votes than McCain.

The Obama organization ran a great campaign. In my world, the definition of the better campaign is the one that wins.

But having been involved in three presidential races, two of which we won closely and one that we lost fairly closely, I know enough to know that we weren’t brilliant because Florida went our way in 2000 or enough Ohioans stuck with us in 2004. Nor are we idiots because we came a little more than 320,000 votes short of winning the electoral college in 2012. Losing is just losing. It’s not a mandate to throw out every idea that the candidate championed, and I would hope it’s not seen as an excuse to show disrespect for a good man who fought hard for values we admire. ..." Rest of essay

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since the median family income is right at 50K, a person competent in 2nd grade math would grasp the importance of that group.

Kingfish said...

You noticed that?

Anonymous said...

The middle class has also shrunk.

Stuart conveniently left out how Romney did with two rather large group of voters, women and Latinos.

By Romney's own " math", he started out with a loss of "47%" of the voters. Somehow, he missed that many of the blue collar workers who were solidly in the GOP camp in past elections were now dependent on government help to survive.

And, of course, there were GOP loyalists in NJ who saw for the first time why federal help is needed in disasters and what a real disaster actually involves.

And, overlooked by all the pundits is our wounded warriors and the families of the KIA. They were seen apparently, in simply their actual numbers rather than understanding for every wounded warrior there are family members and friends who live the challenges with the warrior. Looking at the numbers in the military is something the GOP needs to do. Obama made inroads there throughout his Presidency and into a voting group, the military, that has been overwhelmingly in the GOP camp.

Had Obama shown up for the first debate, the loss would have been far worse.

But, there are thousands of " bad" moments throughout the primary and campaign. The lack of party discipline was awful. Whether it was the public getting a real look at Norquist who picked this time to start giving interviews on televisions and frankly, comes across very badly as a human being save to his devotees, The Donald who was just plain an embarrassment or individual GOP members going way off script with their own bizarre ideas, the GOP unlike the Dems did not stay on message.

If all that weren't bad enough,the GOP still doesn't " get" it and doesn't see the opportunity that exists.

The public would like very much for both parties to stop running for the next election long enough to start solving problems. It's time the prima donnas stepped aside and let the statesmen lead.

Neither party wins the Presidency with their entrenched loyalists alone. So the most surprising part is that Stuart still doesn't seem to get that. Or,perhaps, he does and has picked up on the fact that the GOP loyalist doesn't appear inclined to be gracious in defeat and accept the will of the voters. Perhaps, he senses that for many loyalists, it is better to ensure that the current administration fails than that the Nation succeeds.

Anonymous said...

Curious about that statement that there was a 17-point shift in the votes of whites under the age of 30. Without more information, comparing 2008 to 2012 might be apples and oranges.

What percentage of total voter participation did that group make up in 2008 versus 2012? And what were the registration and participation rates of that group compared to its voting age population? It's been my understanding (and I can't recall which article I read this in) that registration rates for the white VAP under 35 have significantly lowered in the last three elctions.

If you are registering a given demographic group at a lower rate, even if your participation rate remains level you end up with a smaller representative group -- the proportion to other demographic groups is going to be off. That 17-point shift might not actually mean anything.

Not sure that this essay accomplishes anything for him.

Anonymous said...

Stuart ran a poor campaign...but who hired him? Romney did!

Anonymous said...

@9:05, "what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone [o]n this [board] is now dumber for having [read] it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

Anonymous said...

Gee thanks, 12:46 pm. I always appreciate wishes for God's mercy.

I'm sorry it was hard for you to follow. Perhaps, you missed the primary , election and results.

For sure, you don't read polling data.

In your world, what were the percentages of women,Latinos,and blue collar workers and military who voted for Romney? What is the most common complaint made by the American voter?

Do you think Murdock and Akin and Donald Trump were sticking to GOP talking points?

9:16 am's astute comment must have gone right over your head as well.







Anonymous said...

Only a truly out of touch person could call a electoral college vote shellacking and losing the popular vote by 3.5 percent a "narrow loss." The President won reelection easily because he has done a good job after taking over extremely difficult circumstances and just as importantly, because Gov. Romney revealed himself to the Ametican people to be a dishonest, out of touch rich guy who has no idea what average folks(his 47%) go through in tough economic times. Deliberately vilifying Hispanics and African-Americans, while waging a war on women's health care, didn't help him either.


I hope the Repubs. continue to believe they lost because of a hurricane or Gov. Christie or "welfare queens," etc. so that they will continue losing Presidential elections.

Anonymous said...

Where are all the anti-Semites in Fondren to tell us about the great things happening in Egypt?



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