A must read at Time’s Swampland. It’s a brave new techie world…

Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win

Pro-lifers must update our own models for politicking. The other side is way ahead of us.

Meanwhile, Romney’s campaign experienced an epic technological fail…

Exclusive – Inside Orca: How the Romney Campaign Suppressed Its Own Vote

In his November 8 Crisis Magazine piece, “Romney’s abandonment of social issues contributed to his defeat,” Austin Ruse cites several Republican and Democrat pundits who are calling on the GOP to abandon the abortion issue in the wake of several defeats.

(One of those Ruse quoteds was Michael Walsh, former editor of Breitbart’s Big Journalism, who edited or nixed my pro-life articles to such an extent I finally stopped submitting them. Unbiased source, he.)

Shock, even Cecile Richards, CEO of Planned Parenthood, joined the chorus. “There’s a clear pathway to [win back women’s support], and it’s to listen to the middle of their party instead of the extreme fringe,” Richards told the Huffington Post.

As if President Obama’s bff and Democrat Party spokesperson really wants to send women back to the GOP. No, Richards’ advice has nothing to do with wanting Republicans to back off from defunding or investigating her big abortion biz.

But hey, Republican Party, listen to these pundits and see what you end up with.

Erick Erickson at RedState.com wrote something brilliant, in bold:

The GOP establishment… look at Todd Aiken and Richard Mourdock and conclude that they, not Tommy Thompson, Heather Wilson, George Allen, Scott Brown, etc. are the problem….

They can’t see how what happened actually happened unless it happened because the issues on which they disagree with the base played a role….

Mitt Romney won about a quarter of the hispanic vote and a tenth of the black vote.

Those numbers may not sound like much, but in close elections they matter.

A sizable portion of those black and hispanic voters voted GOP despite disagreeing with the GOP on fiscal issues. But they are strongly social conservative and could not vote for the party of killing kids and gay marriage. So they voted GOP.

You throw out the social conservatives and you throw out those hispanic and black voters. Further, you make it harder to attract new hispanic voters who happen to be the most socially conservative voters in the country.

Next, you’ll also see a reduction of probably half the existing GOP base. You won’t make that up with Democrats who suddenly think that because their uterus is safe they can now vote Republican. Most of those people don’t like fiscal conservatism either – often though claiming that they do….

In fact, if the GOP really wanted to expand with minorities, it’d keep the social conservatism and throw out the fiscal conservatism.

Richard Mourdock was one of two of the poster children for abandoning social conservatives this year. He was beaten by a pro-life Democrat.

The problem is not social conservatism. The problem is social conservatives have gotten so used to thinking of themselves as the majority they’ve forgotten how to speak to those who are not and defend against those who accuse them of being fringe, most particularly the press. Couple that with Mitt Romney’s campaign making a conscious decision to not fight back on the cultural front and you have a bunch of Republicans convinced, despite the facts, that if only the social conservatives would go away all would be fine.

It’s not time to throw out social conservatives. It’s time to accept that without them the GOP would be even a smaller party even less able to reach out to the hispanic demographic all the smart people say they need to embrace. Addition through subtraction never really works well.

I disagree it is social conservatives who are not aptly defending our beliefs. It is the Republican establishment, which has abdicated  responsibility. Pro-life organizations exhausted themselves trying to make our case. I know, I went on two bus tours. As I’ve written before, the establishment is either terrified to discuss abortion or support it.  Imagine had pro-life leaders been given the same prominence at the RNCC as pro-abortion leaders got at the DNCC. Actually, I can’t.

Matt Lewis at The Week agrees:

If conservatives want to win, we must broaden our appeal. But that doesn’t mean abandoning our core principles….

The notion that you can hurl trite, if patriotic, red meat and expect the red state masses to carry you over the finish line has been proven false. The public is more informed and sophisticated today, and it’s time Republicans realize that. Conservatism is, of course, a serious intellectual philosophy. It’s time we start acting like it….

It is entirely possible to preserve conservative values and ideas while simultaneously making them more appealing to a changing America.

Even feminist Hanna Rosin agrees it wasn’t the abortion/contraception issue that won the day for Obama, writing at CNN:

The women’s vote did not turn out to be historic in the way pundits predicted before the election. Yes, more women voted for President Obama, but not in record numbers. The gender gap was in fact a little smaller in this election than in 2008. Yes, women were important in certain states, but so were young people, African-Americans and Latinos, who, together, make up Obama’s new winning coalition. What’s more, women did not even constitute a unified vote. Married women tended to vote for Romney, while single women went for Obama.

Had only Romney spoken up a bit on social issues, who knows how many more minority voters he might have plied away from Obama.

Now is the time to reopen the conversation about Hyde and abortion access: the public and the administration have been clear in their support of reproductive rights and affordable access to health care. We have a long way to go and a hard history to overcome, but we cannot back down. We must ensure that all services, including abortion, are affordable in order to secure people’s reproductive rights and ability to make decisions.

If President Obama believes that the lives and health of low-income people matter and that everyone deserves access to reproductive health services, he must take a stand this January and strike restrictions on Medicaid coverage of abortion when he presents his budget to Congress.

