Well, you make some good points, but does that mean that conservatives in general, especially those who lost, did not communicate well with the public? Again, I don't know, because here in OH, we had a very good conservative candidate for governor, who articulated his positions well, who made clear distinctions of his conservatism with his opponent, whose message basically boiled down to "I'm not Bush and I'm not a Republican", and he had his head handed to him on a platter.
The great unwashed decide elections. They get their news from the MSM, not alternate media. The MSM is against Republicans, we know that. This means that we have to fight all the harder, and I don't think Bush and the Republicans ever made a strong, concerted effort to counter the 'Rat and MSM message of "disaster" in Iraq. If we don't learn that lesson from this defeat, we're just going to lose again. An unpopular war cost us this election. The polls told us that. We chose to fool ourselves and tried to convince each other that "the polls are wrong". Well, they weren't, and now we'll all pay the price.
I don't think Bush and the Republicans ever made a strong, concerted effort to counter the 'Rat and MSM message of "disaster" in Iraq. If we don't learn that lesson from this defeat, we're just going to lose again.
That's my point...your candidate was probably a wonderful candidate but he suffered through association....I really hate that JD Hayworth got tossed...i'm staying positive that some good is going to come out of this overall...chin up and let's continue the pressure and steer the party back to the base....don't get hung up on the details because Joe Schmo Public sure won't.