Yes, if there's a Goldwater/Reagan out there to lead. If there is, I haven't seen one. I wasn't alive for AuH2O, but I was for Reagan, and I don't see a leader in the party now who can shoulder that burden. Palin and Jindal are too young and inexperienced, and Romney just doesn't seem to have the fire. Fred Thompson has the tools, but not the desire. McCain was never the answer, and Gingrich's time is past. Who's left? Mitch McConnell? Maybe, but he's got to step up and lead. Most people don't know who he is, so he needs to balance his job with with getting out there, although Senate Minority Leader isn't the best place to articulate a consistent message. Buyer is a possibility, but nobody outside of the deep geeks know who he is. The ranks of governors are really thin, as well. Mitch Daniels has been successful in Indiana, but he has said he's not interested in another campaign. Without someone who can articulate the message (and not just be the "anti-other guy" critic) and stir the faithful, it's going to be hard to climb out of the hole we're in. Not impossible, mind you, just difficult.

At this point I'd be happy if it became the party of Bob Dole again. At least Dole, in one of the debates, came out and said, "A government powerful enough to give you everything you want is a government powerful enough to take everything you have." I realize that was his writers talking, and probably they were copying some earlier writer. (It sounds a little like Nock's "The State can only do things for you in proportion to its power to do things to you.") But it's the kind of thing McCain should have been saying (especially in the debates) and didn't.

I'm with gripping hand.

I saw Sarah Palin address the press this morning. I still like her, and I don't think she's an idiot. Nothing about her says, "Idiot" to anyone who thinks about it. Furthermore, she's as good as any figurehead for Republican ideals.

However, she can't explain things like market economics worth spit. That's not her thing. Republicans need to RECOGNIZE this. People need to have someone explain why something is a good political choice, and Sarah Palin isn't the one to do this.

I also happened to hear part of an old Ronald Reagan speech. He could explain things intelligently, but clearly and plainly. He could also appeal to emotions when necessary, but not gratuitously.

Bobby Jindal has serious potential. He is smart, and he can use that smarts to explain his positions, and to make people think about theirs. He's 36, which is good and bad. He's probably not ready to run for President yet, but he will still be around in a few decades, which we need.

Beyond that, I want to know what the hell happened to the Republican Party I once really supported. Where are ideas like individual liberty and a limited government existing to protect it? WRT national security, where is Reagan's pitch that we need to protect our liberty?

What reasons did I have to vote for McCain? That he wasn't Obama, and that the Democrats shouldn't totally control the Federal Government?

That got my vote, but not a majority, clearly.

Maybe post-conversion Bob Barr should come back from the LP (of which I've been a member) and bring libertarian conservatism back to the GOP with him.

Speaking for my generation, Goldwater is like something from the Paleozoic Era. Reagan we all remember fondly for turning the eocnomy around and winning the Cold War despite everyone calling him a moron when we were kids. How much credit he deserves for those events is somewhat debatable, but that's the zeitgeist.

Anyways, the GOP often functions better as the opposition party. The job of the small-government party is to say "No!" When we put them in charge for 12 years, they became seduced by the power of "Yes."

Can the GOP regain its principles? Yes, though unfortunately only after many have deservedly lost their jobs.

But that's the ace in the hole: this is still, by and large, a country that believes in limited government. They just don't have a party that offers that at the moment. That's why McCain got fewer votes than Bush.

Barry D.,

Reagan was an economics major. That may have had something to do with it.

Perhaps Palin can get up to speed on that in the next year or so. The education need not be extensive. A thorough reading of "Free To Choose" would do it well enough for politics.

Barry D., when you suppose that rights inhere in "generations" rather than individuals, you condemn yourself to the foulest tyranny. On top of that, you do not "speak for your generation." No one can.

What of the Framers--are they Paleozoic to you as well? The last Roman died in the 7th century--and yet, I can read Latin! How could this be?

The miracle of consciousness, that allows us to consider events beyond our immediate sensation, is all that separates us from savage beasts and young leftists. God grant that you may learn to benefit by it.

And the rest of you, shame on your fuehrer-princip. Is this your dream for your country or your party, that a great leader will appear to restore greatness? Depravity.