Obama Ran A Smart Campaign, But Romney's Blunder Was Historic. Back in the spring, the Obama campaign essentially telegraphed its re-election strategy: First it would soften up Mitt Romney as the sort of heartless over-dog who could watch Seabiscuit and somehow root for his big scary rival. Then it would add a policy dimension to the argument, accusing Romney of wanting to cut taxes for the rich while defunding the programs the rest of us rely on. The personal argument would explain why Romney wanted to screw the middle class (because he’s an economic overlord who looks down on them with disdain).
The policy argument would explain the how. What’s surprising isn’t that this strategy worked in the end, with Obama eking out a narrow popular vote win (even as he routed Romney in the Electoral College). The Obama folks had clearly scouted out their opponent and sized him up well. What’s surprising is that, having watched Chicago telegraph its plan, the Romney campaign chose not to adjust its own strategy in response. Stuart Stevens, buffoon. When the Romney campaign seemed to implode in September and the blame game began, lots of blame got dumped on top strategist Stuart Stevens. Not surprisingly, Stevens has penned a defense of his candidate and his campaign – and it’s delusional, divisive and unbelievably stupid.
In his Washington Post Op-Ed, “Mitt Romney: A good man. The right fight,” Stevens seems to argue that Romney practically won, because he won a majority of voters who make more than $50,000 a year. “That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters,” Stevens claims. First of all, the median household income in the U.S. is $50,000; median personal income is around $40,000. Stevens also consoles himself that where John McCain lost young white voters to Obama in 2008, Romney won them by 7 points in some polls. Stevens blames Romney’s troubles on his unpopularity with “DC’s Green Room” culture. Nobody liked Romney except voters. And Stevens all but claims Obama beat Romney because he’s black: Earth to Stuart? The Married vs. Single Woman Vote - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 11/14. Piercing the Republican Epistemic Bubble | Daylight Atheism. I've written some overarching thoughts about last week's presidential election, but I wanted to dwell on one of its more fascinating aspects: the extent to which the Republican party was blindsided by the outcome.
Going into Tuesday, countless Republicans had predicted a solid victory for Mitt Romney, and it's clear that this wasn't just a political ploy to sway media coverage. On the contrary, Republicans at every level sincerely believed this - ordinary voters, professional pundits, and apparently even the candidate himself. Their unfeigned shock, bewilderment, and grief over Barack Obama's overwhelming electoral victory is more than sufficient evidence. But there was no reason why they should have been surprised, because the outcome of this election was completely foreseeable. What this shows, I think, is how cut off from reality the GOP is. The GOP's self-confidence was so unwavering that, I'll admit it, it even made me worry a little. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons. Why Romney was surprised to lose: His campaign had the wrong numbers, bad assumptions, and underestimated Barack Obama’s campaign team.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. Mitt Romney says he is a numbers guy, but in the end he got the numbers wrong. His campaign was adamant that public polls in the swing states were mistaken. They claimed the pollsters were over-estimating the number of Democrats who would turn out on Election Day. Romney’s campaign was certain that minorities would not show up for Obama in 2012 the way they did in 2008. “It just defied logic,” said a top aide of the idea that Obama could match, let alone exceed, his performance with minorities from the last election.
When anyone raised the idea that public polls were showing a close race, the campaign’s pollster said the poll modeling was flawed and everyone moved on. Internally, the campaign’s own polling—tweaked to represent their view of the electorate, with fewer Democrats—showed a steady uptick for Romney since the first debate. How did the Romney team get it so wrong? It’s not that the Romney camp failed to meet its targets. The Colbert Report Election 2012 - Too Close to Call - The Colbert Report - 2012-06-11. Defeated Man Victorious. CHICAGO—Following a turbulent first term in office and one of the tightest and most-hard-fought presidential campaigns in recent history, a wholly and utterly defeated man emerged victorious Tuesday, winning reelection with 332 electoral votes. The shell of a man, who won 26 states and lost all hope in the American people, was able to secure victory with 50.6 percent of the popular vote, narrowly holding off a spirited challenge from Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m. Eastern time, upon prevailing in the key battleground state of Ohio, major media outlets declared the thoroughly beaten man’s victory. An hour later, the triumphant defeated man took the stage in Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center to the cheers of more than 10,000 supporters. “Tonight is a victory for all those who recognize that the truest path to prosperity is through opportunity for all,” the utterly lost winner added.
'I Want To Congratulate The President,' Romney Says In 240,000th And Final Lie Of Campaign. BOSTON—While delivering his concession speech at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center Tuesday night, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney uttered the 240,000th and final lie of his 2012 campaign when he offered his “sincere congratulations” to President Barack Obama. “This has been a hard-fought and closely contested campaign, and while we’ve had our share of disagreements, there has always been a great deal of respect and admiration between myself and the president,” said Romney, concluding 17 months’ worth of manipulative falsehoods, half-truths, and outright fabrications with one last bald-faced lie. “Tonight, the American people made their voices heard. And now I urge every one of my supporters to set aside their differences with my opponent and join me in standing behind our president, so that we all may come together in a spirit of understanding and cooperation to build a better America.”
