Why we need the GOP

>>> guess what, guys? mitt romney is back. he's just been added to the lineup of this year's annual conservative gathering joining luminaries like sarah palin , allen west , marco rubio and rick santorum . it's a list of old faces with tired, worn out lines and new faces with tired, worn out lines. and apparently mitch mcconnell got taken in by a constituent who believed an assertion that former gitmo detainees were now obtaining gi bill benefits. you know, guys, i got to be honest here, my appetite for gop inspired schadenfreude is wearing thin. there's not a day that goes by that doesn't bring an offensive comment or a crazy pants conspiracy. sure it's been fun laughing at boehner's haplessness, but more and more by enjoyment is being undermined by a obvious reality. the country needs this gop , one that is intellectually curious, open to prescriptions, actually committed to solutions. what we've got now is a party that's been frank luntzed. a party so focused on messages, pack alging, and driving the narrative they forgot there's anything else to do. a party that's so focused on what they're opposed to that they have nothing left to be for. when i watch marco rubio 's tired state of the union response which featured the same old hollow discredited tropes conservatives have been saying my entire life, i couldn't blame the guy, what else is he going to say? they've left themselves nothing to promote, no idea they're allowed to embrace. it's like saying you're committed to losing weight but eating better and exercise completely off the table, nonstarters. don't worry, gop , you can still disagree with democrats, but use some facts and evidence to back it up. there's a whole wide world out there. what are some local policies that have worked? here is a perfect example. it shouldn't have been president obama who proposed adopting universal pre-k with a model like the one that's worked so well in oklahoma. oklahoma is a red state . they're using incentives and local partnerships and it's working. y'all should have been all over that. right now the democratic party has a monopoly on ideas for issues ranging from lessening income inequality to dealing with climate change and that lack of competition is not good for anyone. democrats respect forced to innovate and can just sit back and laugh at the lame old gop . just think how the health care law could have been improved if republicans had used an evidence-based approach to improving it rather than closing their eyes, sticking their fingers in their ears and repeating repeal and replace over and over again. we are made worse off and democrats are allowed to be lazy by an opposition that approaches governance as a series of political gimmicks, forced crises and rhetorical devices. we need you, gop . so take a little break from frank luntz , put the reagan quotes aside, forget about all the things that you must oppose at all costs lest freedom die and bald he'eagles drop instantaneously from the sky. try thinking about policy, ideas, stuff that could really make people's lives better. until then you will keep losing, we will keep gloating, and the country will be worse off for it. all