I have a letter from Steel on my desk.
Why should I give my hard earned money
to the entrenched corrupt leadership in DC.
I will stretch and give to local Republicans
that I know, but the shiny-shoe bunch in DC,
not so much.

I got so into typing this comment, I entered your name incorrectly, calling you Mr. Abrams. I apologize and have resent my comment with your correct name, please forgive me.

I have been waiting months for someone to say these things. You Mr.Graham, have said it all. The leaders of the republican party and our republican leaders in congress think they are hidden from the view of their true base. They are NOT! Soon we will show them so at the poles. But you sir, have revealed just what little regard they have for true cultural conservatives and their lack of love and concern for our country. I do not trust any republican, at any level, to do the right thing at any time, to put America above his/her political agenda. I will never again call myself a republican. Great perception, great article. Thank you.

Right now there is a group of Republicans on tour “Listening to the people”. This group includes John McCain, Mitt Romney, and some guy named Bush for crying out loud. This seems to me to be the group that is refered to in the article as “The Good Old Boys”.

Meanwhile, there is another group that has fewer names I recognize (Glen Beck is the only one I knew of)who are planning public demonstrations on July 4th in events named after the Boston Tea Party.

Overall, it’s a good thing for the GOP to try to figure out what to do before 2010. I believe that anyone who thinks the Republicans should “Stay The Course” and run campaigns exactly like the ones in 2006 and 2008 is asking for even more Republican losses.

It’s also good that both approaches are being done as early as possible because they seem to be contradictory and the GOP will really need unity if they hope to make gains in 2010.

I find all this fascinating and I will be reading everything I can about this group spearheading change in the GOP that is so heavily composed of the same old names.

I will also be watching everything I can on July 4th.

They don’t have to share all my values – but they cannot argue for any of them in an effective manner. They are drones of the right. Conservative values, whichever you like, are so easily argued with great passion when you really know them.

They’re a matter of insider vs. outsider.

Did the September-October collapse scupper McCain, or did McCain’s flailing over it, and ultimately signing on to the deeply unpopular TARP and bailouts? You can find polling data to argue either position. Mac was dead in the water before the Palin nomination brought him some unearned street cred — at the price of losing some of his comfortable, elite insiders (Noonan, Frum, Parker, Douthat and C. Buckley, to name a few).

Remember what brought the Dems in in 2006 and 2008 was as much the entitlement-soaked misconduct of R insiders like Mark Foley (pederast wannabee), Ted Stevens (he beat the rap, which the insiders think sure beats being honest in the first place), or Larry Craig (coming soon to a men’s room near you — maybe he can hook up with Foley). Now the Dems have plenty of crooks of their own — let’s face it, they’re all crooks, all 545 of them — guys like Murtha, Moran, Mollohan, Jefferson, Pelosi ($25 mil for hubby! There’s an earmark) and Reid (four of his five kids live off his earmarks as “lobbyists”). But the R’s will never run with that story: how can they when they’re just as crooked?

And the insiders, the Washington payroll patriots, just don’t get the message. Their answer to the Toomey phenomenon that ended Specter’s career (he’ll never survive a primary challenge from a real Democrat)? Instead of getting behind Toomey, let’s force-feed the proles in PA a good pliable insider like Tom Ridge. The guy who brought the enormous tax sink of the Department of Homeland Security — which is now a political secret-police targeted on those Republican primary voters; we will have occasion to thank Providence that Ridge built a gridlocked rather than an effective bureaucracy.

Sure, Ridge is a great candidate. Say hello to Senator Sestak. And don’t forget to thank all those inside-the-beltway Yarvard sissies for him.

I already left along with a couple of million others. The GOP that was recieving money from me hasn’t recieved a farthing since 2006, not the national RNC or the State of NH Republican party. Bob Michel showed the Bankruptcy of your big tent theory during the 1970′s as he presided as permanent house minority leader and played footsie with the Democrats for years.

This pary needs to clean house and reorganize. It needs to adopt some of the street fighting tactics of the Democrats and become more modern while emphasizing economic opportunity, national security and a government that creates conditions under which people have choises and can flourish.

Think about the party you envision, without a conservative foundation, what would you have? The Whigs? You wouldn’t have the most dynamic thinkers and leaders from the right, that’s for sure. You would have a bunch of old bull republicans with little to attract outsiders.

Independents have voted conservative in droves in the past. When the pain gets bad enough, they will be back and looking for a strong alternative. It ain’t about today people, it is about two, four and six years from now.

Obama’s popularity is consistent with Bush, Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Calm down, get a handle on the big picture, and start looking long term. When unemployment is at 10%; inflation is soaring, the dollar is sinking in value, and our country is getting kicked around at the UN and on the international stage, the bloom is going to come off the rose. The party that produced misery is going to be playing defense. That won’t be conservatives.