Rachel Maddow Shocks and Awes Republicans By Factbombing Their Election Failures

Last updated on July 2nd, 2013 at 12:57 pm

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s appearance on Meet the Press was a total fail for the usual suspects, and this is why she is so rarely given the chance to speak around conservatives. Not only did she school Jim DeMint, but she also made a fool of Ralph Reed. Reed was happily touting his anti-gay, pro-bigotry political strategy, when Maddow stepped in to point out that actually, his strategy has been an epic fail and lost three main electoral efforts.

Maddow was on the panel with chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Ralph Reed, author and professor at Georgetown University, Michael Eric Dyson, President of the Heritage Foundation, Fmr. Sen. Jim DeMint and NBC’s Pete Williams. Watch here:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As Ralph Reed was tooting the strategic horn of anti-gay bigotry and saying how it will energize politicians, Rachel Maddow interrupted him to point out that they lost three main election efforts in which they tried the bigotry strategy.

Rachel Maddow: Three main election efforts, electing Mitt Romney, getting that Iowa state supreme court justice thrown out and the Minnesota anti-gay constitutional amendment. You lost all three of those fights in November 2012. Between organize arguments —

Ralph Reed: — Turn out the evangelical vote.

Rachel Maddow: — And it was great and they lost, but between — when oral arguments were made in this case, there were nine states that recognized marriage equality. By the time of the ruling there were 12 states and five minutes later there were 13 states.

In other words, Ralph, go ahead and turn out that evangelical vote, but it isn’t getting you anywhere nationally. Can you say, “Shrinking tent”?

In the world of Sunday shows wherein Republican talking points rule the day, Maddow offered pesky things like facts and actual political analysis, unlike the activist agenda of conservative talkers posing as political analysts in order to spread propaganda.

Maddow wasn’t just saying Reed lost because his opinion is different than hers. The fact that he and his political strategy lost is a political reality. This is called a factbomb. She smacked down Reed’s denial with facts. No one ever seems to say this to Republicans’ faces, and certainly not to social conservative champions like Ralph Reed who has everything personal to gain while he destroys the Republican Party with his pro-bigotry positions.

You can just imagine the shock of conservative Republicans listening to Maddow’s factbomb — these are the same folks who denied the polls showing an Obama lead during 2012. The reality was even worse for them, as the polls were consistently off in favor of Romney. The GOP sold their base bigotry as a get out the vote tactic, and their base bought it.

The base does not believe that these policy positions are losers; the base believes that if only Romney had been more conservative (aka, pro-bigotry), he would have won. This is absolutely inaccurate, and the old guard Republicans know this, but they can’t convince their own members let alone their base, and this is why you see them unable to pass even something as bipartisan as immigration reform in the House.

Maddow brought a little shock and awe in the form of facts to Meet the Press on Sunday, and it was refreshing.

Follow Me
Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here. Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump. Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Connect with Sarah on Post,  Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.

Recent Posts

Trump And House GOP’s Promise To Not Cut Social Security Is Total Nonsense

Trump got House Republicans to not use reconciliation to cut Social Security. The problem is…

5 hours ago

Trump And Mike Johnson Agree To Apparently Cut Americans’ Healthcare To Pay For Tax Cuts For The Rich

President-elect Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson have agreed to a deal that would fund the…

6 hours ago

Dozens Of Republicans Humiliate Trump/Musk By Voting Down CR

Donald Trump demanded that the debt limit be raised as part of the government funding…

1 day ago

Trump And Vance Blame Biden For Elon Musk Caused Chaos

Donald Trump and JD Vance are blaming President Biden for the havoc caused by Elon…

2 days ago

House Republicans Are Falling Apart And Now Mike Johnson Could Be Toast

The first little bit of pressure involving passing a bill to keep the government open…

2 days ago

Elon Musk Melts Down As House Republicans Show Him That He Has No Power

X boss Elon Musk is throwing a tantrum on his social media platform as House…

2 days ago