Lots of people justafiably see barely any difference between the parties on the immigration issue, because there are politicians from both parties who are either pro or anti the current plans in the Senate. But unless you think the War on Terror really is an overhyped ploy by Republicans to scare the voters, or think having Democrats control the congressional pursestrings in 2007-08 when it comes to funding the war won’t make any differnce in the U.S.’s efforts to prevent any future terrorist attacks on our soil, then you really have to think long and hard about staying home in November when it comes time to cast ballots.

Richard Viguerie’s piece in the Washington Post lambasting Bush is a 20-year-down-the-line repeat of his writing Ronald Reagan out of the conservative movement because he wasn’t hard-line enough to suit Richard. That makes him simply an older, right-wing version of Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, who also takes the my-way-or-the-highway attitude towards failure to follow his marching orders on the left. Kos and his followers are something like 0-for-19 right now in getting candidates they’ve heavily supported elected to office; if people on the right decide to take the same attitude and say unless you’re right on 100 percent of the issues you don’t have my vote, they’re going to find their percentage of supporting winning candidates dropping like a rock over the next few years.

We have become the Party of Bratty Foot Stompers.

The best explanation I have seen and most accurate timeline is given over at The Anchoress. No, this is not just a wonderful Bush article but it pinpoints the exact moment that The Brats came out to play. Then it traces the path of no control stompers.

Redhead Infidel has it all figured out but unfortunately suffers from delusions on his figures. Red and other Stompers think that they are the base. I will even allow that on illegal immigration you are the base. The problem with your logic though is that you will never win an election to enact your views. Or if you did, since you are a one issue winner, you are then done. Of course you do not believe me who you casually would label RINO.

Only discovered this year that I might be…..it was quite a shock since I never agreed with a single one of those Congressmen you label RINO. Oh well, so be it if you have to be listed under a label. If you make a list under Bush Republicans, add my name. I even disagree with Bush on some of the illegal/border problems because I would be slightly tougher.

It’s about Choices. You give me a choice of being a Bush Republican or what has decided to label themselves as the True Conservatives, you lose every time. This puts me back to Red and his figures. Patch is correct. You do not have the majority. You will never have the majority except on a couple of issues. That’s it. Like it or lump it.

Rick says to just vote, regardless of outcome. I have been there and done that and label myself a coward for it. That is a nice way to be able to Stomp without having to ever own up to your actions. Everyone from the voter to the UN World to our esteemed Congress wants Bush to take responsibility for his actions. That’s quite a bit when things do not go right.

You only have to be responsible for ONE vote and it’s result. I call that rather uneven. So if you want to play the delusioned challenger, or The Wrecker….help yourself. You do not have the numbers except on a couple of issues. That’s it.

So I say you are doing exactly what you rail against, but without a clue about your own behavior. After all, you voted. You are not responsible for the mess.

Impeach President Bush? Ideologically, I’ve never been more than a lukewarm supporter of the president, as I’m a libertarian who has simply learned to swallow my pride, hold my nose, and vote for what I perceived (rightly or wrongly) was…

Thanks for your comments - even if you’re a little steamed at me. The only points I was trying to make were 1) not voting should not be an option. It is a civic duty, not a weapon; and 2) we are at war. And if by not voting you hand control of the national security purse strings to the dems (and the possible election of a liberal in ‘08) how are we going to blame if their laxness in security results in a terrorist attack?

Course according to you the immigration problem is a petty worry on our part eh? So is the spending problem…? So is that nasty habit of the Republican President of calling Islam the Religion of Peace..? The Repubicans need a wake up call and those of us who feel these are desperate times have no other leverage availible to us that will affect immediate change other than threatening to withold our votes. Indeed any comprimises so far on the immigration debate have come about not because people like you are promising to vote for them no matter what but because they are honoring the threat by people like me. But yourside of the debate demands, at the point of insults, that we throw that away and simply bow and say thank you sir may I have another!

And Rick why are you so angry? Why are all the people on your side of this split in the Republican party so darn angry? Its amazing to watch a bunch of people who want to convince people like me of your position whilst y’all call us all sorts of names. Is this some new form of mind control at work?

Still not impressed and becoming less and less impressed by the moment the more I learn of President Bush’s lies regarding Immigration and Islam. This is a man I once thought could have walked on water. Not sure what happened to him perhaps everyone is right and his warts were there for all to see. Indeed right from the start he declared that Islam had been hijacked, I always thought this was some sort of tactic that he didn’t really buy into, wrong. His stand on immigration has not changed one iota in all these years…even after 9/11. Even after his unfortunate dinners with terrorists…indeed right at this moment we are welcoming Saudi students back into the states.