Pundit Scorecard: Checking pundits’ predictions against the actual results of the presidential election. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images With the election over and the final results mostly tallied, there’s little left to guess about: Barack Obama has won with 332 electoral votes (assuming his lead holds in Florida), 62 beyond the 270 needed to win. The 2012 presidential election has come to a close, and voters can finally, at long last, think about something else.
Pundits, however, shouldn’t be allowed to go about their business quite yet. Many of them made very public and very specific predictions about the election’s outcome. In the interactive below, each dart represents a pundit's predictions. Obama: Romney: Difference: Correction, Nov. 7, 2012: The infographic previously listed nonpartisan analyst Reid Wilson as a conservative pundit. "2012 Debates Highlights" — A Bad Lip Reading of the 2012 US Presidential Debates. Fox News’ dark night of the soul. By the time we got to the 11 o’clock hour of election night on the East Coast and it all fell apart fast for Mitt Romney and the Republican Party, the atmosphere had turned grumpy and pugnacious on Fox News. No one was in any mood for the grace that the network’s commentators had displayed – no, really! — after Barack Obama’s historic victory four years ago. If Karl Rove’s on-air hissy fit about whether his colleagues had prematurely called Ohio for Obama (they hadn’t) was the undoubted highlight, the generalized sourness and weirdness spread much wider than that.
Carl Cameron, Fox’s top political reporter, generally prides himself on playing it down the middle, at least by the network’s standards. But he couldn’t stop himself from delivering an impassioned stand-up from Romney HQ in Boston that felt like an extended paean to a guy that almost everyone in the country will be delighted never to see or hear anything about again. Political Kombat ’12: Obama vs Romney. Presidential election: Mitt Romney’s moderate tone at the end of the race doesn’t mean that he would govern as a moderate. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images I am just a foreign policy geek, so, like Phil Hartman’s unfrozen caveman lawyer on the old Saturday Night Live, I am confused by the world of election-eve pundits. So please, someone, explain some things to me. Fred Kaplan is the author of The Insurgents and the Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Follow For instance, Republican spin-meisters are reportedly preparing to blame Hurricane Sandy if President Obama wins re-election.
But, assuming the analysis is true—and it’s dubious—why is this a matter of “blame”? Then there’s the argument that if Romney wins, it will only be because he moved to the center and that, therefore, in order to be re-elected four years from now, he will govern in the center as well. Then there are those, like David Frum, the Republican apostate, who sees in the New Romney a candidate who meets his standards of what the GOP should, and once did, stand for. Broken Democratic Platform Promises from 2008. As the Democratic Convention continues, and generates positive headlines due to competent storytelling and effective use of show business tactics, it’s important to recognize that the ultimate meat of governing – policy – is disconnected from the election.
It’s not that the election doesn’t matter to people, because clearly, people care deeply about which icon is on their TV telling them about their political system. But recognize that the showbiz is not the policy, that the showbiz isn’t even related to the policy. There is a generalized and acknowledged sense that Obama has been a disappointment in certain policy areas, like prosecuting Wall Street criminals.
But still, the argument is still held in certain corners that Obama has largely followed through on his campaign promises from 2008, and if he did not meet the expectations of his supporters, that is because they read things into his candidacy that were not there. Here’s a list of some of the broken promises from 2008. Nope. Nope. Why is the left defending Obama? The 2012 election is next Tuesday. We face a choice between Barack Obama, a candidate whose Presidency we can examine and evaluate, and Mitt Romney, who is a dangerous cipher.
My argument – made last week in “Progressive Case Against Obama“, is that progressives should evaluate these risks honestly, with a clear-headed analysis of Obama’s track record.This piece sparked a massive debate that has had both Obama loyalists and Republicans resort to outlandish name-calling, evidently as a result of their unwillingness or inability to address the issues raised. . It is remarkable to see the level to which Obama defenders have sunk. Let’s start with a basic problem – why is Obama in a tight race? Obama came into office with a massive mandate, overwhelming control of Congress, hundreds of billions of TARP money to play with, the ability to prosecute Wall Street executives and break their power, and the opportunity for a massive stimulus. Another argument came from Peter Coyote, in Salon. Reading Guide: Where Romney and Obama Actually Stand on Global Warming.
We’ve looked beyond the candidates’ rhetoric — or lack thereof — to find out where they actually stand on climate change. The view of storm damage over the Atlantic Coast in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 31. (Doug Mills/AFP/Getty Images) In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo linked the storm [1] to a broader change in the weather. "I don't call it 'global warming' because you trigger a whole political debate," Cuomo said. "But the frequency of extreme weather is going way up. " President Obama and Mitt Romney have been even more reluctant to utter the words "global warming. " Obama has barely spoken of it on the campaign trail, while Romney has mocked [2] the president's earlier promise to address climate change. As reporters and scientists discuss what role climate change may have played [3] in fueling the storm [4], we've looked beyond the candidates' rhetoric — or lack thereof — to find out where they actually stand: Mitt Romney.
