. . . the ideal candidate would trim his sails to the prevailing last election:

These people would have us believe that we must make fundamental changes to draw in new voters. We must exile social conservatives to bring in young people and single women. We must exile fiscal conservatives to bring in hispanic and black voters. With whatever is left from having exiled both, these geniuses would have us believe the Democrats in whose camp these groups already find themselves will just sit back and let it happen.

But the RedsTate man does not think so:

The Republican Party will never out Democrat the Democrats. Conservatives will never out liberal Liberals. We should not try.

Me-Too Republicanism? Not he, nor me.

By the truckoad, a labor of love.

Why?

After a $1 billion campaign that changed almost nothing about the balance of power in Washington, Obama should remember that he is the President of the United States, get off the grandstand and show some bipartisan leadership.

Q. is, can he do this?

Obama, Boehner Open Door to Compromise on Tax Breaks in ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Talks – WSJ.com

Not so fast, fella:

Mr. Obama, in his first statement on the fiscal cliff since winning re-election Tuesday, said any deal must include tax increases on “the wealthy.”

This is compromise? Tax wealthy not umpteen per cent but umpteen minus one? Same old Cocky Locky, having learned nothing.

When is a lib not a lib, and vice versa?

. . . contract attorneys in Washington are, by and large, liberals. Usually, very liberal. By this of course, we mean the old-school, early 1900s Progressives, not the classic, Thomas Jefferson liberals. We’re talking about the far leftists who changed their label from Progressive to Liberal when Progressive became a pejorative, then back to Progressive when Liberal became a pejorative and people had forgotten that Progressive used to be a pejorative.

A rose by any name, yes, but also a pile of smelly stuff. Anyhow, some of us remember.

Larry Kudlow finds “an exit poll nugget.”

Exclusive – Inside Orca: How the Romney Campaign Suppressed Its Own Vote

Wrong PINs, systems down, volunteers stiffed. Colorado, Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida . . .

Before the election, there was much fear-mongering on the Democratic side about the Republicans’ supposed plans to suppress turnout among Obama voters. After the election, GOP strategist Karl Rove accused the Obama campaign of “suppressing the vote” by running a negative campaign against Romney that kept voters at home.

The truth is much worse. There was, in fact, massive suppression of the Republican vote–by the Romney campaign, through the diversion of nearly 40,000 volunteers to a failing computer program.

There was no Plan B; there was only confusion, and silence.

Shit.

Some golden thoughts for the politically disappointed, or for any other kind, for that matter:

“Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.”
— Michel de Montaigne
[Michel Eyquem De Montaigne] (1532-1592) French Renaissance scholar, philosopher, writer
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Michel.de.Montaigne.Quote.357B


“I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself.”
— Pietro Aretino
(1492-1556) Italian author, playwright, poet and satirist
10 May 1537
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Pietro.Aretino.Quote.52F3


“Are right and wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion?”
— William Lloyd Garrison
(1805-1879) American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/William.Lloyd.Garrison.Quote.FC36

These gems and more at http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/

Advice for the disappointed:

Like when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, we now know what happens when a candidate so weak anybody can beat him meets a candidate so weak he cannot beat anybody. Americans vote for the status quo. $6 billion later, Americans voted for the status quo. Karl Rove, call your donors.

Republicans will keep the House. Democrats will keep the Senate. Obama will keep the White House.

It is what it is. The next two years are going to be some of the most fun* and exciting years within the modern American conservative movement.

The game afoot, and all that.

==================================

* Fun-filled, he means, “fun” being a noun.