State of denial

The real blow to Republicans may be not that they failed to take the White House, but that they did not lose more heavily

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Readers' comments



CFCHeadHunter in reply to kpxoxol

Superb: A comment on an article (with the message that the GOP needs to face reality) that completely avoids reality and cites no source. I may need to think about this, but is it any surprise that the Russians should disparage American democracy ?.... mmmmm .... NO! The electoral college is constitutional, so can be changed, should that be the will of the people.

75gdhMm869 in reply to incrementalist

The problem with your statement is that the Republicans in 2004 weren't leading at the front of a wave of change, social, political, demographic, or otherwise.

This time around, the Democrats are representing a wave of change in America. Increasingly large minority voting blocs, the activating of women voters, and the intolerance for foot-in-mouth syndrome all played in the Democrats' favor.

This is the key difference. The Republicans are getting older and have remained white, whilst the Democrats embrace diversity and youth, two growing factors in the American political landscape.

Dmitry Kalinchenko in reply to Ohio

The point about them dying off is a good one. I thought about it soon after I posted this. By virtue of being mostly old and white, they are not likely to survive as a sizable voting block for a long time.


The Economist, likes so many conservatives, needs to understand that less government means more corruption at the state and local levels. Republicans would have had greater losses if not for gerrymandering and fraud. Think of this, in Wisconsin, Obama and Baldwin won, and Walker??? Walker is the total opposite of Baldwin. Russ Feingold isn't as liberal as Tammy Baldwin.

Berational in reply to barry carlisle

Wrong again. The "Economist" is not replying to you, it's other readers who are pointing out that your objections to scientific findings are based solely in an emotional reaction to having your ideology challenged. If facts contradict your ideological perspective, you're supposed to change your ideological perspective, not ignore the facts, blame a liberal conspiracy, engage in logical fallacies, etc...

Also, there is nothing doctrinaire about a post explaining to you the difference between insults and a fallacious argument. Try looking up the meaning of doctrinaire. If you so hate being corrected I suggest you try not making so many mistakes.

Berational in reply to barry carlisle

"conspiracy theories, cherry-picking, fake experts, moving goalposts and logical fallacies to argue against legitimate science"

None of those are childish shaming insults. They are examples of fallacious tactics being used because there is no real argument being made.

Berational in reply to WTSherman

Really! The climate changes all the time?? I guess the scientists who have devoted their lives to studying this subject must have missed that. LOL

But seriously, it is well known that the climate changes over time and it is easy to see that the change going on now is unlike the changes of the past. You can follow this link http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page3.php
for an explanation from NASA (though I doubt facts will make any difference to your beliefs)

The fact that the emission of massive amounts of greenhouse gasses is having a greenhouse effect should not be surprising to anyone. But calling this simple observation hubris is just plain weird.

Duckdawdger in reply to QFAs

Bravo. Very eloquently stated. The problem is that libertarian, common sense conservatives that express these conditions for a return to electability are pilloried by the extreme right just the same or more than the extreme left. We may actually be more of a threat because it is more difficult to dismiss us. However, currently it seems impossible to break through the bell jar, the shock of exposure to reality too painful. It would be wonderful (yet totally naive) to think that Karl Rove could have a Claude Rains moment from the end of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" as in "I'm to blame, it's all my fault, etc."!

Thank you, however for expressing what it means to be a progressive conservative so well.

panegyricus in reply to Duckdawdger

Yes, so true. To a Democratic strategist, few things sound so melodiously sweet as Rush Limbaughs "Barack the magic Negro". They can hear the votes racking up as the background accompaniment. Meanwhile Limbaugh cannot understand why the disguised racial animosity of his song may spur people to vote for the supposedly anti American Obama, who is just waiting to unleash his inner Mau Mau upon the land.
And few things evoke as much pathologic interest as a cretin who cannot understand his own predicament and blames others for it day in and day out. Perhaps M. Limbaugh should now take a break from all his malodorous toxicity and focus on himself, particularly how to avoid his 4th divorce, which appears to be all but inevitable for someone who lacks self-awareness to such an impressive degree.

Leon Duffy in reply to John_77

Perhaps for many of us the first part of the Obama plan was to not do what Romney promised, cut taxes and increase the military.

