They're paranoid about Patty J's speach from those years ago. I have to imagine that is the reason they have no conservatives speaking. But if we take ourselves out of the loop for a second (which I don't normally recommend because that's how you get marginalized) this strategy, assuming its ONLY a strategy and not a window into their souls, is quite clever when you talk about the reaching out we were talking about earlier. Rudy is wildly popular, so is the actor who called himself a Republican, and McCain has a following within the GOP's wing of self-hatred "independence" from the party. So there is a chance for some reaching out going on assuming the base is wrapped up...But the wild card is the base, who from all accounts including yours is feeling disenfranchised and suspicious...I'm one of them, but I'll put on my Optimistic Cap that I've been trying to tell everyone to take off at the end of the evening and hope that its only a fake to the left, not a sign of a "New" Republican Party.
I'd be more impressed if I saw both Alan Keyes and Tom McClintock on that stage. Were they even invited? I can see why Alan Keyes wasn't invited from the time they had him arrested LOL. My mother is voting for Michael Peroutka. I live in New York where the establishment republican party is a complete joke. That's sometimes better because when a good pubbie comes along he/she is GOOD. Rudy is popular, more popular than Arnold I'd say.