...and the 2016 campaign may have already begun:

http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/rubio...

Hi Sebe. It seems that some in the Japanese Army in the Pacific during WWII "held fast" til they were driven out of their bunker caves or walked out of the jungle on their own after the battle and war was over. Krauthammers rant reminds me of such 'on with the cause' die hard idealogues.

So, yes. Go ahead. By all means find a different messenger with a patched up re bottling of Conservative medicine oil. But I gotta tell ya, friend...it ain't agonna sell.

BTW: what's the name of that haunting melody you've attached to your blog? It conjurs up memories of the South in defeat after the War of Northern Agression.

High Jimmy: The Japanese didn't have 57 million holding fast, nor did they have the ultimate might to make right (i.e., the atomic bomb), which was the principal motivation for their surrender.

The margin of last Tuesday's election - in particular the popular vote - in no way had the effect of an "atomic bomb" on this country's political landscape. While the president won a large electoral college victory, his popular vote margin this time around was much smaller than in 2008, and his wins in the swing states were NOT by substantials margins. With a better messenger, the outcome could have easily been very different.

"The message" has already sold to more than 57 million people, and with somebody like Marco Rubio as the messenger, it only needs to sell to a few million more. I predict that the GOP will not lose faith or heart, and - like the South after the War of Northern Aggression - will ultimately RISE AGAIN.

(Yes - you got me - the tune is titled "Ashokan Farewell," and was theme music used for Ken Burns' 1990 PBS television miniseries/documentary "The Civil War." One thing I didn't know at the time I saw the miniseries was that the song wasn't written until 1982. Burns first heard it in 1984, and reportedly was inspired and moved by it. I assumed that it was a "period piece" from the 1850s-1860s - because it seemed to fit the subject so well. But it was actually the only modern composition on the Burns documentary's soundtrack; all the other music is authentic from the 19th Century.)

[...I was going to correct my "High Jimmy" Freudian slip, but I won't. In the wake of Tuesday's election results, "high" is probably an accurate description of the mood of the President's supporters. They (and you) have a right to celebrate and perhaps even gloat. You can be sure that the other side would be doing so if the outcome had been different...]

For the record, I am not gloating. Happy? Yes. Gloating? No.

I hear you - I wasn't referring to you specifically.

....NOT by substantial margins, that is...

...and speaking of gloat (without the “L”), there IS one thing that gets my goat about this and every election. And what I'll outline below is the perfect illustration at the “local” level which applies to the results of our recent national election. It’s a true “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” story. In the words of Agent 86 – would you believe:

*That in the President’s home state; nay – in his professed HOME TOWN – there is a sitting DEMOCRAT politician who is currently under federal investigation by the FBI on charges that he used campaign funds to redecorate his Washington, D.C. home, and that he also used campaign funds to buy a $40,000 Rolex for a female friend. He is reportedly working on a PLEA BARGAIN with federal prosecutors in connection with these charges.

*Additionally, this incumbent DEMOCRAT politician hasn’t made a public appearance in six months – he basically did no campaigning whatsoever. He’s been on a leave of absence since June (coincidentally when the ongoing FBI investigation hit the fan). He has reportedly been splitting his time between the Rochester Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic, where he is undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder and convalescing in his Washington D.C. home, where he is visited by doctors twice a day. There is no current estimate of when he would return to his duties in the U.S. House of Representatives.

*This is the same sitting politician who was also under investigation for his role in the alleged “selling” of the DEMOCRAT Senatorial Seat previously held by the President of these United States – Barack Obama - for millions of dollars by the convicted felon and now federally incarcerated former DEMOCRAT governor of the State of Illinois – Rod Blagojevich.

*Now comes the “believe it or not part”: This past Tuesday, this incumbent politician won reelection to his U.S House of Representatives seat BY A LANDSLIDE. This DEMOCRAT politician received 63% of the vote from a constituency who knew he was currently under multiple investigations, that he may be mentally unstable and unable to return to his duties as a U.S. Representative, and that a plea bargain was underway.

