[Poohbah]

Before you write off the whole Republican Party, let's not forget that many of these folks are the same people who rode into the Congress in '94 full of "radical" reform proposals and a determination to reign in BigGuv'ment expansionism.

And discovered that "true conservatives" were, like Paine's summer soldiers and sunshine patriots, nowhere to be found when it came to lending support in the 1995 budget crisis. The Dems went after them hammer and tongs--and the "true conservatives" and "grassroots activists" didn't march to the sound of the guns, they ran in the opposite direction as fast as their feet could carry them.

[Mudboy Slim]

""true conservatives" were, like Paine's summer soldiers and sunshine patriots, nowhere to be found when it came to lending support in the 1995 budget crisis."

As I recall it, the GOP's unfortunate and unseemly retreat from the Clinton-produced Guv'mentShutdown cannot be blamed on the principled RightWing as much as the weak-kneed RINOs in both the Senate and House. If you are specifically referring to Gingrich and his inner circle, I would submit that Newt's less a principled conservative--a "true conservative", if you will--than a political opportunist.

"The Dems went after them hammer and tongs--and the "true conservatives" and "grassroots activists" didn't march to the sound of the guns, they ran in the opposite direction as fast as their feet could carry them."

This is revisionist history, Poohbah, the fact is we just didn't have enough principled conservatives to withstand a DemonRAT Presidential veto and the defections of the RINO branch of our Party!! Sure, I believe the Republican Party was right in shutting down government and shouldda stood their ground until the RATS broke, but to blame this failure on the RightWing base of the GOP is disingenuous at best.

FReegards...MUD