Some More Post Election Thoughts

OK, can't seem to get enough of this self-flagellation over the presidential election a week ago Tuesday.
I mean, how else are we going to learn how Mitt Romney lost to Barack Obama, right?
Well, maybe this is another reason.
OK, on the surface, Mr. Romney is kind of right. But I think that is what politicians do, right? Especially Democrat pols. It is in the Democrat DNA.
But it was the tone and yes, bitterness, that Mr. Romney made the comment. That was surprising and tone deaf to a huge reason for his defeat.
That no matter how much he tried, he could not help that he was a wealthy, White male running against the United States' first Black president.
And he does not have to deliver any more red meat to the Republican activists. Nor give any more fodder to the American left.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal was correct to refute Mr. Romney and to state something that should be obvious.
That Republicans have to fight for 100% of votes in elections.
And that is what has ailed in reality both political parties, but especially the Republicans, in the last several election cycles.
So, who is ready for some wit and wisdom from The Architect, Karl Rove?
Well, this piece in The Wall Street Journal was actually very good.
And while he did make a buffoon of himself on election night, he offers some good advice for future campaigns.
This one caught my eye:

Republicans should also emulate the Democratic "50-state" strategy by strengthening the ground game everywhere, not just in swing states.

YES!
The Architect is correct.
Folks, the Republican party can not keep writing off states before campaigns begin. Sure, I don't think that Republicans can win in California or New York in the very immediate future. But it is possible that by the next presidential election, there is something in place that will make candidates actually come to those states. And that will excite Republican voters and get them out into the hustings to dig up some votes. After all, how are state parties supposed to get more than 38% of the vote in California? Or 36% in New York state? Maybe 40% in New Jersey? You get the picture.
There are a lot of nuts-and-bolts points that he made that are also good.
But what about the most obvious?
That since one Ronald Wilson Reagan, the Republican party has nominated moderate after moderate and lost almost every election since 1988.
It was not lost on RD Brewer over at the Ace of Spades. It was he who made the salient point.
The history is pretty bitter for the most part except for the two election wins by George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.
In 1992, not long after George H. W. Bush caved on the infamous 1988 pledge to not raise taxes, his campaign was not even on autopilot. It was in total disarray. Pat Buchanan ran in the primaries and made some serious damage. And yup, I contributed to that damage by voting for Mr. Buchanan in the 1992 Cali GOP primary. And with the unwitting help of Ross Perot, we got Bill Clinton.
But if once was not enough, and the Republicans not exactly helping themselves, Sen. Bob Dole, a good man, was nominated and went on to defeat. Again, he could not really explain why he should be president and how a Dole presidency would be different from Mr. Clinton's.
By 2000, the Bush name was transferred in part to the oldest son, George W. Bush. A successful governor in Texas, he decided to run for president. He ran as a conservative reformer. he wanted to bring that to Washington. And after a brutal election campaign and the Electoral College debacle, Mr. Bush did eventually win the election. And in 2004 much the way one Barack Hussein Obama ran in 2012,  Mr. Bush did win reelection with similar if not eerie numbers as the current occupant of the White House.
But by 2008 and no anointed successor, the Republicans had an all-out war and the Vietnam vet and Arizona Solon, John "F--- You" McCain won the nomination and became the loser against the Dear Leader, President Obama.
And we all know the story of the just concluded campaign.
Mr. Brewer notes that not one of these candidates was as articulate or governed as conservatively as did Mr. Reagan.
And as Mr. Brewer notes, it is the elephant in the room.
But I think a good start is being made by Gov. Jindal of Louisiana.
After all, he is the governor of a Southern state that has long been, well I don't quite know how to say it nicely, a backwater and Democrat corruption factory.
And Gov. Jindal has been a strong reformer. And he won reelection by a staggering 66% of the vote in 2011.
And he does not run for a third term, he would be able to make that run for president.
He is saying the right things and doing the right things.
Thus he should be looked at very seriously and now.
My ending thoughts.
Mitt Romney can not be bitter about this loss. He can not say that the Democrats just bought off the very voters that they needed in a cold manner.
Republicans need to rethink a lot of the nuts-and-bolts about campaigns.
We must nominate a candidate that can articulate conservative ideas and not alienate anyone. The way that Ronald Reagan did.
And, Bobby Jindal is on my shortlist for 2016.