Paul Ryan endorses ‘shellshock’ theory. “The numbers we were looking at looked like we stood a pretty good chance of winning.”
I guess be thankful for small things. Gov. Rick Perry (early secesh-curious) has come out against the petition to allow Texas to secede from the union in the wake of President Obama’s reelection.
Gov. Bobby Jindal
“We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything,” Jindal said. “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”
Under the fold please find what are likely the most awesome four paragraphs written so far in the Petraeus scandal. Read More
In the interests of national security and humor, I want to ask that we take a time out and identify everyone in this script before proceeding with this scandal. Read More
How would you plan it exactly, asks TPM Reader D?
The readers arguing against shell shock are saying that this line is being purveyed on behalf of the interests of the Republican Party. I don’t find that persuasive. That would be a plausible argument if it originated from the RNC. But a losing Presidential campaign? Do they really care that much about the party? I just don’t see that as a sufficient motivation to generate a disciplined PR line.
And ask yourself — what would it take to produce a uniform political line among a band that had just lost. I mean, how would the word come down? Did they actually have a conversation about it? Did Romney himself, or perhaps his campaign manager actually put out an edict that said,”Hey, we all know we were really playing a losing hand, but now we’ve got to pull together one more time. We’ve all got to get on the same page and say we really believed our skewed polling and now we’re shellshocked.”?
As we delve deeper into the ‘Shellshock’ meme, it seemed time to offer a short primer so everyone can understand the true outlines of the meme and its canonical meaning.
Primer after the jump … Read More
TPM Reader MH echoes TPM Reader SS in just not buying ‘Shellshock’. His main point is the point I’ve made a few times now. I can believe all the rest about ‘Shellshock. But the real tell for me, the best evidence is what these folks were actually doing. I still think the move into PA only makes sense as a desperation move. Indeed, as long a shot as it was, it actually did make sense, given the terrain they were dealing with. Anyway, TPM Reader MH …
Allow me to echo the sentiments of Reader SS: the “shell-shocked” claim is nonsense. Romney’s inner circle (and the GOP establishment in general) may have gone into election night cautiously optimistic about their prospects, having convinced themselves that the unskewing analysis had some merit. They might even have thought there was some plausible chance that things could break in their favorable and result in a comfortable win.
TPM Reader SS says, no way. He’s not buying shell shocked and neither should I …
Josh, your initial instincts were correct IMO.
Mitt could have won FL, OH and VA, and Obama would still have won the election.
The poll numbers even unskewed had to show the IA, CO, NH and the rest were very close (in reality they were in the 3-4 point margin?)