This is a time of great opportunity for Republicans. They have strong leadership qualities. I will write my leadership essay about it.

Republicans must re enter the urban environment - especially in the North East. Republicans do not live there in numbers that matter, nor do they significantly contribute to help resolve what ails the hubs. So they are never perceived as compassionate or in touch with troubles affecting the masses. I believe this abandonment of the urban environment has resulted in a major reality disconnect about the falling condition of our culture.

Offending community organizers during the campaign was the poster child incident that revealed the biggest disconnect between the young and the Republicans. Those who chose the opposition for candidate or new party affiliation clearly understand that we will only get to a better place if many volunteer or invest their careers to this task. Community organizers are underpaid or not paid and the issues are daunting. Criticism here from outside would be easy because there are not enough contributing to slay the dragon.

Rural candidates and voters would not understand or care about these urban issues but then again there aren't enough of them to elect a national candidate. So even though these voters do not comprise enough Republican votes to win an election - their voices were the overwhelming message of
this election. Smart suburbanites too realize that change is necessary. The days of visiting their hub city to perhaps visit a renowned hospital or restaurant, visit the theater or sports complex may be accompanied by witnessing or catching a stray bullet. Also they realize this is where their children visit to score the vile recreation toxins ruining many a future.

Radio talking and the corresponding listening or blogging while at work is strictly fluff, now is time for action. Belonging, contributing and sharing in the grief of a community is a very effective low cost method(excluding
the cost of your time) to initiate a grass root movement. It's not quick nor glamorous but necessary for a better future. Initiatives and results by newly formed Republican coalitions in the community would go very far in repairing the image and would soon create electable Republican leaders in populated places the party has abandoned.

PS: I spend 1/5 of my time on these efforts. Of course I am the only Republican at the table or trash pickup. I've engaged my teenage children when appropriate. That's how you facilitate real change. When the topic arises I admit I'm a Republican, that generates alot of kind comedy!

The scariest thing that happened to the Republican Party was letting the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity be the party's spokesmen. That is what created the mass exodis from the Republicna Party. I used to vote Republican every election but the only way I will continue to make Republican my Party is if we reclaim it away from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity who are so willing to turn our county over to demagogues. This as a very disturbing trend and it is the reason have joined the political action group started by Governor Whitman and now includes Senator Danforth (Both of whom have written wonderful books ont he subject). I beleive this is a critical juncutre in the history of our country's two party system.

The scariest thing that happened to the Republican Party was letting the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity be the party's spokesmen. That is what created the mass exodis from the Republicna Party. I used to vote Republican every election but the only way I will continue to make Republican my Party is if we reclaim it away from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity who are so willing to turn our county over to demagogues. This as a very disturbing trend and it is the reason have joined the political action group started by Governor Whitman and now includes Senator Danforth (Both of whom have written wonderful books ont he subject). I beleive this is a critical juncutre in the history of our country's two party system.

Sarah Palin's popularity is a clear repudiation of Mort Kondracke's time worn advice.

John McCain was supposed to be the "Centrist" responsible candidate, but it became clear that he would have to do this without a significant portion of the Republican base. And Mort's hope that Republicans can be Democrat light is bad advice restated for the umpteenth time.

In little more than 6 weeks, the Party went from moribund to in high gear but there was too much to make up in that short time. The six weeks from Sarah Palin's nomination till the election. And in this time, the grass roots workers still had a difficulty trusting John McCain on anything other than Abortion.

If you want the Church ladies, you have to speak to them and they are the heart and soul of the Republican GOTV. It seems like Mort hasn't been out in the field in the weeks running up to elections and seen who the volunteers are.

If you ask them why they are there and why they are passionate, it isn't because they think Republicans act more like adults. It isn't because they support Democrats in socialist experimentation. Its because they thirst for people who support their values and will defend their families and children from the assault by people who have no idea of morality, responsibility or the value of human life.

This needs to be our central message and effort. We need to hold Democrats to the same standards as we hold Republicans, and that means to identify and prosecute the raft of crimes committed in this past election cycle. We need to hound corrupt Democrats out of office like Jack Murtha by making their names an embarrassment every time they are said. And we need to challenge every seat in Congress from the left and the right based on basic shared moral values.

We can have flexibility about Conservative vs. Liberal stances on economics and to a lesser extent security. We need to emphasize the shared values of faith rather than "Christian" principles as much. The great principles of the Christian faith are shared by the major faiths when we don't talk about Creed, but instead talk about Morality and ethics. Once we do this there is a vast agreement about these values. The questioning of the last 40 years has led us full circle back to what was mostly accepted before. Good, now we know why. We need to talk of providing a society where these values can flourish rather than be imposed by the state.

