11-5-08

So.

Republicans have lost. Big.

Today the post mortems begin. That is to be expected and is necessary. But conservatives must beware of commentary on the right and left that misses what really caused the loss. Very plainly, we did not lose because of our candidates, our ideas, or marketing or packaging. We lost because of the Fourth Estate. If we do not combat and defeat the left-wing MSM monster in America, we will be a permanent minority.

Conservatives and Republicans have already been arguing over the questions:

Could another, more conservative, Republican have won?

Did McCain run a poor campaign?

Was he hurt by his choice of Sarah Palin?

Did social issues hurt McCain?

Was he too much a moderate?

Is America really more left-center?

These are important questions and part of the struggle for our identity. But they have nothing to do with why we lost.

Byron York at NRO has an excellent analysis of the election result and what McCain was actually able to accomplish. McCain managed to capture around 46% of the vote, much higher than either Bush 41 in ’92 or Dole in ’96 achieved, and in spite of much more difficult obstacles; a very unpopular president, a shaky economy, an unpopular war, and finally the economic meltdown.

On the face, McCain lost the election for two reasons, one, we can broadly call Bush’s unpopularity (the war, the economy et al). Reason two though is that Obama was very popular, even apart from the unpopularity of Bush, and despite quite a number of issues that should have seriously tarnished his image; very small very liberal record, radical associations, tax and spend, redistribute wealth, kill coal and raise energy costs, etc, etc.

What do these two items have in common? What if, just if, Bush’s low ratings and Obama’s high ratings were actually due to a very, no, extremely liberal, biased, agenda-driven press? What if?

Conservatives, ask yourself: has the war on terror really been a failure? No! We didn’t start it, but W found a way to fight it, move the battlefield far from home, prevent further attacks here, and liberate Iraq in the process! But after all these years of the press daily hammering away at the war of course he’s unpopular! And when the war was going well, like after the surge, they simply made it disappear! And what about the economy, especially the housing meltdown? Conservatives, was it really W’s fault? He warned about it and tried to get reform and was blocked by Democrats. Imagine if the story was the other way around! But the press has covered for the democrats and blamed Bush day after day after day after day. Of course he’s unpopular on the economy! The press has been campaigning against McCain for eight years.

Look, to illustrate, lets have a little game, shall we? Just for fun, try to imagine the last few days of the election, but with a conservative press. Can’t quite get your mind around it? I know; it may take a drink or two, but humor me. For the sake of brevity, we will just imagine it with the players we actually had, otherwise we get too much confusing back-to-the-future time-space warping…

“John McCain and Sarah Palin campaigned today in New York, traditionally safe Democratic territory, stumping for Republicans who hope to overturn control of the House and Senate. They were joined by President Bush, whose record approval numbers and success in Iraq are widely credited with carrying McCain to what is looking like a landslide victory. McCain’s own approval numbers have steadily gone up, largely due to of his leadership on the highly successful surge in Iraq. Introducing McCain was female Iraqi businesswoman Huda Fakri, whose amazing story and expressions of gratitude to America has been moving crowds at campaign stops.

“Even so, Democrats would probably not be defending states like New York except for the economic emergency caused by the housing scandal. Although not yet directly implicated, Obama has seen his numbers plummet along with congressional democrats, as the investigations and trials have exposed corruption between Democrats and officials at Fannie and Freddy.

“Obama himself campaigned today in Michigan, which early on was thought to be receptive to Obama’s ‘change’ message. However, at least according to the polls, Obama’s plan for higher taxes and massive spending has not resounded with voters, nor have continuing revelations of his past associations, all of which seem to paint a picture of a candidate firmly left of the electorate. Reporting for CNN, this is Wolf Blitzer”

Five more minutes Ma, I’m having the best dream…

Republicans needn’t bother arguing whether this candidate or that could have won. There is NO Republican dream ticket as far as the press is concerned. The good news is that the country is center right, as proven by the fact that liberal Democrat candidates must move (way) to the center in the general campaign, (where their true record and positions will be hidden by the press). But we cannot hope to communicate with the people through the current MSM.

McCain was not the most conservative, but he clearly was acceptable to America. After all, they accepted Clinton when he moved to the center. Palin was also acceptable, at least as experienced as Obama, and did the job of shoring up the base. As far as his campaign, again, considering how well he did do, ask yourself this: If Bush had the approval rating he really deserved, was reasonably popular, was not being blamed for the economy, and the press was NOT shilling for Obama, but thoroughly vetting him, would McCain have won? Absolutely.

Why did McCain lose and Obama win? Very simply, the press. Not just during the campaign. Every day, all across the country, in every state and city, for about, oh, forty years now, the MSM report on how bad conservatives are and how great liberals and Democrats are. They cover for corruption for democrats, and attack and blame and belittle Republicans. The real miracle is that Republicans ever win at all. It gets more blatant each year, and now Democrats are openly threatening the most successful conservative information medium, talk radio. If we lose our budding attempt at a “new media”, conservatives will be a permanent minority.

Conservatives need to take a fresh look at the MSM. The effects can no longer be shrugged off glibly, saying simply “We all know they’re biased,” or “Reagan got around the press”. Sure he did, but most of the thousands of candidates who run every election cannot be a Reagan. Nor should they have to be. And by the way, it’s much more than that. The press in our country is supposed to be a check on politicians. This is never more important than during campaigns. There is simply no penalty for lying during a campaign. The only remedy is the vote. But when one side can count on cover from the press for ANY statement, no matter how untrue, and protection from any charge, no matter how true, the people have NO remedy left.

Conservatives can spare themselves twisting into knots over what candidates can win. Our ideas are true; they are the same that founded the republic. Our ideas work, they are proven, exciting, and they are acceptable to the majority of people, at least today. A few more years of socialism may well destroy people’s willingness to accept the ideas of personal freedom and responsibility. But today, our problem is not our candidates, or packaging, or marketing. I do not know how to solve this problem, but the first step is to recognize the real reason we lost.