I don't have the answers here. I wish the libertarian/liberty wing got stronger and took control of the party, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Either way, those in control of the Pac's and the strategist need to toss away the platform of the past 10 years and bring something new to the table. Tonight was a night where the party should've won handily and failed. Terrible candidates across the board + arrogance + a terrible platform is why this election was a failure in typical swing states. In reality, this is three straight election cycle losses for the Republicans. This one is the worst, because typically the opposition party has a big wave during the midterms.

Actually the republicans gained seats in the House in 2020. Something like 15 seats. Sure they lost the POTUS but down ballot they actually won overall. And they are flipping the house in 2022. The lack of a red wave is a disappointment, but they still won more seats than they lost.

The truth is many of these key races were in deep blue areas. No one was talking about that much in the lead up, but it was pretty clear once the polls closed and they started going through the maps. Most of the big fights were in dem strongholds.

What seats are on the ballot really matters a lot in every cycle, but we never seem tot talk about it until election day. We all forget it about it in the lead up. The dems actually had a big advantage as far as where these bellwether races were, the polls showed them as dead heats though. But they were mostly hard blue districts in the northeast so they out did the polls in several races.

Also the polls indicated a republican advantage but not a massive red wave. There was an assumption of a massive red wave because of the recession and all the chaos of Bidens term. But the polls were not really pointing to that.

The battleground districts strongly favor the republicans in 2024.

But overall I agree they have to pick better candidates and get away from the Trump candidates. Some of the Trump candidates are really strong, but too many put them in a harder position in the general.

The democrats have so many built in advantages. They have the entire media as their PR campaign, Hollywood and social media as a PR campaign, they have a money advantage, and they can pick terrible candidates and still win easily. Not to mention all the mail in nonsense and "election week" nonsense that gives them an advantage.

The republicans have to be 3 times as good in all areas to even be competitive.

How Walker ended up as the candidate is mind blowing. Beating the Rev should have been a given, but nope.

Republicans have moved too far to the Center. Republicans need to get rid of the old Republican leadership like McConnell. I said this the last election. I will vote for a Democrat before I cast another vote for Mitch.

I’m tired of watching the party of Reagan try to become the Party of Clinton. This wishy washy appeal to the masses BS must stop. Republicans cannot be afraid to stand up and say what they believe.

Eh.. I think the Hobbs decision cost the Republicans at the pools. Decision should have been delayed until after the election. Abortion is part of the Democrat Holy Trinity. Blue haired women showed up in a non-presidential election in droves .

(11-09-2022 07:45 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Eh.. I think the Hobbs decision cost the Republicans at the pools. Decision should have been delayed until after the election. Abortion is part of the Democrat Holy Trinity. Blue haired women showed up in a non-presidential election in droves .

I don't agree that it was any one issue that changed things, but as a pro life conservative I'll take the trade off of an overturned Roe vs owning both the House and Senate.

We get Roe overturned and we get the House.

I'll take it.

(11-09-2022 05:31 AM)CardinalJim Wrote:  Republicans have moved too far to the Center. Republicans need to get rid of the old Republican leadership like McConnell. I said this the last election. I will vote for a Democrat before I cast another vote for Mitch.

I’m tired of watching the party of Reagan try to become the Party of Clinton. This wishy washy appeal to the masses BS must stop. Republicans cannot be afraid to stand up and say what they believe.

Sorry but the above is actually why republicans in todays modern election has trouble winning. As someone that is truly a person who votes issues and not party (dont have a party). I see Republican leadership like McConnell totally different than you and where it needs to go.

Maybe I have this wrong and its not true but I think more young people and even older people are voting today. With mail in voting growing and so many days to vote. By the time election day gets here most are already won or lost.

Republicans have lost and lost big in both of those groups because Republican leadership and the party's message. Mostly just leaves those two groups out. Hell republicans would still have control of the senate if not for one thing Republican leadership refused to do. You most likely agreed with them....

not bringing the stimulus bill to a vote in 2020 before the Ga runoff. One giving you 2k and one saying go pound beans in a state like Ga. What in the hell did republicans think were going to happen?

