“This is the Conservative grassroots of the entire internet. If we don’t support the true Conservatives, how can we blame anyone else?”
Excellent comment.
Duncan Hunter is much more than an economic conservative. He is not a Libertarian. FR has a large segment who are only economic conservatives, and some must really believe that the framers of the Constitution were interested principly in economic freedoms. They were much deeper men than that.
What is missing here is the very Conservative notion of appealing to all three pillars of Conservatism. It is the time tested definition of a Conservative candidate. Everyone knew that Hunter was the Conservative choice (94% wanted him to be the next president), but instead of standing upon principle and actually having debates about the actual Conservative candidates (Hunter, Tancredo, and Keyes) and working to lift THEM up, the whole thing turned into a pissin' match about fame and 'electability".
How silly. *None* of the other candidates were actually Conservatives. None of the others deserved to bear the mantle of Reagan in th least little bit - and most importantly, *NONE* of the others could successfully bind all three of the conservative pillars together to form the mighty Reagan Coalition - So all of the rampant "pragmatism" was not really pragmatic at all. Without ALL of the Conservatives pulling together, we will lose. It is guaranteed. The real pragmatists were the ones who held out for those Reaganites.
Hunter, being the most obvious fit, because he was most able to embrace all three pillars, had he been lifted up here with great earnestness, might have lifted him into a position where the Christians would have been satisfied to stand with the Conservatives. Had that happened, Huckabee would not have happened, and his Christian Right followers would have carried Hunter through the RINO states into the RED states, where he would have been welcomed with open arms.
That FR was too busy pimping RINOs, and failed to stand immovably (as Conservatives ALWAYS do) upon her principles is as much to blame for the loss as any other thing, and maybe more so.