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Exactly What's in That Big GOP Tent?

Light's on...nobody's home

The GOP has spent the last few years trying to convince voters that the GOP has a big tent, meaning that every racial, ethnic and interest group is welcome and well represented.

Let's see how that worked out in the 2012 presidential election.

President Obama won 55% of the women's vote
President Obama won 60% of the youth vote

President Obama won 73% of the Latino vote
President Obama won 77% of the gay vote
President Obama won 85% of the Asian vote
President Obama won 93% of the black vote

Mitt Romney did win 60% of the white vote. Interestingly, that was the same percentage of the white vote George H.W. Bush won in 1988. With his 60% of the white vote, Bush Sr. won 426 electoral votes while Romney's 60% of the white vote got him a measly 206. Do we detect a declining demographic here?

Moral of the election: To paraphrase the most famous quote from the movie Jaws: "You're gonna need a smaller tent".

frank booth November 14, 2012 at 06:22 pm
Walt, the numbers show some things, and don't show others. The Republican Party has done a poor job pandering to or engaging the gay community. The African-American vote, or black vote, as you say, was clearly along racial lines. We all know that, and it's not racist to say that. But if it were 93% of white people for Romney, that would be racist, wouldn't it, Walt?
Democrats do a better job of reaching out to those groups you mentioned, no doubt. But they also do a fabulous job of spin and misdirection, painting Republicans as the evil rich, whilst supported by Hollywood moguls and sport some of the wealthiest politicians in the country. They get a huge assist from the media as well. If Bush had done some of the things that Obama has done, the media would skewer him. The Benghazi issue is one example, and the Petraeus issue is another one, even though Obama isn't at fault in that one, the media would have blamed Bush if he was in office. Another problem is that people want stuff- and Obama is telling them he'll give them things. He is going to take the jobs of naturalized citizens and hand them to illegals. He's going to get them drivers licenses. He still hasn't done anything with our borders, and yet people such as yourself think it's a travesty when someone says we need to show our ID to vote (I needed an ID to pick up a package at the post office the other day).
Walter Bruun November 16, 2012 at 07:13 am
@ Frank - spreading more right wing lies. You say Obama has not done anything with our borders - baloney - Obama has more than tripled the number of border patrol agents guarding the borders. You say Obama is going to take the jobs of naturalized citizens and give them to illegals - pure BS - Obama has stepped up deportations of illegal immigrants to levels more than twice what Bush had. The media has been all over Obama about Benghazi - while it pretty much gave Bush a pass over 9/11 and the Anthrax attacks. Voter ID wouldn't be a problem if the laws also included getting registered voters photo IDs for free, go to the nursing homes where many voters - who are not mobile including veterans - and give them free voter IDs, and making their offices in areas where those who would most likely be disenfranchised (that is, poor & minority areas) more accessible instead of closing them - instead where they have made those ID laws they actually make it harder for the populations they deiberatley targeted to get ID - and have disenfranchised voters who have voted for years - including veterans. Oh, and who was that Hollywood mogul who was speaking to the empty chair at the RNC? I think you and the GOP are a travesty.
frank booth November 16, 2012 at 05:15 pm
Walter- The big bump on border patrol agents came during the Bush administration, with an annual bump of agents of about 14% per year for about an 8 year period. With Obama, it's been an increase of 3% of per year. So Obama has not "tripled the amount of agents on the border" as you say. Nice try.
Deportations are up on average in the Obama administration, but once again you are wrong: they are not double of what they were in the Bush administration, although they are up over 50% of what the Bush administration did, continuing on the policies of the Bush admin that Bush got no credit for. A lot of those deportations have been criminals, which is a good thing, and the policy of targeting illegal immigrant criminals was also started under the Bush admin. At the same time, while deporting criminals, the Obama admin is doing things to make it easier for present immigrants to stay here. This does displace American workers since they flood the labor market and will work for lower wages. The media has not been on Obama about Benghazi, and outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, ABC, etc basically made the story disappear prior to the election and actually tried to obfuscate the point by blaming Romney for bringing it up. As far as 9/11, Bush was castigated plenty for it- and what the heck would Bush have had to do with the anthrax issue? Eastwood is Republican- but he is the exception to the rule in Hollywood. Trying to pick out the exception to the rule makes you look foolish.

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