Honestly, I would rather go down in flames sticking to my principals rather than attempt to appease the stupid. Good bye America.

Another beltway pundit who never has never heard an opinion contrary to his preconceived notions.

DemonRAT and morals do not even belong in the same paragraph, much less sentence.

To equate morals with stealing the fruits of one person´s labor and giving it (less a generous "finder´s fee") to another who has not completed any sort of "work" for it is not moral...it is the foundation of the immorality of undeserved entitlement.

Baloney, Mr. Brooks.

Actually, I have to say, I watched Barbara march out all her grandkids at the Republican convention, and she smugly said, "These are my secret weapon." At that moment I did truly think this woman was born rich, she did seem aloof, and I held her action to be untimely and wrong; she seemed aloof and uncaring for the rest of us hard working folks. However, when Laura came in as first lady, I found her genuine, and humble. When she was designing their ranch, the biggest concern was that she would appear ostentatious. Laura had class, she had style, and she was intelligent.

Yawn. Sorry, I think Mr. Brooks was saying something I have heard all to many times before. Yawn.

I don´t have a problem with his conclusion provided we avoid the trap of fuzzy definitions. Vulnerable people are people who can not take care of themselves - the mentally impaired, those handicapped to the point of true disability, the elderly and infirm who have no families. Vulnerable does not include single women who keep bearing children that they cannot support. It does not include people who have limited abilities but don´t want to do the kinds of jobs they are capable of.

Immigrants are people who come to this nation fairly and honestly, seeking the opportunities of freedom and the chance to build something for themselves. Immigrants are not people who come here illegally or with the intention of declaring themselves ´vulnerable´ at the first opportunity.

Unfortunately, all the people who have attached themselves unfairly to these two groups have a vested interest in staying there and, if they cannot be convinced to let go, the arithmetic will not add up either morally or economically. And, every time we offer up that message, we are accused of not caring.

#4, Barbara Bush was not an aloof uncaring person at all. She has personally dedicated her time and energy helping others. She personally intervened on behalf of a friend of mine for his children. At any rate, the problem with the GOP politicians is they usually do not go out to the various communities (especially black and other "minority" communities) to hear people´s concerns. They don´t reach out. I think that is the problem with professional politicians in general. But the Dems will go out to people more often than the Republicans and if they don´t, they have local people who do it for them. Not that they care, but they pretend to and people eat that up.

This is just wrong. Obama didn´t win because he would help the poor; he won because he bought off the poor and the lower middle class candy and baubles (ObamaPhones and Food Stamps and other handouts.) Mr. Brooks is demanding, whether he grasps it or not, that Republicans become more like the Democrats and Obama´s winning campaign. Complete nonsense. Romney would have made an infinitely better president. It´s very obvious and even a lot of Obama supporters know it, but seem to think it is not a big deal. Romney has a record of success, competence and compassion to those less blessed than himself. His campaign should be faulted for a lousy get out the vote effort. But the media should be bitterly condemned in the harshest possible way for willingly becoming aggressive partners in the Obama campaign and being dishonest while working to destroy Romney. Our country is big trouble and Mr. Brooks doesn´t seem to understand why.

(I sent this to Mr. Brooks)

Another old. white guy telling other old white guys what they should be doing. Instead of setting up yet another straw man argument (conservatives can´t connect with minorities), he should laud what conservatives stand for and how these principles can connect to everyday people. But, he settles for trying to show himself smarter than everybody else. Too smug by half.

The Journal has jumped the shark.

Read Investors Business Daily instead.

Brooks is right. We have an excellent message but we do an awful job of selling it. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. We can stick to conservative principles, but we need to connect to people on a personal level. If we ignore that, we perish,

FTA: Corporate cronyism should be decried as every bit as noxious as statism, because it unfairly rewards the powerful and well-connected at the expense of ordinary citizens. Entrepreneurship should not to be extolled as a path to accumulating wealth but as a celebration of everyday men and women who want to build their own lives, whether they start a business and make a lot of money or not. And conservatives should instinctively welcome the immigrants who want to earn their success in America.

Hard to take issue with that. Understand that, and understand why Romney was the worst possible spokesperson for this message.

Bill Clinton talking about a moral compass...

A must read! Brooks is spot on. And the fact that so many posters here don´t see that strongly points out how the Republicans have lost their way.

Get out and volunteer. I don´t mean pass out water bottles on a 10k run. I mean get down in the trenches and volunteer for a social services agency. Get close enough that you can get to know its clients as people. Find out how they live, what is bothering them, what is getting in their way of moving forward.

The job you think they should take is in a suburb with no public transportation. They can´t save for a car; that savings is counted against them and will cause them to receive less SSI money each month to cover food and shelter. Buy an old junker? How do you pay for repairs? How do you do repairs yourself when apartments forbid you to do repairs where you live? Figure out what the problems are and then start coming up with real solutions rather than platitudes.

No, 14´s last paragraph is worth re-reading. I once attended a church that had a program directed at the young, single mothers in the singles class. They had a "car clinic" every few months & members of the church would do car repairs for a small fee. Very important to some of these women who didn´t have access to reliable transportation. Also, I remember that they put unemployed people in touch with a program that would give job-seekers the proper attire for job interviews. Churches are a great resource for getting people back on track.

#14 I´m with you. Unless the GOP is able to connect with the average voter, they won´t be winning elections. They need to update their playbook. They need to learn how to relate. There´s an old sales technique called Feel, Felt, Found. I know how you feel, I have felt that way myself a few times, but through much trial and error have found....