This scenario is a microcosm of the recent U.S. presidential election at large. Some people just refuse to see or face facts, vote blindly, and are influenced by everything under the sun except the best interests of this country.

That’s my rant and I’m sticking to it.

Go here to see who's painted into "corners" (and nooks and crannies):

http://www.drudgereport.com/

Yes - boo-frickity-hoo for the people of the state of Illinois and the rest of this country.

But my hunch is that we'll find out about that soon enough. Also - believe it or not - I'm pulling for this President to LEAD, forge compromises, and be a "uniter" like he claimed he was four years ago. The election is over, and he's MY president, too. I want him - and by extension - all of us to succeed. The economic development and progress of this country to me is paramount and trumps all ideological differences. Oh - the differnces are still there - but as I say, if Obama had focused on jobs, GDP growth, and fiscal discipline, he would have won maybe even two-thirds of the votes cast in this past election.

But I refuse to cut him any slack when he refuses to LEAD - just like I didn't cut Dubya any slack when he fiscally turned into a Democrat.

(Never mind - I'll post the graphic here, before he changes it.)

Gotta go do stuff now - take care and have a nice weekend.

Conservatives must do something to move away from their extremists within their party i.e. the lunatic Tea Partiers and that sad woman on Murrs blog ranting about BHO's election. Then they have to speak to issues like abortion, immigration, gays, women, minorities, etc. in a more moderate tone.

I, for one, do not believe they can do it. And in addition to going the way as the WHIGS, I think they will more than likely also go the way of The Know Nothings.

News Flash, Krauthammer is on point and Marco Rubio will be the BHO of the Republican Party in 2016 and if BHO don’t reach across the aisle and lead as he said he would in 2008, the Democrat Progressive Socialist Party will lose voters in America BIGTIME in 2016. Watch the Senate in 2014 mid-terms and if the Dems run Hillary or Joe in 2016 against Rubio watch out for a landslide win for the Republicans. BHO didn’t lead or reach across the aisle in his first term and that’s a fact. A fact to a toe tag liberal is like kryptonite to Superman. I appreciate the fact that America elected a black President, and I’m disappointed that America gave him a second term because he’s black instead of his record. Since I retired from the military in March 2004, I’ve earned two promotions in the Private sector and it wasn’t because I’m black it was because of my record of production.

And I guess my family and I are too rich, with me earning over $64,000 annually and as an individual putting me in the top 25% income earners and as a Family earning over $113, 000 annually putting us in the top 10% income earners in the USA. Student loans paid for and healthcare earned through legitimate contracts as it should be! I don't want to subsidize the Murrelets student loans and her and her family's healhtcare, they should pay for it themselves since they are so educated, know everything, self sufficient and contrite and such loving American people!

"whatever, sebekm. I and just about every political scientist in the country believe that the demographics of the GOP spell its doom."

JUST ABOUT EVERY POLITICAL SCIENTIST IN THE COUNTRY? SPELL ITS DOOM? How can you make that statement? Let me see your facts. Show me the consensus. When you say "just about every political scientist in the country" you are talking >95% at least. LET ME SEE YOUR STATS. Otherwise I'll just consider your generalization as wishful delusion. (Hint: "Just about every political scientist ON THE LEFT" that thinks the demographis "spell the doom" of the GOP doesn't get it.)

But whatever turns your crank. Obama won and you can gloat. Enjoy it while you can - because:

"...Marco Rubio will be the BHO of the Republican Party in 2016..."

I believe this as well. From what I've seen thus far:

*NOBODY is going to get the better of Rubio in a debate. He has the unique ability to slice and dice an opponent's argument in an intelligent and non-condescending way that will inspire his supporters and deflate his opponents. Rubio speaks from the heart and looks you in the eye, and his rhetoric doesn't sound like rhetoric. He's no "rich white guy" who "exported jobs" and "killed people's wives."

*He definitely has the ability to win the "beauty contest." I can't see anybody on the other side who can compare for 2016.