Unfortunately for some, the era of wobbly responses to the issue of Abortion has come to an end. Hedonism is not a society supporting value system. And, as a social institution, Abortion has failed in every society that has allowed it. It promotes irresponsibility and to some extent criminal exploitation of the young. In a society where children must be found in the Third World for adoptive parents, our own children of unfortunate circumstance are seen merely as an inconvenience to be discarded.

This doesn't mean that there aren't hard choices and that the law must step back to support making these choices. But, the current state of Abortion as a privacy right has led us to the brink of infanticide as an accepted outcome. This is especially true of children who will be born with profound and debilitating disabilities which require a lifetime of care. And one could argue that we don't have adoptive homes for the millions of unwanted children that are aborted each year. These are not new issues, they are old issues. We need to find and propose better answers.

This has also created a situation where immigration is the only means of sustaining the population and providing a growing workforce. Immigration is not a bad thing in and of itself, but when the native inhabitants find themselves conceding their cities and society to immigration in waves so vast as to swamp the very character of the land, it is not positive development. However, as bad as it may be in the US. Europe and Russia provide in clear highlight the folly of Aborting away our future.

The future of the Republican Party must also be built by reaching out to the Black and Latino communities on the basis of shared values and protecting families and communities. The Democrat prescription of dependency, irresponsibility and immorality has only brought death, fear and misery to these communities. There is a Conservative majority in the US but it has not gelled because good people were willing to give the social engineering of the sixties and seventies one more try. Well, we have learned a thing or two in the last 40 years and its time to keep the good and toss the bad and the ugly.

Sarah Palin and politicians of the same mold, and there are many and more coming, represent a new future. They are a bit more Joe Sixpack, a lot less Harvard. People of personal achievement outside of the Political sphere who are moved to work as Civil Servants rather than being ready to "Rule" as our future President Obama promises. And, we need new primary processes that help us select the best and brightest to represent us. We also need to reject the games that were allowed this last cycle which delivered the nomination to almost the least popular candidate in the field. We have a year or so to work this out.

We have to actively reclaim not only the local offices and communities, but the Colleges and Universities. This means we need more Foundations supporting and encouraging balanced views in the Universities and other educational institutions. We need to aggressively press for more balanced hiring and tenure decisions in State sponsored Universities. The hope of "Academic Freedom" guiding this process without ideological discrimination against Conservative voices has gone the same way as the Dodo and Journalistic Objectivity, except the Dodo really actually existed. The words "Political Correctness" should have set off howling sirens that viewpoint discrimination had claimed Academic circles. Now the weeds are mighty tall and cleaning this mess may take a generation.

Lastly, the failure of the Fourth Estate in this election cycle and the simple acceptance by Republicans that they must accept and win against every vile slander repeated like an echo chamber by an openly hostile press must come to an end. Even as newspaper after newspaper falls into Bankruptcy and ruin the demand for news is increasing. The opportunity for providing real fact filled news that is well resourced and the biases openly exposed is the challenge of the next decade. There is much money to be made by Conservative oriented news sources outside of the "Talk Radio" format.

This is a time of great opportunity for Republicans. A time to "rebrand" and not as Democrat light. But Conservative strong. To reject "Christianism" but instead to embrace shared moral values that Christians want so disparately to be welcome once again in our society, but that other faiths desperately want as well. We brought ourselves to shame fighting over the details of Mitt Romney's Mormon faith. This sews seeds of sectarianism that creates distrust between people of faith. Its time for "Non-Sectarianism" to replace "Secularism" as the sought neutral point that holds our society a step back from establishing a preferred faith. Symbols and expressions of faith must be welcome in the public square. Secularism has become synonymous with the rejection of God and all religion and this has been a loss for all.

If we can do this, we will win election after election until the Democrats find their own new message.

The best advice in this article: "...quit letting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham set its agenda."

Additionally, it is wise to support President Obama as much as possible. We are going to take the most important steps towards restoring the trust of the American people by showing them have adults behave when they lose Presidential elections. If we whine and act like Democrats have for the last 8 years, then we are no better than them.

The best advice in this article: "...quit letting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham set its agenda."

Additionally, it is wise to support President Obama as much as possible. We are going to take the most important steps towards restoring the trust of the American people by showing them have adults behave when they lose Presidential elections. If we whine and act like Democrats have for the last 8 years, then we are no better than them.

You have got to be kidding me. This kind of thinking is why I am now a full fledged Libertarian. So long, good riddance, and Good luck. LOL