~ Megan S., rallying pro-choice troops to move forward with repealing the Hyde Amendment, Abortion Gang, November 7

[Photo via Center for Constitutional Rights]

by Jill

I love Michael Voris. Even though I’m Protestant I always find his ChurchMilitant.TV videos, which are addressed to fellow Catholics, insightful.

Michael’s new video is spot on – chillingly so. All Christ followers can apply Michael’s message. (I’ll not take personally his slam of “emotion-laden, feel-good Protestantized liturgy.” I know the soft sell is out there – in all denominations.)

I think particularly with the passage in two states this past Tuesday of homosexual marriage, the floodgates to America’s demise have been opened.

This, in conjunction with Barack Obama’s re-election, means we’ve entered a new era. A Protestant “amen” to Michael’s thought: “Nothing sticks to this man. And for someone in such possession of the diabolical mind, a faithful man has to consider and wonder about the possibility that Obama is somehow protected, that some kind of supernatural aspect attends this man.”

Great preaching…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js9JCXkQQaM[/youtube]

I do hope, though, Michael is wrong that “abortion is now here to stay – forever.”

I know there are those who will say Michael is being overreactive.

I say he’s a prophet.

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Andy Moore on Facebook]

Well, hey now, there’s still a bit of justice in the land.

In 2005 pro-life activist Steven Lefemine, pictured right, sued the police department of Greenwood County, South Carolina, for stopping he and his band of 20 pro-life activists with Columbia Christians for Life from displaying graphic images of abortion at a busy intersection. Police maintained the group was creating a disturbance after receiving several complaints.

When police threatened him again at another protest, Lefamine sued in 2008 on the basis that his First Amendment right to free speech was being violated.

Lefamine won his case in federal district court. However, the judge denied Lefemine’s request for reimbursement of attorney fees. This despite the fact that, quoting the Los Angeles Times:

In the Civil Rights Attorneys Fees Act of 1976, Congress said civil rights lawyers who sued and won cases involving constitutional rights were entitled to claim “reasonable attorney’s fees.” The law was intended to bolster civil rights advocates who filed suits in that era over issues such as school desegregation.

The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State often exploit this law, which enables them to intimidate local governments, schools, etc., who fear monetary reprisal if a case against them is successful. They often throw in the towel before it gets that far.

Yet our pro-life friend was denied retribution.

Until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in this past Monday. Quoting the Chicago Tribune:

In its first decision since the 2012-2013 term officially began last month, the court reversed a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against Steven Lefemine and Columbia Christians for Life, which had sought to recover the fees…..

A federal district court permanently barred the police from imposing content-based restrictions on Lefemine’s signs but refused to award attorneys’ fees.

The 4th Circuit later upheld the fee denial, saying the permanent injunction did not make Lefemine a “prevailing party.”

But in its unsigned decision, the Supreme Court said he was because the injunction had changed police behavior in a way that directly benefited him.

“Before the ruling, the police intended to stop Lefemine from protesting with his signs; after the ruling, the police could not,” the court wrote. “That ruling worked the requisite material alteration in the parties’ relationship.”

The Supreme Court returned the case to a lower court to decide if any “special circumstances” might make the award unjust.

Steven Fitschen, a lawyer for Lefemine, said attorneys’ fees in the case may reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that other protesters should welcome the decision.

“Protesters of all stripes, whose civil rights were violated by law enforcement, would have been at risk of losing fee awards,” Fitschen said in a phone interview.

Yes, Obama is the master of the “basic instincts” of his self-centered, narcissistic base. It’s not complicated once you understand the con.

Yes, pandering to the self-absorbed pays.

~ Hyatt Seligman, American Thinker, November 7

[Photo via robomonkey.wordpress.com]

Planned Parenthood unveiled a new logo yesterday…

And for its PAC…

From the press release (bold highlights theirs):

Planned Parenthood is underscoring its commitment to helping women, men, and young people lead healthy lives with its new tagline “Care. No matter what.” The refreshed logo and new tagline, which went live earlier today on websites and social media properties, are part of Planned Parenthood’s ongoing effort to reach millions more patients with quality, affordable, confidential health care.  Already, nearly three million people a year rely on Planned Parenthood’s nearly 800 health centers for a range of health care services, including breast cancer screenings, Pap tests, birth control, and STD testing and treatment.

“As a trusted and essential provider of health care in every part of the country, Planned Parenthood stands ready to serve the millions of people who will soon have access to health care under the Affordable Care Act – to provide millions more with care, no matter what,” [CEO Cecile] Richards said.

It’s actually a smart logo, “care” having three meanings: 1) providing healthcare, 2) we really, really care, and 3)  the Affordable Care Act.

Obama’s victory brings the reality of Obamacare and windfall business to Planned Parenthood that much closer.

I’m thinking the little “P” is supposed to stand for a child. Or perhaps the downtrodden getting help from the big “P.” Again, smart marketing.

The “No matter what” most likely means “whether you can afford it or not, because we now have even more of a financial back-up plan, the American taxpayer.”

Here was the old logo…

[HT: Kate Bryan at Live Action and Eric Scheidler at Pro-Life Action League]

by LauraLoo

Meet Dragon Baby – the tiny tot who’s got all the right moves to destroy his brutal adversary!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oHWvFrpocY[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Randi G.]