60 Shades of Gray: Why Obama Won and Romney Lost

It's all over for a moment. The 24 hour news cycle can take a breath for one second before continuing its relentless, hypnotic spiral. Like many news babies, I wish I could get weaned. We'll see. But for now, what happened and why? It's not black and white.

The people have spoken, but only after waiting in long lines. Question number one is this: Why were so many willing to stand in long lines?

        

The Republican Party misread this badly. In fact, they constantly added fuel to the fire. The most obvious misstep was Governor Romney's 47% comment, followed by his defense of it, then the obligatory walk back. However, that’s only one of a series of indignities the poorer Democratic constituency revolted against. As Bill Clinton and Nate Silver kept reminding us, math matters. You can’t just make things up. Offended, we were willing to bite our tongues and stand in line.

Extremism about women reached the tipping point. Discussions about rape are, to put it mildly, distasteful. Forcible rape, legitimate rape, redefining rape – these topics do not play well, excuse me, with reasonable, 21^st century people.  If someone rapes my sister, she should be free to decide what to do – not some older man who thinks he knows what God has in mind for my victimized sister.

Then there are the comments. The GOP claims to have common sense on their side, yet they rarely respond to the last half dozen years during which they heard these statements broadcast daily: He is a Muslim, a terrorist, a Socialist, a Communist. He was palling around with terrorists and gave a terrorist fist bump. How’s that hopey-changey stuff working out for you? Where is his birth certificate? Where are his college transcripts? He used Affirmative Action to get in school. He is the Food Stamp President. He wants to give people on welfare a check. ACORN, Benghazi, Solyndra. Each time we heard these, up jumped the dander. We Obama voters want to give a big shout out to all of those who said these things. Thanks for the impetus. The yard signs also inspired us, especially the Fire Obama signs from FreedomWorks.

Last on the list of voting motivators were the pundits. FOX News pundits – not the competent news division, of course, greatly inspired the Democrat masses. Its ever-present fabrications did not go unnoticed or unrewarded.  Karl Rove – embarrassing laughingstock. Donald Trump – washed-up buffoon. Dick Morris – silly joker. Ann Coulter – gruesome witch. Michelle Malkin -- reliably bitter.  Sean Hannity – snake oil salesman. All of them, liars to their core.

Our campaign, the Romney folks told us, will not be dictated by fact checkers. This was one of the only truths they told. 

Debate Round Two: Obama TKO

When the bell rang last night, I quickly got sick in my stomach as I thought Mitt Romney came out swinging while Barack Obama was back-peddling. I had to go get a drink of water to settle down. Perhaps this was all the President had to do as well, because soon he was jabbing away at Governor Romney, who was trying to bob and weave but had no legs to stand on. Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan; he has a one-point plan. It is a sketchy deal. Big Bird doesn't like it. The 47% have worked all their lives. Libya was an act of terror.While the challenger got a couple of good shots in, the memorable punches were all thrown by Obama. Want proof? His handlers were all defensive after the fight.

This is always how they do it and the biggest difference in the landscape. When Governor Romney to it to President Obama, we called it like it was. President Obama took a terrible beating. The blood was all over the internet. Everyone owned it. No such reaction on the right.

The right wing never owns up any more. They call it like they want it, which is how they imagine it, and perhaps honestly how they see it. This is the problem exactly: they do not see straight.

This blurry vision is irritating. You cannot pound sense into them. The denial is just like the bloody boxer at the end of the fight oblivious to the beating -- more pride than sense. Look at the litany of issues they have rallied around.

It started with Bill Clinton's misadventures. While we supporters were less than thrilled with Brother Clinton's  escapades, they were both hyper-moral and bloodthirsty. But soon, as always, they had their thrice divorced, prostitute visiting, Jack Abramoff hustling, wide stance, gay Evangelical preacher thing going on, scolding Democrats on social issues.

The Republicans always somehow slide to the right by the Westboro Baptist Church these days. If President Obama went hanging on a tree, they would deny any suggestion that racism exists. Their lunacy knows few restraints. Actually, given Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, Dick Morris, Mark Steyn, and Rush Limbaugh, maybe restraints are the answer. These folks need strait jackets. Is it really madness, or is it simply greed? I can never be sure. But with these folks, it's old-fashioned lock 'em in the back of Joe Biden's pickup crazy.

Obama won the second debate. They can never admit this -- never. All the good Republican folks just interested in fiscal sanity are the real victims. Why they don't abandon them, I'll never know.