Running through this account of domestic and national-security issues is an attitude toward public life and toward public discourse. Tone and bearing are terribly undervalued commodities in American politics. On the whole, people drawn to a party like to feel that those representing the party are both amiable and peaceable. This hardly precludes conviction and tough-mindedness when it comes to articulating policy. Democracy was designed for disagreement, and the proper role of an opposition party is to oppose. But anger, personal attack, and extreme language do nothing to expand the appeal of a party in trouble.
Unfortunately, this point has been lost on some members of the Religious Right, whose scolding approach has created a significant backlash, especially among young people (including young Christians). It has also been lost on the party’s more abrasive populists, with their habit of pitting the heartland—aka the “real” America—against the denizens of the coasts. This not only vitiates their own claim to seriousness; it almost willfully alienates the very groups and regions that Republicans need to attract. There is no magic formula when it comes to dealing with such matters of tone, temperament, and the right use of language. They are admittedly delicate things to measure, but they are no less crucial for that.
Good advice...probably unwelcome here though.
Two good examples are Terri Shivo and Embryonic Stem cell federal research. If you listen to talk radio conservatives, they say sticking to conservative principles (defined by the positions they want, naturally) always wins. But these two were PR disasters for republicans turning off many voters, the first being very questionable constitutionally (where is Levin???). The second one may have had a good principle behind it but it was simply vetoed by a very unpopular president who couldn't explain why he did, leaving the voter to think the worst.
In contrast was a ban on partial birth abortions, while maybe violating states rights (which it was never contested in court on, and the courts don't care anyway) it was a huge political winner