Ok, social conservatism is done in the USA IMO. As a mainstream force.
This is not a lazy argument about demographics--it's reality, I mean legislation is being passed legalizing gay marriage and weed!
It will become something with a small dedicated following like the Libertarians, but I don't think we'll see it in a mainstream candidate again.
GOP will have to go all in on fiscal conservatism and probably outflank the Democratic Party and move towards isolationism on Foreign Policy.
I don't see anywhere else that they can maneuver to honestly. They've been extremely short sighted actually, because really if you think about it there's some things in the DREAM Act, cap'n'trade and even Obamacare that a traditional mainstream conservative should have been able to identify with. The DREAM Act (as proposed), Obamas "grand bargain", cap'n'trade....those are already compromise positions, and relatively corporate friendly. Their problem is short-term thinking. Now they'll be shut out of any meaningful legacy type legislation.
And sticking a token minority on the ticket won't work. I'm already hearing a lot of chatter about Rubio. Well, having Palin on the ticket in 2008 did f*ck all for the gender gap. The policies still matter. Rubio is a neocon, and a warmonger, he's basically John Bolton on foreign policy.
They should've nominated Huntsman, but then again, Obama is a historically good and a transformational candidate so it might not have made a difference. Still someone like Huntsman is the direction they need to go. Their problem though is that they've ceded the entire center to the Democratic party.
Anyway, their problem. I'm hardly shedding any tears for their predicament.