Our American endorsement: Which one? FOUR years ago, The Economist endorsed Barack Obama for the White House with enthusiasm. So did millions of voters. Next week Americans will trudge to the polls far less hopefully. So (in spirit at least) will this London-based newspaper. Having endured a miserably negative campaign, the world’s most powerful country now has a much more difficult decision to make than it faced four years ago. That is in large part because of the woeful nature of Mr Obama’s campaign. A man who once personified hope and centrism set a new low by unleashing attacks on Mitt Romney even before the first Republican primary.
The changeling Mr Obama’s first term has been patchy. Two other things count, on balance, in his favour. All these problems could have been anticipated. The other qualified achievement is health reform. It is here that our doubts about Mr Obama set in. Many a Mitt makes a muddle Take foreign policy. Or take reducing the deficit and reforming American government. You’d better believe him. Eugene Robinson: Why the Chill on Climate Change? Why the Chill on Climate Change? Posted on Oct 21, 2012 By Eugene Robinson Not a word has been said in the presidential debates about what may be the most urgent and consequential issue in the world: climate change. President Obama understands and accepts the scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is trapping heat in the atmosphere, with potentially catastrophic long-term effects. Mitt Romney’s view, as on many issues, is pure quicksilver—impossible to pin down—but when he was governor of Massachusetts, climate change activists considered him enlightened and effective.
Yet neither has mentioned the subject in the debates. Instead, they have argued over who is more eager to extract ever-larger quantities of oil, natural gas and coal from beneath our purple mountains’ majesties and fruited plains. “We have increased oil production to the highest levels in 16 years,” Obama said in Tuesday’s debate. Romney scoffed that Obama “has not been Mr. This is silly. Storms and elections: The politics of Hurricane Sandy. An Information Diet for the 2012 Election: Tips from the Experts | Think Tank. There are only two weeks left in the presidential election, which for many people is two weeks too many.
In fact, nine months ago, 57 percent of respondents said that the election had already gone on too long, according to a Pew survey. After many months of campaigning, the candidates are exhausted, putting themselves in danger of committing gaffes or disturbing outbursts like the sleep-deprived and over-wired Howard Dean scream of 2004. But what about you - the voter? According to a survey of Big Think experts the noise of the long campaign may not only be annoying, but also bad for your health. However, our experts also suggest effective ways for dealing with the over-consumption of information. What's the Big Idea? Some of us waste hundreds of hours of our lives, as David Brooks recently pointed out, by checking poll after poll. So what is the effect of these types of activities? What can we do about it? Blogger Maneesh Sethi has a novel approach to cutting out distractions.
'Obama, Romney - same police state': Third party debate up-close (FULL VIDEO) Emily Hauser’s Disgusting Indifference to Women of Color « Translation Exercises. The man without a soul. Must-see morning clip. A Selection of Attack Ads From Congressional Races - Video Feature. Mitt Romney: a True Political Cynic. Romney Delivers Stern Warning To China, Speaking Directly Into The Camera In Fluent Mandarin. Debate 2012: Grading Obama and Romney on Science: In-Depth Reports. Romney Sets New Personal Best for Faking Empathy. Debate Ends Abruptly as Obama Punches Romney in Face. A Faux Debate on Foreign Policy. Campaign 2012. Mitt Romney's Five Nuttiest Moments From the Second Presidential Debate | Politics News. The Etch-A-Sketch argument: The Democrats play hide and seek with Mitt Romney. Green Party candidate Jill Stein: “90 million people have no one to vote for”
Would A Man Who Doesn't Support Women Let His Wife Pick Out Any Oven She Wants For Her Birthday? Tearful Mitt Romney Announces He Has Rare Disease Where You Can't Sit Quietly On Stool When Repeatedly Asked To. Jon Stewart Rips Romney's Binders Full Of Women. Mitt Romney’s Version of Equal Rights. Debate #2: Is This All There Is? Romney Stunned by Debate Moderator's Fact Check on Libya Attacks. Jon Stewart Takes Down Fox's Coverage of the VP Debate.
Obama Excited To Participate In First Debate. Obama v. Romney Rematch: Louis v. Schmeling 2? The US Presidential Debates' Illusion of Political Choice. The Vice Presidential Debate: Joe Biden Was Right to Laugh | Matt Taibbi. The ‘Moderate Mitt’ Myth. Romney’s $9 Trillion Dilemma. Joe Biden/Paul Ryan Vice Presidential Debate (VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT. 10 Things Paul Ryan Doesn't Want You to Know. Horse-race politics: An animation of the 2012 presidential election as a horse race. The First Presidential Debate Gets The Bad Lip Reading Treatment. What qualities should we look for in our presidents? Romney’s shameless appeal to women. The Campaign Decoder: Sorting the presidential campaign’s gaffes, antics, and false controversies from the stuff that actually matters.