I just assumed it was born of the same self-identifying tic displayed by Apple product users.

I agree, but what I believe Bryan and dittoheadt are stabbing at is that the Left has succeeded in firmly fixing a narrative in the minds of a majority of the populace. We are at a point in American political history where the GOP is simply  not in a position to win, no matter what it and its allies say, feel, or believe.

The GOP spent a good 30 years in the wilderness following the defeat of Hoover and it is not inconceivable this time around that the GOP could be down for the count, leaving American Conservatives in for a long, long winter of discontent.

I try to take it all in stride - as a southerner, I am already culturally familiar with the concept of defeat, occupation, and living with the sneers of America's elite.

The Zetas are already killing people with shocking impunity north of the border.

If I am not mistaken, the DoD's threat assessment wonks submitted a recent report projecting the complete collapse of Mexico's central government if the situation drags on for another generation.

The US will be confronted with some interesting choices then.

Maybe it's my experience from being an Atlanta Braves fan but I shy away from putting faith in "future prospects" coming up through the farm system.  They are always preceded by hope and hype but never deliver.

Same goes for the GOP's young guns.

  Hey, if Bobby Jindal can stop making a boob of himself at every non-GOP outing, then who knows.

The only thing I know about the "old man" was that no one missed him when he disappeared.

As a consequence, my formative years were filled with movies and TV reruns where my budding sense of masculinity was informed by the likes of John Wayne and Captain Kirk.

Not bad. I could have done worse.

I am loathe to admit it but at this point I have to agree.

Over the past century, the progressive movement has successfully seized the American narrative at every turn and in so doing has tarnished and twisted the GOP brand to the point that I do not think it will ever recover.

No matter what we say or what we do, the image  remains that that we are either a bunch of ignorant, goosestepping hate-mongers or a cabal of rich, fat white men who laugh and smoke cigars while small brown children scramble for nickels at our feet.

We were just on the losing end of generational election. I don't know what to do now except sit back and watch history play out.

The war that has been raging down south since 2009/10 has been unspeakably savage.

I read two articles yesterday that reported that she was ambushed while taking her daughter to school and that witnesses reported a brief struggle after which she agreed to go with the cartel enforcers in exchange for leaving her daughter behind and otherwise unmolested.

 In the end, she was still more of a man than most of the people we pass off as our own leaders.

I would love nothing better than to follow the Josey Wales example from Forrest Carter's "Gone To Texas" (much better than Eastwood's fine film).

But there is nowhere left to go; there are no more frontiers... at least until the day that Robert Heinlein's "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" has a shot at echoing reality.

Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

Or, they won't give it two thoughts at all and will just continue along, happy to have their hand out and spit at anyone unwilling to just hand them anything.

I see it everyday in public health. People scream and complain that they can't cover a four dollar prescription but have plenty of dime for a new car, two packs of smokes, hair extensions, a lunch a Wendy's and a couple of double deuce magnums for that evening's party.

Where is the line between setting a good example and just being taken for a ride?

We are already there and it is only going to get worse from here on out.

This was a generational defeat and Boehner all but asked for terms of surrender in his conference this week.

Two starkly different visions of this Republic were placed before the electorate and the result was not even close. Personally speaking, after a third of century spent fighting The Republic's coarsening culture, creeping indolence and perpetual adolescence, I am at last free of the delusion that my efforts can affect the national fight. 

I agree with Bryan, our army has been decisively routed on the cultural field of ideas. I'm headed home with other like-minded survivors to focus on my life, my family and my community.

I think a lot of our hopes rest on that fact.

Like many others, I will freely admit that Romney was not my top choice. One of my chief complaints was that too often, he appeared to surround himself with too many establishment hacks and refugees from the McCain train to nowhere.

We need a leader unapologetic about keeping his own counsel and unafraid to make tough decisions - I think that sums up anyone who has ever succeeded where it counts.

My spirits were buoyed by the rumors and reports that much of the shift in tone and strategy over the last month came directly from Romney himself and often against the familiar chorus of conventional wisdom whispering in his ear.

I too, would like to f/u with a reference. Do you have a link?

Color me skeptical; but, I did notice a lack of the usual "bag beggars" this year - surly teenagers trolling for free stuff. But all-in-all it was slow going for me in suburban Atlanta; I only counted 18 kids whereas in years past I could easily count on three times that number calling.

Now I'm stuck with bags and bags of Kit Kats and PB Cups (oh, darn)

I remember shortly after Katrina, a storm of equivalent magnitude devastated great swaths of exurban and rural Cascadia, leaving communities isolated for weeks. More often than not, if was local citizens working to clear the roads, check on their neighbors, patch their homes and pool their resources.

Cities are immensely complex and regimented technological cocoons where self-reliance equates to a broadly different skill set predicated on the assumption that that this vast network will function uninterrupted. As amazed as I was to learn that there are people who do not know where gasoline comes from, there are people who possess only the vaguest idea of where clean water, food and electricity come from let alone what it takes to deliver/distribute them to a waiting populace.

What is more frightening is that these people vote.

But I wonder how many of us are really that much more prepared? What we build can be broken and powerful disasters like this serve as sober reminders that we are not the new gods and masters of wonder and awe that our pride informs us we are.

 I agree.

I guess it really depends on what one is seeking; a relationship to fulfill some transitory want or something more deliberate and firmly rooted? In the case of the former what does politics matter? As Boss Malone noted to his moll in The Dark Knight, “…what makes you tink I wanna hear you talk?”  Personally, I want to be able to converse with someone without having to treat that person like a small, dull child or explode in a scene worthy of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.

I think success in any long-term relationship is balanced by equal parts goodwill and respect – particularly marriage, that ultimate alliance against the supposed wisdoms of the world - and that is a hard fight to win if you do not share some basic framework with your “other.”

It requires both people to be adults in age and temper and that is a tall order in a time when one side of the Red/Blue divide has fully embraced a breezy culture of perpetual adolescence.

Romney/Ryan: 295

Obama/Biden: 243

But my spidey-sense wants R/R to break the 300 EV mark. Wishful thinking? Perhaps; but, I really, really want to see a full blown meltdown on MSNBC.

Yes, they will unload on the Romney administration at every opportunity can find or otherwise manufacture.

Whether this has any impact on a jaded electorate remains to be seen; but, Team Romney and the GOP need to have their act together and not assume the DEMS are going to just shake hands and wait for the next election cycle.

I think that one of the Bush administration's chief problems was that they went too far in taking "the high road" and ultimately failed to offer any significant  counter messaging to the narrative concocted by the DEMS and their media surrogates. Over eight years, with little pause for the events of 911, the opposition was free to convert their bitter, sour-grapes efforts into a toxic miasma that clung to the entire administration. My thinking has been that the 2008 election was less "Bush Fatigue" and more of a reflection of the electorate's desire to move on and away from the relentless negativity that was allowed to take root and flourish.

If Romney and company do not have a counter plan for this, then they will fall victim to the same poisons.