Utah's Mike Lee must have looked at his image in the polling out of his state and not liked what he saw reflected back. On Tuesday, the U.S. senator who Stood with Ted to Make America Listen on Obamacare stood before an audience at the Heritage Foundation and gave a fascinating speech calling for the Republican Party to take a course different from the one he'd just taken.

"Especially in the wake of recent controversies, many conservatives are more frustrated with the establishment than ever before," Lee said. "And we have every reason to be. But however justified, frustration is not a platform. Anger is not an agenda. And outrage, as a habit, is not even conservative."

Instead of "outrage, resentment, and intolerance," the party should project a message—and more than a message, a principle—of "optimism," he said.

"American conservatism, at its core, is about gratitude, and cooperation, and trust, and above all hope," Lee said. "It is also about inclusion. Successful political movements are about identifying converts, not heretics."

His comments are entirely unlike any recent speeches from Tea Party-backed senators, calling not for an ever-more-public fight with the Democrats but for reflection and a turn inward. "[A] month like the one we have been through should lead us not only to re-commit to this essential, ongoing struggle, but also to step back and ask ourselves where we should be headed more generally," he said, asking: "What’s next for conservatives?"