I think you hit the nail on the head for what I was trying to say. You are correct that the GOP failed to curb the Perot voter anger in the short term by failing to deliver on the portions of the Reform Party platform (then in its nascent stages as the We The People movement) they co-opted in 1994. It also ended up having long-term implications: even though the party was hijacked and moved to the far right on social issues (against the vision that Perot had that the party would never stake out firm positions on abortion and gun control), it remained in some form through 2000, giving heed to Buchanan’s failed bid, which gave still-frustrated conservatives an outlet to vent their frustration, costing us the popular vote and nearly the electoral college. Bush in ’02 and ’04 managed to pay lip service to the coalitions just enough to eke out victories, but you’re right–it ended up being just lip service that cost us dearly when conservatives stayed home in 2006 and even a few jumped ship in 2008 to cast a protest vote.

IDEAS are what will win this thing (that being the battle for America’s heart and soul as a liberal (in the classical sense) democratic, capitalistic Republic, not any one personality, which is what Douthat was getting to (by the way, I still need to read his book). The candidate who latches on to these ideas, articulates them clearly AND appeals to the heart and soul of the tea party movement will be the victor in 2012, in the primaries and, if Obama and the Democrats don’t put a damper on the epic political overreach they are committing as we speak, in the general.

I see what Barbour was saying concerning the Perot voters in the 1994 elections. However, it is important to remember that some of these same voters went back to Perot in ’96.

The GOP needs to think about its long-term future. If the GOP determines that the Tea Parties, which have been influential in shaping independent opposition to Obamacare, are not worthy of shaping the dialogue and holding leadership roles in the GOP structure, then the Republicans will have missed an opportunity.

Furthermore, if the GOP uses and abuses the Tea Parties they are likely to be relegated to a permanent minority status. The best path for the GOP to take is to take the ideas and concepts being reflected at the Tea Parties and craft those ideas into substantive policy proposals. We have seen some of this coming from Rep. Mike Pence. Merely paying lip-service to fiscal conservatism will likely permanently lose us the libertarian vote, just as simply paying lip-service to social conservatism will lose us any chance of attaining the growing Hispanic vote. We have to preserve the equilibrium in the GOP.