Mitt Romney's post-election gaffe

Mitt Romney proved again that in Washington, a gaffe is when you accidentally say something that you mean. He also showed why he was ideologically unfit to be the Republican nominee for president.

For Mr. Romney, the gaffe caught on camera and made public in September was that 47 percent of Americans are victims, grifters and thieves. And in a conference call with supporters on Wednesday, the former Massachusetts governor further exposed just how sheltered his life has been by explaining that these grifters were mostly minorities bought off with "gifts" from Barack Obama.

The conference call underlined what I have been saying for well over a year: that Mr. Romney has no idea what conservatism offers 100 percent of Americans who believe that freedom leads to prosperity and centralized planning is a road to serfdom. That message led Margaret Thatcher to an unlikely victory in 1979 and Ronald Reagan to a historical landslide a year later. And if Mr. Romney believes that message is no longer relevant to Hispanics and African-Americans, he should've stayed in La Jolla to oversee the building of his car elevator.

The future belongs to conservatism. It's time Republicans start electing leaders who actually believe it