Here's a good lesson for those Republican establishment types who've been out there blaming content and principle for Tuesday's defeat, rather than poor communication and weak politics...
AmericanSpectator: Barack Obama's victory vindicates the "base" strategy of theDemocrats. Obama never moved to the center, even as he cast his centrist opponent as an extremist. Obama didn't worry too much about winning conservative-leaning independents; he just made sure liberal Democrats got to the polls.
Democrats win elections by rejecting the "big tent" advice that they typically give to Republicans. While they mau-mau Republicans into "moving to the middle," they stand immobile on the left, maintaining fierce ideological purity and deploying wedge issues without apology. This unites their side and divides the opposition, producing contests of liberal conviction and character assassination versus GOP ambiguity and polite disagreement. They nominate candidates who accept without reservation the Democratic Party platform; Republicans struggle to find candidates willing to uphold theirs. Democrats call Republicans evil; Republicans call Democrats merely mistaken. And yet, haplessly, the Republicans are the ones who find themselves answering charges of extremism from the media.
By defining the left as the "center" and liberalism as the arbiter of reasonableness, the Democrats can play this game endlessly against the Republicans. Using this same framework, the chattering class is now happily dispensing advice to the defeated GOP. The upshot of the advice is: Just surrender and embrace liberalism.
Establishment Republican pundits predicted a victory for Romney. Proven wrong, they now present themselves again as experts on the electorate, urging the party to jettison principle in pursuit of votes. They would do better to study the Democrats, who care far more about consolidating their base than constructing a wobbly big tent.
At this point in the party's progression, even Reagan might have pulled up stakes and razed the tent! For the timid Republican establishment can't seem to understand that they've been duped by the Democrats time and time again...and instead of strengthening the base, they've exhausted it.
AmericanThinker: The Republican Party lost the 2012 election while conservatives watched from the sidelines. Republican moderates losing elections has become an all-too-common occurrence even though conservatives are the base of the Republican Party. It is not too early for the conservatives to start work to take back the party and the country. The Republican establishment elite does not learn from its mistakes, and conservatives can no longer wait for Republicans to wake up. The formation of the TEA Party movement should have been that wakeup call, but the establishment elite chose to ignore it. Unless conservatives reassert a leadership role in the GOP, the Republican Party will begin to wither and die as conservatives and TEA Party members abandon this anachronism of a Party.
Where is it written that only moderates can win national elections, while Democrats are free to embrace their leftist fringe candidates? ... American voters want to elect someone to lead this country to a better future, conservatives know this, but Republicans seem reluctant to articulate that image, identify goals, or publish concrete plans to achieve that vision of the future. ... When will the Republican Party wake up to the fact that the Mainstream Media (MSM) is an unstated opponent in the electoral race and develop marketing plans to overcome their unearned power. ... There is no excuse for allowing Democrats to set the political agenda, since both parties are equal participants in any election.
It is not too early for conservatives to start working to take back the party and the country. Conservatism has been the base value in the Republican Party. Over the last eighty years our Constitution and culture have been incrementally eroded and the damage done will require generations to repair. This election result must serve as the moment when the conservative "frog realizes that he was being boiled" and finally jump out of the pan. It is time to stand up and say "enough is enough" and "I will not take this anymore!" The first step is to admit there is a problem and begin to define what the vision for the future should look like, which can then be expanded into a conservative party platform and plan. Reaching out and inviting TEA Party active participation will be critical for success. Next conservatives must rise up and assert leadership in the Republican Party at all levels. Next conservative leaders must be identified (Ryan, Rubio, Jindal, or whoever) and assisted to visibly evangelize the rejuvenated Republican Party principles and platform. At the same time the Republican Party build on success at the local and state levels to build grassroots support for conservative candidates at all levels and a pipeline of future experienced leaders. Conservatives must snap out of their funk and get started on this four-year quest to retake the Party and the county, because if they don't the Republican Party may become another political footnote in history.
The second party would do wise to acknowledge and align with its conservative base...otherwise, sayonara.
