[madconservative]

Agreed on everything. Oh...except I'm 28 ;)

[af_vet_rr]

Wow. I'm surprised/impressed. I was really under the impression that a lot of the die-hard Conservatives were older.

Nobody has touched upon it, but in many ways Conservatism in the GOP was subverted when there was this push towards "compassionate conservatism" - that was the writing on the wall. It's reinforced by programs/etc. that tie into that, such as the "No Child Left Behind", which went against traditional Conservative beliefs against federal interference with local issues. There was a clear break with Conservative beliefs at that point.