If the GOP wants to win elections they need to appeal to more people. That means welcoming in more people.

I don´t see that happening any time soon. The base still wants ONLY those who walk in lock step.

I have changed my party affiliation to "independent". The GOP is a party without principles, without clear, steadfast leadership and without will! The defeat of Romney should only be a clarion call to further double down on clear conservative principles and values. Compromise on those values and principles is NOT going to make things better but only the opposite. The RNC will never see another dime from me with things going the way they are. PurpleLipps only squeaked by winning in November and that was on account of massive cheating. The GOP leadership is behaving like the other 5x,xxx,xxx people that voted for Romeny don´t matter. The hell with the GOP leadership.

Being "independent" is the ultimate copout. No principles there! I guess "independents" are under the impression that a Republican president and congress will be no different on abortion, taxes, spending, regulation, foreign policy, borders, rule or law, etc. as a Dem one. Brilliant!

Conservatives couldn´t be bothered to vote in bigger numbers because they didn´t think Romney was conservative enough. They didn´t get the perfect candidate, so they got 4 more years of BO. We really do get the government we deserve.

Every action the GOP has taken since the election has been to lay blame on conservatives and the Tea Party for its losses. Well then bubba, try to win an election without us. Like #2, I registered Independent and the GOP will get nothing from me. If I´m going to lose I may as well lose with my principles (and my wallet) intact.

I disagree. The cop out is staying loyal to a party that has intentionally and repeatedly violated its own principles in hopes of wooing the ever elusive "independents". They just assumed they had all the conservative votes locked up and could do anything they wanted. This is the same strategy they have been using for years. Smack your wife around all you want because she has nowhere else to go, but be nice to the prospective clients.
Apparently some wives are getting tired of being smacked.

Thanks #4. It is really pathetic that all the GOP´s problems keep being blamed on the conservatives. They (we) are the one group the Republicans absolutely cannot afford to lose. Not too smart.

#3. The canard that Romney lost due to lack of conservative support is an ignorant slander. In fact, conservatives are the most loyal component in the R rank and file. Romney lost for a painfully obvious reason; he was a feckless and inept doofus w/o core principle and the voters knew it in their bones. So they stuck w/the devil they knew. The GOP is a house divided with a center/right membership and a faddish lefty leadership perpetually stuck on stupid. Any party that nominates the likes of the Bush buffoons, Dole, McCain, Romney etc; is not a conservative party. Suggest you acquaint yourself w/reality.

Women sided with ´bam over the abortion issue. Dems managed to convince female voters that they would try to outlaw it.

The slightest threat to legal abortion is equated with oppression. That´s why such a big deal was made of Romney´s Mormon background.

That´s what they believe and as we´ve seen, they´ll choose economic catastrophe over any one they suspect might not be entirely supportive of R v Wade.

That´s how it is.

Great... Now they´ve created another entitled minority called Nones... With all MSM & most of hollywood only spewing propaganda for marxists, it is ludicrous to think we can break thru that firewall.

I say its time to give the uninformed a real choice! The 23 states should secede & form a Free America.... Give peeps 90 days to relocate to either the new Free America or the Obamanation (pun intended).

Since we won´t have any special rights outside the constitution & original bill of rights, only true patriots will want to live with us. ... until they see quality of life in each nation after 3 to 5 years.

But we´ll have real immigration laws... Gotta be self sufficient or bring a talent to enter. period.

Being a woman, I wish I could say that women are politically aware but I have to admit that they are not. The abortion issue determined their vote as it was the only thing they really understood or paid any attention to. I found it to be important even to older women unlikely to get pregnant and women who had undergone hyserectomy.

~ ...under the impression that a Republican president and congress will be no different on abortion, taxes, spending, regulation, foreign policy, borders, rule or law, etc. as a Dem one. ~

Abortion: Several GOP higher-ups have been consistently calling for the Republican Party to change its stance on abortion in order to appeal to more people. In fact, several Republican congressmen have voted against bills limiting ´dialation & extraction´ abortions. That´s the one where the baby is removed from the womb far enough for the doctor to cut a hole in the back of its neck and use a suction catheter to suck its brains out.

Taxes and Spending: Since the 1990´s, excluding four years of Nancy Pelosi, we have had a Republican controlled Congress - coinciding several years with a Republican controlled Senate. Today federal spending is $3.8 trillion. While the Democrats might have done worse, it hardly matters, does it?

Regulation: The same Republican majority as mentioned above has continued to fund the EPA, FCC, FDA and many other alphabet soup tyrants in their creation of regulations and unfunded mandates. Current estimates average well over 100.000 federal regulations.

There is no one in the United States over the age of 18 who cannot be indicted for some federal crime.
~ John Baker (Louisiana State University law professor) ~

cont.

cont.

Foreign Policy: I´ll give you that one

Borders: George W Bush, Lindsey Graham, John McCain...

Rule and Law: In early 1980, the DOJ estimated that there were approximately 3,000 federal laws on the books. In 2007, an estimate attempted by outside sources put the number at around 4,500. Current attempts to estimate have been declared impossible with the guess being over 10,000. I will refer you again to the mostly Republican House majority since the 1990´s.

Again, while the Democrats might have done worse, I fail to see that it would have made that much difference.

And I, I will never doante another dime to a charity my Mom helped start-behind the scenes- Womanspace- a shelter for abused women.

I am reminded of that scene from Forrest Gump.......the liberal but tmunch beats the female lead, and blames it on that "dam war in Vietnam´.....AND SHE STAY WITH HIM.

I thought that was cinematic license, but you know what? Too many women are simply only concerned with thoughts on the ´package´(hair, nails, shoes) and feminism.

I am gonna teach my daughter to be a real human woman and the rest can all go to..........well, you know.

This RINO/True Conservative back & forth is undoubtedly the longest running argument on L-Dot. Two points:

1). In modern politics money speaks louder than ideology or ideas. He or she who masters the fundraising and organization early on has a huge leg up on candidates who enter the race later. These campaigns are really less about whose "turn" it is than about who get out in front with the bucks. That is an irksome notion for people like us, who are primarily motivated by ideas, to accept.

2). Those who complain about the deficiencies of recent GOP nominees need to recall the circumstances of their nominations and the opposition they faced. In the case of Bush 41, what potentially serious candidate was willing to challenge the incumbent VP and, four years later, the sitting Prez for nomination?

Dole in ´96? Well, no wonder he was nominated when his only opposition came from Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan.

In 2000 Bush had the money locked up early, and after eight years of Bubba we were eager to win. Conservative Dan Quayle´s candidacy withered and died due to lack of funds and conservative interest.

In ´08 McPain won pretty much by default when that great internet invention known as the Fred Thompson candidacy fizzled, and Romney was upended by Charlie Crist and Huckabee.

And this time around we were presented with the B Team, and none of the more conservative candidates was able to gain any permanent traction.

So, before laying blame for the state of things at the feet of reluctant RINOs and the RNC, conservative need to find appealing and qualified individuals willing to run and fund them to the teeth early on. That is a task much more easily talked about than done.

Money and corruption are the root of the problem, #14. Read Pat Caddell´s comments on Breitbart.com or listen to him on Political Insiders on foxnews.com and FNC Sunday afternoons.

Yes, the RINO/Conservative "back and forth" is long-running, because the differences are irreconcilable. Witness Boehner setting us up for yet another RINO cave. Yet your suggestion is that conservatives need to better vet their candidates and pony up more up-front money. If we need to do that, then who needs the RNC?

We need a political "divorce". We need a new party of our own.