I would add Bob Dole to this list as well as GHW Bush and GW Bush. Reagan is the only true conservative that we have had. If GW had been more conservative, I doubt we would have had Obozo.

GWH simply did not believe in Reagan´s views on the economy. It showed in his one term performance.

Dubya was the most socially conservative of the last four we ran and the only one to get elected. He was reelected with more votes than BHO just got.

You mean Little Ricky Santorum would have won? Don´t think so.

Gingrich would not have won either.

I will say this for Mr. Romney, he had the marbles to run against Dear Leader, our universally beloved First Black President and Wallboard pin-up in the bedrooms of reporterettes across the fruited plain. Dear Leader, or Santa Claus as he is also known, gives people what they want without any of that atavistic "work" to be done. Christie, Jeb, Daniels, Rubio and the others chose to hide under their desks and sit this one out. Romney put everything he could into defeating Dear Leader. Now that the election is over the wimps have resurfaced from under their desks and headed to Iowa, clutching their own dossier of free government goodies to be distributed to illegals and other potential voters in 2016. NO THANKS!

Oh geez, the problem was NOT the candidate...the problem was rampant fraud and a massive disinformation campaign. I swear...we don´t need RINOs but we also don´t need religious zealots pushing social issues either. When will people learn that the problem isn´t even related to the issues as much as it is related to the corruption that has taken over every aspect of our government and the false propaganda that people believe.

Thank you #6, and well said!

Romney´s mistake was picking Paul Ryan. He couldn´t even deliver Wisconsin. A Rubio selection would have cut into The Dear Leaders support among hispanics. But then there was all the voter fraud. So what´s the use.

I do feel for Romney in that let´s remember, he worked on trying to be President for many years. After McCain got the nomination in 2008, I have no doubt that the GOP establishment promised their support in 2012. Right after McCain lost, Mitt did everything the party/expensive consultants/advisors told him to do. He gave plenty of $$$ and support wherever he could to get Republicans, especially powerful ones, reelected. Then when 2012 came, he did everything "they" advised him to do. I often wonder if this good man had listened to his own gut more and refused the kindler-gentler approach - oh well we will never know.

yeah and the Evanglicals acted just like the Union thugs and killed the GOP by staying home so they could whine i told you so.
Your ABR´s wouldn´t have gotten that far.

Romney made many mistakes. Ryan was just a minor one. Selling short conservative principles is probably a much bigger short coming.

As long as most states have Democratic Secretary´s of State and the US Attorney General belongs to "My people," voter fraud is not going anywhere. Even if someone had rock-solid evidence the election was out-right stolen by voter fraud and it ran 24/7 on Fox, the 47% wouldn´t care and 4% don´t watch Fox.

"Moderates" and liberals will never vote GOP, even if we move further to the left.

The way to win is to boost voter turnout by firing up the base. And that means moving further to the right.

Reagan was as conservative as they come; and he won in a landslide in both elections. When has a moderate Republican *ever* done that?

#7 - I totally agree.

The only principled conservatives I´ve seen (since Reagan) that didn´t get bogged down in social issues were GW, Fred Thompson & Sarah Palin. They knew how to navigate these gotcha social rights issues & stay on message:

Win the war & get out (GW´s 2nd term)
Reform the INS & stop illegal immigration
Cut taxes & revive the economy
Trim government & reduce the national debt.

And look what the MSM did to them!
Fred Thompson? Well, he just "didn´t get in the race in time" so he was ignored/blacked out.
Governor Palin? What DIDN´T they do to her & her family?
But had she been paired to someone who was more conservative & not an egomaniac, they would have won.

We desperately need a man who will step forward with leadership experience, who can be the next Reagan. He needs a gut that aids him in interviews & stays on message (see above). And if the GOP doesn´t back him, I will leave the party. He needs to appoint Palin to Scy of Energy, so she can run later.

Hey, GOP -- ask the Tea Party who they like for starters.

