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This is a circular firing squad and it breaks Reagan’s 11th commandment.

You're confusing conservative Republicans with Conservatives. The GOP is a centrist pro-government organization which is willing to move further left in order to maintain political power. The 11th commandment applies to those concerned about assembling winning coalitions in order to achieve those ends.

Conservatives such as those at FR aren't necessarily bound by this expedience. They're playing a longer-term game - the soul of the country. If it takes Hillary! winning a term or two in order to re-orient the GOP, then so be it.

Conservatives are playing a game of chicken with GOP leadership. They think they outnumber the potential number of Dem voters that would vote for Rudy, thereby dealing a loss to Repub hopes in 2008.

We shall see - personally, I think the smart money is on Rudy (just as it was on Arnie). The GOP will move to the left and a separate conservative movement will have to be established to continue the fight.

I think it is smart of JR to anticipate this re-alignment and establish FR as the pre-imminent forum for this movement. It's up to him if he feels like allowing continuing discussion of GOP policies.

“Conservatives such as those at FR aren’t necessarily bound by this expedience. They’re playing a longer-term game - the soul of the country. If it takes Hillary! winning a term or two in order to re-orient the GOP, then so be it.”

Screw that! You think we can save the house by burning it down? You know what 8 years of ...hillary “most likely gore” would do regarding are military and SCOTUS picks. I tell you what if you really believe that tell that to the next Marine who is humiliated by having to salute the next POTUS Hillary Clinton. Me thinks you’d be looking for a emergency ward.

smart money is on Rudy just as it was on Arnie

And we know how that turned out don't we. You sound to me like a Calif. political operative enamored with Rino Arnie and his Kennedy clan wife. Thanks for nothing. And yes I live and breathe in Calif. The last thing we need is another Arnold copycat in the White House.

Interesting take.

Conservatives are playing a game of chicken with GOP leadership. They think they outnumber the potential number of Dem voters that would vote for Rudy, thereby dealing a loss to Repub hopes in 2008.
***Socons have history on their side. Also, your analysis completely overlooks the role of the MSM. The media will turn on rudy the moment he accepts the nomination and all those potential dem voters will go runnin’ back to mama. No one will ever really know if your scenario played out because of other factors in the race. What the GOP needs is a candidate who doesn’t rely on the MSM to be anything other than what it is, a bunch of lazy lefties.

We shall see - personally, I think the smart money is on Rudy (just as it was on Arnie). The GOP will move to the left and a separate conservative movement will have to be established to continue the fight.
***That “smart money” approach is funny. Example: Rudy has pulled in say, $10M and Fred about $3M and maybe both McCain & Romney $5M apiece. That means that more “smart money” would have gone to the losers than the winner, no matter who wins. It’s just another way of trying to position a candidate in a positive light.

I think it is smart of JR to anticipate this re-alignment and establish FR as the pre-imminent forum for this movement.
***I think you’re dead wrong on that one. If anything, JimRob is trying to forestall a split in the GOP. And for that, I think he’s smart. Free Republic is already the pre-eminent forum for conservatives, he doesn’t need to position himself for a 3rd party movement.