[TheSuaveOne]

I’m so glad the GOP is thinking about shrinking the tent even more than it already does. Are you kidding me?

Good way to keep the Democrats in power forever.

No thanks

[MNJohnnie]

Pruning dead wood out of any system is very helpful to the over all health of the system. Any system decays over time.

The WSJ, and you, should be applauding this move not rushing to defend the dead wood. If we had done this in 2005 rather then defending the likes of Foley, Cunningham et al we would not of lost the Congress in 2006.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Litmus Testing keeps the party ideologically pure.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Yeah, your Big Tent candidate really brought home the bacon last November, didn’t he?

[Minn]

Good way to keep the Democrats in power forever.

Your argument seems intuitively correct, but I don't think the facts support it. Did you notice the most leftist senator imaginable just got elected president by hoards of politically squishy people, in states like Virginia no less? Non ideological people will vote for people of strong convictions, no matter what those convictions are. When combined with the party base, they can do better than non-principled people. Voters respect conviction and disdain opportunism.

Do you think Norm Coleman might have had a bit better chance of getting reelected if he hadn't spent the last two years pointing out to the Dem inclined voters how much like the Democrats he was, and in the process losing the respect of all?

[Grunthor]

If a Republican votes with the socialists on everything that matters, what’s the difference?

[ConservativeMind]

Would you cordially invite an active child rapist into your home with his victim in tow? Would you go help a burglar break into a bank? Imagine everything else about these people is okay in your mind. If you don’t associate or help them with their goals, are you being hypocritical?

You see, others have standards of decency they insist on following as much as possible. I’m sure bizarre reasons could be developed to allow anyone on Free Republic to grudgingly take part in both of the circumstances above, but it doesn’t mean they would have sought such things out.

You seem to believe that we should search out those who support abortion, gay marriage, and legalizing drugs (in fact, those amount only to three things the Republican party could have a problem with and would still support such a candidate. For you, you believe three such issues should be overlooked. But I would bet that you wouldn’t overlook the single issues mentioned above.

Get real. Get some standards, too.

[Axeslinger]

If enlarging the tent means loosening standards (which is exactly what RINO's embody) then we should vehemently oppose it...look at the ruination it has brought us. The key is to shrink the tent, but then persuade others to join us within the tent with the power of our ideas.

Don't change the ideals...persuade with the merits of those ideals.