[bad company]

Maybe I'm just simpleminded, but instead of giving up the gains we have made and turning things over to the dems, wouldn't it be a better plan to begin addressing these problem rubbies in the primaries and replace them with more conservative candidates?

[Constantine XIII]

Aaaaaaah! Common Sense!

*head asplodes*

[Uncle Vlad]

Maybe I'm just simpleminded, but instead of giving up the gains we have made and turning things over to the dems, wouldn't it be a better plan to begin addressing these problem rubbies in the primaries and replace them with more conservative candidates?

It would make sense, if such a thing were possible. But I'll give you an example: I'm in Nebraska, and Chuck Hagel, whom I'd crawl across broken glass to vote against, isn't up for reelection for two more years.

[buck61]

I don't think we need to worry about (we), the GOP. Its the swing votes from moderate dems and the independent that is going to settle the next elections.
Presently I do not see any thing the GOP is, or has done to sway this block of voters. High gas prices and the borders are
going to be hard to over come.

[Sloth]

Maybe I'm just simpleminded, but instead of giving up the gains we have made and turning things over to the dems, wouldn't it be a better plan to begin addressing these problem rubbies in the primaries and replace them with more conservative candidates?

Sure it would. But the chances of that happening in the GOP are roughly the same as the chances of it happening within the Democrat party.

[el_texicano]

No, you are not simple minded. That is entirely accurate. The primaries are where we have to make changes. Democrats are not an option - no way. RINO's are not much better.

But, with the average Joe-Six-Pack out there, what options are we giving them if we put up the same limp-wristed, lame, backstabbing bunch? Oh I will vote in November for the Republican ticket, but I have a lot of concern about many people who are not as committed in their minds.

Conservatism works everywhere it is tried and if we don't offer positive ideas, an aggressive agenda on those principles, I fear we are in for a wake up call we don't want.

[Old_Mil]

Maybe I'm just simpleminded, but instead of giving up the gains we have made and turning things over to the dems, wouldn't it be a better plan to begin addressing these problem rubbies in the primaries and replace them with more conservative candidates?

Let's take a look at the most high profile instance where this happened in recent memory: the re-election campaign of Arlen Specter:

Republican senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania coasted to reelection on Tuesday, winning 53 percent of the vote against his Democratic opponent. He quickly put his political future at risk, however, when he warned President Bush in an interview not to nominate any Supreme Court Justices who might consider overturning Roe v. Wade. Specter is next in line to head the Senate Judiciary Committee, so his views on judicial nominations carry enormous weight. Even before this latest comment, conservatives were demanding that Specter — one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate — not be elevated to this position of great influence. Early this year, many of them backed congressman Pat Toomey’s underdog bid against Specter in the GOP primary — a valiant effort that very nearly succeeded, until Bush intervened in the final days and dragged the imperiled incumbent across the finish line for a narrow victory...

You can read the rest of the article here at National Review Online.

Suffice it to say that when the conservative establishment actually does get the pitchforks out in the primaries and goes to war, the RNC and RINOs pull out all the stops to see that the Republican party does not move in a more conservative direction.

By all accounts, conservatives would have been better off with Toomey in the Senate than with Specter. Yet what happened? The Republican power structure - all the way up to the President - acted in such a way as to ensure a more liberal outcome just so it did not upset the apple cart of party power structure.

Something to consider.