You said, "I completely disagree. The GOP lost for a combination of reasons-allowing the preachy RR to dictate the agenda was most certainly one."
I started a long and detailed thread earlier today explaining why ALL factions within the Conservative Movement share SOME of the blame for the failures in the 2006 Election. Like everyone else on our side of the ideological aisle, the Christian Conservatives have to accept some of the blame...BUT...that does NOT mean that the Republican Party needs to move towards the center and abandon those social conservatives who have been one of the true foundations for the Republicans starting with the Reagan era. There is plenty of room for ALL kinds of Conservatives, social, economic, libertarian, etc, etc...Reagan held that coalition together in the 1980's and Newt did in the 1990's, so it CAN be done without throwing any particular group "under the bus."
I don't disagree, but I've been very concerned for several years now about the degree with which the GOP has been pandering to the social conservatives, and allowing them to limit the agenda to abortion, stem cells, vegetative states, Ten Commandments, and fence building.
Even the WOT got lost in the rhetoric during the past year, and it was a key issue for us.