So what should Republicans be focused on now that "the" election was lost? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    All the talking heads on the Sunday shows were discussing the meaning of Tuesday's election. The dominate issue seems to be how the Republican Party can re-construct itself and the leading response is that it needs to become more "inclusive" unless it wants to become irrelevant as a force in American politics. Hogwash! Or as Babbling Joe would say: "malarkey!"

    There was scant mention that the same party that is being touted as "irrelevant" picked up seats in the U. S. House as well as extended its dominance at the state level, with but a few exceptions, mainly in the Northeast. And those states are never, in our lifetime, going to vote Republican for president.

    Let's put it in perspective with this analogy. Suppose you own a restaurant. On a given day you had 200 to eat at your place. And four of them complained their food was not good. You look at the menu and you see no noticeable difference on this day than on previous days. Your 200 people is 2 less than your average daily customer count. You look at the food the four complainers sent back to the kitchen and you find that all four ordered something different and in each case they were some of your most popular menu items. Now, how are you going to adapt your business plan to the loss of those four customers?

    We would suggest that no smart business person would start changing anything. You would certainly not change your menu of the four items, simply because they are four of your bestselling dishes. You certainly are not going to change your advertising program because it is working well enough to bring in good crowds. You would be a fool to change the name of your restaurant or make other "re-branding" decisions. The smart business person would pretty much continue "business as usual" and accept the fact that you cannot satisfy all of the people all of the time. Four out of 200 is not bad when you think about it. And chances are you could never satisfy those four no matter what you did.

    These pundits who are saying that Tuesday's results were some kind of indictment against "conservatism" don't have a leg to stand on. They're blowing smoke. The simple fact is that Mitt Romney was not a "conservative Republican" candidate. That would have been Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman. Romney was a neat candidate. He looked and acted presidential. But he was not and never has been a real conservative. RomneyCare is all that need be said about that. Romney was about as close to John McCain as any of the primary candidates and it is very possible Romeny lost for the same reason McCain lost. They both "moved to the center" in the general election.

    Regardless, we're stuck with Obama for four more years. But Republicans control the House and can gain control of the Senate in 2014. That is what Republicans need to be focused on right now. And nowhere is that more important than in North Carolina. Republicans must, and can, replace Kay Hagan in the U. S. Senate and doing so will rectify, more than anything else they can do, what happened Tuesday.

    Click here to read the why this is true.