Why They Lost

Republican moderates such as former NJ governor Christine Todd Whitman understood the party's problems 4 years ago:

The Republican Party had been taken hostage by "social fundamentalists," the people who base their votes on such social issues as abortion, gay rights and stem cell research. Unless the GOP freed itself from their grip, we argued, it would so alienate itself from the broad center of the American electorate that it would become increasingly marginalized and find itself out of power.

Unless the Republican Party ends its self-imposed captivity to social fundamentalists, it will spend a long time in the political wilderness. On Nov. 4, the American people very clearly rejected the politics of demonization and division. It's long past time for the GOP to do the same.

Of course, McCain decided to go in the opposite direction by choosing social fundamentalist (and know-nothing) Sarah Palin as his VP nominee. We know how well that worked out. That doesn't mean that they learned their lesson, however. Apparently, there is a war going on within the Republican party to decide whether it will go towards the right or the center (represented by moderates like Whitman). I'm curious about Palin's political future because I think she'll be a good barometer for the Republican Party, as to which faction will have won out. If Palin runs in 2012, then it means the social fundamentalists have won the internal fight for the soul of the Republican Party, and the GOP will likely continue its slide into well-deserved electoral oblivion.