It's about time for them to go the way of the Whigs.
/johnny
We hear this big talk every election cycle, no one cares. A few hundred thousands folks vote 3rd party or write in every election cycle and they have no effect on anything.
The sad truth is that the more conservatives give up on the GOP, the faster it will move to the new center. That's what political party's do - especially in a 2 party system like ours. The culture is moving left, and the more conservatives give up the more the Republican party will began to mirror the "conservatives" in Europe. The "middle" is shifting (especially on social issues). The GOP's next course of action will probably be to cede many of the social issues and focus more on fiscal/economic concerns.