Around the country, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party handed Republicans a sizable defeat Tuesday night, and conservatives were left scrambling Wednesday to assess the damage and apply whatever spin they could.
Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan did his best to save face at the National Press Club. “It hurts too bad to laugh and I’m too big to cry,” he said. Nevertheless, he came prepared with some well-crafted spin: While he conceded that it was a great night for Democrats, it was also “a historic night for the Republican Party.” Why? Well, he said, the nation elected its fi rst black president only 100 days before the 200th birthday of Republican emancipator Abraham Lincoln.
More Duncan:
» “[John] McCain and [Sarah] Palin came up short in a withering political environment.”
» “Put simply, Barack Obama just ran the most successful moderate Republican campaign since Dwight D. Eisenhower.”
» “It’s time for hope’s audacity to meet hope’s accountability.”
» “Obama leads a center-left party but must govern a center-right nation.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean must have felt bad, telling Duncan, “Mike, I thank you for coming because I wouldn’t want to be in your place.”
Meanwhile, in a release, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., framed the defeat: “The failure of the Republican Party in this election does not represent the failure of conservatism, but of the big-government Republicanism that took over our party in 1996.”
Other Republicans however, had less success finding a silver lining to Tuesday’s results. Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative powerhouse, held a conference call with its state representatives from around the country to assess the damage, and the feedback was blunt:
» Hawaii rep: “It was pretty much a hard night for conservatives, Republicans and anybody who cares about freedom in Hawaii. … I apologize to everybody for Obama.”
» Washington: “It was a bloodbath here.”
» Iowa: “No rest from the bad news in Iowa.”
» Minnesota: “The tide was not with us.”
» Illinois: “The Republican Party in Illinois has hit a new low.”
» North Carolina: “It was pretty bleak down here.”
» Maine: “We too had a bad day.”
