Media backlash is going to happen anyway so we might as well get used to it. Real backlash will be from the voters, and here the Republicans need to know that in this last election conservatives turned out in greater numbers than ever before to put them in power. They weren't elected with any 'Rat votes, and probably relatively few moderate votes. Republicans first and foremost should know that they have to dance with who brung 'em, and that means keeping their base before worrying about bringing in fringe supporters.
Amen. I don't buy into the idea that there are all these moderate voters. That's media spin. Most people who may be moderate won't vote anyway because they don't care about anything, and thus that is why they are called moderates (they have no political views).