By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: November 8, 2012

reddirtreporter@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – Taking a few days off from strictly political writing, it is interesting to see what writers, pundits and others are saying about Mitt Romney’s resounding defeat on Tuesday.

Yeah, in retrospect Romney was destined to fail in today’s fast-changing political climate where all those "hip musicians with their complicated shoes" listen to Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z and say to themselves, "Yeah, Obama may be doing bupkis to help the economy, but Mitt don't know Beyonce, yo!"

On paper it made sense, in a way. After ditching the likes of womanizing Newt Gingrich and fussy-britches Santorum, the cocktail-hour GOP movers and shakers settled on a moderate Massachusetts Republican who was once a gay-rights supporting, pro-choice governor. Of course he knew that would have to “adjust” his positions and align himself with the more rigid and radical elements of the Republican Party. 

Yet that Pepsodent, “Fifties dad” still couldn’t make that marriage work. A victory against a divisive incumbent who was overseeing a tanking economy and rising unemployment was out of reach. Where voters in 1980 rejected Jimmy Carter, in 2012 they embraced them some more Obama. Or maybe it was just out-and-out voter fraud. We may never really know.

The Tea Party, of course, never liked Romney. One Tea Party leader called Romney a “weak, moderate candidate hand-picked by the country club elite Republican establishment.”

As the GOP licks its wounds, this loss, we believe has further fired up the Tea Party and libertarian Ron Paul supporters.

They are also worried. And many people are stocking up on guns and ammo, as we wrote yesterday. And at the McCarville Report, we see that Dick’s Sporting Goods in Midwest City has sold out of the Ruger 10/22 Takedown gun. Hmm. Some say liberty-loving Americans will be the desaparecidos of the twenty-teens. FEMA-run torture dungeons? That’s the word on the street, anyway.

 After all, word is that Obama’s “brain,” vicious Valerie Bowman Jarrett, reportedly sent out this warning to Obama's enemies: “(T)he ones who helped us will be rewarded, the ones who opposed us will get what they deserve.”

Chilling.

But back to the dilemma faced by Republicans. How to attract more Latinos? It’s a good question. And what of the “cosmopolitan conservatives”? And then there are the cultural issues. Legalization of marijuana and gay marriage are issues that are increasingly popular among American voters, as we saw Tuesday night. Change, like it or not, has come to America.

 Daily Caller columnist Matt Lewis writes that “While I caution conservatives from adopting an elitist mentality which looks down our noses at the ‘unwashed masses’ and their leaders like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, I do think it’s worth noting that some of our most effective conservative leaders – like Reagan, (Jack) Kemp, (Charlton) Heston and (William) Buckley – were anything but local politicians by trade.”

And in Lewis’s new column, “The GOP needs modernization, not moderation,” he says that “the GOP faces serious challenges going forward.” This is particularly obvious when it comes to attracting Latino voters to the GOP. Plus, putting forward extremist candidates like Mourdock in Indiana and Akin in Missouri was a mistake. After all these years, you would think they would put forward savvier candidates. Claire McCaskill should have lost. She is awful and corrupt. But Akin throwing out hamfisted, ignorant comments about “legitimate rape” got him killed, politically.

Regardless, the world is spinning ever faster. The “fiscal cliff” looms. Doom. Gloom. John Boehner caves. Shock? Surprise? Not really. How's that electric car working out for you?

Look, we get it that this is not the “white-picket fence” America of atomic-age yesteryear. This dynamic country has moved forward (to quote a certain campaign slogan) and along with it, demographic changes like we’ve never seen.

And that’s a great thing. This experiment called “America” is the one place on the planet where we can come together, try different things and if it doesn’t work out, dust ourselves off and move on. Let's just hope all those folks understand true freedom and liberty and the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. 

But the economic issues we face – and are facing very quickly – need to be immediately addressed. While we felt Romney was the best person to tackle that enormous job, we hope and pray President Obama and the Congress will stop at nothing to get America back on track. Our future depends on it.

Copyright 2012 Red Dirt Report