“I found it incredible that Theodore Roosevelt was not represented.
A Republican on Mount Rushmore–and they left him out.”

……The problem is he was to all intents and purposes a Democrat……that’s why Republicans are ambivalent about him as they are about Eisenhower…….they were RINO’S.

……And Boy did David get this wrong…….the RNC have spent the last two days scrambling to re jig this mess…….what ups gone……along with the incredible wandering Steele……and other changes

First, the Republican Heroes section linked off the front page needs work. Ronald Reagan is the most recent figure shown and most of the people named are from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. It’s almost as if the site were attempting to show a party in decline.

Second, the Republican Accomplishments section has a similar problem. Below are the accomplishments listed since 1957 (the year Republicans Passed the 1957 Civil Rights Act and Republicans Ended Racial Segregation in Little Rock):

1972 Nixon Goes to China [diplomatic act by most liberal Republican President in the last 1/2 century]
1981 Reagan Tax Cuts
1987 Tear Down This Wall [speech]
1994 Contract with America [of rather less than fond memory]
1996 Welfare Reform
2001 Operation Enduring Freedom [subjugation of Taliban in Afghanistan, still ongoing]
2001 Republican Tax Cuts [cited as "boosting employment and economic growth for years"]
2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom [invasion of Iraq, listed reason "to hold Hussein accountable"]
2004 Vouchers for DC Schoolchildren [expired]

Without undue editorializing, I think that as a list of accomplishments covering the 50+ years since 1957, the foregoing achievements are less than inspiring as a résumé to convince unaffiliated voters which party to choose.

The GOP awaits a “50 state strategy” in which they make it clear that they will run candidates in Blue States who lean Right but whose cultural leanings fit with the locale they’re running in.

Well, he certainly has brought a little color to the GOP. Or maybe just a little colorfulness.

The problem is not that there are differing opinions to be worked out. The problem is that anybody who differs in opinion from the wingiest of wingnuts is immediately attacked. Lindsey Graham just took an a** whoopin’ for trying to be even somewhat reasonable.

As long as anybody taking a 1/2 step towards the center can expect to be attacked, the GOP will stay mired in the swamp of the Tea Party, talk radio, and Fox News crazies.

I agree. But we should at least be working on developing one. As well we should be able to articulate our core principles of low taxes, limited Government, and a strong national defense a lot better then a few shallow words.

But you’re not going to get that less than one year after the GOP’s 2008 election loss, in the absence of a real visionary like Gingrich.

One reason the GOP lost in 2008 was that the GOP coalition fragmented over issues like the economic collapse. On economic stimulus, on immigration, on health care, even on Afghanistan, there are sincere disagreements among Republicans as to what to do. It will take time to work all that out. Right now, the GOP is only capable of standing in opposition to Obama’s agenda.