“In a country of children, where the option is Santa Claus or work, what wins,” Limbaugh asked.



“I went to bed last night thinking we are outnumbered,” Limbaugh concluded. “I went to bed last night thinking we’ve lost the country. I don’t know how else you look at this.”



We lost a tough election. And it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time,” Hannity told his audience. “But the country will come calling, at some point, for conservatism.”

The media dared to cover when Romney went behind closed doors and told the truth about how he really feels about half the country. Romney got fact-checked (oh, the gall!). Debate moderators - gasp - moderated the debates (well, most of them, anyway)! They didn't talk enough about Benghazi-gate! (Never mind that there's no there, there). They didn't tell folks how bad the economy sucked and instead reported the numbers as they stand. That is horrible.

The key reason for my bum prediction is that I mistakenly believed that the 2008 surge in black, Latino, and young voter turnout would recede in 2012 to “normal” levels. Didn’t happen. These high levels of minority and young voter participation are here to stay. And, with them, a permanent reshaping of our nation’s politics.



In 2012, 13% of the vote was cast by blacks. In 04, it was 11%. This year, 10% was Latino. In ’04 it was 8%. This time, 19% was cast by voters under 30 years of age. In ’04 it was 17%. Taken together, these results swelled the ranks of Obama’s three-tiered base by five to six points, accounting fully for his victory.



I derided the media polls for their assumption of what did, in fact happen: That blacks, Latinos, and young people would show up in the same numbers as they had in 2008. I was wrong. They did.

But the more proximate cause of my error was that I did not take full account of the impact of hurricane Sandy and of Governor Chris Christie’s bipartisan march through New Jersey arm in arm with President Obama. Not to mention Christe’s fawning promotion of Obama’s presidential leadership.

“What we got was a weak moderate candidate, hand-picked by the Beltway elites and country-club establishment wing of the Republican Party. The Presidential loss is unequivocally on them.



“While it might take longer to restore America’s founding principles with President Obama back in office, we are not going away.



“With the catastrophic loss of the Republican elite’s hand-picked candidate – the tea party is the last best hope America has to restore America’s founding principles.

The new America has been built on the backs of takers, that is, those who take the entitlements but, do not produce. The Takers won tonight. [...]



However, the Takers didn’t act alone. The question is: if the republicans cannot beat Obama after all of his crimes, fraud and treachery then the Republican Party does not deserve to exist and must be dealt with.



The Tea Party is now more important than ever before. We told the Republicans they should be more confrontational, more direct and display Obama’s record for the world to see, but their arrogance blinded them to the truth.

Conservatism should not be defined around who agrees with whatever outrageousness comes out of the mouths of these talk radio hosts. Enough is enough!

Anybody that runs around calling anyone who can win swing votes a RINO, get out of the way!... Lunacy is not a governing philosophy!

With the president's resounding re-election on Tuesday night - with over a 100-electoral vote margin - the political Right is apoplectic. But lest anyone think that a meltdown is all they are having, one would be wrong. The civil war within the Republican party has already begun - a war between the teabaggers and those in their party who actually want to win a future presidential election. Let's start with the meltdown, just because it's more fun. :-)Well, I guess it's a bag of coal for Rush this Christmas.Indeed Rush, indeed. Your America - the one where you win elections by race-baiting and scapegoating - that America is indeed lost. We are in a better America now - where everyone is included, everyone's voice matters, and everyone's voice counts.You got what you want, you little country, you America you! We you'll come crying to us for the 1950s atpoint!Whatever it takes to drink away the pain, I guess. Sure, Sean, sure. Since that line of thinking and alternate reality turned out to be so great for the Republican party and the conservative movement in 2012, I am sure it will be even more effective come 2016, or 2020...The conservative media apoplexy would never be completed without hearing aboutJust as Romney had a five-point plan to screw the middle class, Fox has a five point sad-face against the... well, media, which supposedly Fox News has never been a party of.I agree. It's very unfair to the conservative side when all these fancy things calls facts have a liberal bias.because them colored folk that voted in 2008 dared to vote again in 2012.Oh, the horror of the black, Latino and young voters.Oh, and Mother Nature and Chris Cristie conspired against the Republicans, too.Yeah, presidential leadership sucks! And admitting it exists sucks even more!If you think it's just the right wing media that is losing their collective sh*t over this, you would be wrong.is at once sad, mad, clueless and all-knowing. They are going right for the gun - the idea that the loss came because Romney wasn't sufficiently crazy Uhh, not to rain on your parade guys, but America re-elected our most recent best hope on Tuesday night, and we did so with plenty of room to spare. And by the way, America's best hope is we, the people, not a single person, president or politician.But if one Tea Party group faults Romney's loss on the intransigence of the Republican establishment (while completely oblivious to their own success in taking over the same), another claims it's time to end the whole damn Republican party . And oh, of course, it's those damn takers that's screwing America over.Yes, more confrontation. That's what the people voted for. I am not sure what could be more confrontational than the latest iteration of the Republican party (other than actual physical duels and fist-fights), but I'm sure "second-Amendment remedies "have a place in the heart of the Tea party.And this Tea Party demand for even more confrontation, even more bruising political battles brings us to the aforementionedWhile the Teabaggers are ready for more war, some in the party see the changing demographics and President Obama's coalition and are scared sh*tless that there is no way to win that war. On the other side of this civil war are Republicans who want to win presidential elections in the future and know that in order to do so, they must assemble a coalition that goes beyond just the angry white men. Morning Joe's Joe Scarborough and former McCain adviser Steve Schmidt brought that point home.Money quotes from the conversation:Well, yeah, but then again, your party has been running on hate for the past decade, and hate is not a campaign strategy either.Let the civil war commence!In all seriousness, I long for the return of a sane Republican party, but for now, it doesn't seem like that's where it's headed. For all the sense they make, Scarborough and Schmidt are still in the minority within the Republican party (well, more like a dying breed), and the inmates are still running the asylum.For all the meltdown and civil war on the Right, however, there is one thing that I believe the Right is completely failing to get: they weregoing to win this election. Nobody on the right (or for that matter on our side before) has ever built the campaign organization that Barack Obama has. And few others could have accomplished what this president did in his first term in office given the obstacles - both economic and political. The Republicans may be missing the forest for the trees.That is not to say that the demographics didn't shift or that it didn't finally checkmate the scapegoat politics of the Right. That is all true. And that is all relevant in the internal discussion of the Republican party as they figure out where to go from there. But the coalition that this president built outnumbered and outworked the opposition, and adopting to the new demographics is only the first challenge of the Republican party. Their final challenge will be to put together their own coalition. And right now, that looks far, far away.