Our deep divide

This week's election losses prove Republican candidates cannot approach 2006 in timid fashion | Hugh Hewitt

President Reagan often told the story of twin boys, one a deep pessimist, the other an incurable optimist. A therapist working with both boys took the former to a room piled with toys, and the lad burst into tears at the prospect of breaking them. Then he took the sunny fellow to a room filled with manure, and the boy immediately fell to digging, saying, "There's got to be a pony in there somewhere!" Mr. Reagan told the story on hundreds if not thousands of occasions, to the point that it became a code word for the president's default cheeriness in the face of difficulty.

After Tuesday night's nearly unbroken string of election setbacks, GOP optimists need to resist looking for a pony in that pile. They need to look for a new barn.