Some time ago, one of my best friends won the Republican nomination to run for Governor of Nebraska. As the campaign went on he ran into a major snag - the Republican "core" - that is the right wing of the party.
It was a strange thing. As they got into his basic beliefs, mainly regarding social issues, they realized that he wasn't "conservative" enough for them. Suddenly his funds and party support dried up. He lost by a landslide. The guy just wouldn't compromise his beliefs in order to please a handful of rich business people who made up the party "core'.
Since then it has become obvious to me that if someone wants to be truly successful in Republican politics, he or she had better get into bed with the "right" people. The irony is this. Once their control became absolute in the junior Bush administration, their rigidity increased and the mean-spiritedness became universal.
This year a decent man, John McCain, compromised his basic principles and went along in order to get elected. As the election went on, the fruits of the "core" began to fully surface. It became obvious to almost everyone what they really were at heart.
Down went not only McCain, but the entire Republican leadership good and bad. At least it looks that way from here - a week before the vote. John is flawed in many ways, but he doesn't deserve this.
If I were a conservative, I would be for letting the right wing have the whole thing and start a new party made up of responsible conservatives.There are plenty of them around.
The Roves, the Gingriches, the Palins, the Bushes, the Cheneys, the fundamentalist Christian leaders - and their ilk can take the whole thing and go their way.
A responsible group of good conservative men and women will be needed to provide the necessary correctives in governing this country. For them to cowtow any further to the far right is to lose their souls and to betray the vision of a balanced government which the Constitution so wisely envisioned.