[brownie]

Otherwise known as the "shooting ourselves in the foot" strategy which has been so successful in California, the social "conservative" wing of the party pushes another dour, grim, personality free and unelectable candidate amid rumor and innuendo which aren't particularly relevant to anything.

Maybe we shouldn't have primaries and just let those who know better decide who the republican party will run. That way, we will have no conservatives in office anywhere in the country.

I get nervous whenever I hear a paper refer to a republican as a "moderate". Usually, this means he's pretty liberal and will be another Specter, Chaffee or Snowe. My guess is, that the person who stands for conservative principals and makes a decent candidate will win the primary. This isn't always true, but, what is the better system?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

People who gripe about this guy are of the same mold as the people who griped about Reagan not being conservative enough during his administration - who now pretend they were with him 100%.

Reagan understood that you wouldn't get your way but part of the time - and that you picked your battles carefully, sometimes changing a previously stated position in reaction to emergent circumstances. He also understood that obtaining leadership positions is preferable to maintenance of ideological purity - especial when ideological purity is not necessarily supportable by facts, and leads to positions which decrease electability.