Yeah - the "social cons" need to give it a rest for a while in demanding legal approaches to these issues. Younger voters are repulsed by this stuff, but the fiscal issues should be a slam dunk for the repubs now w the mess obama has made
But, they're not.
The guy who actually know how businesses and economies are run got beat by "Baracka Claus". And, since that guy won the independents, the major reason he lost would be the base not coming out strong.
The "social cons" are part of that base. It's safe to say no Republican is winning the White House without them. Say what you want about Bush; but, he got the "social cons" to the polls and he WON. He even picked off some in the black and Latino communities, increasing his tallies in both from his 2000 run to his 2004 re-election.
Few, if any, social conservatives aren't also fiscal ones. So, for me, there's no "either/or" scenario.