Wrong. The nomination was decided in the party backrooms long before anybody went to the primaries or caucus meetings. I know you know that because we had this discussion during the election cycle and you finally agreed with it and defended the practice.
However the conservative turn out in the general election was about what it has been in the past about 30%. Bush squeaked out an electoral majority with that 30% conservative, 40% moderated Republicans and the independents he was able to win over. If we play the numbers game BUSH only owes "us" 30 % of the policy decisions. Now, had "us" conservative had put down the beer, turned off the TV and voted with the same enthusiasm we did in the primaries, then "we" would have delivered him a clear mandate and could demand complete fealty to "our" cause. Get it?
I'll tell you what I "GET". I get that we are supposed to have a President that respects the Constitution. I get that we elected a President who does not. I get that we are going to have a bigger federal government when Bush is done than we had when Clinton finished. I get that we'll have greater infringement on individual rights and less real security when Bush is done. Worst of all, we'll still have people like you who claimed they would be watching Bush very carefully to ensure that he remained true to the conservative cause, but instead have been a gooey-eyed lacky shill ever since he took office. There is nothing -- absolutely nothing he could do that you would disagree with. You are no different, and perhaps even less intellectually honest than the Clinton groupies that were so despised in the past.
That does not sound like something I would have conceded but no matter.