My e-mail inbox recently picked up a note from Charles Gregory about this American Thinker column, in which Bruce Walker highlights the fact that 60 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative. Walker dissects the meaning of that poll result, but he does not address the key question of why this figure ? remarkably consistent over time ? fails to translate into clear victory for the political party that tries to define itself as “conservative” and the opposing party as “liberal.”

That key question reminded me of an earlier e-mail message from the North Carolina Republican Party, which highlighted the following quote from prominent Democratic strategist Gary Pearce:

But
liberals (or progressives or whatever you prefer) have to understand
that your candidates don?t have the luxury of the right-wingers: They
can?t always say exactly what they believe ? and still get elected.


In politics, as Winston Churchill once said about war, victory sometimes requires a bodyguard of lies.