How's it workin' for ya? Yeah, us too! That's why we drink tea.

Because of the Milliken trend and the rest of the tripe you suggest we do some more of. Yo' Party doesn't need ACORN to keep Conservatives away when we have political deals with, lets be Conservatives but look like Dems.

How dare you present 'your' Party as such? Republicans are a varied group! We had the Log Cabin discussion, remember? Have you noticed how upset the Dems are with blk Conservatives? We have it all, sex, drugs, rock and roll, and guns as well. Look at our sexy babes, people who want freedom to grow and smoke, Ted Nugent, AND Thomas Sowell, Bill Kristol, Ken Adelman, Bill Bennett, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Peggy Noonan, Dinesh D'Souza, Michael Ledeen, Richard Perle, Peter Robinson, Tony Snow, Martin Anderson, Murray Wiedenbaum, Checker Finn, Ann Coulter, Michael Horowitz, Terry Eastland, and Condi Rice, just to name a few.

I am very concerned about this movement to the center and frankly I'm not certain what to do about it other than to complain loudly while trying to pull it back.  I would never go so far as to say that moderates should not vote with the Republican Party--I encourage moderates to vote Republican--but I will never understand the benefit of Republicans coddling a liberal leaning Republican (former) like Arlen Specter over a true conservative.  

I agree that we have some demographic issues here, some of which you have pointed out.  I also think that Republicans have lost out in the educational system.  Everything a good progressive needs to know can be learned by about the third grade while it usually takes several years of hard adult knocks to learn the principles behind conservativism.  

I also believe the Republicans are suffering from the backlash of a party that abandoned the spending restraint portion of the Contract With America.  

I am one of those former contributors to the Republican Party that stopped sending in checks when it forgot how to veto spending bills.  When Republican Senators and Representatives floated to the top of the earmarks pool I became disgusted.  When Republicans began wooing the Hispanic population by hinting at amnesty I blanched.  (A true man can blanch, can't he?)  When Republicans began saying the budget had no more fat in it (when we were running a $300,000,000,000 deficit) my blood pressure began to rise.  Which party was it that backed No Child Left Behind and the Medicaid Prescription Drug Benefit Program? The Republicans, of course. How else could I protest than to send in my empty envelope with a note in it?

I still agree with the Republicans a lot more than I do the Democrats, but I simply cannot trust them.  Maybe this is my problem and not the party's.  My guess is that it is a shared dilemma.  

So, when and if you finally locate your lost Republican Party can you please check around for mine too?  Maybe they drink coffee together.

Yeah well, today's Republican Party doesn't have any "beliefs and principles." Not sure about that? Look at this voting record of a particular candidate whose election is the party bosses' "number one priority" right now. If you have any "beliefs and principles," then when you finish puking come back and try to explain why anyone should lift a finger for this pack of RINO pukes (and that includes most GOP House and Senate members too - check this out).

1.  What better way is there than withholding a vote when one disagrees with a candidate?  My problem many years is that when I disagree with the Republican's candidate on many issues, I still feel it necessary to vote for him out of a horrible distaste for the Democratic candidate.  My vote then is considered, for all intents and purposes, a firm support of everything the Republican candidate stands for.  If two big government candidates are vying for the presidency, as there were last year, any way I vote is considered a vote for big government solutions, even if I wholeheartedly disagree.  It is a message I do not want to send.

2. The Republicans still have within its ranks a huge number of big-government operators that are unable to fathom the long term economic consequences of bankrupting our country.  They scoff at Obama's deficits at $1 trillion plus, but have nary a care over a deficit that runs to several hundred billion.  I think this is madness.

(End of questions...now some pontification.)

I recognize the truth in your comments that the Republicans will need to attract the votes of some moderates if it ever wants to become the majority party.  I wonder though if the better way to attract these moderates to the party (or at least an occasional vote here and there) is to clearly explain why the conservative approach to today's problems is the answer.  The alternative, it seems to me, is having party members line up behind the party's chosen candidate regardless of whatever disastrous policies he is willing to embrace in order to get elected.  One of us, I think, is trying to move the mountain while the other is trying to move Mohammad--I dare not breathe a word about who is doing what.

""yet many of these grassroots activists from the hard-right are ones who have never ran for precinct delegate; let alone been involved in their county parties. They want a Republican Party that is a closed tent; a party that only welcomes Joe the Plumber and not Robert the C.E.O."""

How? I'm one of these grassroots activists who is a precinct delegate and active in the county and district parties. My views generally are conservative or libertarian depending on the issue.

"Something is wrong with the Republican Party when the young professional from Ann Arbor votes Democratic. Something is wrong with the Republican Party when the young family from Oakland County votes Democratic. Something is wrong when the business executive from Grosse Pointe votes Democratic."

While some of my political views are even what could be described as conservative, I've found the modern Democratic Party far more accomodating of my centrist beliefs than the Republican Party.  If the pendelum swings enough to the left that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party gains enough political control that it feels it doesn't need to accomodate centrists like me, I wouldn't hesitate to switch parties.  At this point in history, the Democratic Party is where the political center is at.

The major political parties in the United States are not religions with fixed dogmas.  They are coalitions of people with often different interests.  When a majority of members of a political party attempt to establish "core values" as with a religion it erodes the coalition and loses elections.

For example, on the issue of same sex marriage, you and I appear to agree that two adult men or two adult women should be allowed a legal state marriage.  And I agree that no non-governmental institution should be required to marry anyone, regardless of gender.

I'm not sure what you are asking me above.  Yes, I agree that there are some dirty hippies on the left that are every bit as disruptive and disrespectful as some of the loud mouths at the recent town hall meetings.

Yes, the tea party folk have a right to organize.  What I disrespect is that they call in general for less spending, smaller government and lower taxes but it is rare to see any signs suggesting actual spending cuts.  And as we know, Republican majorities don't result in lower spending and less government despite the political hype.

As far as ACORN goes, I agree that members of the organization have engaged in illegal behavior and should be help accountable for their crimes.  But I suspect a lot of the right's attention on ACORN is rooted in the fact that ACORN has focused on organizing urban populations.

Our friend (though we fight like puppies at times) rdww often says (not just on this thread) that it's very important to not alienate others from the Republican Party. I agree, it seems to me that most agree. I'm convinced of his sincerity and he can attest that I've never accused him of not being. I appreciate his concern in this area and will endeavor to heed his advise.  We scrap a bit here as though having a private discussion. I should be careful of that as it's not actually private at all. Point is, his sincerity is of high value to me.

Yet, we Republicans have a tendency to resist being bought. A better way of saying it: Telling someone whatever they want to hear for an ulterior motive.

Midland can certainly attest to our sincerity and lack of manipulation.

I will admit, if it were an exclusive purpose to secure Party membership alone, I'd respond completely differently.  That method isn't remotely full proof or sustainable, as we can see when we role (just some) of the tape back:

Tea Party/Healthcare
8 yrs of Bush
Contract with America
Bush
8 yrs of Reagan

These things go back and forth in spite of your method, that we've seen much of over the yrs.

Being genuine is important to me and a much needed, desired attribute.