-while in SC, the conservative bloggers just insist there's a pony in there somewhere

It must be cold for the Republicans in the shadow of Nov. 4.

They got routed. According to The New York Times, more than three-quarters of the nation’s 3,100 counties voted more Democratic in the presidential race than in 2004. No wonder 1 in 4 Republicans said in an Associated Press/GfK Poll that they were depressed about the results.

So earlier this week, the Republican governors whisked themselves away to Miami to lick their wounds. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota assured the morose assemblage that all was not lost. “We can be both conservative and we can be modern at the same time,” he said...

...In 1980, the Republican Party platform spoke at length to blacks and Hispanics, promising to stand “shoulder to shoulder with black Americans” in the fight against racism and to “pursue policies that will help to make opportunities of American life a reality for Hispanics.” That year, Ronald Reagan captured 14 percent of the black vote, becoming the last Republican to do so. He also doubled the Hispanic support that Gerald Ford had enjoyed in the previous election.

The 1980 platform went on to make a specific pitch to the nation’s youth, committing itself to broadening “the involvement of young people in all phases of the political process.” Reagan won 44 percent of the youngest voters in 1980, and that support grew to 61 percent when he was re-elected in 1984. No Republican has seen this level of support from that demographic since.

Instead of building on this success and pitching even bigger tents, they circled the wagons and weaponized morality — the vision gave way to division.

(The 2008 Republican platform doesn’t specifically mention a single minority group. That is except homosexuals because of their “incompatibility ... with military service.” However, it does say that it finds discrimination to be immoral. Again, that is except for discrimination against homosexuals.)

To be modern, you have to go back. Return to fiscal conservatism and ease up on social conservatism. Obsess more about controlling spending and less about controlling other people’s bodies. Reach out to poor people in the cities as well as those in the sticks. Make space for minorities, and re-examine the position on immigration.

Being able to disagree without disavowing — now that’s modern.