*He has lived the American Dream as a LATINO, and will bring that important constituency to the GOP in significant numbers - per the Krauthammer argument - providing they manage the immigration issue properly (also per Krauthammer).

*Presuming his "personal life" is clean and free from scandal (you never know - think Petraeus), if the Dems go dirty on Rubio they risk alienating the Latinos that remain loyal to their party. He would present a much more "bullet-proof" candidate than somebody like Romney, who they used to - for example - inspire fear of race riots.

*A presidential ticket with Rubio at the top could be more effective with a FEMALE former governor as the VP candidate. There are several to choose from - but any would be demonized by the extremist feminists (and I separate those from NON-extremist feminists) on the left. This would be a wise tactical way to go if the 2016 Dem candidate is Hillary Clinton.

"...most of the country isn't buying what the GOP is selling."

But enough of them are that the "doom" of the GOP is just a pipe-dream for the lefties. Gloat while you can. Obama won the election - that is a fact.

But this, too, will pass.

"The Dems found someone who could run a successful campaign in Barack Obama, much the same as Abraham Lincoln found in Ulysses S. Grant somebody who could beat Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Civil War".

And in 2016, it will be Hillary Clinton who will beat the Republicans, and win the Presidency!!! You know why? Because us OLD people (including myself :-) ) are too proud to change, too old to change, don't want to change, and don't want you to change it. That is why the Republican Party have lost repeatedly.

Okay, Sporty. You can gloat all you want but history shows that the losing party has ALWAYS figured it out and came back stronger than before. You may not be old enough to remember, but when Nixon, Reagan, and Bush the Elder won, the lamenting by the left and mindless chatter by the prophets of Dem party DOOM were exactly the same as they are now re: the GOP. But the gloating on the right THEN, and their predictions of Democratic Party doom didn't hold true, did they? The Dems just reloaded and came back with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

No - one party winning the presidency three times in a row is a very tough row to hoe. The GOP only did it in 1992 because Dukakis was such a poor candidate. Hillary will be a good candidate, but she no longer has the "star power" or the novelty of Barack Obama or Marco Rubio.

Of course, Hillary has to WANT to run, as well. Not wishing her any ill will, but Hillary will be pushing SEVENTY in 2016, and we don't know what will transpire between now and then. To put it bluntly:

The lefties may want to put a 70 year-old woman into the White House because she's the best candidate they have, but I'm not sure how it will sell with the rest of the country. The advantage the Dems have had with young people that Obama enjoyed will probably certainly drop off dramatically, as I can't see them voting for "Grandma" over a relatively youthful and attractive candidate like Rubio (i.e., the "Beauty Contest" factor).

Plus, we'll have had four more years of (hopefully not but probably) the failure of the economic policies of the Democratic Party and Barack Obama. Remember, this year's "horse race" was a contest between a black, relatively charismatic incumbent president and somebody who the left was able to demonize as a rich, white, greedy, job out-sourcing, wife-killer. They won't be able to do that with Rubio.

No - 2016 will be quite different, and the GOP will have learned their lessons. Unlike the claims by the "loonies on the left," they are not "stupid" and can definitely read the political tea leaves. It is clear to see what needs to be done, and the advancement of people like Rubio and Martinez in their ranks demonstrates that they are not averse to doing what is necessary.

It's still all about the POLICIES - economic and social in particular - where the Republicans have the advantage. Four more years of continued Dem policies - IMHO - should seal the deal and give the Republicans a distinct advantage in 2016.

With the right candidate, they will be very hard to beat. You can be certain that they will have a different "swing state" strategy.

Dream on.

Okay, Blanche. Nighty night....

President Obama found the formula. Personally, I believe he must have The Borg running his campaign and whoever is running 2016 would be crazy not to have his team.

Hi lholmes: He still had the organization which put him in office in 2008, and Romney was the best the other side could come up with. In hindsight, I think it's as simple as that. If you recall, it took the GOP supporters a relatively LONG TIME to warm to Romney, and I think it basically was because he was viewed as their "best chance." If you recall, six months ago I didn't give the Republicans much chance of winning, and I stated several times that I couldn't believe there was actually a CONTEST going on beginning probably in early September.

