Thomas Crown, has published a well reasoned and thoughtful diary entry. regarding the endorsement of Gov. Romney by The National Review (NRO) staff in this election cycle.  I was going to issue a short comment, but as I considered what I felt needed to be stated, it quickly crossed the line into thread-jacking, I decided to post a this new diary and reference his post.

All of that said, I give very little credence to *any* source that claims to be a ‘voice’ for any particular group/position due to often unstated agendas that run counter to their public positions. No doubt those unstated concerns were present in the case of NRO during the primary battles – as some have commented upon in response to T Crown’s post. I simply refuse to let others do my thinking for me but will listen to arguments on subjects that need to be discussed to move them forward.

In close contests, the ground game is of utmost importance. This battle was lost because our ground game was behind the opposition’s when measured in boots on the ground in support of GOTV. Honestly, we didn’t do as good a job.

As to the current acrimony over the Romney campaign’s lack of foresight, I am not one to point fingers. That is the one aspect of any  ideology that makes me cringe when the final tally comes up short. “Form a circle and prepare to lock and load your weapons” is NOT a good way to go back to the drawing board, analyse outcomes and make considered revisions to the tasks ahead. So while it is necessary to vent, we cannot make that our sole reason to exist. I refuse to allow others to drag me into a pit of morose gloom and doom.

We need to understand that we have to be seen as relevant. The only way to do that is through one on one dialogue with others. ‘Shouting from the mountain top’ and ‘flag planting’ by lofty media outlets like NRO will never work as well as getting out of our comfort zone and impacting our fellow citizens one at a time for the principles we hold dear in defense of the country we love. Our standard bearer was not up to the task this election cycle, but our core conservative principals are and always will be.

We need to be ready to offer others a reasoned view of why those core principals are better than other ideologies.

We also need to stand ready to put boots on the ground when that time comes.

And the time to build and organize is now…