listening to the right people

It would seem that listening to the right people is crucial now for the Republican party--or, really, conservatives.   Much of the mainstream, mostly printed and telvised media is constantly saying that only a broader, open, more liberal Republican Party will be a winning Republican party.  A few things are problematic about this assesment. 

For one, listening to the other side is only a good idea if they don't know your listening.  How many times does James Carville go out on CNN and talk about his new 40yr book and actually give advice to conservatives that will help them?

Secondly, liberals will always be better liberals than conservatives.  Becoming like the winners if often a good idea, but not when it compromises who you are and what you stand for.  The liberals won big on a liberal platform, so becoming more liberal only means that conservatives will be the second best bunch of liberals out there.  Or, they will be irrelevent.  Maybe they seem irrelevent now, but standing up for what you believe in, articulately presenting alternatives to President Obama's liberalism, and waiting for it to go wrong--since as a conservative you believe it will indeed go wrong--is much better than becoming redundant.  

Finally, along the same lines, the type of Republican we are being advised to be looks just like our last candidate.  Senator McCain was beaten badly, and did not manage (I realize it was too soon to fully do this anyway) to seperate himself from President Bush.  The "more liberal" Republican got pounded.  Yet, we are constantly encouraged to emulate something like the McCain campaign if we want to continue the life of the GOP.  This doesn't make any sense.  (Morover, if you consider that fact the McCain was even somewhat close in an election following a historically unpopular President, two wars, a rapidly falling economy and a huge media push towards Obama, it stands to reason that the American people aren't as liberal as the last election made them appear to be.  A combination of bad luck [the economy], really bad communication, and some dishonest Republicans had a lot more to do with Obama's win than a huge liberal revolution). 

Republicans--conservatives--need to clearly and compellingly communicate conservative principles, principles with which the American people still identify, despite thier current hope in President Obama.  If conservatives belive they are right on the issues, like the economy, then they must also believe that the President's policies will fail, will hurt the country, and that the American people will recognize this and look for an alternative.  The alternative should be the party that has been offering smart, practical, persuasive ideas the whole time.