The progressives will spend the next 2 years trying to bury Tea Party voters. I am sooo glad to see this article! Enough progressive GOPers.

This article and others reflect the de facto killing off of the Tea Party, which is only mentioned in passing. We´re back to the old days when it was just the religious right who made trouble. I understand the Tea Party and Silent Majority are still there but we´re not enough to elect a president, Neither can the GOP alone win another presidency. GOP ´leaders´ openly attack and smear ordinary Americans who try to support them. The only reason for the GOP to exist is to help democrats and to make money. They let Obama go on Fast and Furious. Now the Dept. of Homeland Security is taking over local cities and towns. The GOP is the DNC.

That is silly #17. The GOP is not the DNC.

However, we do need someone as close to Reagan as we can find. Right now, the only person I can think of is Sarah Palin.

Thing is though, we´re not likely to come up with a one man or woman magic bullet solution. This election made clear that there is a deeply rooted problem within our culture. Could an RR be elected today? I don´t think so. He tapped into an American spirit which has atrophied since his day.

What #6,#7,#11, & #19 said. So the message of the ABR´s is "we told you so"? Seriously? Fine. Now we can all just sit back and watch the most anti-American-president in the history of this Country REALLY go to work on what is left of the Constitution! IMO, a visitor from another planet reading the whining and moaning from some "conservative" pundits, would think Mitt Romney lost the election in a landslide! More than 59 MILLION Americans voted AGAINST obama and FOR Mitt Romney on Nov. 6! The constant finger-pointing and carping-criticism by some in the "GOP", along with massive FRAUD are what happened during this election. Guess they´re all too nervous to mention that fact because they are terrified of being "racist".

#20, (who consistently bashes Palin) allow me to explain this for you: we aren´t finger-pointing. We are re-tooling. We are asking the GOP to listen to us so we don´t lose again. Romney wasn´t conservative enough. Neither was McCain. Neither was Dole.

It´s called constructive criticism, or learning from our mistakes, so we aren´t doomed to repeat past history. Your guy was a mistake. Take a look at the posts all over this site of conservatives who DID NOT VOTE. Pretty good poll sampling of what would have made the difference nationwide.

Willard the Inevitable´s water carriers insist the debacle had nothing to do w/the nominee and besides it was voter fraud.
Au contraire!
#1. Willard had been running for POTUS since ´08 and never rose above 50% approval w/the voters for a core reason. He´s a man of the left in a center-right party, just like his old man, George the Brainwashed. They never trusted either and they didn´t want either.
#2. He lost every contested state decisively and virtually every one had an R Gov, Secy of State and Attorney General as well as an R Legislature, among them Colorado, Florida, NC, Penn, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan etc. The voter fraud canard is utter crap from his sycophants, desperate to avoid any responsibility for incessantly beating the drum for this loser.

Willard the Inevitable´s water carriers insist the debacle had nothing to do w/the nominee and besides it was voter fraud.
Au contraire!
#1. Willard had been running for POTUS since ´08 and never rose above 50% approval w/the voters for a core reason. He´s a man of the left in a center-right party, just like his old man, George the Brainwashed. They never trusted either and they didn´t want either.
#2. He lost every contested state decisively and virtually every one had an R Gov, Secy of State and Attorney General as well as an R Legislature, among them Colorado, Florida, Virginia, NC, Penn, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa etc. The voter fraud canard is utter crap from his sycophants, desperate to avoid any responsibility for incessantly beating the drum for this loser.

Romney had the best chance, & he did a great job. The 2010 election & the Walker recall proved it pays to go 100000% conservative to win big. Romney should have included the tea party, evangelical leaders, Rand Paul...the more the merrier. His advisers played it too safe against the dems. Repubs continue to win big locally.

The T party organization in wisconsin, not the top down old guard, held the line in wisconsin. And yet Romneybots will tell you that severe conservatives are the problem. Only a matter of time before somebody changes a name out of embarrassment.