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You wrote:
"But as you are demonstrating, Republicanism and Conservatism are mutually exclusive. It actually hurts Conservatism to have it coupled with Republicanism when it uses failed Moderate economic policy."

Although you are on the right track, you overstate the case.

There is a vast distinction between conservatism and the Republican Party.

Conservatism is a political philosophy (actually three overlapping philosophies, but that's a different story).
Its goal is to get its views adopted.

The Republican party is a coalition of various groups, many of which have elements of the three conservatist philosphies. Its goal is to elect republicans.

BIG DIFFERENCE! So, we have a conflict, exemplified quite well at present with the Tom/Arnold divide. Does one vote for the conservative who has but a small chance of getting elected, or does one vote for the republican who has a significant chance of getting elected???

The conflict for the doctrinaire conservative is that the Republican Party is not completely conservative, but has conservative elements.

different Freepers come down on different sides on the Tom/Arnold issue, because some will only vote for a "true" conservative, while others will vote for the Republican because that will help advance conservative views at least incrementally.

Conservatism is a political philosophy (actually three overlapping philosophies, but that's a different story). Its goal is to get its views adopted.

I should have been more clear. Republicanism isn't a philosophy at all, actually it SHOULDN'T be a philosophy because we are talking about a political party. What you have seen here is the manifestation of Group Think becoming its own philosphy; How can we best serve the letter 'R'.

Now that is a difficult thing for me to admit you must understand, because up until I got behind Tom's campaign, I was about as obnoxious a Republican hack as you wanna get.

different Freepers come down on different sides on the Tom/Arnold issue, because some will only vote for a "true" conservative, while others will vote for the Republican because that will help advance conservative views at least incrementally.

My turn to say BIG DIFFERENCE! I am not a purist. This campaign is extrodiarily complex. I support Tom because I agree with him 100% to be sure, but there is alot more to it than that. Something no (R)nold Groupie wants to admit, but taking over this debt is impossible for his novice self. If it was 2006 and there was no debt, I doubt I would even fight for Tom, because whoever was the Gov really didn't MATTER all that much.

Another reason there is no comparison is that (R)nold does not help the Conservative cause even incrementally. His failure, his complete implosion when the Legislature stops floating the debt illegally through loans and makes him come up with the money (in taxes) it will do more to destroy this state than Pete Wilson's failure in 91 ever did. Aside from that, you also have his social plank redefining the Republican Party. Every Convention they'll run to the movie star to get his reaction to "Bush's far right social views" and the Conservative cause is further marginalized by the media through the Great Compromiser.

I can go on all night, there is NO gain by an (R)nold victory, even incrementally. The sooner people comprehend that difficult reality (Rnold was one of my favorite actors too) the sooner they will begin to understand the crisis we are in.