-R.J.Lower

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) made headlines in May when it filed a petition with the White House objecting to Obama’s habit of grabbing hamburgers, hot dogs and other unhealthy foods with his staff and visiting dignitaries.

 

After PCRM last criticized Obama, a group funded by the restaurant, food and beverage industries came to his defense.

“Let the president eat his hot dog,” said the Center for Consumer Freedom, which blasted PCRM as a “phony doctors group” with a covert “vegan agenda.”

PCRM has come under fire in the past for its provocative campaigns, including billboards that read, “Hot Dogs Cause Butt Cancer.” The group advocates for preventive medicine, healthy eating and alternatives to animal testing.

What more can you say, really?
-R.J.Lower

After our losses I questioned God’s plan and what my next step would be. I could have never imagined an America that would vote themselves servants to the political elite. As a child who grew up during the cold war, I was thankful every night for having been born in the only free nation of the world. Our nation is no longer exceptional as a sanctuary for liberty. We will rapidly see the unraveling of personal freedom as Obamacare is implemented and so many other laws, rules and regulations are passed or dictated.

As those hard truths pressed upon me, I was made more optimistic after listening to Glenn Beck (he will build a larger media footprint to combat this) and Mark Levin (he will not go gentle into that good night and we shouldn’t either).

Read The Lonely Conservative’s plan here.

I, too, listened to parts of Beck’s Wednesday morning show. It had a buoying effect, to an extent. But I cannot be deaf to voices closer to me than those on a radio show. One friend grew up in Communist Cuba, and she brings experience to her opinions that could be ignored as easily as a klaxon. We are in big, big trouble. We must fight, but the odds are staggering that we will not win. You’re not going to be getting rainbows and ponies from me. Not today.

-R.J.Lower

Here’s an article Lady Margaret Thatcher wrote in 1975 after her party lost power. It appears to have some good lessons for today.

“We lost because we did not appear to stand firmly for anything distinctive and positive. Sneering at “middle-class values” is to insult the working class no less than the bourgeois. Do British workers have no deep feelings for freedom, for order, for the education of their children, for the right to work without disruption by political militants?
Of course they do. And if they are no more than cash-grabbing anarchists, then we must all bear some of the responsibility and try to show them the way back to sanity. But I do not believe they are.
Most of them want to do a fair day’s work in a job that gives them satisfaction—and strongly resent what they regard as State subsidies to shirkers. Most of them deplore violence, truancy and indiscipline in schools, and cannot understand the complaisance of some of the middle-class intellectuals who run the schools.”

(Hat tip: Tom Reynolds via Jedediah Bila)

-R.J.Lower

But now I know: the few hours after a big loss like this are dicey. Optimistic noises aren’t welcomed. These conservative friends proceeded to savage my post. They contended that, in my youth and inexperience, I was missing the fact that we’ll never be able to swing the electorate back to our side. Obamacare will keep them coming to the Democrat trough. Obama will appoint new, liberal SCOTUS judges. And our moderate GOP leaders will continue to stand idly by as it happens.

Others today have argued that we just needed to get more conservatives to the polls. The base wasn’t energized by moderate Romney, they say.

Well, if they weren’t energized, then who rallied to Mourdock’s and Cruz’s side in the primaries, who waited in long lines at Chick-fil-a? Who helped Wisconsin’s governor Scott Walker overcome the unions’ recall effort?

Last July, I watched as people flocked to see Ryan at his alma mater Miami of Ohio. Just days earlier, he had been announced as Romney’s running mate. And why else would 30k-plus brave the chill, autumn conditions in West Chester, OH, the Friday before the election to see a coalition of national conservative leaders rally around this ticket?

The base was with us. Where we lost was in thinking that that was enough. Many others– even in red county Ohio– aren’t with us.

As a member of the Americans For Prosperity-Ohio door knocking team, I helped reach out to hundreds of people in Butler County (and neighboring counties). When you knock on door after door in blue-collar, low-income areas like Middletown, South Lebanon and parts of Hamilton, you hear and see what a phone call can’t gauge. When you look a person in the eye and ask them about the economy, that’s when you can get what they really think.

What was that? Either they were not engaged in politics at all, or they struggled to put together a cogent sentence along the lines of “the economy hasn’t been great, but Obama had helped it a little bit”. A small group, though, said things that were borne out by last night’s results. You’d swear you opened the door to find David Axelrod or Stephanie Cutter standing there. The answer was sometimes word for word from an anti-Romney ad. Romney and Bain laid off those casket company employees. He’s arrogant. One woman told me that she was afraid of Romney being elected– the tax increase attack.

So, would a few more Republicans getting out to vote have been helpful? Yes, of course. But it’s a stretch to say that that’s the reason we lost. Something else entirely caused this. It’s a hurdle we’re going to have to figure out how to navigate– and quickly.

EDIT.1: There’s also this to consider.

