If you're a "center-left" type just chomping at the bit to write your "How Conservatives Can Save Their Party" thinkpiece, just don't. No one cares. Write your "How President Clinton Can Make Shit Less Fucked Up And Bullshit" piece instead.
They write those pieces for the same reason sportswriters write pieces about "What [Insert Team Here] Needs To Do To Come Back From Last Year's Disastrous Season". They're armchair General Managing, of course. But also, they want to watch and talk about better games. They hate teams who always lose because that's boring for people who write about sport for a living. "Browns lose, again. Yawn." They like a close, hard-fought, twisty-turny, upsy-downsy race.
"How To Make The GOP Better" is their way of complaining that the current GOP might make their jobs boring. Policy? What's that?
Conservatism is dead. They just haven’t buried the body yet.