Mitt Romney’s Delusions of Victory

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/03/mitt-romney-s-delusions-of-victory.html

Mitt Romney’s Delusions of Victory
by Matt Latimer Nov 3, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
Sorry Mitt, the electoral map shows it’s all over but the shouting. Ex-Bush aide Matt Latimer on what the GOP needs to do to rebuild.

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Now in GOP circles there is boastful talk of Romney “expanding the map” into New Jersey and Michigan and Oregon. What polls have him ahead of the president in any of those states? Oh … well, I think you’re seeing my point.

Even looking at the websites that “unskew” the polls in Romney’s favor, not a single one has shown the former governor with an electoral college lead over the President. Several sites, however, have Obama clearing 270 electoral votes, often with room to spare. What is propelling Team Romney and their cheerleaders in the media appears to be wishful thinking, not empirical evidence.

If any of these hopes turn do in fact come true, then the vast majority of pollsters and media outlets in America owe the nation an apology. And who wouldn’t love to see that? But if in fact President Obama is on his way to re-election, then it is must be asked: If the GOP cannot defeat a weak incumbent in the midst of an economic climate like this one, can they ever win a presidential race again? For two election cycles in a row, an “Etch-a-Sketch” candidate blessed by the Republican establishment, and crammed down the throats of rank-and-file voters would have lost. After hundreds of millions of dollars in forgettable commercials and get-out-the-vote drives had been spent. What, Republicans must ask, has become of the GOP?


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If the GOP loses to Obama—AGAIN—we will undoubtedly hear a litany of excuses: Hurricane Sandy revived the President. The economy improved. The mainstream media conspired against us. The jobs report numbers were “cooked.” Oh and somehow Obama’s birth certificate comes into play. I’m not sure how just yet, but Donald Trump will tell us.

But that’s not the truth. The truth is that the GOP, to paraphrase a prominent Republican, needs to see the world as it is, not as it wishes it to be. Maybe, if Romney does win, he can teach that lesson to his party. But he won’t.