The Joys Of Conservative Oppositionism

Dennis Boyles posts this nonsense on stilts:

I'm sure all good Tories wish Cameron well. But one could argue that a Cameron win might be the worst of all outcomes for the Tories. Call it the sorrow of granted wishes, but if he wins, the Conservatives will run on visionless, unimaginative, timid platforms for years.

So Boyles prefers a fourth electoral defeat rather than abandon some of the doctrines that emboldened conservatism in the 1980s. You begin to see how deeply the American right suspects Cameron and what he has done for the right of center in Britain. Massie counters:

Sure, the next four or five years are going to be devilishly ticklish and the government will have to make many difficult, often unpopular decisions. But the Conservative party exists to win elections and advance its ideas from government. Without that it is nothing.  David Cameron and George Osborne recognise this; many of their critics appear not to, preferring to pine for a Fantasy World in which Tebbitism and Hefferism and so on would prevail.

On a related note, Ponnuru questions whether Republicans want to win back the House in November:

[D]o House Republicans actually want to take the majority?

I have asked that of nearly every House Republican I have met since January 2007. Life in the minority is just as satisfying if you're in it for the perks; more satisfying, actually, since you don't have to make appropriations bills go out on time, run committee hearings, etc. Only once, a few weeks ago, have I heard anyone say that more than half of the conference wants the majority. That congressman said that his colleagues do want to be in the majority but are not yet ready to do what it would take. But he thinks they're getting there.

Drum's mouth drops.