[Biblebelter]

"Johnny-come-latelies".

Lady, I ain't no come lately. I am gone and out the door. As much as it would gives you pleasure to call me names, I ain't even the same room as you, which is called the Republican Party irregardless if it is the small room called the Teddy Kennedy Wing.

[SuziQ]

I wasn't calling anyone names, I was simply stating the history of the 'conservative movement' within the GOP. There wasn't really a need for one, until the Democrats started their 'War on Poverty', when they proceeded to ruin the entire black Middle Class, and their hippy-dippy stage, with the anti-war movement in the Vietnam era. It got totally out of control when the Supreme Court justices nominated by both Democrats and Rockefeller Republicans started changing the face of society and culture with their activist rulings.

This was when some in the Republican party decided to fight back, to try to turn back the tide of liberalism sweeping the country. They found that there were many voters out there who agreed with them, thus Reagan's hugh victories. The old-time Republicans were somewhat embarrassed by these people, who took a decidedly Christian view of matters, and that was just not the 'sophisticated' thing to do.

Unfortunately, the leadership of the GOP in Congress was mostly still in the hands of those liberal Republicans, and it took a while to affect any sort of change in that. But truly, conservatives never had full control of the GOP, even though we seemed to be the 'boots on the ground' for the party. And there were still Congressional holdouts who preferred to vote with the Dems against Republican Presidents, because they agreed with them more often. These were the liberal Republicans who used to be in charge, and they wanted their 'moderate' party back.