Um, where they gonna go?? DU?
Conservatives' anger with the GOP is directed at the GOP for betraying the faith, for being disingenuous, for being too liberal. At least our argument with the GOP is fairly principled. We don;t tend to 'eat our young' and attack the people -- we attack what they say and do. THAT is a good thing.
The 'other side' offers ** N O T H I N G** to conservatives.
Milbanks wear his hunting outfit?
High conservative turnout in recent elections was driven in part by conservative social issues on the ballot most notably bans on gay marriage. That issue is largely spent and I am not hearing of any similar initiative movement this year that will bring out the conservative base. I suspect the problem is that the conservatives won't go anywhere. They will just stay home. It only takes a few to not show up.
Personally I will be at the polls doing my part to punish any Wyoming Republican who votes for anything resembling a Guest Worker Shamnesty.
Ronald Reagan once said that he did not leave the Democrat Party, the Democrat Party left him. However, he still had a major party to his right to move to.
If the GOP continues to tell conservatives to pound sand because there is no major party to the right of the GOP, and conservatives continue to accept that, then they will become like black voters within the Dems - voters who pull the levers no matter how often the national party sells out their core issues.
So unless the GOP decides to curtail spending and make a serious effort to address illegal immigration, among other matters, the only real solution is to start to threaten the GOP with first staying home in 2006, and then forming a new party in 2008 if they don't get the message in 2006.
George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" has offered NOTHING to real conservatives either. Sadly, Bartlett is right.