You are simply being too simplistic. There are as many voters who shy away from the “conservative” label as from the “liberal” label on a candidate, and perhaps rightly so. I don’t care what color your nametag is, are you competent to represent me and my interests?

Before I go to bed:

While I hate a lot of McCain’s policy decisions and am pissed at the financial services bailout and pork, etc., I really don’t see our recent failure(s) as a “moderate vs. RINO vs. conservative” thing.

John McCain himself was just a pathetic wanker of a candidate. The man just would not put up a fight- be it on the campaign trail, in the first two debates, or even making an attempt to explain the ACORN subprime loan fiasco. (Of course, Bush’s Treasury guy didn’t help much, either . . .)

And the reason we got him seems to me to have been:

1) Guiliani’s bizarre, half-serious campaign strategy

2) Our own anti-Mormon bigotry (against Romney)

3) Huckabee dividing the anti-McCain vote and otherwise drawing out the race in the vain hope of getting the running mate slot

As for the party as a whole, I think we just need to Abramoff & earmark-proof ourselves (though stopping this counter-productive purge of even the Lincoln Chafees would help, too).

OK, now I’m REALLY going to sleep. Z Z Z z z z z z z z z . . . . . .

This post, and since I know you didn’t really read it, is about how we can’t let a RINO lead the party. We need someone who is true blue (er red) conservative next time around. And our road back to the majority is paved not with squishy issues, but bedrock conservatism.

Oh and you may want to crawl out from that secret cave every now and then and head on up to the 6th. We picked up 51A and Bachmann won. I also think all the top candidates did fairly well up here. Why do I bring it up? Because that is a District that I just happen to be in and work in.

Not that I alone made it happen, but you can’t overlook that I was involved. Unless of course having a guy like me, one who believes in the principles that this party purportedly stands for, around now can you? Not if you are going to keep your job or name on that cocktail circuit list.

Hey one of my biggest wishes is to bring back the acceptability of the term: Liberal Republican. It is ok to be a liberal Republican in my mind. What I have a huge problem is people that run around saying they are conservative when they aren’t, and I have an even bigger problem with this party hanging the conservative phrase on any candidate with an (R) behind their name.

But then again, why are you saying the problem is conservatives like me who want to hold Republicans accountable and to the principles? Are you saying the party needs to NOT be conservative? In other words, more liberal?

Hey, have a good Thanksgiving. Eat up and get your rest, I ain’t going no where and I sure as hell ain’t going to stop trying to fix this party.

Did Michelle Bachman RINO up? Is that why she lost votes and almost lost the seat?
Was Jan Schneider a RINO? Is that why Peterson’s seat went to then DFL?
Was Alison Krueger a RINO? Is that why the Senate seat went to the DFL?

Andy, your not the enemy. The enemy is accomplishing something.
Your more like a Viking fan. Always complaining that all we need to do is fire the coach and we will win.

Should the party move to the center to win votes – No.
But this obsession that if a candidate is not perfect, we must not help them is suicide.
Try and win in the endorsement and primary. But after that, act like an adult.

Like I said, based on your criteria, everyone should have stayed away from Regan’s reelection.
(Hmmm. Maybe that explains why Regan didn’t win MN, that was showing him – good work)

My point which none of you seems to understand is that we have been trying to RINO up the party in hopes of buying votes and chasing (so called) independent voters for a few cycles now. And look what it has gotten us. A lot less Republicans in office and a party so disgusted that voters sent a socialist to the White House.

I know, I know, you love to pretend that I am the enemy and full of shit, but well, who’d run this party into the ground? If you need a mirror, let me know.

As for Regan, I will do something conservatives are not supposed to do.
Admit that Regan wasn’t perfect.

He allowed spending to get way out of control.
He passed pork barrel spending to buy votes of farm states with the stupid farm program of mid-80’s
He supported Amnesty program.

He did a lot of great things, but even Regan will fail the Andy conservative test.
And that’s the problem.
I agree would should find and support candidates who are conservative, but once our guy has won or lost, we need to support the guy who won the first race and beat the Dem.

The party is made of up of the people who vote.
If everyone agrees with you Andy, then why didn’t you win you CD election?
If everyone agrees with you, then why didn’t Joe win chair?

And if these folks are the great savior of elections, think about this:
If you can’t win every time with yourself as the candidate, what make you think you can tell someone else how to win their election.

And if good conservative Republican will win no matter what because you will help them, please explain Michelle Bachman’s numbers? That’s your district – So where were all the strict conservatives and the Ron Paul worshipers. She should have won in a landslide but didn’t.
In fact if not for the evil state party, she might have lost.

You say the party leadership should not support candidates like McCain, yet you were head cheerleader for Joe “Veterans for McCain” Repya.

You call for local BPOU control, then demand that someone step in to defeat Olson because the local party made a bad choice. Then are upset when that replacement candidate loses and blame the state party.

It doesn’t matter what McCain’s stand on any individual issue is

And that is the problem with the party and those who think the leadership is AOK.

I’ve been seeing the same type of meetings at the National level today, that we had at the local level in 2004. It just took a few years to wake the sleeping giant.

We’ll start to see changes, both good and bad, starting Jan. 20, 2009. We’ll see good changes to the party as we “reevaluate” nationally, and bad changes as the Dems control the agenda.

True change will start then.