[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

If McCain wins, the Republican Party will officially return to its pre-1980 status as a home of “moderate Republicanism”, and conservatives will be frozen out.

Cut. Print. Wrap.

[RedWhitetAndBlue]

Boo hoo. Every so often, history allows a movement to really assert itself. It either succeeds or it fails. I know I’m shedding no tears.

[LS]

Disagree completely. What we will see is a realignment like 1850, where the RINOs die out or join the Dems, and a new conservative "rump" Republican party starts to gain momentum.

History has shown us (Whigs, for ex) that the nation WANTS political differences, and the less "pure" party will always winnow away and be replaced by a newer, "purer" party---which over time tends to be watered down by marginal voters joining its ranks until it loses elections.

There has never, ever been a long historical period in U.S. history where EITHER "liberals" (bad term for the 1800s) or "conservatives" have been "frozen out." The winners tend to get arrogant, make mistakes, and as we saw with 1994, can rapidly lose their edge.

Rush has this exactly right. The GOP stopped fighting after the 1995 budget; more important, they stopped making good arguments, attempting to legislate without confronting and educating.