The bottom line is the GOP was never as conservative as people hoped, and the conservatives alone did not have the votes.
Brings me back to my big picture pet peeve. By not really attacking the left as dangerous and embarrassing, republicans allowed the democrat party and much of the GOP to drift far left, and that placed the nation in danger when the dems got back in power.
IMO, Liberals get elected because the GOP doesn't tell it like it is. The American people need to be educated on what will happen to our country if these creeps stay in office.