Grand Old Parties also rise and
fall
The Republican uproar over
Tuesday’s debacle, so reminiscent of the Dems’ implosion afterJohn Kerry’s 2004 shellacking, has focused on
political strategist Karl Rove and the $400 million he
spent — detractors say wasted — on useless TV spots for Mitt
Romney.
But don’t forget that it was Rove who warned repeatedly years
ago that Republicans needed to reach out to Latinos in order to remain
competitive. And his former boss, President Bush II, picked up a healthy chunk
of Latino support.
Any presidential candidate who mentions the phrase
“self-deportation” — infuriating Latinos and driving up turnout — will find it
difficult, if not impossible, to win.
Some of the initial GOP fury over voters’ incomprehensible
ignorance, naturally, tended to be somewhat incendiary.
“We are in a war. We’re in a war to save this nation,” Michael A. Needham, chief executive of
Heritage Action, an arm of the Heritage Foundation, said in a video
message.
And highly regarded conservative legal analyst Ed Whelan , weighed in on National
Review Online with this: “Great nations rise and fall. Anyone who takes for
granted our country’s continued vitality is a fool.
“As I see it,” he continued, the election confirms “my fear
that the great American experiment in constitutional republicanism is in grave
peril, if not doomed. I very much hope that I’m wrong, and I will continue to
work to prevent my fear’s ever being realized, or at least to defer as long as
possible the date of the grand and awful collapse, but the fundamentals look
terrible.”
Well, the GOP still controls the House. And Republicans
— especially if they stop nominating the likes of Richard Mourdock and Todd
Akin — should be able to retake the Senate in
a few years. And by then the duck will be
quite lame.
So not to worry.
The Day One that
wasn’t
The Romney presidential transition office is closing up shop
by week’s end, we’re told.
The operation had been in high gear in recent weeks as it
looked as though the former Massachusetts governor could well become president
of the United States.
But, of course, it was not to be. So the transition, housed on
a couple of floors in a federal office building at Third and C streets SW, has
been told to close things down. About 150 people have been working
there.
The operation was “fully up and running,” a source said, with
desks, telephones, computers and such. (The equipment and operating funds were
set up by a 2010 federal law to ensure a smooth transition of power.)
The General Services Administration “has been exceptionally
good to work with: very professional, cordial, responsive and helpful every
single day we’ve been there,” transition spokesman Mark
DeMoss told us. “I have
not heard a single complaint.”
The Romney team even had its Web site all ready to go,
and — whoops! — someone put it up online. Political Wire got a screen shot before it
was taken down.
The Web site is for “The Office of the President Elect” and
has a snappy picture of Romney plus a couple of quotes about how he’s “excited
about our prospects as a nation” and how “The 21st century can and must be an
American
century.”
The Republican uproar over
Tuesday’s debacle, so reminiscent of the Dems’ implosion afterJohn Kerry’s 2004 shellacking, has focused on
political strategist Karl Rove and the $400 million he
spent — detractors say wasted — on useless TV spots for Mitt
Romney.
But don’t forget that it was Rove who warned repeatedly years
ago that Republicans needed to reach out to Latinos in order to remain
competitive. And his former boss, President Bush II, picked up a healthy chunk
of Latino support.
Any presidential candidate who mentions the phrase
“self-deportation” — infuriating Latinos and driving up turnout — will find it
difficult, if not impossible, to win.
Some of the initial GOP fury over voters’ incomprehensible
ignorance, naturally, tended to be somewhat incendiary.
“We are in a war. We’re in a war to save this nation,” Michael A. Needham, chief executive of
Heritage Action, an arm of the Heritage Foundation, said in a video
message.
And highly regarded conservative legal analyst Ed Whelan , weighed in on National
Review Online with this: “Great nations rise and fall. Anyone who takes for
granted our country’s continued vitality is a fool.
“As I see it,” he continued, the election confirms “my fear
that the great American experiment in constitutional republicanism is in grave
peril, if not doomed. I very much hope that I’m wrong, and I will continue to
work to prevent my fear’s ever being realized, or at least to defer as long as
possible the date of the grand and awful collapse, but the fundamentals look
terrible.”
Well, the GOP still controls the House. And Republicans
— especially if they stop nominating the likes of Richard Mourdock and Todd
Akin — should be able to retake the Senate in
a few years. And by then the duck will be
quite lame.
So not to worry.
The Day One that
wasn’t
The Romney presidential transition office is closing up shop
by week’s end, we’re told.
The operation had been in high gear in recent weeks as it
looked as though the former Massachusetts governor could well become president
of the United States.
But, of course, it was not to be. So the transition, housed on
a couple of floors in a federal office building at Third and C streets SW, has
been told to close things down. About 150 people have been working
there.
The operation was “fully up and running,” a source said, with
desks, telephones, computers and such. (The equipment and operating funds were
set up by a 2010 federal law to ensure a smooth transition of power.)
The General Services Administration “has been exceptionally
good to work with: very professional, cordial, responsive and helpful every
single day we’ve been there,” transition spokesman Mark
DeMoss told us. “I have
not heard a single complaint.”
The Romney team even had its Web site all ready to go,
and — whoops! — someone put it up online. Political Wire got a screen shot before it
was taken down.
The Web site is for “The Office of the President Elect” and
has a snappy picture of Romney plus a couple of quotes about how he’s “excited
about our prospects as a nation” and how “The 21st century can and must be an
American
century.”
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