Where does the GOP go from here?

>>> time in the republican party . they seem to fall in two camps. one who say romney wasn't conservative enough is one camp and the others who say he's not a right winger. or the realists in the party who know the gop must become a big tent party if it wants to see success down the road. mark mckennan and joan, an msnbc analyst. let's take a view from the far right. laura ingraham wrote on her website force in the gop and conservativism core principles demoralized middle class . charles krauthammer tried to move past mitt romney and look to the future of the gop .

>> i think he did honorably well, came pretty close, but he was a man -- he's a northeastern liberal and that's not where we're going. i'm optimistic because there was a very strong republican bench that did not enter the fray. all this soul-searching about what ideology we're going to pursue is going to come from them. i think it will be a fairly reaganite and conservative one.

>> this is an old argue, the conservatives, even the far right, self-described tea party , had won the argument until last night.

>> well, chris, you just can't look at these results and come to any other conclusion that the republican party have to expand the tent. and that this strategy of going after a shrinking demographic and trying to expand a shrinking demographic is a death spiral. and that's what we experienced yesterday. so, you know, i think back to when i was a conservative democrat , kind of moving toward a progressive republican . it was george w. bush 's message of compassionate conservativism that drew me to support him. and he had very progressive ideas about immigration and education reform . those were the things that attracted me and millions of other independents and conservative democrats . so, until we start recognizing that we've got to have those kind of messages and policies, and greater tolerance, greater diversity, then the numbers are going nowhere but down.

>> on abc matthew dowd broke down the republican problems in tv terms.

>> what's happening with the republicans, they are -- the republican party is a mad men party in a modern family america and it just doesn't fit anymore.

>> okay, that was pretty well said, i think. mad men, meaning early 1960s , and now modern family is one of the most, if not, the most popular tv shows out therend straight peop le all living together and having a pretty good life.

>> like you did straight from charlotte to tampa, we were in modern america and that's what the democratic party that the republican party doesn't have. laura ingraham is delusional. you know, mark is right, whether mark's position wins the day, i'm not sure. really think there's going to be -- the pundits in this party , the nasty pundits like the limb limbaughs, are going to say you gave us another moderate and we need another conservative.

>> this is what rahm emanuel said, they need a clinton moment. but rush limbaugh said sarcastically about the party becoming a big tent party .

>> clarence thomas , herman cain , none of it counts. don't tell me the republican party doesn't have outreach. we do. but what are we supposed to do now? are we supposed to -- in order to get the hispanic or latino vote, does that mean open the borders and embrace the illegals? is that -- i want you to think about that. if we're not getting the female vote, do we become pro choice ? do we start passing out birth control pills ? is that what we have to do?

>> well, mark, nobody says it better than he did. how do you retort to that as a -- what i think is a more centrist republican, that you are?

>> i find it prehistoric, chris. i think economic freedom and, you know, and giving people who make this country great, the immigrants green cards and finding ways to get them into our society, be productive tax-paying citizen rather than this notion of self-deportation and throwing up fences is the wrong way. i don't think that was the original idea of republic annism. and i think the philosophy of republicans should be -- i mean, it's supposed to be to keep government out of your lives so why do they come back to this notion of intruding on women's lives? it's con temporary to the notion of what a republican should be. i find limbaugh's statements contrary to the bedrock.

>> i know laura ingraham personally and her radio audience, they're the most indock trin. they're not really talking to those people. they're talking to the real rock-ribbed conservatives.

>> they want to drive those people out of the party . they want to drive people like mark out of the party . they are winning at this point. you and i have been talking about this since 2008 . rush limbaugh emerged as head of the republican party in 2008 by saying horrible things about the president. now listen to the way -- he's -- he thinks latinos and he thinks illegals. he thinks women and abortion and birth control pills . this is a vision that's going to drive people away from his party .

>> i think there's a lot of republican conservativism out there. the democrats need republicans. they don't want to be the ones putting teeth into immigration law . they don't want to deal with welfare reform . there are a lot of jobs republicans do better than democrats. if they have to cut the budgets, they need partners. the two parties have a lot in common. they can cut deals that are good for the country and work down the center left and center right until they find common ground . i think the first case is the fiscal cliff. they have to do this one. this time they have to work together. we'll see if it's a good case of proving the bigger stuff can work by doing the smaller stuff. thank you,