What was the GOP's "coherent message" that they "stood for"?

[Recursion]

I'm seeing a lot of people say the problem was that the Democratic party didn't "stand for" anything or present a "coherent message" (rather than, say, the fact that Democrats pretty predictably don't show up to vote in mid-terms).

So, what was the GOP's "coherent message" that they "stood for"? Who articulated it? I certainly didn't hear one.

[still_one]

1. The GOP doesn't have a coherent message. Do you know for a fact that Democrats didn't get out and

vote?

[Recursion]

4. Yes, it's been a well-established pattern since the 1960s or so (nt)

[sinkingfeeling]

2. GOP: We're against everything Obama has done.

[kelliekat44]

3. That was it. And it worked. nt

[Recursion]

5. Who said that? When? (nt)

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Every single ad the GOP ran in Arkansas, even for local offices.

[morningfog]

8. Republican leadership and candidates, every chance they had.

[Recursion]

9. Give me an example (nt)

[morningfog]

11. I don't believe you are serious.

[Recursion]

12. I am entirely serious. Give me an example of this apparently monstrously effective messaging machine

Seriously. What was the GOP's message, who articulated it, when , and where?

[morningfog]

13. How many times did house repubs vote to repeal ACA?

They have been relentless and focused for 2 years.

Do you remember Boner threatening to sue Obama?

They built the frame for years that Obama was the problem, that his policies were hurting the US and that he is an authoritarian. They reinforced the frame at every turn and then ran on stopping it.

[Recursion]

14. I'm talking messaging. Do you think voters actually read the Congressional Record?

Who said what, when, and where, to articulate this alleged "message"?

[morningfog]

15. Sorry. This feigned ignorance is boring to me.

[Recursion]

16. So... nothing?

Got it.

[morningfog]

18. You got it!

[Bandit]

27. Voted with Obama 97% of the time

Because of Obama's disasterous policies America is on the wrong track. We will overturn Obamacare.. Do I need to go on. These ads were repeated every hour on the hour for weeks.

[Recursion]

28. So, were the candidates right to run away from Obama?

I thought being tied to Obama was supposed to be a good thing?

[Bandit]

29. The proof is in the pudding

The more they ran away from Obama and Democratic principles the harder they fell.

[Recursion]

30. But by that argument the GOP ads were working in their favor, right?

Seems odd that the GOP would pay for ads that apparently improve Democrats' chances...

[Bandit]

65. When Democrats don't denounce the Republican ads people assume they are true.

When a Democrat is asked whether they voted for a Democrat and they are afraid to answer, it tells you something. That particular Democrat lost by fifteen points... Did her running away from Democratic ideals help her in any manner?
If you won't stand for something you will fall for anything. Democrats lost this election and they will continue to do so as long as they act Republican Lite. I personally have almost given up completely on them..I want something to vote for.. Democrats offered nothing except "We are not Obama".. Doesn't fly with me..

[sinkingfeeling]

24. Here's a couple from Arkansas.....

And here's articles on that strategy from the GOP...
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/politics/gop-ties-dems-to-obama-and-pelosi/

http://www.nationaljournal.com/against-the-grain/running-against-obama-republicans-positioned-for-midterm-sweep-20141020

[Recursion]

25. Thank you. That's the sort of thing I was asking for

Let me watch these and get back to you

[joshcryer]

35. Here you go:

Oh, wait...

[Recursion]

36. Thank you (nt)

[joshcryer]

38. Tongue in cheek, btw.

[aikoaiko]

44. Here's an example from GA. It killed blue-dog Barrow

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

59. That was the thrust of 90% of the McConnell ads.

To paraphrase the vast majority of his ads that played as far north as Cincinnati stations across the river, 'Alison Grimes will do whatever Barack Obama wants, and she's lying any time she tells you she won't.'

Republicans wanted a referendum on the President because they knew how unpopular he was, and they got it, and it won for them. The people who think that snuggling up to the President would have actually helped any of the losing candidates are simply fooling themselves. It would have only made it more of a blowout.

[LonePirate]

6. Bingo! They loudly proclaimed they were against everything Obama represents and supports

[Recursion]

10. Who did? When? (nt)

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

61. Cotton, Gardner, Ernst, Daines, Tillis, Rounds, Capito, McConnell.

Ie, the folks who flipped the Senate red. In most of their advertising.

