Lots of columns floating around on the GOP loss. Many conflicting opinions. Here's the real answer: They (we) lost due to our own stupidity and the control of the party by two kinds of folks: The far right and those desirous of being liked by the NY Times.

The Far Right: Who cares about homosexuality - and why? It has always been around and so far no civilization has collapsed because of it. Western Civ might indeed collapse because of those who think this issue is more important that our security, the education of our kids, and a host of other things far more important than who bones whom.

The Far Right II: Abortion. There are ZERO women of child-bearing age in America who have never NOT had access to legal abortion. To think that'll change is ludicrous. The way to stop abortion is to educate our kids. This won't happen as long as the Far Right thinks they can stop homosexuality via legislation, and as long as they think abortion is all bad all the time. In fact, it isn't even always a bad thing. 43M abortions 1973-2004, 75% by liberals = GOP White House. That's bad? By 2024, 79M fewer liberals than if no abortion. This is a bad thing? (43M abortions, assume 75% by liberals, assume 51% female, assume fertility rate of 2.1.) And - if my daughter were raped by some big ugly Arab slug, you bet I'd want her to get an abortion.

The Far Right III: As long as the above are the main drivers of the GOP platform, it'll get more and more difficult to win national elections. That'll leave control of guns, schools, courts and foreign policy in the hands of the Left. This is intelligent?

Then, when we NEED to be hard asses, we're not - like why are we in Iraq if we're not willing to kill the bastards the same way our parents killed the NAZI and Imperial Japanese bastards - by not worrying about the "Street" or civilian casualties in a war zone? This is a friggin' existential war, and being nice isn't going to win it. I really don't care if they like me or not. I care that my kids live in Western Civilization rather than some 7th-Century fascist-religio-government in which my daughter won't be educated, won't be equal, won't be able to report a rape and will have to wear a friggin tent all the time, and in which men will think that's an OK way to treat women. The left doesn't care about this because they don't have any kids. Look at the demographics of the Blue States and Western Europe. They're done. Why worry about their opinions? They have no hostages to the future and so necessarily care only about their own comfort here and now. Those listening to childless politicians and elites need to have their heads examined.

The argument that if we (GOP) follow the above we'll be just like the enemy (DNC), is just dumb. We can save our kids, save our nation, continue being a beacon of hope to the world only if we win elections. And we can't win elections by worrying about abortion and homosexuality. We ought to teach our kids not to use abortion as birth control. Let the libs teach their kids to use it whenever they want -- they're removing themselves from the gene pool. We want to stop them... why?

The NY Times. GOPers thinking they can please the NY Times and the rest of the MSM are not thinking people. A Republican trying to please the MSM is like teaching a pig to sing - wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Conservatives need to be conservative on serious conservative issues: Government size and encroachment (and how do you argue against the size of government but insist it worry about sexual orientation or behavior or whatever it is?), taxes (for dumb things like Title 1 breakfasts when 75% of the kids being fed by the taxpayers have cell phones), and defending our country. You can't do that and please as idiotic and adolescent a paper as the NYT - why do we continue to try? We didn't win in 1994 by pleasing the MSM. How can we have forgotten this so soon? Now the idiots are in charge, Islamists may feel they have added the US to their scalps - they already have the USSR and Spain (Yes, they think they won the cold war - and it is hard to argue with it; they kicked Russia's butt in Afghanistan and it all went to hell after that.)

If we want to re-introduce democracy - that's when elections aren't overturned by judges, in case you've forgotten - and protect our nation and the future of our kids we need to get serious and throw the Far Right off the train, grab all those conservative democrats just seated by the middle,  and move forward.

Protecting my kids is just a little bit more important than worrying about where some guy's dick is or if the NY Times or some idiotic Muslim who allowed Islamofascism to grow in their region likes me, don't you think?