In the end, Romney and his crew didn't have the juice, and Obama had just enough - especially in the swing states. I really do believe that it's much about the "beauty contest," and the rest is campaign organization. The polling data consistently showed that it was the economy that was far and away the most important issues in voters' minds, and that the other "social issues" were far down the list. Yet Obama STILL got a majority of the popular vote - he won by approximately 3 million votes out of about 120 million cast. He got 51% - a "close shave" statistically for sure.

In the past, it has been a tradition for the winners - on BOTH sides - to gloat and claim "victory" and trumpet the death knell of the other party as a major influence for mainstream America. It was propaganda back then and it's propaganda now. When your candidate - the incumbent - only gets 51% of the popular vote against a candidate the other party really didn't want in the first place, that's a on-its-face victory, but it's no "mandate" that signals the "doom" of anything.

The Dems won't have Obama in 2016. They MAY have Hillary Clinton, but beyond that I don't see much else. The GOP has a stable of rising stars who don't fit the stereotype the Dems are pushing and who will do exceptionally well in the "beauty contest."

As I said earlier, this, too, will pass. Obama gets a do-over and the country gets to decide whether they REALLY want more Democratic party control of the government. If the President changes his ways and focuses on the REAL priorities and problems that face this country, they'll still be competitive in 2016.

But if it's business as usual and four years from now we still have 2% or less growth in GDP; 8+% unemployment; 4+ more trillion of debt; and rising taxes for EVERBODY that continue to sap the wealth of hard-working people in this country, I predict the country will say "Give us anybody else" (as they did in 1980 when Reaqan was elected). In fact, those who are old enough to remember - in 1968 it was that exact same attitude about the prevalent problem of the times then (Viet Nam) that galvanized enough support behind Richard Nixon to put him in the White House. The country was so sick of the Democrats and the war that they were willing to elect Tricky Dick. And we know how THAT story turned out.

"....memories of the South in defeat after the War of Northern Agression."

And speaking of wars of Southern Rebellion - people in 15 States have filed petitions to secede from the United States in the wake of the recent election results. Surprisingly, they are not all in "Southern states," but there are a few of the usual suspects, to include LA, TX, NC, GA, AL, and FL.

And as of just past midnight this morning, the running total of signatures obtained on the petitions were:

"Louisiana, 7,358; Texas, 3,771; Florida, 636; Georgia, 475; Alabama, 834; North Carolina, 792; Kentucky, 467; Mississippi, 475; Indiana, 449; North Dakota, 162; Montana, 440; Colorado, 324; Oregon, 328; New Jersey, 301 and New York, 169."

See: http://www.examiner.com/article/15-st...

25,000 signatures are required on a petition for it to be "considered by the Obama administration." Also, the above article claims that : "Many more States are expected to follow."

It's a silly exercise, of course, but it is a PEACEFUL exercise. It's a far cry from what was threatened and what I believe really would have happened around the country if Romney had gotten another 2-3% of the popular vote (in raw numbers - a measly 2 million more). We'd be seeing widespread rioting, looting, and inner-city burning as you read this comment.

And the mainstream media would have been enabling and "searching for answers," as usual.

Yes, Sebe, disenchantment is everywhere these days. I believe it was nut job Sarah Palin's husband, you know, the one referred to as 'The First Dude', who is on record for calling for Alaska to secede from the Union prior to being named as running mate with McCain.

But enough of politics. Ain't you a little tired of it? I am. You and Funk can save your bullets for the next election cycle.

So...How Bout Them Dawgs, guys!!!

Hi Jimmy. Yes - it's time to let it go. At least there was a contest. As for the Dawgs, I'm pulling for them to win the SEC. A&M has shown the way to beat AL, and I'm looking for the Dawgs to follow the script. Of course, that kid had a hell of a game, but AL's mystique has taken a big time hit. Shoot -- AL should reaaly have TWO losses. The Mad Hatter gave away that game for LSU.