Why the Right Went Wrong: ConservatismFrom Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond (86 page)

The Republican Roosevelt
: Herbert David Croly,
The Promise of American Life
(Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1965).

He praised TR for knowing
: Obama, “Remarks by the President on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas.”

In particular, he admired a poster
: “Romney Campaign Ad Uses Theme ‘Obama Isn’t Working,’ ”
BBC News
, May 8, 2012.

“bumbling clowns”
: Jonathan Alter,
The Center Holds
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), p. 178.

a Zogby poll found Bachmann
: Stephen Dinan, “Poll: Bachmann Surges to Primary Lead,”
Washington Times
, June 21, 2011.

“would be able to leave [the Union]”
: “Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Could Secede, Leave Union,” Associated Press, May 16, 2009.

The August 17–21 Gallup survey
: Jeffrey M. Jones, “Perry Zooms to Front of Pack for 2012 GOP Nomination,” Gallup, August 24, 2011.

Another survey at the time by Public Policy Polling
: Mark Blumenthal, “Poll Shows Rick Perry Surging Ahead of GOP 2012 Pack,”
Huffington Post
, August 24, 2011.

in an NBC/
Wall Street Journal
poll in October
: Mark Murray, “NBC/WSJ Poll: Cain Now Leads GOP Pack,” NBC News, October 13, 2011.

“it’s three agencies of government”
: Amanda Terkel, “Rick Perry Forgets Which Three Agencies He Would Eliminate as President,”
Huffington Post
, November 9, 2011.

“That just doesn’t make sense to me”
: Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny, “Perry and Romney Come Out Swinging at Each Other in G.O.P. Debate,”
New York Times,
September 22, 2011.

“I was probably a bit overpassionate”
: Martin Gould and Ashley Martella, “Rick Perry to Newsmax: I Regret ‘Heartless’ Comment on Immigration,”
Newsmax
, September 28, 2011.

Adam Smith, the political editor of the
Tampa Bay Times
: Lucy Madison, “Romney on Immigration: I’m for ‘Self-Deportation,’ ” CBS News, January 24, 2012.

“I am a transformational figure”
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “Newt and the Revenge of the Base,”
Washington Post
, December 18, 2011.

criticized Gingrich
:
National Review
Staff, “The Gingrich Editorial,”
National Review
, December 15, 2011.

“I approach every problem”
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “The GOP’s Iowa Caucus,”
Washington Post
, December 21, 2011.

economic discontent in the ranks
: Former senator Rick Santorum, Iowa Caucus address, delivered January 3, 2012.

the importance of blue-collar voters
: Reihan Salam, “The Crisis of ‘Sam’s Club’ Republicans,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 11, 2005.

“We have the power”
: Jon Huntsman, presidential candidacy announcement, June 21, 2011.

“He started running as a moderate”
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “GOP Candidates in Circular Firing Squad,”
Washington Post
, January 8, 2012.

less as a guarantor of social fairness
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “Santorum, Huntsman and the Future of Conservatism,”
Washington Post
, January 4, 2012.

“They’re just vultures”
: Arlette Saenz, “Perry Likens Romney’s Bain Capital to ‘Vultures,’ ” ABC News, January 10, 2012.

“there’s a real difference”
: Newt Gingrich on
Hannity,
Fox News, January 9, 2012.

“free enterprise on trial
: Josh Lederman, “Romney Hits Obama for Wanting to ‘Put Free Enterprise on Trial,’ ”
The Hill
, January 11, 2012.

“King of Bain”
: Winning Our Future, “King of Bain: When Mitt Romney Came to Town,” released January 11, 2012.

“Republicans need to know”
: Trip Gabriel and Nicholas Confessore, “PAC Ads to Attack Romney as Predatory Capitalist,”
New York Times
, January 8, 2012.

Axelrod called the video “vicious”
: David Axelrod,
Believer: My Forty Years in Politics
(New York: Penguin Press, 2015), p. 454.

The attacks on Romney
: “South Carolina Republican Primary,”
New York Times
, January 21, 2012,
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/states/south-carolina
.

taking 46 percent to 32 percent
: “Florida Republican Primary,”
New York Times,
January 31, 2012,
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/states/florida
.

