I for one don’t believe that the GOP is the stupid party - they know exactly what they are doing and that’s being honest that they hate their base.
1. The majority of the GOP leadership leans towards big government in some fashion or form, it may not be in the same frame as what Pelosi or Dick Durbin desire for Big Government but its along the same fault lines
2. Most of the Republican consultants and advisers are liberals or lean that way. The elites like Karl Rove, has actually set up a PAC to attack the tea party in primaries and so forth.
3. Most of the big donors are socially liberal and love big government too because it means they get paid too.....ie cronyism
Take all of that together along with lobbyists and you got a party that despises its base.
Even Rush said some years ago how at these cocktail parties he was invited to that the Republican Party leaders and consultants there told him that they were embarrassed by the GOP base..ie...social conservatives and now he’s hearing the same thing about the Tea Party.
How many times has the Establishment gone to the national media to attack conservative or tea party people behind the scenes as “anonymous sources”
The point to all of this - is that they couldn’t care less with we leave the party. Yeah they may be a minority party because of this but in Washington DC there is no such thing as a true minority - they will still hold power in some form and they will still have the crony big donors so that in most elections they can spend tons of money to tear down the Tea Party/ Freedom Party candidates or whatever you call it - and win most of them. As long as the gravy train continues in their eyes then they are safe and they believe that they will finally be liked by the media in these interviews and cocktail parties
And they will be "liked by the media" and at those "cocktail parties" -- because they will have demonstrated that they know how to be a well-behaved minority -- like the Bob Michel Republicans.
Recall that it took a Ronald Reagan and, then, a Newt Gingrich to drag the GOP-e kicking and screaming into majority status and actual leadership.
As an institution, the national Republican party has always been uncomfortable in the majority.