[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.

[Biblebelter]

I understand the history of the Republican Party, I voted for Reagan in the 1976 primary and saw the nomination more or less taken from him by the group you are talking about at the convention. The party did not change that much after Reagan but what did change was posture. The lying George Bush posed as a died in the wool conservative by making a promise that CONSERVATIVES took very very seriously and a promise he did not have the character to keep. His son, Jorge, ran as a compassionate conservative, which evidently meant that his first act was to let Teddy Kennedy write a disaster of a bill called No Child Left Behind. You are right the liberal elements of the party have always been prevalent, but what has changed was what presented to conservatives as conservative. The price which was paid for that deceit was the loss of both Houses of congress. The price that will be paid for McCain posing as a conservative will be the loss of the White House. What Jorge Bush calls compassionate conservatism and what McCain calls reaching across the aisle is something I feel should be called what it is, and for me it is the Teddy Kennedy Wing of the Republican Party.