Last night, Laura Ingraham told FOX:

If McCain loses, if Republicans lose seats across the board, this is a rejection of Republicans who don't follow traditional conservative principles. It's not a rejection of conservatism, or Reagan, or small government.

... I think Republicans are going to have to do some soul-searching, but not on conservative principles -- on how they governed.

Dave Neiwert replies:

how they governed was precisely according to conservative principles!

The Big Shitpile is a direct product of conservative principles enacted in governance -- namely, the Panglossian belief that deregulation of business, and the financial sector, was an unrelievedly good thing.

Let me expand on that to lay out the core beliefs of contemporary conservatism:

1. Corporations are perfect and must never be taxed, regulated or criticized. That's how we got Big Shitpile.

2. Rich people are perfect and must never be taxed or criticized. That's how we got massive budget deficits.

3. American evangelical Christians are perfect and must never be criticized. That's how we got George Bush and Sarah Palin.

4. The U.S. Military is perfect and must never be criticized. That's how we got Iraq.

5. Conservatives are perfect and must never be criticized. That's how we got Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, and the rest of them.

These 5 core beliefs explain why conservatives cannot govern.

Update 1: Here's the view from the right:

What did it all get us, those 8 years of pandering and spending? If GWB had turned his face against new entitlements, closed the borders, deported the illegals, held the line on calls to loosen mortgage-lending standards, starved the Department of Education, and declined those invitations to mosque functions, would the GOP be in any worse shape now?

What won this election was the packaging skills of David Axelrod, the swooning complicity of the media, the ruthless opportunism of Barack Obama, and the unprincipled thuggishness of his supporters.