Underperform? No. Unwilling to lie with seductive, false promises? Yes. And therein lies the perpetual dilemma...how to convey the truth to the Honey Boo Boos and LowFos.

Republicans need to come up with a national spokesman and get him on the air as much as possible. Rubio is a very thoughtful well spoken person who can do the job.Nobody trusts Boner and McConnell.I like rand Paul also but he steps out on the limb a little too far sometimes.

If Conservatives underperform in their messaging repeatedly maybe it is because they hire the same election consultants election after election whose ideas are not new ideas, but are also proven loser ideas.
It´s time to get new campaign consultants that are good at messaging.

The problem is the leaders are not conservatives and they have no desire to lead on conservative issues.

What #1 said. IMO, "They" lose elections because of corrupt "news" organizations and staggering and blatant voter fraud. If the presstitute-coverage of the "Second coming of obama" didn´t convince Hillyer of that, when it is compared to the insulting coverage of the second Inauguration of President Bush, there´s no hope for either Hilllyer or some others out here.

Article is full of hot air, as conservatives have no one for whom to vote. We have an ultra liberal party and a moderate liberal party, and I won´t waste my time voting for either´s candidates.

The message is right on -- the MARKETING of that message is what´s lacking. The marketing of ideas and products is what has always made the world go ´round, and it always will.

People will buy nearly anything if it´s pitched to them effectively -- do I have to point out the most recent effectively presented line of BS? Hire a consultant!!!

Well said. The campaign Atwater ran (1988) was the last significant, clear-cut victory for a Republican candidate. We´ve lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 campaigns since then. Lots of work needs to be done.

I´m with Rush and numbers 4 and 6...

If the Republican Party would ever nominate a CONSERVATIVE; that person would get elected.

#3 hit the nail on the head. Also, course corrections and rapid response teams need to be in place. No negative picture painted by the opposition should go unanswered and a hard-hitting positive picture must be painted to replace it.

What is rather interesting about this is that we are a group that measures itself on hard work and merit. Yet we FAIL on advertising our message.

Part of the reason is that we don´t relate to the group that we must reach, a group in the middle that is largely motivated by emotion. You can call them names and belittle them as LoFo but they hold the votes we need. Many of them are not immune to Conservative ideology, as the polls show, but the messages that Republican politicians are using are NOT connecting to those ideals BECAUSE we are not speaking their language. Just smearing the progressives is not effective. We need to create an emotional resonance (not focus on a rational justification) to Conservative goals.

That is made vastly more difficult when the MSM is spinning furiously to counter Conservative messaging but the messaging is flawed to begin with.

We are also weakened by a leadership that thinks we failed because we are backing the wrong philosophy and start making really bad deals that undermine the Country in a foolish attempt to be "popular".

Rework the message so that it will be appreciated and accepted but leave the Conservative philosophy alone.

FTA: "Conservatives remain a majority (or a very large plurality) — and while we certainly aren’t silent, we all too often have been pathetically tongue-tied. The cause of limited government requires that we find, and use, a new political Rosetta Stone."

The Republicans need to read this article and make it a top priority. Today politics is all about messaging and we should take that seriously. We need a counterweight to Jay Carney. Put Bill Whittle on that job. He is a great communicator. Boehner needs to do this and make an announcement introducing him and then get him out there.

A house divided will always fail, and the Republican Party is divided between the social and economic conservatives.
Check the records and you will find that lots of social conservatives just didn´t vote.
Until we get a candidate we can believe in we are not apt to be very enthused. However the Republicans who are in control will not allow that. Laura Bush was pro abortion, Romney signed pro abortion laws.
Social conservatives are not easily fooled.

I´ve thought for some time that it was not social issues that sent W´s approval ratings into Truman territory and paved the way for the ONE, but Bush´s neoconservative foreign policy, including the invasion of Iraq. Even Romney knew that Bush´s foreign policy was deeply unpopular--witness his "I agree with the POTUS" stance in the last debate. Romney did NOT duck social issues. But all polls I´ve seen show that Americans are tired of US middle east military adventures. We ask as conservatives, where is the outrage about Benghazi? Answer: no once cares, and not just low info voters. A lot of high info voters want nothing to do with neoconservatism. It is time for the GOP to embrace social issues and fiscal conservatism and marginalize Bill Kristol, McCain (is there ever a war he opposed?)and his two other amigos.