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Sullivan misses the forest for the trees. The Republican party is losing its opportunity for leadership over these issues:

Border security and the invasion from our south, which the RNC is incapable of addressing.
The importing of temporary foreign workers when Americans are out of work.
Legal if culturally incompatible permanent immigration.
Outsourcing. The RNC would never dare to contradict Wall Street.
Manufacturing overseas what could and should be made here. Global capitalism is fine except when it was no longer of benefit to Americans. Of course the Chinese and the Arabs would sell us out. Why would that surprise anyone? See if you can make the RNC admit it.
Importing and other revenue streams destined for China -- while it arms against us and our allies. Never mind: the party's leaders will just make it worse by kowtowing to "the status quo" with diplomacy and softness on French arms sales.
Conducting the war too slowly and while underpaying and under-supporting the troops. Oh yes, you know it's true. We're fighting this war like a hobby instead of a battle for survival. It's a PR campaign as much as anything else.

Meanwhile we're distracted daily in conservative media outlets by the religious right and the free trade lobby. The "moral majority" can talk about the end of the world, but it can't do anything about illegal immigration, outsourcing, and Walmart. Walmart's tentacles are deep, and the RNC simply looks the other way. Wall Street would sell its grandmother to make a buck, but the RNC can't act because laissez faire brings in so many kickbacks.

America is in trouble, and the RNC wraps a flimsy flag around its sold-out, unpatriotic core. Who'll dare to point out that the Emperor has no real clothes? Who will dare to demand that the RNC live up to the real duties of leadership?

The opportunities for real change slip further away each time the RNC does nothing when something absolutely needs to be done on these issues. Why are we supplying arms to Egypt and Saudi Arabia at a time like this? Something stinks in Washington, and it's a bipartisan odor. As VDH says, America was founded by rural people. Wall Street and the Beltway insiders don't really care about that. Can the RNC do more than manipulate them for its short term gains? There's a lot more to rural America than NASCAR and hunting rights.

And there's a lot more at stake than the RNC has been willing to concede. Being "right" is ineffectual if it doesn't solve problems. And not all of the problems we have were created by the left, as much as the RNC and some of the FR faithful would have us believe. We've done it to ourselves for cheap trinkets here and a quick profit there.