Palin v Clinton for 2016

[MRT144]

The goal for illegal immigration should be to make it possible for people to move here legally, so that the only people who come here illegally are the real criminals--drug runners, human traffickers, that sort of thing.

I think illegal immigration would be less of an issue if the method of getting citizenship wasn't so draconian.

[Hauldren Collider]

I think illegal immigration would be less of an issue if the method of getting citizenship wasn't so draconian.

That and quotas. By the way, Romney's policy on immigration has always been the thing that I most emphatically disagree with him on. I don't think he needed to take such a tough stance to win the primaries, and I think he understands that immigration is important to business and the economy. It did damage to the GOP.

[MRT144]

That and quotas. By the way, Romney's policy on immigration has always been the thing that I most emphatically disagree with him on. I don't think he needed to take such a tough stance to win the primaries, and I think he understands that immigration is important to business and the economy. It did damage to the GOP.

Honestly, the biggest thing I'd support is that if you earn a college degree from an accredited university, you get citizenship. Keep those delicious brains in this country.

[Ecthy]

I want to change my prediction: Jeb Bush v. Cuomo.

[DinoDoc]

Honestly, the biggest thing I'd support is that if you earn a college degree from an accredited university, you get citizenship. Keep those delicious brains in this country.

STEM degrees only.

[Ben Kenobi]

The ONLY swing state for which Bush's 2004 votes exceed Obama's 2012 votes is Ohio. Even if we accept Ben's premise that bashing gays would offset "let Detroit go bankrupt" in that state Obama still would have won.

So now we've moved the goalposts. Again, if it applies only to 'battleground' states, then that's conceding the point that the red states are growing faster than their blue state cousins.

[Ben Kenobi]

Ben doesn't seem to understand that no matter how large or small the margin, all you get are that state's electoral votes. Romney's "coalition" (i.e., the same base as the last three elections) piled up huge margins in the deep red states, but that didn't get him a single extra electoral vote. He lost by small margins in nearly every purple state, and thus got steamrolled where it counts -- in the electoral college.

The point being that Romney depressed Republican turnout, had he simply hung onto the Bush coalition - he would have won. Unfortunately he failed to even do that, let alone keep pace with population growth and the growth of the electorate from 2004. Had he got the same proportion as Bush did and extrapolated over the larger population, this would not have been close.

This is why the demographics do not back your argument. If Obama exceeded the extrapolated Bush total, I would agree with you that the republican party does have a problem with demographics. But that's not the case due to Obama's poor performance.

[MRT144]

STEM degrees only.

Dont care.

[DinoDoc]

Dont care.

I don't want to be importing more useless History majors to go with the ones we already have.

[Ben Kenobi]

Also: Romney had no coattails.

Romney had negative coattails.

The GOP losing Senate races in three red states (Missouri, Indiana, North Dakota), plus traditionally red Virginia, is pretty strong evidence that there's a problem.

And it points away from the fact that the problem is 'demographics'. These are solid red states where the campaign should have won. Why didn't they win? Romney sabotaged two of these campaigns. In the third, his negative coattails dragged all the candidates down and it was sufficient to cost the win in North Dakota.

Granted, Mourdock and Akin self-destructed, but that would tend to indicate that there's a definite gender problem.

That's a leadership problem. Rather than try to work with the candidates, Romney backstabbed them. This is NOT something you do if you are a leader. What leader sabotages his own troops before going into battle? Nobody. But that's exactly what Romney did in the hopes of salvaging his own ship. In short - Romney left his men behind.

[Ben Kenobi]

Not being extreme on social issues.

The United States is not Canada. There are 5! count them, 5! Liberal parties in Canada. If the Conservatives win under 40 percent of the electorate that is enough to form government.

That is not the case in the US - where you do not have divided opposition. What works, as we saw with Bush in 2000, and 2004, is having a candidate who is conservative. We've done the liberal thing. Twice. AND IT IS NOT WORKING. Time to go back to what DOES work.

[DinoDoc]

Ben: Akin was unsalvageable and quite frankly should have dropped out when he could have. He cost the GOP that seat and I hope Mccaskill cuts him a big check for saving her political career with his hubris. Murdoch is the only one that might have been saved as his statement was less egregious had his gaffe a) not happened after Akin poisoned things for the GOP and b) been earlier in the race as I'm not sure there was enough time to do effective damage control.

[giblets]

The point being that Romney depressed Republican turnout, had he simply hung onto the Bush coalition - he would have won. Unfortunately he failed to even do that, let alone keep pace with population growth and the growth of the electorate from 2004. Had he got the same proportion as Bush did and extrapolated over the larger population, this would not have been close.

This is why the demographics do not back your argument. If Obama exceeded the extrapolated Bush total, I would agree with you that the republican party does have a problem with demographics. But that's not the case due to Obama's poor performance.

Most of the change in population has come from hispanics, you idiot. That's why people are talking about demographics.

[Hauldren Collider]

I want to change my prediction: Jeb Bush v. Cuomo.

Jeb Bush

Although his last name might hurt him.

[Ben Kenobi]

Akin was unsalvageable and quite frankly should have dropped out when he could have. He cost the GOP that seat and I hope Mccaskill cuts him a big check for saving her political career with his hubris. Murdoch is the only one that might have been saved as his statement was less egregious had his gaffe a) not happened after Akin poisoned things for the GOP and b) been earlier in the race as I'm not sure there was enough time to do effective damage control.

Again. No real leader stabs people under his command in order to save his own worthless ass. The instant Romney cut them off, RNC funding dropped like a stone. Why do you think Romney eventually reverse his decision?

Had Romney stuck by Akin and Mourdock, all three of them would have won. Romney had a golden opportunity to show the conservatives that he was willing to stick his neck out for them. Instead, he backstabbed them, pushed away the conservatives, turnout dropped and all three of them lost.

This is not a difficult to understand election. Obama did a terrible job. He lost a huge portion of his electorate from 2008. Romney could have won this - all he needed to do was not piss off the conservatives and keep fighting.

Why do you think the liberals were targetting Akin + Mourdock? Here's a hint - they aren't the stupid party. They wanted Romney to dump them - as soon as he did - Romney destroyed both of their campaigns, and the collateral damage was just icing on the cake.

So well played democrats for taking advantage of Romney's true weak point - his lack of any substantial character.