Comments on: GOP Armageddon 2008? http://donklephant.com/2008/05/15/gop-armageddon-2008/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:59:03 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Nelson http://donklephant.com/2008/05/15/gop-armageddon-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-407275 Nelson Thu, 15 May 2008 19:45:16 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=5662#comment-407275 "From a purely strategic standpoint, I think this is quite a bit of posturing. Because if they can sell the meme now that the fall is going to be cataclysmic for the GOP, they can claim victory if they only lose 10 seats. This is how this game is played, so for those of us who care about such things I’d pay close attention to how much they say they’re going to lose, and yet still stay close to Bush’s policies." That is some flawed thinking. Once the actual election is over, you gain nothing by claiming a victory from defeat. Doing so only makes sense in cases where the election hasn't happened yet and you're trying to build momentum (e.g. the primaries) so you can win the election. I'd say this is more akin to an honest "yeah, we're getting creamed" than about any sort of strategy. “From a purely strategic standpoint, I think this is quite a bit of posturing. Because if they can sell the meme now that the fall is going to be cataclysmic for the GOP, they can claim victory if they only lose 10 seats. This is how this game is played, so for those of us who care about such things I’d pay close attention to how much they say they’re going to lose, and yet still stay close to Bush’s policies.”

That is some flawed thinking. Once the actual election is over, you gain nothing by claiming a victory from defeat. Doing so only makes sense in cases where the election hasn’t happened yet and you’re trying to build momentum (e.g. the primaries) so you can win the election. I’d say this is more akin to an honest “yeah, we’re getting creamed” than about any sort of strategy.

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