Don't Snatch Defeat From the Jaws of Victory

I'm going through some of my past postings about why we lost the Presidential election in 2008, and what I thought should be done to win in 2012. What should we have learned from McCain's 2008 loss?

Well, first we need to remember why McCain was the nominee.

McCain was the GOP nominee because he was the most unlike Bush, and Bush, rightly or wrongly, has been effectively trashed in the populace. We knew Bush wasn’t a consistent conservative before he got the nomination in 2000. He’s proved it in his Presidency, and although there has been much he has done right, there have been things that he’s done wrong, or ineffectively, including public relations.

So why did he lose?

Unfortunately, McCain had a hard time winning over the GOP base. His campaign finance reform, which has obviously been ineffective in removing the influence of money from campaigns, had left conservatives with a bad taste in their mouths. Many conservatives and others were also upset with his work on the shamnesty bill for illegal aliens. Instead of having a nominee who offered a clear difference from Obama in that regard, we had McCain. And did it help him or anyone else in the GOP with Latino voters? No! So he lost some of the base and independents, and didn’t gain Latinos.

While McCain touted federalism in some areas that weren’t a major focus in this election, he failed to articulate truly conservative or libertarian positions clearly enough or early enough in the general campaign. That’s because in many areas, he couldn’t without disavowing his own votes and previous positions. Instead, he tried to play Santa Claus. But a Republican can never outpromise the Democrats. The Democrats will always promise more goodies. So to a lot of people, McCain appeared to be doing the same thing Obama was doing – only halfway. And they thought – why go halfway when we can get the genuine (new) deal? Why go for someone who is always "reaching across the aisle" when we can pick someone who is already across the aisle?

We need someone who articulates and has demonstrated clear differences in policy positions from President Obama. Obama is vulnerable.

McCain also lost because he wanted to run a nice, respectful campaign that would be applauded by the MSM once it was over, instead of running a campaign that would win. For far too long, he was busy disavowing comments from his own supporters instead of focusing on the weaknesses of Obama.

The GOP contenders need to keep that in mind.

What we need now is for Republicans to be Republicans. We need them to fight for limited government, federalism, and sticking to the Constitution. We need them to fight for fiscal responsibility.

We need Republican candidates and leaders to do those things in a way that lets the voters see why it is the best way to go.