[Bjorn Against]

17. BENGHAZI! EBOLA! WAAAAARRBBBLLEE GARRRRRGLLLEE!

[TransitJohn]

19. "Democrats bad"

That's it. Republicans are much better at framing narratives, because both they and the sheeple that they're speaking to think in black and white. It's hard to simplistically frame narratives when you think nuanced.

Republicans have been successful in stalling much of the POTUS' and the Democratic Party's agenda, slowed down the economic recovery, and successfully blamed it on Democrats.

[Recursion]

20. Who "framed" that message? When? Where?

Seriously. Who did this amazing job at framing that the Democrats allegedly failed at?

(It obviously can't be that Democrats reliably don't vote in mid terms, can it?)

[TransitJohn]

21. Viacom, Turner Broadcasting, Gannett, etc.

Do you see the media?

[Recursion]

22. Give me a specific example

Any example.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

23. That was it in a nutshell

And for their truth- and compassion-challenged followers, that's enough- even though it shouldn't be. Dems need to make sure our voters are turning out just as much if not more than the Republicans EVERY TWO YEARS. We have the power and the numbers. We just don't use them like we should IMHO.

[LondonReign2]

26. You're in multiple threads feigning ignorance of GOP messaging

It's cute

[Tom Ripley]

31. You are erroneously assuming that republicans are capable of coherency

[Recursion]

32. Well, I'm pretty sure they aren't

That caucus can't find its own ass with a flashlight and instructions. But people seem to think they had a message, which I absolutely failed to see. There was no "contract with America" or anything like that.

[Brickbat]

33. Here's a nice recap.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/opinion/negativity-wins-the-senate.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000

On Tuesday morning, the Republican National Committee released a series of get-out-the-vote images showing Mr. Obama and Democratic Senate candidates next to this message: “If you’re not a voter, you can’t stop Obama.”

The most important promises that winning Republicans made were negative in nature. They will repeal health care reform. They will roll back new regulations on banks and Wall Street. They will stop the Obama administration’s plans to curb coal emissions and reform immigration and invest in education.

Campaigning on pure negativity isn’t surprising for a party that has governed that way since Mr. Obama was first sworn in. By creating an environment where every initiative is opposed and nothing gets done, Republicans helped engineer the president’s image as weak and ineffectual. Mitch McConnell, who will be the Senate’s new majority leader, vowed in 2009 to create “an inventory of losses” to damage Mr. Obama for precisely the results achieved on Tuesday.

[Enrique]

34. i agree, they don't have one

behind the scenes they know what they're doing, but their public message is deceptive and incoherent.

[WinkyDink]

37. Anti-Obama. Plain and simple.

[randome]

45. That's a category, not a message.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]The truth doesn’t always set you free.
Sometimes it builds a bigger cage around the one you’re already in.[/center][/font][hr]

[Orsino]

39. ADD INCHES TO YOUR MANHOOD, OR DIE FROM MEXICAN EBOLA!!!1! SERIESLY!!1!

The Jayzus guns will save you from the Moozlim zombies.

[LadyHawkAZ]

40. The entire message was "The black guy sucks"

And a substantial chunk of "Democrats" bought into it.

[hunter]

48. The coherent message is that black people and urban intellectuals are scary people.

The GOP sells itself as the party of "ordinary" white people.

The GOP politicians, most all of them grifters of various sorts, play to the fears of their anti-intellectual and racist audience.

The Democratic Party has it's own share of grifters, but it does tend to be inclusive.

[cyberswede]

41. Anti-Obama...

the details are irrelevant.

[Man from Pickens]

54. spot on

The message was "Obama bad" - and the elephant in the room is that the American people by a significant majority agree.

This is the result of Democrats giving Obama zero pushback on anything, it was trivial to tie every single one to him as his lead balloon dragged us all down with him.

[hunter]

42. Obama is a... Obama is a... socialist.

If voters think Obama is a socialist, they are complete morons.

Racism is still a large factor in American politics.

