From Mary Matalin:

Before we conduct the political proctology of Governor Palin, conservatives need to take a deep breath and consider the ramifications of our naval-gazing and infighting.
The essence of modern conservatism — and its source of strength — has been the vigilant and rigorous reform and renewal of flagging institutional governance, based on balancing maximum individual liberty with social order. That message was the catalyst for policy and political progress. To their detriment, Republicans have fallen into the Information Age’s false premise that the messenger is the message. Such a mindset is tailor-made for liberals, who have perfected the politics of personal destruction and have erected an unprecedented infrastructure for mauling conservative messengers.
Too many Republicans go weak-kneed in the face of chattering-class criticism of personalities that don’t conform to a clichéd, insular ideal of urbanity — which, not incidentally, never includes conservative Americans. Rather than defend the true superstars of message-coherence and -delivery, such as Rush Limbaugh, they jump on the trendy totalitarian bandwagon in the absurd belief that they will either be let into the club or spared its wrath.
As we have been saying for decades, elections have consequences, and we are now experiencing the scariest consequence of an election in decades. This president is reordering, at warp speed, the relationship between lawmakers and citizens; he is reshaping the role and scope of a constitutional order two centuries in the making.
We need to quit looking for a white knight or queen mother for a messenger and instead double down on the message of principled, reform-minded, constitutional governance. We should measure the records and vision of all conservative contenders against that template. We should hold conservative officeholders to its promise. And we should never allow those who seek the demise of conservatism, and the consequent erosion of our unique freedom, to determine the fate of our candidates.

More here in our symposium.