From CNN:

A conservative leader Friday laid the Republican Party’s poor showing at the polls at the feet of moderates who, he argues, led the party away from its core principles.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council told CNN that conservatives need to take back control of the GOP if the party is to return to its winning ways.

“Moderates never beat conservatives. We’ve seen that in past elections,” he said.

Yes. The lesson of the 2008 presidential election is that the Republican Party became too moderate (Eyes roll.)

Let’s recap.

This is the party whose members at times attempted to label the Democratic nominee and now President-elect Barack Obama as :

• A terrorist

• A socialist

• A baby-killer

• The Anti-Christ

The GOP undoubtedly has problems but an excess of moderation is not one of them.

If Perkins is emblematic of the depth of the soul-searching going on in the party’s conservative wing, the Democrats have another reason to smile.