How the Republicans Let It Slip Away By David Ignatius

What’s interesting is that most of these wounds are self-inflicted. They draw a picture of a party that, for all its

seeming dominance, isn’t prepared to be the nation’s governing party. The hard right, which is the soul of the modern

GOP, would rather be ideologically pure than successful. Governing requires making compromises and getting your hands

dirty, but the conservative purists disdain those qualities. …

Bush and the Republicans had a chance after 2004 to become the

country’s natural governing party. They controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. The Democrats were in utter disarray,

leaderless and idea-less. When Bush took the podium in January to deliver his soaring second inaugural address, the future seemed to

belong to the Republicans.

Bush squandered this opportunity by falling into the trap that has snared the modern GOP — of playing

to the base rather than to the nation. The Republicans behave as if the country agrees with them on issues, when that

demonstrably isn’t so. …

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in late August found 54 percent describing themselves as pro-

choice and only 38 percent as pro-life, roughly the same percentages as a decade ago.