As I said leading up to yesterday....its no longer good enough to point out how bad the democrats are doing. If people dont trust you to do what's best for them they will not vote for you. Move more right and republican will never get control of this government. The party of Reagan is not the answer and today with social media you would have had worse results.

Those republicans that believe Reagan's policies would work in 2022 are not much different than democrats. They don't see that not matter how much they dislike it this country has shifted with 24/7/365social media driving the outcome. If they dont soon understand coming to the middle and leading from their if they win.....

they lose everything

The advantage the party of Reagan had was you spent time and had to make an effort to actually vote. Young people compared to their numbers wouldnt do that. So it was a lot easier winning 50/50 races.

Prices can go up and so can interest rates but till they start actually losing their jobs. They are not buying.....look how bad the other side is doing. Not when a lot of those you want to win over their vote.....

dont trust that you are going to move right.


Republicans of the 90s and democrats of today are a lot alike. They don't understand that for the most part Bill Clinton and Donald Trump was more centered than any president in most if not all of our lifetime. On actual policy, even if some things were left or right of center. If not for China unleashing Covid those would have been some of the best years.....

for all us common folk

Republicans couldn't handle it back then and Democrats (both parties) can't today because neither one really wants what's best for the country. They want to hold CONTROL of the country and the right and left moving to the center doesnt give them that control. Moving to the center is the only way to stop the crazies on both sides. The big difference is democrat controls the narrative with almost all media. So they have a lot more room to stay left.

At some point social media is going to become backdrop noise and lose all of the power it has today. Probably going to take another 10 to 20 years. Till then republicans that refuse to governor from the middle will get voted out or not win those 50/50 seats

Dump the woke/pro-amnesty Chamber of Commerce and ditch the globalist billionaire donors. Become more populist on economics.

Cutting Medicare and SS aren't popular.

(11-09-2022 08:00 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Dump the woke/pro-amnesty Chamber of Commerce and ditch the globalist billionaire donors. Become more populist on economics.
Cutting Medicare and SS aren't popular.

I still don't understand why republicans have not favored Bismarck universal private health care -- a multi-payer, multi-provider system that is the approach for what are generally regarded as the best systems in Europe -- Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany.

As for social security, republicans have still not pointed out the fatal flaw -- if something is not done, the trust fund will go broke in about 10 years, at which point it will require a 40% cut in benefits or massive increases in income taxes. No, social security is not causing the deficit today. But it will add massively to it by 2035. Do like Ross Perot and put together some PowerPoints to explain the problem. If people understand the problem, support can be generated to solve the problem with a few modest moves today: eliminate the cap on taxable wages and salaries, increase the full retirement age by one month per year until it hits 70 in 48 years, introduce a privatized "super 401k" component that would invest in infrastructure improvements supported by user fees to produce a 5% ROI.

Republicans can't just complain about the stupid, horrible things that democrats are doing or want to do. They have to provide alternatives. And there are good conservative alternatives.

I think it will be really hard for there to be a waive election moving forward.

These seats are so precisely drawn.

If the GOP walks away with the House and Senate I'd still say that is a huge win...the complete missed opportunities in Pennsylvania and Michigan not withstanding

Im also going to say something that personally pains me. Abortion bans or even curtailments are not a winning issue. Kansas and Kentucky are proof of that.

With Roe no longer a roadblock people are very fearful of full on abortion ban a GOP state legislature might pass. They may not like the Dems abortion on demand up to and after birth, but they prefer that over the extreme GOP position.

What Roberts wanted to do instead of overturning Roe would have likely been better politically for the GOP. Having said that, overturning Roe and returning it to the states was the right thing to do

Democrats are democrat first no matter what, then issues

Republicans are too often issue first and then republicans. It just doesn't compete well especially when you regularly have several percentage points wasting their votes on some idiot libertarian nobody will ever hear about again as a protest.

If you don’t stand for your principles, then why even vote?

Abortion is a driver for Democrats. It doesn’t make the Dobbs decision less correct. In fact, that’s how it’s supposed to be. Let the people decide democratically in states and localities. The Democrat party is telling everyone else that this is the hill they will die on in the future.

It’s the new “Republicans are going to defund social security, better go vote!”

