2004 was a BIG win, because W was smart enough not to completely aliente centrists while still pursuing a conservative tax cutting agenda (see the 2003 tax cuts)
2006 was much more a result of Iraq War fatigue and corruption scandals in the White House
2008 was seriously bad headwinds.
2012 was having a completely ineffective candidate at the top.
Again, we can go back to being the people who set the agenda, or be resigned to those who obstruct the agenda.
This is a long war and picking the right battles is key. Suicide missions are just stupid, as this will prove when the House caves and the Senate is lost again in 2014
I disagree with some of your conclusions, W won in 2004 by slim margins and the rest of those years you listed we listened to the RINOs and Party Boys and got the same sad results.
And you suggest we pick our battles. If we were to follow that advice I can’t foresee any battle the Republican party would ever fully engage in not expecting to surrender and lose. The GOP doesn’t try to win, they don’t even try to play not to lose, this party plays to lose. It hasn’t played to win since 1984.
It is always and I mean always: the hill to die on is the budget battle next year, the hill to die on is the debt ceiling battle in six months, the hill to die on is obamacare. When we reach those hills the RINO’s and Party Boys run out scream platitudes about how tough they are, the democrats go BOO! The whorish media spits out a bad story and the line then from the RINO’s and Party Boys becomes, you guessed it, this is not the hill to die on, we need to pick our battles, will just surrender and take this issue away from the democrats foolishness.