"Unappeasables" in general, are not well schooled in statistics, probability, negotiating, teamwork, strategy and tactics, planning & prioritizing, etc.
They seem drawn to most unlikely scenarios, and opposed to the likely ones. Hence during the 2012 primary season, they exhausted, in serial fashion, every alternative to Romney. Usually they do NOT bring much money with them.
When the GOP lost in 2006 and then 2008 it was widely recognized the brand needed a new image. Avoiding the reputation for shutting down the government was just one idea. But unappeasables seem to be constitutionally incapable of grasping such matters.
"When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." Goes right over the heads of unappeasables.
"Appeasement" is what GOP leaders are best at. That's why they lose - ALWAYS. They lose because they believe in NOTHING BUT GETTING ELECTED. They negotiate with people who
want to destroy them, and think it's responsible and patriotic. It's not - it's idiotic, and it's killing the country by degrees. Modern left-wing Democrats do not negotiate in good faith - they buy time with which to implement their plans, and they do so in the knowledge that their adversaries do not understand that they mean to win at all costs. And then crush the opposition. And oh yeah - that's coming.
Democrats want THIS MUCH more government power and control. GOP Progressives will settle for (this much) more - and call it a victory. That's why they lose, and always will lose. They accept the Progressive "ratchet", where government always grows and its power always expands - only more slowly, and more incrementally - while we in the middle class get crushed.
And that is why I am no longer a Republican. GOP elites gleefully accept a 2% increase in the size of the Department of Energy (which creates no energy) and Education (which is destroying our educational system) in place of 6% increases as desired by Democrats when REAL CONSERVATIVES would be demanding, as a starting point for any negotiations that the damned things ought to be
abolished - and make the case to the general public as best they can.
But don't worry - the Democrats will be back next year, demanding more increases in funding, and Crying Eyes Boehner will be happy to go along to get along. Screw that. I'm done. I want my country back. Unprincipled assholes like McCain, Boehner and McConnell will NEVER make that happen. But they'd sure make great corporate lobbyists. And that's the highest goal of most Washington Republicans now, isn't it? Screw them. They're destroying this country as surely as are Democrats, by choosing not to fight the statist, collectivist disease that infects us, but by trying to slow its progression, as though that will change the ultimate outcome.
It won't. I know what will. You won't like it. But it's going to happen and you'd best be prepared for it, because absent a political party willing to fight for freedom, and present a party willing to crush it, the options are quickly diminishing.