Taking the House is still a Republican win, just not the size of the one they were hoping for.

We've also learned, AGAIN, the lesson that Democrats will vote for a Blue Dog if it has a D beside it's name (Fetterman).

What Republican party needs to do is break ties with a Looney tune Donald Trump. He alienates those in the middle and just right the political spectrum.. his negative ratings show this. It's like trying to run a race with an albatross around your neck.

Seems all the republican voters moved to Florida and Texas during Covid. PA and MI appear to be done and likely not to be competitive statewide again. If republicans can't beat the braindead and Wretched Gretch with generic, noncontroversial candidates in the current climate, they'll never win the state. Not sure what's outstanding in AZ, but if Lake doesn't pull it off, that state is gone for good as well. Obviously Florida, Texas, NC and Ohio appear to be solidified so there is some positive news, just not sure where else they can compete unless there is a total economic collapse and breakdown in society.

(11-09-2022 08:00 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Dump the woke/pro-amnesty Chamber of Commerce and ditch the globalist billionaire donors. Become more populist on economics.

Cutting Medicare and SS aren't popular.

This is the way.

I'm going to add something else to this topic and that's the fact that a lot of right leaning republicans that believe what they grew up with is the answer including the party. Also believe Trump won because it was Hillary and any other Republican other than Trump would have also won in 2016.

That was mistake number 1 and maybe the biggest mistake that got up to this point. Those people failed to read the room, like they do often. No other republican running in 2016 was going to beat Hillary....NONE. Any other Republican would have got curb stomped for a number of reason.

While Trump because of his personality is not the longterm answer. The fact that Republican leadership could not read the room and see it wasnt Hillary that got Donald Trump elected....it was the ideals Trump was running on that resonated with people of this country. I'm not talking about what the media wanted to make it into but actual policy that he wanted to bring to this government.

Republican leadership failed to understand that and allowed the democrats to paint a total different picture. Republicans mainly did this because they did not want those same policies because it moved the country toward the center. They wanted to keep their control.

Republicans ALLOWED us to get to this point by not seeing where this country was heading. They allowed it by agreeing with democrats on painting President Trump into what the media made him. They allowed it because they thought it was all Hillary and not what the man ran on.

They failed and just as much the reason we are moving farther left than most Americans can believe. Moving more to the right is going to turn this country over to democrat control till one thing happens....


people are losing jobs in large numbers during a election year

Step 1 for a Republican house should be to follow through on Dobbs...

Either return it to the states completely... OR propose something short of Roe, but beyond a ban... Settling on something like 10-12 weeks or so... something relatively moderate... and send that to the Senate

And the whole time you're doing it, note that Democrats could have done this themselves for months now if they thought it was so important... but they decided as they so often do that using the argument to get money and to try and get votes was more important than actually DOING something about it.... and using that ACTION to get money and try and get votes.

Republicans would differentiate themselves by taking ACTION.

(11-09-2022 05:31 AM)CardinalJim Wrote:  Republicans have moved too far to the Center. Republicans need to get rid of the old Republican leadership like McConnell. I said this the last election. I will vote for a Democrat before I cast another vote for Mitch.

I’m tired of watching the party of Reagan try to become the Party of Clinton. This wishy washy appeal to the masses BS must stop. Republicans cannot be afraid to stand up and say what they believe.

Please do exactly this. I see no negative repercussions from doubling down on Trump for the republican party.

(11-09-2022 09:50 AM)Hambone10 Wrote:  Step 1 for a Republican house should be to follow through on Dobbs...

Either return it to the states completely... OR propose something short of Roe, but beyond a ban... Settling on something like 10-12 weeks or so... something relatively moderate... and send that to the Senate

And the whole time you're doing it, note that Democrats could have done this themselves for months now if they thought it was so important... but they decided as they so often do that using the argument to get money and to try and get votes was more important than actually DOING something about it.... and using that ACTION to get money and try and get votes.

Republicans would differentiate themselves by taking ACTION.

Codifying a European style law is "limiting Roe"

Dems won't go for it

Like with same sex marriage they love the cat nip aspect they can throw out to their party