Why Romney lost

>>> election day is over, but not the republican blame game. so what are the lessons for conservatives in the movement? joining me now, david fromme, contributing editor at "newsweek" and the daily beast . and author of the "newsweek" ebook, "why romney lost and what the gop can do about it." so is it all lessons learned and now we're going to compromise and we're going to expand and reach out to hispanics and women and not talk about rape and done deal? rape and done deal?

>> the social issues are not the primary problem. the primary problem is an economic message that does not resonate with the middle class . back in the 1980s the tax burden on ordinary middle class people doubled in the 1970s . in 1980 if you said you would cut taxes, that message had power. today 80% of americans pay more in payroll tax than income tax , and the tax cut as the whole of the economic message doesn't resonate in aa world of stagnant wages, rising health care costs and rising college tuition costs. if you don't have answers on that, you're not talking to america.

>> they have to get the economic message. is there any sign that they've learned lessons from what happened last tuesday?

>> people are still getting over their hangovers, so i think it's early days yet. this is a discussion we have to have. there's a bit of a tendency to say, look, it came down to a few votes in a few swing states , and if we do this for the hispanics, then we'll be fine. i don't think republicans have absorbed enough. it's not been fine for a long time. the last time that the republicans won a p majority of the vote was 2004 . the last time before that was 1988 . this is a party that is having trouble connecting with the new american majority.

>> it's a party that has not looked at the demographics. it's not looked at the changing society as well. it's not just the economic message. they're not looking at population changes.

>> no. here's what i worry about. i worry that there are a lot of upper class republicans who are willing to say if we combine our existing economic message with a new line on immigration, we're done. it's all good. the point is, why should mexican- americans vote republican? mexican- americans as a group are poorer than normal, and immigration is a threshold issue and obviously you shouldn't insult people and refrain from treating them with dishe respect. after they say, okay, you're no longer insulting me, now make your case, if you have a group twice as likely to be without health insurance and our answer is we intend to actually remove health insurance from people to whom it's been promised. thank you for not insulting me, but i don't see what you're ovr offering me. the economic message is vital, and it's -- the emphasis on the immigration debate is a sign of whole the american upper class , democrat and republican and media and politics has moved away from where the country is. the vast majority of americans , which recession that continued in 2009 , continues.

>> david from. so there will be a great deal of self-examination.

>> i hope.

>> the question is whether people really do look at first principles?

>> what we need to start with where the country is. we need to run to lead the country as it is, not as it was. i was joking today on the radio with somebody that when i was young, if somebody came up and said vote republican because tom dewey was a hell of a guy, woint have responded. we're as far away from ronald ag as my generation of republicans was from tom dewey 30 and more years ago. talk to the country as it is now.

>> david from, thank you as