"A lot of people said that in 2000 and 2002. Go for everything right now so moderate voters are shocked into voting for rats and we lose everything and more ground in the backlash"
I disagree. I think we are where we are because of what Bush has done (his conservative agenda), and I don't think the so called moderates are going to fault Bush or the Republicans for doing whatever it takes to get Bush's judges through. I would be willing to bet anything on that.
That is the Republican's problem; they are too worried about backlash. There won't be any backlash, except from the media.
Media backlash is going to happen anyway so we might as well get used to it. Real backlash will be from the voters, and here the Republicans need to know that in this last election conservatives turned out in greater numbers than ever before to put them in power. They weren't elected with any 'Rat votes, and probably relatively few moderate votes. Republicans first and foremost should know that they have to dance with who brung 'em, and that means keeping their base before worrying about bringing in fringe supporters.