By Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon

The word “historic” has been stretched far too thin to describe many of the life-altering events that occurred in 2008, both nationally and internationally, in particular with respect to the election of Barack Hussein Obama.

“Historic Hysteria” can be applied to Democrats to depict their “first black president” fervor, and then to the Republican Party that did little to deflate that political balloon.

Republicans were water-boarded by the media for eight years, but unlike Guantanamo detainees, Republicans nearly drowned in the lies invented by that mercurial fourth estate whose mission was to exact maximum damage on George Bush’s presidency.

What the liberal media learned from their efforts is this: They could get away with anything (e.g., promoting a man to the office of president whose credentials and experience are, at best, marginal) – and also, because Republicans did little to stop the bleeding between moderates and conservatives in their own ranks, the MSM could blame the President and potential candidates for everything with impunity.

Obama didn’t win – we lost.

It reminds us of that old greeting card where a man alone on empty acreage is complimented for being “outstanding in his field.” Conservatives were out standing in their field too, but no one was listening because we heard little or nothing from them. They stood silent like hay-stuffed scarecrows flopping in the political winds.

With the exception of Mitt Romney, the GOP candidates looked, sounded and behaved more like leatherhead third-stringers for Knute Rockne than distinguished politicians.

Say what you will about Obama’s questionable alliances, conservative pundits spent far too much air-time energy decimating Obama’s bad judgment rather than understanding that those alliances were the strategic imperatives of a dead-serious politician. In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, we have witnessed the president-elect mow down far left supporters and blocks of his political party standing in the way of his path to glory.

Which is worse – bad judgment or ruthlessness? Or is there a difference?

Conservative pundits also finally realized at the 11^th hour that their ambivalence over the GOP candidates proved to be a mistake of historic proportion.

Adding to the media’s assaults on Republicans was our lineup of candidates - a mish-mash of contradictions, overblown egos, sagging jowls, and a libertarian fervor that captured a flock of loons and thrust them into the limelight. On the plus side, they did raise a lot of money for Ron Paul which is proof positive – if candidates stick to their core principles and make no excuses for it they have a better chance of prevailing.

One thorny issue that contributed to the GOP downward slide was the vote “whores” who pandered to illegal aliens on some imagined future promise of party loyalty. For all his public relations and grandiose advice, Karl Rove, “the architect,” almost single-handedly sank George Bush’s legacy by pushing that future vision. And what did George Bush get for comprehensive immigration reform? It arrived in the form of an embittered and enervated base that left him (and John McCain) in the political wilderness to fend for themselves. The GOP’s money well dried up and shriveled around them.

The President’s pertinacious support of immigration reform eroded what little was left of praise for his outstanding leadership and handling of 9/11. And then, like a free falling guillotine, the Reenactment of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 sealed his fate with the base.

No amount of reaching across the aisle or congressional glad-handing could have altered the incomprehensible hatred already held by liberals. It is somewhat embarrassing, that even after losing the majority in congress as well as the presidency it did little to illuminate those mistakes as was evident in his final press conference. George W. Bush clearly did not understand how it all came crashing down. He still believes conservatives are anti-immigrant versus anti-illegal immigration. When he said the “party has to be compassionate and broad-minded” he was referring to his beloved immigration reform.

Republicans could have won the 2008 election in spite of an increasing minority vote. Had we not strayed from our core principles, eventually that minority vote would have been ours because those very principles inure to the benefit of immigrants in their quest to achieve the American dream.

What can Republicans do to ensure none of this happens again? The answer is simple: adhere to the golden rule of conservative principles. Period.

We know of no creative writer who could have invented the series of events that led to the near self-destruction of the party and country we know and love. The left-wing media succeeded, in spite of the rules of ethics in journalism, to “recreate” the U.S. government and this country’s social structure to suit their fractured ideology.

2008 ended up being the year the lunatics took over the asylum. They even managed to place the blame for the housing crisis and credit meltdown squarely on George Bush’s shoulders – a burden created in toto by Democrat political dogma.

The left-wing mantra that will surely endure is: “Everything bad happened on his watch,” notwithstanding their two-year majority and miserly performance.

And what happened in Chicago sure as hell didn’t stay there. An epidemic of corruption, greed and idiocy has engulfed every level of sensible society across America. Where else could someone named Madoff have “made-off” with everyone’s money? We can’t make this stuff up!

Republican principles designed to make us safer and stronger were eaten away by bad decisions, weedy financial restrictions, ineffectual oversights, and those mangy curs called greed and payoffs – all of which led to the current economic crisis.

In spite of the political disasters wrought on our heads, Americans have, out of shock and necessity, arrived at the realization that no one really knows anything when it comes to the financial health and wellbeing of the United States. We are all the hapless victims of the implosion of our retirement funds, curling up in fetal positions, waiting for good news.

Republicans have made huge mistakes, and the Democrats and their media lapdogs will continue to take full advantage of those mistakes. They will, as always, because that sticky candy called “success” is stuck in their gums, and will be for the next four years.

Conservatives must begin garnering our forces and lead the charge against straying from the principles that led us down that rabbit hole where nothing is as it seems: big is little, little is big, fat cats talk and we meet with strange, frightening and “politically correct” characters.