But I am supposed to set all this aside and follow the party line…not likely no matter how many funny names I am called. But thats not what the Republican party will miss…no what they will miss are all the man hours put in by people like me manning the telephones and donating money. They are tossing that all aside to appease illegals from Mexico and Muslims from Saudi Arabia…I hope it works out for them.

And indeed I will speak out when the Dems get into power. I don’t vote for the lesser of two evils.

Well, like I said, I’d never consider not voting.

Okay, then you weren’t a member of the group I was speaking of. That was exactly the response I was calling passive-aggressive and was what the entire rest of the “emotional retardation” spew was about. So you were complaining about what?

Yes, I WILL vote for a Third Party – and admit it, that’s what’s really got everyone worried.

I voted for a third party many times. I was even registered Libertarian for many years. I finally changed to Republican mainly because A: the Libertarian Party tends to run nuts for office so I was voting Republican anyway and B: I didn’t get polling place instructions or sample ballots as a Libertarian. You have to be one of the major two parties to get that information in California, I suppose. Our polling places are generally in a neighbor’s garage and it changes from election to election as different people volunteer to host the polling place. If you don’t get the thingy in the mail, you have to research it yourself.

But voting for a third party isn’t a bad thing. And I don’t think anyone was getting pissy at all. I believe what many people call “the base” (al Qaeda in Arabic) is smaller than a frustrated center. In fact, California currently has 25% of its voters registered Independent. The Democratic registrations are a falling percentage while Repiblicans have held about steady at something like 38%. What some people might call RINOs are probably the majority of the party. And a center-right candidate along the lines of a Rudy Giuliani could probably grab a big chunk of that 25% of Independents at the expense of maybe 5% on the far right. In a case like that, the far right could become irrelevent. They could more of a detriment to the party than an asset. Why? Because they refuse to compromise and that is a bad thing in politics. They expect the rest of the party to step closer to their view but are unwilling to consider accepting the rest of the party’s view even for the sake of a national election. They don’t care it they damage the party for short term satisfaction.

The problem is that you can’t just say we will give the Dems some seats this cycle and get them back the next. An incumbent is hard to get out of office. It is easy to lose one by not voting but it’s harder to get one back once lost. The Republicans are lucky in this Senate cycle because 40R seats are not up for election so even if the Republicans lost every single race the Dems still wouldn’t get a 2/3 majority in the Senate.

This reminds me of some changes I would like to see the Republican Party make. The biggest one is that I would like to see an end to “winner take all” primary states. I would like to see the delegates split according to the votes of the people. This would mean that candidates come to the convention with a number of delegates that is more representative of their true popularity. This notion that someone can win with 1% more of the vote and get 100% of the delegates is not a good thing. Particularly if a candidate does something or says something or takes a position that is extremely unpopular late in the primary cycle.

The point is that you’re shootin’ at the wrong people. If the Republicans lose any race at all, it’s because they’ve lost the people who are voting for someone else, and not them. That is THEIR fault. They are right now trying to buy their future votes at the expense of the ones who put them in office. My grandaddy would say, ‘Dance with the one that brung ya.’ Repubs are whoring themselves out for cheap, uneducated votes. OK, I guess they’ll have to see if they can win playing the game that way. Their risk.

Again, if you guys want to get all pissy, get angry at the ones who are actually splitting the Party - hint: that would be the RINOs.

Roanoke said: “splitting the base over the imagined invasion”

Here’s an open invitation to the Texas border, handsome. I’ll show you a war zone that would rival Mosul. Mmm…kay?

As a veteran, there is no way I’d ever jeopardize our troops and their mission. However, securing our border is Priority Number One when it comes to the war on terror. Read this and catch up.

Timothy McVeigh was home grown.

McVeigh was a moron and didn’t work alone and you know it.

Well, Rick, I just read your last comment and I can’t argue with you about it because we’re talking about two different things. You seem to have this idea that there are just millions of us out there who will ruin everything by staying home and not voting. Unfortunately for Republicans, that’s not true. We’re educated, we have money, we’re pissed off, and we WILL vote. In fact, we’re ready to vote for ANYONE better than them. Simple as that. It’s time for an Independent.