Romney’s victory
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “Mitt Romney Won in Florida but Lost Overall,”
Washington Post
, February 1, 2012.

“best understands the problems”
: Ibid.

In the fall election
: “Portrait of the Electorate: Table of Detailed Results,”
New York Times,
November 6, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/07/weekinreview/20101107-detailed-exitpolls.html
.

“Governor Romney supported the bailout”
: Richard A. Oppel Jr., “In Detroit, Santorum Defends Opposition to Auto Industry Bailout,”
New York Times
, February 17, 2012.

“We cannot continue”
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “Ideological Hypocrites,”
New York Times
, February 19, 2012.

Romney promised to enact
: Katrina Trinko, “Romney Proposes 20 Percent Tax Cut,”
National Review
, February 22, 2012.

On average, Romney received
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “Religion Continues to Play a Strong Role in the GOP Campaign,”
Washington Post,
March 21, 2012.

And in sixteen of the states
: Ibid.

The primaries for other offices
: Ibid.

In May, Senator Richard Lugar
: Ibid.

“What I’ve said about compromise”
: Jonathan Miller, “Mourdock: Compromise is Democrats Agreeing with Republicans,”
National Review
, May 9, 2012.

“even when life begins”
: Associated Press, “Richard Mourdock: Rape, Pregnancy, and God’s Plan,”
Politico
, October 23, 2012.

spent over $7 million
: Michael Beckel, “Outside Groups Spend $2.2 Million in Missouri Senate Race,” Center for Public Integrity, August 7, 2012.

The ad noted
: Akin Ramesh Ponnuru, “McCaskill Tries to Pick Her Opponent,”
National Review
, August 2, 2012.

“From what I understand from doctors”
: John Eligon and Michael Schwirtz, “Senate Candidate Provokes Ire with ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment,”
New York Times
, August 19, 2012.

Romney declared
: Rachel Weiner, “Insulting, Inexcusable, and, Frankly, Wrong,”
Washington Post
, August 20, 2012.

“You’re not going to get your tax cut”
: Alan Rappeport, “Memo to the G.O.P. in 2016: Have Faith in the Faith-Based,”
New York Times
, January 29, 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/01/29/today-in-politics-85/
.

13. SAYING YES AND NO TO OBAMA

57 percent of voters blamed George W. Bush
: CNN/ORC Poll, released September 13, 2012,
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/09/13/rel10c.pdf
.

“Are you better off”
: Alexander Burns, “GOP Pollster Winston: ‘Better Off Now?’ May Not Be the Right Question for 2012,”
Politico
, September 24, 2012.

largest group, 39 percent, said the economy
: Winston shared his polling results with me. My thanks to him for many helpful conversations, even if he will disagree with many parts of this book. A good analysis based in part on Winston’s numbers is David M. Drucker, “In 2012, ‘Blame Bush’ Worked Again,”
Roll Call
, December 4, 2012.

If Rick Perry had
: Obama for America, “Steel,” released May 15, 2012.

The
Washington Post
’s
: Dan Balz,
Collision 2012
(New York: Viking, 2013), pp. 246–47, 277.

It was from that stage
: Priorities USA, “Stage,” ad released June 23, 2012.

Tom Hamburger
: Tom Hamburger, “Romney’s Bain Capital Invested in Companies that Moved Jobs Overseas,”
Washington Post
, June 21, 2012.

“He fought to save the U.S. auto industry”
: Obama for America, “Believes,” ad released July 3, 2012.

“Voter ID, which is going to allow”
: State representative Mike Turzai, remarks before Pennsylvania Republican State Committee, July 23, 2012.

“We need you”
: David Axelrod,
Believer: My Forty Years in Politics
(New York: Penguin Press, 2015), p. 443.

Thriving entrepreneurs
: Reihan Salam, “Elizabeth Warren’s Quote,”
National Review
, September 22, 2011.

He went on with this theme
: President Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President at a Campaign Even in Roanoke, Virginia,” delivered July 13, 2012.

“Through hard work”
: Romney for President, “These Hands,” ad released July 19, 2012.

