Do conservatives even want to win?

Karl Rove and Reince Priebus clearly do. And then there's Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin...

Karl Rove and Sarah Palin.
(Image credit: Fred Prouser/Reuters/Corbis, JIM YOUNG/Reuters/Corbis)

Is it time to remake the old movie Death Wish — this time starring conservative Republicans who seem to think polls are wrong and that America really loves them and hates Barack Obama?

This is not a joke. Whether conservatives even want to win is a serious question in light of the reaction to the Republican National Committee's brutally honest "autopsy" on why the party lost the 2012 presidential election. The RNC concluded that the party should change such things as the number of primaries, its image among minority voters, its positions on immigration reform, its ground game — and become less "scary" to voters. It all amounts to this: At least look more moderate. But "moderate" remains one of the filthiest words in the Republican Party, and the feeling is kinda mutual: Moderates voted for Obama in droves.

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Joe Gandelman is a syndicated columnist for Cagle Cartoons and is the editor of The Moderate Voice blog.