In Defeat, Dummkopfery

It's a pity that Mitt Romney (who gave a surprisingly classy concession speech) hasn't learned the fundamental lesson yet of assuming that, if you're a political figure, your words will get out. And, frankly, don't try to rationalize a loss--hard that one, but still: Keep your powder dry and your mouth shut is good advice when your trying to get over a crushing loss.

Alas, Romney did not follow either piece of advice:



Now, beyond being an insult to the majority of the people, it's ultimately unconvincing--the Democratic responses range from "Oh, doing stuff that makes people's lives better is bad, gotcha!" to "You're the guy who offered massive amounts of money to the rich, and you're talking about 'gifts'?"--that rarity,a justified tu quoque.

Republicans like Bobby Jindal, Gov. Susannah Martinez, and Kelly Ayotte are quite properly calling Romney on this useless, divisive and slanderous post-mortem nonsense. As Jindal correctly says, "If you want voters to like you, the first thing you’ve got to do is to like them first. And it’s certainly not helpful to tell voters that you think their votes were bought.”

Meanwhile, in Maine, the state GOP Chair is defending his prior statements that he would launch a private investigation of voter fraud based on anecdotal accounts of black people voting, saying "I think we’re the whitest state in the country. So if you go to the polls and see people who are black, it’s unusual. And when you see a lot of people who are black, like six or eight or ten people, you think, ‘Wow, where do they live?’ That was my point.”

Yeah. There are two good reasons the GOP lost. Let's see if Jindal, Martinez ad Ayotte help move their party off the "Get off my lawn!" platform.