Phoney Funeral for a Friend

"The report of my death was an exaggeration" -Mark Twain 6/1/1897
I always enjoy the media speculation when the Democrats gain power in this country. We've seen it many times before. The Dems seize control of the White House and the media announces that the Republican party is dead. Of course when the shoe is on the other foot, the media begin their ritual of weeping and wailing in the streets. This time their claim that conservatism is dead is most laughable. Somehow they missed the boat that John McCain was a moderate Republican and that the Conservatives sat out this election. You would think that after their love affair with McCain as he took on the Bush administration they would have at least got to know him. But then, they didn't even get to know Obama before they got in bed with him. The term 'media whore' takes on a whole new meaning.
If they want to believe the Conservative movement, the Republican party and the Reagan revolution are dead, then let them. Then they can be witness to a resurrection.
The Conservatives rode in the side car to this election. We got on board late with the arrival of Sarah Palin. But it was the moderates that were driving. The crash involved the moderates who, while ignoring the loyal conservative base, played to the swing voters and moderate Democrats. The last dying gasp came from Rep. Chris Shays who seemed to plead with the Republican party to follow him to his grave. RIP.
Meanwhile, back at the GOP clubhouse, a battle for RNC leadership is going on between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and GOPAC chairman and former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele. Two conservatives.
When looking back at the past election and the 2006 election, one will note that it was moderate Republicans who lost their seats. Most campaign contributions came from conservative sources and went to conservative candidates. We have to ask ourselves, in regard to nominating McCain; "What were we thinking"? Perhaps we were convinced (by the media) that our only hope of a victory was with a moderate. Yet the only time McCain pulled ahead in the polls was when he announced Palin as his running mate. When the spotlight went back to McCain, he went down. One can only imagine how a Romny/Palin ticket would have fared.
We have another great opportunity to learn from our losses. While the media tries to bury us, we can hook up the life-support system to the moderates of our party. Our new party leadership has two years to gather the candidates who can take back capitol hill. When we are studying past mistakes, we also need to study the 1994 wins. And where we lost the ball...and the House and Senate. Let the Democrats feed at the trough and spill swill all over the floor for two years. All eyes are on them. When the media tries to find out what WE are up to we can just say 'sorry, we're dead'. Then they will be quite surprised when we roll away the stone and march out of the tomb.