[quidnunc]

I hear people say all the time — including pundits like Rush and Laura Ingraham — that they are conservatives first and foremost and Republicans second.

My question for these people is, if they make a point of not being loyal to the Republican Party then why should that expect any loyalty from the Republican Party?

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

I'm not a conservative, much less a Republican, first.

I have three priorities.

Patriotism, conservatism, and the Republican Party, in that order!

And my allegiance to the last is only as binding insofar as it adheres to the first two principles enumerated.

[Howlin]

My question for these people is, if they make a point of not being loyal to the Republican Party then why should that expect any loyalty from the Republican Party?

Precisely! The old "Just try to win without us" mantra is false; it is THEY who cannot win without us, simply because we actually HAVE a party and ELECT people to office.

They are here for two reasons: because they 1) don't have a party of their own, and 2) want this one.

Most of the people on this "demand" threads never supported Bush in the first place way back in 1999.

Again I ask, who are the *real* Republicans In Name Only.

[Cboldt]

My question for these people is, if they make a point of not being loyal to the Republican Party then why should that expect any loyalty from the Republican Party?

The burden is on the party to woo voters.