REPUBLICAN FISSURES - AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  There is trouble in Republican ranks, and it better be resolved, or at least papered over, before the 2010 campaign begins.  From The Politico:

Social conservatives are blasting the National Council for a New America, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) nascent effort to rebrand the Republican Party, as a misguided and weak-kneed initiative that is out of touch with the GOP rank and file.

The council, unveiled last week by Cantor and Sen. John McCain, is designed to be a “forward-looking, grass-roots caucus” that formulates policy prescriptions and communicates with voters in a way that could expand the Republican ranks. In announcing the formation of the group, McCain said he hoped the group would attract moderates and “like-minded Democrats” to a series of public forums around the country.

COMMENT:  Eric Cantor is one of the rising stars in the GOP, and, of course, John McCain was the party's presidential candidate in 2008. 

My own sense is that outreach groups are generally ineffective unless you have the policies to go with them.  At the same time, social conservatives must be careful about doing what hard leftists have done to the Democratic Party.  A party must be something of a coalition, as Ronald Reagan brilliantly understood.  Party members will not agree on all things all the time.  The genius of American politics has been that it's practical.

Barack Obama got to be president by convincing Americans that he wasn't the captive of an ideological bloc.  Whether that's true or not is very debatable, but at least he made the argument stick.

What the Republican Party needs right now is a major statement of principles, or a statement of proposed policies, like Newt's "contract with America" in 2004.  It needs something that virtually all members and power centers can accept.  It also needs to recall the famous "Eleventh Commandment," enunciated by leading Republicans in the 1970s - "thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans." 

The Republican Party is the conservative party.  But within the meaning of "conservative" there's enough wiggle room to build a winning party.  Losing is not helpful.

May 8, 2009