At the Daily Beast, Michael Tomasky wonders what the conservative reaction would be like if Mitt Romney loses tomorrow:
What’s the state of mind this weekend of the conservative outrage machine? With regard to liberals, I think it’s fair to say as of Saturday that most of us (excepting your allowed-for percentage of nervous nellies) expect Barack Obama to win. If he somehow doesn’t, we’ll be surprised and deeply depressed. But provided the outcome doesn’t involve some kind of Florida-style shenanigans, in a couple days’ time, we’ll come to terms with it.
Meanwhile–conservatives? I think that they are certain that Mitt Romney will win and that all information to the contrary is a pack of lies; that they will be completely shocked and outraged if he doesn’t; that, if he loses, it will be the inevitable product of foul play; and that therefore they’ll immediately start scouring the landscape looking for parties to blame and will keep themselves in a state suspended agitation for…days, weeks, four years, forever. Which wouldn’t matter to the rest of us but for the fact that they’ll continue to have the power to screw up the country.
I somehow doubt that the left or Tomasky would accept Obama’s loss as graciously as he likes to imagine. (This is the same person who once described Romney as a “spineless, disingenuous, supercilious, race-mongering pyromaniac who is very poorly intentioned indeed, and woe to us if this man sets foot in the White House as anything but a tourist.”) And as usual, Tomasky is completely off-base when it comes to conservatives.
How would the right actually react to a Romney loss? Of course they would be depressed. There would probably be a bit of finger-pointing and infighting. There would be a grieving period, as conservatives came to terms with the fact that Obamacare wouldn’t be going away anytime soon.
But a victory for Obama would hardly be a mandate for his progressive agenda. He’d have eked it out by running the most expensive smear campaign against a political opponent in history. Much of his second term would be spent dealing with disasters exacerbated by his first term: high unemployment, economic stagnation, skyrocketing debt, the Islamist hijacking of the Arab Spring, Iran’s march toward nuclear weapons, the proliferation of al-Qaeda affiliates, the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
And while conservatives would rightly be depressed and concerned for the country’s future, they would pick themselves up and refocus. Unless Republicans win the Senate, most of the work for the next two years would have to be done through the House. Congress would continue to investigate Benghazi. Republicans would fight against sequestration military cuts and tax hikes — though that could also lead to an intra-party blowout between the hawkish Buck McKeon camp and the anti-tax absolutist Eric Cantor camp.
On Iran, conservatives would do what they could to expand and strengthen sanctions through the House and Senate, and increase public pressure for a military response if sanctions fail. The next crucial battle would be for the Senate in 2014, when Democrats would be defending up to 20 seats — 12 of which are in swing states or Republican states.
Mainly, conservatives would focus on making sure Obama does as little damage as possible for the next four years, while keeping their eyes on 2016, when Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, or Chris Christie would be able to make a real run.
And if Obama loses, has to pack up the White House, and Democrats fall from power? I’ll look forward to Tomasky’s column brushing off the loss good-naturedly and crediting Romney for a fair race.
If Romney wins the democrat machine will riot in the streets, literally.
It won't just be the streets. It will be the college campii, and will be led by the faculty and administrators. It will be a national reaction on the level of Kent State and Nixon's decision to do something which, combined, led to almost every college in the country having to be shut down early that spring. n nWe could see some really nasty incidents in lower-middle income neighborhoods — the 47% versus those who work for a living and have had enough of all of this stuff. We could see the higher education bubble burst if the college folk say on the national stage what they routinely say on campus. And what happens when Obama then refuses to concede and instead proposes to remain in office indefinitely "for the good of the country."
And if G-d forbid Obama wins, you will not see bumperstickers and emails urging red states to secede the way we did in 2000 and 2004.
Should Obama win, you will see a visceral response from the GOP base that will make the TEA Party look like Bill Cohen and Olympia Snowe. We've been told that we have to compromise, have to not really have the candidates we want, not really have the policies we want, not really have a lot of the stuff we want. This would show that to be a worthless spent effort. n nIf the Republican party survived as an entity, it would be much like FDR's Democratic Party — a housecleaning of the big-government RINOS much like the 1932 housecleaning of the legacies of the Jacksonian Democracy. Or as happened with the Whig Party, the base may simply just form its own new party. n nShould the latter happen, we might actually see "God" on a political platform again. I can see a viable political party with this agenda: n n1: Support of Judeo/Christian ("family") values. n2: Support of the values of the Western Christian Liberal Enlightenment. n3: Support of Natural Law values as defined by John Locke (life, liberty & property) n4: US Military superiority. n5 Anti-Islamicism. Not just support of Israel but viewing Islamic theocracies the way we once viewed Communist governments/countries. n6: Small government, libertarian values excepting those in conflict with the above.
Let me immediately clarify three things. n nFirst, while I have never been there, as I understand the country and its culture, ISRAEL is a "product of the Western Christian Liberal Enlightenment" — there is a very big distinction to be made between a set of human values that just happened to originate amongst Western European Christians in the 18th Century and actually *being* one of these now-long-dead guys. n nMy second point is that this is not another "Know Nothing" movement – for all the TEA Party is accused of being, it hasn't become that yet and I hope never will be. People are far better educated than in prior eras, "Occupy Wall Street" is the mentality of the "Know Nothings." n nMy third point is that Women, Blacks, Jews and other 'trusted" Dem voters are going to realize — are realizing — that just because certain values did not originate with people who looked like them, they are values which they agree with and can adopt. It's only random fate that John Locke happened to be a white guy in England, those values trancend that.
I did not read this column completely. As I wrote as a comment to another columnist here, TOO MUCH TALK OF A POSSIBLE ROMNEY LOSS. STOW IT.
No. We need to both plan on Romney winning *AND* have a backup plan because if nothing else, you know that his predicted victory will be challenged. And we are already getting reports of voter fraud, from what Mark Levin was mentioning last night to the schmuck on Facebook bragging about voting early & often for Obama. n nWhen I was 17, I trying to make it into the harbor in rough weather – weather on the scale of what the NJ coast saw last week – and at dead low tide as well – I watched my depth meter go to zero and do the seemingly impossible, keep going the left into what presumably were negative numbers. n nLogically, this told me that the boat was in the process of being smashed apart like an eggshell, and if I had no fall-back from that, it likely would have been. But I knew I could swim (had a valid lifeguard certificate at the time), knew I had grown up playing in serious riptide although didn't know it at the time, and that I was capable of getting ashore, one way or the other. I knew that I was only going to die if I wanted to. n nBut it would be a whole lot easier all around if I brought the boat back with me. n nSo too here — it will be a lot easier to take back this country with a President Romney, but I am not going to give up should the impossible happen and he does loose. We will prevail.
The main 'backup' that we need is to beef up the security service for Obama. About a hundred fold. For if he goes, we'd be left with a Joker that's really wild. Name of Biden.
Fair question. If Obama wins, Conservatives will n1. ensure that Obama, Biden and Hillary are impeached. We "own" the US House of Rep. We can do this n2. In 2012 if Repubs do not win the Senate, we will redouble our focus for the elections of 2014, when we will win the US Senate. At either point, Obama, Biden and Hillary will be convicted following impeachment. n3. Worse case, that puts Boehner in the Presidency by 2014. And then n4. We begin the long task of dis-assembling everything the Democrats and Liberals have accomplished in the last two decades. n5. Obamacare will be repealed n6. EPA will be shuttered n7. The Department of Education will be eliminated. n8. Funding for any university and college that does not demonstrate ideological diversity will be de-funded. n9. The list goes on and on.