[JonLP24]

50. I forgot about the S word

Which was used in an ad against Krysten Sinema who said this back in 2009 "I've become a huge fan of research. It's helped me as a candidate learn to talk in ways that voters can understand. For example, I used to say that I wanted universal health-care coverage in Arizona, which went over like a ton of bricks. Turns out, Arizonans hear the word "universal" and think "socialism"--or "pinko commie." But when I say that I want all Arizonans to have access to affordable, quality health care, Arizonans agree wholeheartedly. Same basic idea, different language. Research is what teaches us these differences so that we can relate to voters in ways that are authentic and meaningful for them."

Her district includes a college campus, upscale rich conservative area to the north and heavy middle class Republican with high Mormon population to the East. She is also openly bisexual, worked on Ralph Nader's presidential campaign, one of the 10 porest members of congress but has managed to portray herself as a blue dog but when you look at the issues there isn't anything I really disagree with and she favors gay marriage, DREAM Act, the state Republican's favorite wedge issues. She also opposes the DP.

She didn't run many ads but the ones that did focused on her work with veterans, she didn't run attack ads.

[cali]

43. Fear & Change.

[JonLP24]

46. Their opponent will basically agree with everything Obama and Pelosi wants

That they'll expose us to terrorism and make us less safe, their opponents want "amnesty", they either did favor or would favor job killing Obamacare. Maybe guns but that didn't get a lot of play here in Arizona.

The only thing clear to me was tax cuts, they'll oppose immigration reform, not so much afer that. They certainly did a good job defining their opponent's message and stance but big money helps.

[justiceischeap]

47. They all pretty much ran against the President and it worked because, IMO

The Democratic Party ran away from accomplishments that would have mattered to voters. They also did a very poor job of defining those accomplishments in a way that matters to the electorate.

[Avalux]

49. Americans vote based on fear/anger, not a desire to improve their lives.

The Republicans have perfected the use of negative motivation.

A candidate doesn't have to 'stand for' anything, as long as he/she can convince people they're going to protect them from some evil that's trying to hurt or kill them. Like here in Texas - Greg Abbott is a crook and will do nothing to improve the lives of the people in this state. What he will do, is protect us from bad people trying to cross the border and take what is ours. He will make sure Obama's policies don't hurt us. That was good enough for most.

Abbott never had to explain HOW he'll do anything. None of the Republican candidates did. If enough people are afraid and paranoid, they'll vote for the devil himself if they think they'll be safe.

[Dont call me Shirley]

51. Lies, smears and hate is what gop stands for.

People loves them some nasty, juicy gossip.

[Peacetrain]

52. They had no message.. that is the amazing thing

Nothing, nada, ... where were peoples heads?

[Dawgs]

53. They didn't need one. They were already running in red states.

The Democrats were the party that needed to get their base motivated and out to vote.

[Tom Ripley]

62. +1000

[Zorra]

55. Their main message is hate. nt

[Autumn]

56. You didn't hear corey gardner, he sounded like a democrat.

It must have worked, he got elected.

[unblock]

57. their coherent message is that money wins.

greed has an irresistible appeal if you merely put a fig leaf on it, any thin disguise will do, really.

meanwhile, money can buy enough horse manure to make the sweetest rose stink up a storm, which explains the democrats' image.

[okieinpain]

58. obamacare, guns, pro-life. LOL. n/t.

[elleng]

60. WASN'T one, never is, from them!

again, turtle said last night, something like 'let's take our country back.' BS!!!

[YoungDemCA]

63. Here's the Republican message:

[dawg]

64. We're not Obama!

That's it folks. That was the message.

Voters were unhappy. Voters blame the President for everything in this country, regardless of who controls Congress and regardless of what policies have actually been proposed, voted on, or blocked.

This is why we would be so much better off with a parliamentary system where the winning party would be able to govern unimpeded until the next election and voters would have a much clearer idea of who was to blame whenever things went pear-shaped.

[nilesobek]

66. The GOP doesn't need

an overtly articulated message. Its pretty much, "Black guy in the White House, Socialist, Muslim usurper. (I saw that one in the local newspaper). They are appealing to the lowest common denominator, which is fear.

Those candidates ran away from Obama and his numerous accomplishments like alcoholics racing to get to the liquor store before it closes. You don't abandon the main guy of the team. Democrats were weak and no backup for Obama. If there had been severe, sustained, principled attacks and push back against the Republican "message," then we might have been able to swing a few seats.

Even in defeat we all could have stuck together instead of "everyman for himself." That sends a message of solidarity and force to Republicans.