FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The conservative movement has steadily been losing political ground, and former congressman and MSNBC pundit Joe Scarborough thinks he has a solution to fix what ails it. The host of “Morning Joe” will be in Fairhope on Saturday to talk about his new book, “The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America’s Promise.”

The discussion, along with an audience question and answer session, will be led by Scarborough’s television and ABC Radio co-host, Mika Brzezinski. It will take place from 4-6 p.m. in Centennial Hall on the campus of Faulkner State Community College.

The event is being presented by Page & Palette, and is free and open to the public. All who purchase the book from the downtown Fairhope bookstore will receive a numbered ticket that will determine their place in the autograph line after the talk.

“My first book five years ago (“Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day”) was telling Republicans they would lose Congress if they weren’t conservative with money,” Scarborough said during a telephone interview this week. He disputes the argument by some that the GOP has become too conservative, adding, “I make the contention they weren’t conservative enough.”

Scarborough pointed out there was a $155 billion federal budget surplus when George W. Bush was inaugurated as the nation’s 43rd president, but when he left office earlier this year a $1.5 trillion deficit, a failing economy and the still simmering battles in Iraq and Afghanistan overshadowed any progress made during his two terms in office.

“We’ve allowed ourselves as conservatives to be painted as (negative), and it’s costing us votes among swing voters,” he said. “We’ve got to stop the attacks. There’s a lot of harsh rhetoric that drives radio ratings, TV ratings and sells books. Those same things hurt the conservative movement.”

Scarborough continued, saying, “I’ve taken on Rush Limbaugh on the issue of (retired Gen.) Colin Powell. He wants to kick him out of the party. The party was big enough (during better times) to hold Colin Powell and Dick Cheney, and it’s big enough today.”

The former longtime Pensacola resident, and that region’s Congressional representative from 1994-2001, said although Powell supported then-Sen. Barack Obama in the presidential election last November, he remains a political conservative who sees war as “an absolute last resort.”

Scarborough said, “We’ve got to show restraint in our foreign policy. We’ve got to show restraint at home and abroad. We’ve got troops in over 120 countries. The president (G.W. Bush) said we had to end tyranny across the globe.”

Scarborough seemed to suggest we should no longer act as “global policemen,” and that President Obama’s reliance on diplomatic means is the best and most realistic choice when first faced with conflict. If military action is required, however, Scarborough said the enemy should be met with “overwhelming force.”

The book brings up many other relevant policy debates and offers a blueprint for a renewed conservative platform. Scarborough provides unconventional thinking by advocating a right wing openness of green politics, as well as reminding GOP leaders to closely examine the Reagan presidential legacy before claiming it as their own.

He said, “The last chapter of my book is on temperament. Republicans love to talk about Ronald Reagan and what a great guy he was, but they forget who he was. He coupled that conservatism with a mild temperament. He wasn’t a hater.”

Scarborough said Reagan would have likely debated the beliefs held by the current president’s first U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, but would have never called her a racist as some Republicans have done.

“The Last Best Hope” is considered a warning to the GOP to reform or die. Scarborough offers a new dialogue on why conservatives should no longer blindly follow party bosses who continue to betray their values and weaken the country.

In the book, he discusses the environmental policies he believes Republicans should be adopting, why he thinks President Obama’s stimulus plan has devolved into a socialist spending spree and how the president has maintained and accelerated the reckless spending policies of the past administration that led us to this historic economic collapse.

Scarborough also explores the need to look at who the Republican leaders were that crippled their party, and who might be the right people to retool and lead the GOP.

Prior to his career in television, Scarborough was the publisher and editor of the award-winning panhandle newspaper, The Florida Sun.

While in Congress, he was a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee. He was a part of a small group of Republican congressmen the National Journal said possessed a surprising amount of power given their youth and lack of years in Congress.

So, does Scarborough’s new book signal a growing political ambition on his part? He contends he has no plans to run for office.

“I’ve got a great situation with my TV show,” he said. “I can shape the national debate. I’m doing what I do now to help the conservative movement.”

Scarborough is a veteran of the type of forum planned for Fairhope. He said, “Whether it’s in a conservative community, or it’s at Princeton, the crowds are split down the middle, and we have a great discussion about the future of America.”

Scarborough currently lives with his wife and four children in Washington D.C.

For more information about the Saturday event, call Page & Palette at (251) 928-5295.