The problem with the Republicans is that when they built this big tent party they invited too many NE and NW Republican Liberals that haven't given a crap about what us good-ole Southern Conservatives thought and they would rather take down the party than meet the base even half way.To meet half-way, both parties have to move. I have yet to see anyone proclaim on this forum that they would never vote for Newt or Duncan Hunter. "Good-ole Southern Conservatives" got their candidate in 2000 and again in 2004 and for the most part, the NE and NW liberals in the Republican Party came along.
Supporting the candidate of their choice isn't taking the party down. Throwing a hissy fit because your candidate lost and voting third-party is taking the party down.
It is dragging the party down. The NE and NW liberal Republicans are incompatible to the Southern Conservative Republicans. There is no halfway and Reps like Snowe, Collins and Specter have fought the Conservative Republicans every step of the way.