'We need new leaders'

Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney are among the Republican heavyweights launching a new "listening tour" to "rebrand" the GOP.

Their message: time to move past the "nostalgia" of the Reagan years and focus on expanding the tent to attract more people to the party.

"It's very, very sad," according to Richard Viguerie, author of "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause."

Viguerie describes those conducting the tour as "the people who caused the problem in the first place" and says the GOP should spend less time listening and more time leading.

"Eric Cantor, Mitt Romney and so many other Republican leaders are the people who were there either cheering on the Republicans when they moved left, massively expanded government or they were silent."

Viguerie spoke with Greg Corombos of Radio America/WND. The audio of the exchange is embedded here:

Viguerie contends the GOP's problem is "we've moved left" and "we need new leaders." He says conservatives at the grass-roots level are hungry for dynamic, young leadership and "certainly not wet-finger politicians who are going to be looking at how the political winds are blowing."

He sings the praises of Republicans Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, Jeff Flake, Jim DeMint, Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin.

"I don't think we're going to get to the political promised land with people like Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Mitt Romney, Eric Cantor ... we're going to need people who are principled conservatives."

Viguerie says Republicans have been in the "political swamp" for so long they "don't know who they really are." He contends "far more people look to Rush Limbaugh for leadership than they do all the Republican leaders in Congress combined."

"They're like the Jews in the Bible who had to wander through the desert for 40 years until that generation of faithless, immoral leaders had passed away.

"And I think that we're gonna have to continue to wander through the desert until the John Boehners and Mitch McConnells and other leaders pass from the scene," he adds.

And Viguerie is quick to dismiss the notion the GOP must embrace moderate candidates to survive.

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"We ran the least conservative major candidate ... John McCain was at war with his party much of his political career ... he's a true moderate and he got creamed in the election."