Politics for Numbers People

[mark_asphodel]

Here R Sources:

This is an excerpt from Newsweek's coverage of the 1992 campaign; I used to own the hard copy of this retrospective and read it enough to be able to recall exact phrases twenty years later.  (Note that patrician, conservative blue was the Republican color in those far-off days.)

And now we have this, put together by the Slate writer who seems to have taken on the role of in-house Romney apologist.

I don't care if you wanted Romney to win, wanted Obama to win, or didn't want either of them.  The difference between in-house pollsters willing to tell the President of the United States that the country's rejecting him and between a bunch of partisan hacks who "un-skew" their own numbers to make themselves feel better is indicative of the collapse of the upper echelon of the Republican party into total fantasyland.

Also, a look into this Project ORCA catastrophe is another good reminder of how goddamned incompetent Romney's people were.  I'm honestly stunned by the extend of it.  Again, these weren't supposed to be starry-eyed idealists.  Apps don't work just because you believe they will.

-_-

Comments

[swanchika]

//Note that patrician, conservative blue was the Republican color in those far-off days//

I know it is not your post's subject, but how come the Republican colour shifted to red in just twenty years ? Did they switch with the Democrats for fun, or is there a more profound reason ? (Especially since red is still very much associated with the left on the Old Continent... and, well, everywhere I guess)

[mark_asphodel]

I know it is not your post's subject, but how come the Republican colour shifted to red in just twenty years ? Did they switch with the Democrats for fun, or is there a more profound reason ?

I honestly don't know. Usage of the red/blue scheme was somewhat inconsistent up to the year 2000, but generally US mapmakers followed the blue-Republican/red-Democratic scheme. Then it changed for reasons I don't understand. Was blue deemed a sissy color unworthy of red-blooded, red-meat Republicans? I don't know. The whole red state/blue state paradigm is only twelve years old and it's ridiculously entrenched.

[samuraiter]

I recall reading – or hearing, perhaps; there is more commentary about this online than there used to be – a policy comparison of Bush the First and President Obama, and the study noted that Bush was actually less conservative across a wide range of issues. ... The parties are not what they were twenty years ago. I am frequently led to wonder how we got here.

[mark_asphodel]

I actually wish sometimes Bush had won re-election in '92, as honestly he was a pretty decent old-school Northeastern Republican, and Clinton's election seems to have been the catalyst to drive Republicans f-ing nuts and devolve into today's pack of crazies.

Then I remember Bush was undone by his own party's attacks from the right, and I look back on the hate-fest of the '92 convention, and I decide the crazy train was already rolling. I do believe '92 was the tipping point, with the Democrats re-grouping as centrists (anyone who thinks Clinton, Gore, or Obama are genuine liberals is wrong, sorry) and the Republicans being taken over by Pat Buchanan, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, and the rest of the nuts.

This Tuesday was, I think, the fruit of a tree planted in 1992. Interesting times.

late to the party per usual

[queenlua]

a) wow, the color switch was a surprise to me. it's been republican=red democratic=blue for as long as I can remember o.o

b) another historical surprise: jimmy carter backed out of a debate? did not know that

c) lolllollol project orca, insert requisite "republicans don't understand technology" joke here

d) according to that slate article, "wow we didn't think black people would actually vote!!!" seems to be a major overarching theme of romney!fail2012. so there's a dose of arrogance and racism alongside numberfailures. lovely.