Fred Thompson would indeed make a fine spokesman, especially if he's preaching to the choir. I would not be opposed in principle to a bifurcated arrangement in which we turn a kinder, gentler face to the world, such as Fred Thompson would present, while we have our own Rahm Emanuel kicking ass, taking names and turning around the Titanic. On the whole though, I think unified command would probably be better and it must be done not by committee but with someone consumed by messianic zeal and blessed with the power to turn a phrase. You are right that first we must define among ourselves what it means to be a conservative, count noses among those on the right who want to go along for the ride under that working definition, and then go on the attack.
The immigration problem was lost at the border and not over a battle over amnesty. Bush deliberately and willfully declined to honor his oath and enforce the law. Once the land filled with millions and millions of illegal immigrants with all their family ties and anchor babies, the argument was inevitably lost. Inevitably, we suffered at the polls because Bush let the problem get out of hand at the border. I'm not looking retrospectively though, but forward . A Republican administration probably would at least have sealed the border and then given amnesty to the throng that was already here; but at least the border would have been sealed and the leak plugged. We both know the Democrats will do nothing of the kind. We will be hurt even worse in the next election as Obama turns on the bureaucracy to naturalize these people even more shamelessly than did Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
I do not think I used the phrase "country club" Republicans, at least not in the post you cite, I think I referred to "Bush establishment" Republicans. And by that I mean the individuals that he put in charge of the party, not excluding Karl Rove, who failed miserably to shore up the party after Bush himself no longer was a candidate. But the main culprit is Bush himself who refuse to fight his own corner. When explicitly advised by Karl Rove that he ought to respond to the charges "Bush lied and people died" in the wake of the failure to find WMD's, Bush, according to Rove, forbid Rove to mount such a defense. In any event, the President of the United States is the titular head of his party and it is his job to run it, to set the philosophical limits, and to discipline it. He did none of these things satisfactorily. To this day the Republicans have not yet learned to take a knife to a knife fight.
I think the real voter fraud committed by the Democrats occurs long before it is time to pull the lever. I concede that the Bush administration succeeded in one action against Acorn but I think that was probably only the tip of the iceberg. When the history of the Bush administration is written the perspective of time will probably show that the administration was intimidated by allegations of racism.
As to your observation that I get caught up in my own rhetoric, I am smart enough to plead guilty knowing that if I did not I would be laughed off this board. :)
