Who will the right blame the most when Romney loses?
Note that Romney losing isn't just my prediction; conservatives are predicting it as well:
Romney will probably fall short by 13 electoral votes by winning Virginia, Florida, and Colorado, but still coming up short in Ohio. If Romney loses as it seems he will, there will be frustration and disbelief in Republicans ranks followed by a free-for-all of recriminations. As I’ve mentioned before, the Romney campaign has been vague enough that every faction will have things it can use to justify its own position and things it can use to blame its intra-party rivals. Because Romney mostly ran a campaign about nothing, no faction in the GOP will accept that it was the one that contributed most to the loss, and no disputes within the party will be any closer to resolution.
—Daniel Larison: What Happens If Romney Loses?, October 28, 2012
Larison says everyone will invoke the
Dougherty Doctrine:
“Do Republicans deserve to lose?”
That the answer is “Yes” is already implied. Now the race is on to explain why. Eventually, after all, the broader movement will settle on a narrative of what went wrong. Every conservative wants to be the one to write it...
At the end of the day, the arguments all seem to boil down to something similar: If it were more like me, the Republican Party would be better off. It’s failing because it’s like you.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty: Washington’s young conservatives ponder life in the minority, December 2006
David Frum blames the Tea Party. Senator Lindsey Graham will probably blame the loss on the shortage of angry white guys.
Ron Paul's followers asserted early on not only that they would be blamed for Romney losing, they also claimed in September that they were already being "set up". Romney fans have blamed the media, and polling companies.
RedState editor Erick Erickson a year ago was already blaming Romney. Newt Gingrich likewise thought Romney and his campaign were likely to take the blame if they lost.
Karl Rove and the Romney campaign seem to be willing to shift the blame to Hurricane Sandy. Of course others in the Romney campaign have already blamed the Romney campaign.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shakes hands with President Obama
While apparently agreeing that Romney will lose the election, Media Magnate Rupert Murdoch thinks that Christie will get the blame if he doesn't "re-declare" for Romney:
Early in 2011, Ann Coulter believed Romney could win.
Her thinking evolved a bit. In this very familiar clip from CPAC just one year later, Coulter predicted Romney would lose:
She has since declared Romney is "what the country needs". Coulter (who had previously declared Christie her "true love" as a possible GOP candidate) seems not to fault the New Jersey governor, having joked publicly (and grotesquely) about his reason to pal around with Obama:
Rush Limbaugh blames Christie, and asserts that many of his listeners feel the same.
Ten days after Rush attacked Sandra Fluke earlier this year, Cliff Kincaid predicted that Rush himself should get the blame:
Tragically, some conservative leaders are "standing with Rush," even though he may succeed in taking down the Republicans in November and re-electing Obama.
—Cliff Kincaid: Standing with Rush is political and moral suicide, March 13, 2012
Rush Limbaugh
At least one ardent conservative wrote yesterday that Limbaugh has convinced her not to vote for Romney who, according to her interpretation of Rush, doesn't support the Republican Party platform:
I will not vote for Romney because I don't believe he will be any better than Obama... The problem is Romney's record.
—Jen Shroder: Faith in God, not Romney, November 3, 2012
The "war on women" that Rush stoked so energetically last February/March seems to have caused fallout for Romney at both ends of the political spectrum.
As you can see, the blame game in the Republican Party has been in full swing for at least a year. Whatever happens after the election, it should be interesting to watch.
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