You're absolutely right. I think some of it can be attributed to those who are already committed to Romney or some other candidate in 2012. I am not sure how to break it to them, but if Conservatives do not gain a major victory in 2010, there will be no 2012 for them. I might also add that Limbaugh sat on his can and McCain got the nomination. He didn't want to get involved. If he wields so great a power in the GOP he could have said, "I support Hunter, he is the best, and I hope you all will support him too." Using the logic (?) on this thread; Limbaugh would not speak out and endorse a Conservative candidate therefore he is a RINO. Limbaugh did not do that and I understand why. If one holds no credibility or gravitas in their endeavor; the game is over before it begins.
I want Stalin to fail! (Does that make me a freedom hater?)
Well, people on here need to think a little bit. If conservatives don't unite and FORCE the GOP into the right direction, there won't even be a 2010. There won't be anything.
I'm firmly convinced that about half the people posting on this thread are either DU plants or are sub-normal IQ mouthbreathers. Those are the only seemingly conceivable explanations.
It's like they have this weird self-fulfilling prophecy thing going on. They want to believe that the GOP is full of RINOs, and is therefore "not worthy" of their support (in which I think they overestimate their own importance, btw). So, they split the conservative vote by not voting or voting third party, and they don't get involved at the grassroots level, etc. Then, when conservatism predictably is weakened as a result, GOP elected officials at the national level start to drift Left, since that where the people who actually bother to show up and vote "obviously" want them to be. This, then, gives the nose-pickers the opportunity to further screech about how the GOP is just full of RINOs and "not worthy" of their support, ad nauseum.
Look, the cycle has got to be broken somewhere. The GOP won't swing back to conservatives until conservatives get organised and present a united front, instead of splitting their vote across fifty gadzillion pissant little third parties or staying home. United conservatives are what will convince the Party apparatus that the Right is where its bread is buttered. If conservatives want the GOP to bethe credible vehicle for conservatism that we need, then guess what? Conservatives will have to actually get off their duffs and get active in MAKING it so.
I think that's a lot of the problem, right there. Many conservatives are just insular and lazy. It's easier to whine about RINOs than it is to run for county chairman or public office or show up for a rally.
Other conservatives are cowards and fair-weather friends. It's easy to be conservative and support the GOP when Reagan is in office and it looks like things are going our way. It's not so easy when we're on the outs, like we are now. Many of these conservatives who profess to not msupporting the GOP because "it's all full of RINOs", I think, are just using this as an excuse not to have to do any heavy lifting or put their precious pride on the line. It's easier to just sit it out and be a whiner than it is to invest time and effort into an election, only to lose.
Frankly, any conservative who thinks the right course is to toss the GOP in the can and not vote, or vote third party, is either stupid, lazy or cowardly.
I think this is true to some extent - Rush seemed to think it was better not to support anybody and to simply let it play out. What you had was power on one side (McCain, supported by the RINO establishment), money on another (Romney, a RINO but not the one chosen by the establishment), and then all the rest of them (Huckabee, Hunter, etc), who were obviously of no interest to the RNC. I think he should have picked somebody from that group or possibly even spotlighted somebody different. But he didn't, and instead went into this ridiculous "Operation Chaos" stuff.
Maybe he's trying to make up for this now. In any case, I think his message was right on target. We have to know our positions, be confident in them, be positive, and not let ourselves be intimidated. We have lots and lots of good people emerging - Jindal, Palin, DeMint, Sanford, etc. - and we will have leaders if the base coalesces
Why should Rush have supported a big government Republican like Duncan Hunter? Hunter has the distinction of supporting the billionaire banker bailout, the prescription drugs boondogle, and No Child Left Behind. I could never understand the strange enthusiasm on FR for a man with a record like that.