After that, we would love to see infrastructure spending and education spending but we are waiting to see what is possible with the Tea Party house.

Our hope is that this time Obama will take it to the bully pulpit / court of public opinion.

We don't like a deficit anymore than conservatives but there is a time to spend.

We would also like to cut back the military but I can already hear the conservative wailing when I say that. And what have we got for such a mind boggling military budget (Eisenhower warned against the military industrial complex)?

We didn't win in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan don't look like they were worth the tremendous cost.

I worked for a big military electronics contractor and it does provide a good job but the products don't seem to add much value to the economy.

Duckdawdger in reply to panegyricus

To a fundamentalist believer, accepting responsibility and blame for that which counters your beliefs is impossible. That is why rational conservatives must demonize current right wing media punditry in order to take back the party. Rush Limbaugh has his likes help the Dems way more than hurts them. That's why Jim Carville (democratic strategist) on Bill Maher Friday was highly supportive of the current Fox Media status quo!

dunnhaupt in reply to John_77

Politics is the art of doing the doable. You cannot go with your head through the wall like the fanatical Teapartiers who probably prolonged the unemployment and slowed down the recovery that had already begun. Sometimes it is the zealous patriots who do their country the greatest harm.


I believe that republicans are doomed to failure in an increasingly racially diverse america. They can pass all the amnesty laws of the world and have all the Marc Rubios they care for, non whites ppl know that racism is at the core of the very fabric of conservative america, there is no other way to explain the republican dominance in the South and among a majority of white men. To many latinos, Rubio is just another white dude who speaks spanish, south americans themselves have their own issues with class and race, there is a growing racial consciousness in many parts of that continent (Morales or Chavez, anyone?). The cultural and racial divide will deepen no matter what and ironically an amnesty could only hasten it.

Leon Duffy in reply to What about Bob

I am in the South and one woman came to work the day after the election crying because now the US was going to become a socialist country.

Your GOP has been taken over by Fox News and the Tea Party. My prediction is that in the next 4 years you will begin to see the adults in the Republican party start speaking out and saying this, too.

It will be difficult because Fox News makes a lot of money telling my coworker these things that she wants to hear.


Hey GOP don't fret. The Young Guns (Cantor, Ryan and McCarthy) are going to add Rubio, Jindal and Haley to the roster.....a white Cuban and 2 brown skin Indians to lead the ticket in 2016. I heard it on FOX News, its only a skin tint/ethcnicity issue, there is no ideology issue problem with the GOP per Charles Krauthammer.

The GOP is like an Ostrich with its head in the sand that can't figure out why it keeps getting kicked in the ass with no forewarning.

Mörre in reply to Dennis in VA

People who accuse THIS magazine to be "left" have really reached new heights of... I don't quite know, but it does sound like those heights are in a magical land and not in THIS world.

It's like those people who enter a German autobahn on the wrong side: Listening to traffic radio, where a wrong-way driver warning is being broadcast, they think "One???? Hundreds!!!".

Michael Dunne

Were you channeling some Ayn Rand delusion-ists when writing this:
"Paul Ryan, a deer-hunter with an iPod full of rock anthems,"
I can't see Congressman Ryan appealing to broader constituencies yet, or helping bring non-traditonal voting blocs into the Republican tent. Not at this point.
Seems there is a track record of flirting with certain extremists like Akin.
Personally I didn't like the fact he was an enthusiast of Ayn Rand (seeing what that did for Greenspan), and at the same time was responsible for our current debt problems, from being big spender in practice during the Bush Administration (see voting record).
Much air time is given about his district, but doesn't it comprise places like Kenosha county that are around 90% white?

YankeeLiberty in reply to tmbass

My recollection is that there were two versions of the Tea Party. Version 1.0 in the 2010 election run-up was small government, fiscally conservative, and explicitly took no position on social issues. I would argue it was a net win for the Republicans.
Version 2.0 started when Michelle Bachmann anointed herself Tea Party spokesperson, and brought in her full social agenda. Local "leadership" also began to take an evangelical turn in many places. It alienated moderates in droves.
The brand is permanently sullied. Let it die, and may the new small government, fiscally conservative wing prosper.


Lets not be too hard on the Republicans, if you only watched Fox and got your news from the Wall Street Journal, you'd be divorced from reality too..



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