It's good to take a break from things once in a while. Everyone needs a chance to recharge their batteries, reexamine things, and determine what's next.
I'll be completely honest with you - after the complete shellacking the Republican Party took on Election Night, I wasn't much in the mood to discuss politics, let alone write about the results of the election; and I certainly didn't want to get into a squabble about the direction of the Connecticut Republican Party which seems to predominate the majority of Facebook Pages these days. My prediction piece from
earlier this year turned out mostly accurate with two major exceptions - Mitt Romney didn't win, and neither did Andrew Roraback.
With regard to Romney's loss, I'm still very surprised at the outcome. It's hard to believe that America rewarded a failed politician who maintained a full-term of near double-digit unemployment, a stagnant economy, ran a inept foreign policy, and who had no plan on how to get us up and running again. My guess is that the reason Obama won was that things are
so bad that people were afraid to give up what they were clinging to in order to survive: aid, support, unemployment checks, and what-have-you. (The perception being that Mitt Romney would have taken all the safety nets away). In short, for the first time that I can remember, we've become a nation that
fears the future which is hardly the mindset for creative thinking, or finding solutions to our deepest problems. Thirty days post-election, people around me are still in the mindset that if we just close our eyes - eventually our troubles will just go away.
As for the Republican National Committee, well - they certainly have their work cut out for them to regain respectability - at least in this writer's eyes. Mitt Romney wasn't a terrible candidate,
per se. But the strategy to focus solely on key swing states was a big mistake in my humble opinion, and it had devastating consequences for our election chances beyond just the Presidential Race. Abandoning loyal Republicans in states like Connecticut sent the wrong message to millions of voters; and in doing so severely damaged the Republican Party's brand nationally. Mitt Romney was quick to come to Fairfield County and pick up millions in donations, but as a reward for our generosity - he told our State Chairman to go purchase his own Romney signs and bumper stickers, if they wanted any Romney visibility around the state. They didn't even bother to fake a presence here; not even so much as a closet space to give the pretend to give the impression that we mattered one iota. I propose that anyone receiving a GOP donation card aught to scribble the words: "
F*CK YOU! CAMPAIGN HERE NEXT TIME ASSHOLES!" and mail it back to RNC,
postage due.
A National Party that abandons it's constituents is not worthy of support. Sorry. I don't want to hear any excuses that outline strategy and tactics, or hedging bets; you can tell all the overpaid, career campaign hacks that results count more than political theories - and so far our so-called experts have done us in,
brilliantly. You know, it wouldn't have taken that much to make a reasonable effort; and it could have helped the under ticket to some extent. If Republican Nutmeggers feel abandoned, well - they should.
I don't have to tell you that in Connecticut our issues run much deeper. We have double the trouble. Here we have a crazy Governor, and a Legislature that spends far more than it collects, and has made the private sector the enemy of the State. And Republicans aren't even on the radar except for the few
media-whores who show up up on John Rowland's show to have a knee-slapping good time preaching to the small choir that commutes home from our dwindling Capitol. Lately, the best part of that show is
traffic and weather, for the rest is about as boring and uncreative as ever.
As far as the Connecticut GOP is concerned, things pretty much turned out as expected. Linda McMahon torpedoed the ticket from top to bottom; her selfish last minute tactic to garnish her appeal by hooking her train to Barack Obama did wonders for poor Andrew Roraback in Connecticut's 5th District. You'd have to be ignorant not to see how McMahon's strategy polarized the CTGOP in the final weeks of the campaign, leaving many to stay home or skip the Senate line all-together. Andrew Roraback deserved better, but the rest of the GOP-field pretty much got what it deserved. Many of our campaigns were manned by novice campaign staff and volunteers. Serious campaigns require serious experience at the helm; and the State GOP did a huge disservice to many of our first time Congressional Candidates who put their lives on hold to try and make a difference by ignoring their requests for help and direction.
One high ranking CTGOP Official told me: "
Every minute I spend in the First, Second or Third District, is a waste of my valuable time." Boy, that aught to make our future candidate recruitment pool feel confident.
Notwithstanding, McMahon's army of well-paid, experience, career-favor collectors ran both her prospects and ours into the ground. This started with buying convention delegates and RTCs which is
old hat by now. Linda McMahon was and always will be a bad candidate - and GOP insiders decided long-ago that it was more important to cash-in and take from her treasure trove then it was to win the U.S. Senate Seat. What a lost opportunity.
What a shame!
The saddest part of the whole thing is that there are still CTGOP State Central Members out there defending the choice. Really? You have to be kidding, us? It's hard to look at some of these people with a straight face when they spew such nonsense. It's people like this who make me believe that the disease within our CTGOP Party leadership is both terminal and incurable. And although there are a few bright spots where new seats may have been captured, they don't offset those that were lost.
So the big argument that's engulfed the CTGOP is whether or not we are too conservative, too liberal, or too idiotic
(I happen to think its the third option). I've looked at all the arguments on both sides of the equation and actually took the time to compare it against the election results map. On one side you have Peter Wolfgang claiming that all the right-wing candidates the FIC endorsed won handily - that's of course, if you discount people like Len Suzio or Bill Wadsworth, and other conservatives who lost. On the other side of the equation you have the left of center crowd crowing that moderate Republicans picked up seats because of the popularity of social liberalism. But this argument too is nonsense; where Democrats were involved in 3-way races, or faced a challenger from the independent line more closely aligned with their ideology, they lost. The results also show that this contrived argument that moderate positions are more appealing to Connecticut residents is equally as fallible as those made by my friends on the right.
Do you want to know what wins elections?
It's getting off your ass every-day, taking nothing for granted and knocking on doors, talking to voters, attending important events, distributing signs and palm cards and having a support team in place to help you get your message out. There is no magic bullet wrapped in some ideological position which makes one more or less attractive to voters (that's just posturing and power-playing by certain political cliques and interest groups vying for control). It's all about elbow-grease. If you took your constituents for granted and campaigned half-assed, then you got the result you deserved. If you went out everyday and worked like it mattered then you likely won. I admit that demographics play a role in certain locations - I understand that. And Republicans aren't likely to take Hartford anytime soon, but lighting does strike - if you're willing to put in the time and make it happen.
There's a lot on the horizon. There is a massive effort underway to determine who the next leader of the CTGOP will be. Our current State Chairman is finally showing a bit of life after a disastrous election, and is now out campaigning for his survivability (
which I'm not so convinced he deserves). So we have our internal wars, listening tours, and feedback sessions - which are largely pointless bitch and gripe sessions - which are
least productive in helping us rebuild our Party. Then you have your early jockeying for the next big thing - the upcoming Governor's Race which at this point seems like it will be made up of the usual suspects which Democrats eager to run against based on CTGOP candidate appeal and perceived electability.
Still our problems persist. And in the end we'll have to decide whether competency and electability will trump pay-offs and the favor-patronage system. Honestly, I'm not that hopeful. But there's always a glimmer of hope that the public will become fed-up enough of the status quo and replace the entrenched, self-serving saboteurs among us with those who will put constituents and the public interest first.
I AM
THE KING
This original blog entry can be found at http://www.thekingsview.blogspot.com.
Disclaimer: This entry and others will be modified/updated at a future date. All entries are for the sole purpose of entertainment. This article does not imply endorsement of any candidate, nor has it been solicited for publication by any political candidate, party, campaign, or PAC.