Posted by Bob Lord
I had countless conversations with my Republican friends in which they told me, with real confidence, that Romney was going to win the election. Once in a while, I'd say something like "are you relying solely on Fox for your information?" They always explain that they have multiple sources of information, but they'd obviously be too embarassed to admit otherwise.
I had lunch with a few of them on Wednesday. They were truly stunned by Tuesday's result. No, the result Tuesday was not a certainty. But it was a likelihood, to a degree where nobody with a thinking brain should have been surprised if he had any exposure outside the right-wing echo chamber.
But it looks like the echo chamber is impregnable. Check out these posts on Daily Kos, both of which are excellent reads:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/08/1158671/-They-really-believed-their-own-b-s
The second post addresses a myth that was relentless in the last days of the campaign and after the election — that Hurricane Sandy stopped Romney's momentum. No, the Vice Presidential debate slowed Romeny's momentum to a crawl and the second Presidential debate stopped it entirely. Unless, of course, the polls were wrong. But they weren't.
As Markos points out in the second of the posts, the echo chamber phenomenon isn't just hurting Republicans, it's hurting the country.