ANother take on this, from Powerling blog:
"First, conservatives need to understand that the failure of Republicans to govern as strong conservatives is not the result of moral defects (although some can be found). The core problem is that conservatives do not make up a majority of the electorate. Republicans need the base, but they also need swing voters -- they can't win without both. A defeat at the polls won't change this. Instead, it will give liberals a chance to govern. They likely will do this in a center-left fashion or worse, and conservatives will be the main losers.
We should also keep in mind that, because this is still a great country, once a party takes power there's a good chance it will keep it for years. But for a 50-50 race in Florida going Bush's way, we'd probably be in our 14th straight year of a Democratic presidency. The country likely would have rallied around President Gore after 9/11, thus enabling the Dems to increase their majority in the Senate in 2002 and perhaps recapture the House that year or in 2004.
So let's push Republicans to build the fence and get a better grip on spending. But let's not fool ourselves into believing that the question of which party holds power is a matter of indifference or that, if defeated, the Republicans are likely to return quickly to power as a much more conservative force."
The President and Republicans have not picked up ANY support for any of their "left turns."
The Powerline argument would make sense if Bush had a 47% approval rating, but was nonetheless taking heat from his conservative base.
Instead, the President and GOP are alienating a growing number of conservatives, and yet Democrats and Independents are all expressing displeasure with Bush and the GOP.
So what have we gained? Nothing.
All we have managed to do is instead see the base that held Bush in the 35%-45% approval zone start to drift away. That's bad political strategy. Again, it's what Melanie said, the President and some GOP leaders are betraying conservative principles AND at the same time shooting themselves in the foot politically. It's the dumbest political thinking I've seen in a while.
Reagan didn't win over Independents and Reagan Democrats by being squishy. He won them over by appealing to the facets of their being that were conservative. In that case it was being anti-Communist and pro-American and economically conservative (appealing to greater economic liberty and lower taxes).