Republicans agonise over need to change John Boehner saw his proposed 'Plan B' legislation to raise tax rates on millionaires pulled in the final hour because it did not have enough Republican support Shortly after the crushing defeat of his party in the re-election of President Barack Obama, Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky, said it was time to "adapt, evolve or become extinct." "That sounds pretty harsh but they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result," he told the Financial Times. Other senior Republican figures, including Paul Ryan, the defeated vice-presidential candidate, and Marco Rubio, the Forida senator, who are eying 2016 presidential bids, have espoused the message of evolution. But the political impasse over the fiscal cliff - the impact of $600bn in automatic spending cuts and tax rises next year - has shown the Grand Old Party to be unable or unwilling to do things differently. The Republicans are divided over the significance of the November defeat and between forces that say it is time to abandon the politics of intransigence and others who say this is the moment to dig in and defend their principles. The sweeping "grand bargain" that that has so far eluded Mr Obama and Republican leaders in Congress - but which could still be reached this week - would require big concessions by both sides. But the concessions would be particularly wrenching for the fractious Republicans many of whom are vehemently opposed to tax increases. So could other looming political challenges: from calls for Republicans to change hardline policies on immigration to the highly charged debate over gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre. Mr Obama said last week he was "often reminded" by John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, in closed door talks that the Republican congressmen represented districts the president lost. "Sometimes they may not see an incentive in co-operating with me, in part because they're more concerned about challenges from a Tea Party candidate, or challenges from the right," Mr Obama said. I recognise that. Mr Boehner's humiliation on Thursday night, when his proposed "Plan B" legislation to raise tax rates on millionaires was pulled in the final hour because it did not have enough Republican support, exposed the depth of internal Republican strife. Mr Boehner had started off this month very differently. Feeling his authority validated by the GOP's renewed majority in the House, he stripped three particularly unco-operative Republican backbenchers of their committee assignments, a sign that the Ohio congressman was ready to instill some discipline into his unruly caucus. At the same time, other influential lawmakers, including Mr Ryan gave post-election speeches about the need for Republicans to "speak to the aspirations and anxieties of every American" and not fall into the trap of dividing the electorate between "our voters" and "their voters." It was a far cry from the notorious remark of his running mate, Mitt Romney, who once derided 47 per cent of the electorate as "victims." Many Republicans say their failure to unseat Mr Obama was essentially a messaging problem. They say it is time to rebrand and rebuild a party that has become too male, white and old to win presidential elections in a nation with rapidly shifting demographics, and is too often seen as fighting battles on behalf of the rich instead of the middle class. For Mr Paul, that means challenging traditional notions of the country's political map and seeking out votes in Democratic strongholds such as California and New England. It meant, he said, putting forward candidates with "less bellicose" foreign policy views, being less strident about "locking up" undocumented immigrants, and accepting that views about gay and lesbian marriage in New York would differ from those in Alabama. But what became evident on Thursday is that the lifeblood of the party - from the grassroots activists to the influential donor groups in Washington and rank-and-file legislators - remained strongly opposed to any shift towards the centre-ground. Republican backbenchers know that any break with conservative doctrine will put them at odds with anti-tax activists who have threatened to run them out of office if they relent. The next couple of months is going to define the landscape pretty clearly as to who is going to have a challenge. If a Republican goes for higher taxes we are probably going to be the least of their worries," said Chris Chocola, the head of the conservative Club for Growth. The argument echoing across the Club for Growth and similar organisations is that Republicans held on to their majority in the House because Americans support small government policies, and that Mr Romney was not conservative enough. Matt Kibbe, who heads Freedomworks, a conservative campaign group, said the Republicans" victory in the House was proof that a majority of Americans supported supported Republican ideas for reforming long-term causes of the deficit such as Medicare. Those who ran on fiscal conservative issues - against earmarks, against Obamacare, those core fiscal issues, did just fine in this election. Those who wandered off in esoteric conversations about rape and abortion lost," he says. Nor are the big donors to right-wing causes rallying to the cause of change. Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, an activist group that poured millions into the election, is adamant that Republicans stay the course they set in January, 2009, when Mr Obama first came to office and the opposition united against his call for economic stimulus. "By acting on sound principle, it ended up being good politics and by late 09 Obama was severely weakened," says Mr Phillips, pointing to Republicans" sweeping victory in congressional elections in 2010. I would urge them to remember their recent history. At some point, Obama is going to own this economy. We think he owns it now but the public is giving him more time. He may win a short-term battle but he is going to pay in the long term. One man who embodies the conflicting impulses of modern Republicans is Jesse Benton, a grassroots political operative who gained prominence in recent years for running the presidential campaign of Texas congressman Ron Paul. Aligned with anti-Washington libertarians, Mr Benton surprised many inside and outside the Beltway when he was named as head of the 2014 re-election campaign for Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, who is viewed with suspicion by many Tea Party conservatives. I reject the notion that the Republican party is losing votes by moving to the right, says Mr Benton. There is a two-fold problem. One is a credibility problem that we are still nursing. I think the other problem is that Republicans need to do a better job articulating our vision for the country. I think there is still soul searching and intra-party discussions going on, but we are moving closer to a consensus. Unfortunately, few Republicans, let alone the American public, can pinpoint Mr Benton's hoped-for consensus. As the December 31 deadline for a fiscal cliff approaches, the Republican agony can only worsen.