Mike Flynn from Breitbart News:

Andrew always pointed out that politics was far downstream from media and pop culture. By ceding the media and pop culture space, conservatives were always at an extreme disadvantage whenever a specific political debate arose. They could occasionally win certain battles, but they would always be fighting against extreme headwinds. Last night was a brutal reminder that Andrew was right.

Read the rest.

EDIT.2:

There’s also this compelling argument (with numbers, for the nerds) to counteract the CW that voter turnout was way down from ’08.

-R.J.Lower

From the Hill:

While the Speaker has in recent days predicted a victory for Republican nominee Mitt Romney, he made no such declaration shortly before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, after the House was projected to stay in GOP hands.

“I want to thank Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who have carried the banner of our party with grace, vision, strength and dignity,” Boehner said to cheers from the crowd.

Boehner described the House GOP majority over the last two years as “the primary line of defense” against a government that “spends too much, taxes too much and certainly borrows too much.”

“The American people want solutions — and tonight, they’ve responded by renewing our House Republican majority,” Boehner said. “With this vote, the American people have also made clear that there is no mandate for raising tax rates.”

The Speaker made no mention of Obama in his remarks, which lasted just about three minutes.

“What Americans want are solutions that will ease the burden on small businesses, bring jobs home and let our economy grow,” he said. “We stand ready to work with any willing partner — Republican, Democrat or otherwise — who shares a commitment to getting these things done.”

EDIT.1:

In my misery, I had to post something. Sorry it was the usual ramblings by my congressman. Here’s real hope from Yid With Lid:

A fight for the future of the Republican Party. Beginning tomorrow there will be a fight for the soul of the GOP. The issue will be whether the party will be an “almost as liberal as the Democrats” party, or will be dominated by the more conservative members—giving Americans a real two-party system. Look for the apex of the battle to be the vote for Speaker of the House as many conservatives are calling for John Boehner’s head. If the Boehner wing wins out, you may see a third party arise.

Read the rest, and –please– hit the man’s tip jar.

EDIT.2:

In statement to reporters, Boehner says House GOP willing to agree to additional revenues in the form of tax reform.

—
Mark Knoller (@markknoller) November 07, 2012

Ugh.
-R.J.Lower

He shared this photo of his undershirt today.

#WAR

EDIT.1: The “Two Paths” film by the great Ben Howe:

EDIT.2:

TONIGHT: America unites to destroy every narrative manufactured by the Democrat Media Complex lowertheboom.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/bre… BREITBART LIVES!

—
Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) November 07, 2012

That’s right, Stacy. Watch it– as it happens– right here.

EDIT.3:

Election Night: Follow These Experts on Twitter

-R.J.Lower

Andrea Milman:

I hope no other child has had this experience.

My 10 year old Jaron’s school in Wilmington, NC, had a mock election that was supposed to be a fun and educational experience.

After the election, the kids were waiting to go to the bus when my son was approached by one of his classmates who said he had voted for Obama and asked who Jaron had supported. Jaron said Mitt Romney. At that time, the other child called my son a racist and said Mitt Romney is a racist too. Then they parted ways. Jaron said it made him feel “kinda bad, like he had done something wrong”.

When he told me about this incident, my first reaction was the urge to call the school. I didn’t. Jaron said no one had heard him, and in dealing with this school in the past (bullying of my older son who had Asperger’s), I know that unless it was witnessed, nothing would be addressed.

I found out later that the rules had always been that no one was supposed to discuss the election, to avoid arguments among the students. Apparently, at least one student thought rules didn’t apply to him.

I have told both my boys that you follow your convictions and the candidate that most mirrors your personal beliefs. I have been Conservative for decades, and I told the boys that if I changed my core beliefs to vote for someone based on skin color, then that is just as racist as voting against someone based on skin color. I have tried very hard to teach my kids to be colorblind. I feel totally undermined by the left using race as an intimidation factor, screaming ‘racist’ to anyone who does not vote for Mr. Obama.

My silent anger rolls in, as Mr. Obama is half white, raised by his white mother and white grandmother, attending Ivy League schools. I could make the argument, if I was so obtuse, that he is more white than black. This scenario just shows the ridiculousness of the racism name calling.

(H/T to Barbara Buffing for the story)
-R.J.Lower

@adeleshiv 1. Thanks. 2. On Election Night, keep your eye on Butler County, Ohio. If Romney +65% there, he wins. Period.

More here.
-R.J. Lower

On the road to Middletown in an AFP van this morning, we passed a minivan with two Mitt Romney bumper stickers on it. The license plate? “Eyes Open”. According to our driver, it was a Mitt Romney campaign vehicle.

You can’t throw a rock without hitting a pollster or a news crew from the PBS News Hour or Fox News. Or “elite” members of the new media. Proof:

R. Stacy McCain (The American Spectator) and Ali Akbar (National Bloggers Club president) doing show prep for their special Ohio BlogTalkRadio broadcast, The American Resolve. It aired tonight. Listen to the half-hour podcast at the link. Or read the new Ohio numbers post by The Other McCain here.

-R.J.Lower