Republican politicians
: Charles Murray, “Un-American,” American Enterprise Institute, July 18, 2012, also found in Jonathan Alter,
The Center Holds
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), p. 288.

John Sununu
: Grace Wyler, “John Sununu: ‘I Wish This President Would Learn How to Be an American,’ ”
Atlantic
, July 17, 2012.

“These were not Internet trolls”
: Jonathan Alter,
The Center Holds
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), p. 289.

The
Examiner
’s puckish
: Byron York, “The House GOP’s Incredible, Amazing Discovery: Most American’s Aren’t Entrepreneurs,”
Washington Examiner
, January 31, 2014.

Hayes quoted the legendary
: Stephen F. Hayes, “Man with a Plan,”
Weekly Standard
, July 23, 2012.

He told the assembled Randians
: Representative Paul Ryan, “Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand’s Ideas: In the Hot Seat Again,” Atlas Society, April 30, 2012.

“We’re coming close”
: Paul Ryan, “The American Idea,” delivered October 26, 2011.

“There are 47 percent of the people”
: David Corn, “Secret Video: Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He Really Thinks of Obama Voters,”
Mother Jones
, September 17, 2012.

Romney translated the passage
: Dan Balz,
Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America
(New York: Viking, 2013), pp. 346–47.

“While he defended his record”
: Axelrod,
Believer,
p. 467.

Having campaigned
: Mitt Romney, remarks during the first presidential debate, October 3, 2012.

“Governor Romney doesn’t” President Barack Obama, remarks during the second presidential debate, October 16, 2012.

Voters ages 18–29
: “Portrait of the Electorate: Table of Detailed Results,”
New York Times
, November 6, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/07/weekinreview/20101107-detailed-exitpolls.html
.

And Romney paid dearly
: Lucy Madison, “Romney on Immigration: I’m for ‘Self-Deportation,’ ” CBS News, January 24, 2012.

Romney’s 27 percent
: Jordan Fabian, “Analysis: Romney Done in by GOP’s Latino Problem,” ABC News, November 7, 2012.

Even more shocking
: Sean Sullivan, “The Republican Party’s Broad Trouble with Minority Voters, in 2 Charts,”
Washington Post,
March 5, 2013.

George H. W. Bush had secured 55 percent
: “Portrait of the Electorate: Table of Detailed Results,”
New York Times,
November 6, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/07/weekinreview/20101107-detailed-exitpolls.html
.

The diversity
: Ronald Brownstein, “Bad Bet: Why Republicans Can’t Win with Whites Alone,”
National Journal,
September 5, 2013.

One clear warning sign for Democrats
: “Portrait of the Electorate: Table of Detailed Results,”
New York Times,
November 6, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/07/weekinreview/20101107-detailed-exitpolls.html
.

Obama won only 28 percent
: Nate Cohn, “No, Obama Didn’t Win One-Third of White Voters in the Deep South,”
New York Times
, April 24, 2014.

Especially important was
: David Rohde, “Why Obama Is Winning the Battle for Middle America,”
Atlantic
, April 13, 2012.

The exit poll found
: E. J. Dionne Jr., “Mitt Romney’s Class Problem,”
Washington Post
, November 7, 2012.

Democratic House candidates
: W. Gardner Selby, “Republicans Won More House Seats than More Popular Democrats . . . ,” PolitiFact, November 26, 2013.

40 million fewer Americans
: United States Election Project, “Voter Turnout Data,”
http://www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/voter-turnout-data
.

Obama led McCain by a point
: Pew Research Center, “Young Voters Supported Obama Less, but May Have Mattered More,” published November 26, 2012,
http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/26/young-voters-supported-obama-less-but-may-have-mattered-more/
.

5 million fewer whites
: Sean Trende, “The Case of the Missing White Voters, Revisited,”
RealClearPolitics
, June 21, 2013.

The political scientist Thomas Schaller
: Thomas Schaller,
The Stronghold: How Republicans Captured Congress but Surrendered the White House
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015). Schaller summarizes his very important argument on pp. ix–xi, and 297–302. The “chokehold” quotation is on p. 302.

14. THE FEVER THAT WOULDN’T BREAK