As for who takes the helm if they are out of power is anyone’s guess. Personally the Republicans have always been better at being Republicans when they have the majority of congress and a Dem in the White House.

Which isn’t to say that they are necessarily more successful, just that they try harder.

It’ll be interesting to see who’s at the wheel when it returns. I think the Big Government Hawks (aka “Neocons”) will be toast, and either the God Squad (socially conservative populist hawks) or the Reaganesque paleocons will have the helm. Socially liberal small government fiscal conservatives (little “l” libertarians) just aren’t numerous enough to be worth courting, except on the internet.

Despite what the internet savvy crowd would suggest, we aren’t even a sizeable minority of the “small government types; small l libertarians; big L Libertarian types who were realistic; South Park Republicans; socially liberal but economically conservative types; and people who just don’t like Democrats; people who dig federalism”.

Let’s face it, if we had anywhere near the clout we think we do, there would have been only 2 candidates in contention from the beginning. R0|\| P4u| and Fred Thompson. Both of whom failed miserably. And it’s not because the God Squad and the Neo-Cons are that much bigger than the other groups. We just don’t make up as much of those other groups as we think we do.

I think that IF there’s gonna be a Republican Party, it should stand for the “guarantee of a republican form of government” (Article IV, Section 4) as defined by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. But that is more of an intellectual exercise than the emotive attraction to “their persons of choice” by which charismatic, savior-types tend to attract the worship of the massses, promising to impose on others to provide for them “bread and circuses”.

Restricting the government and declaring the rights of the people doesn’t seem to have much of an attraction UNTIL an unrestricted government restricts their rights….and THEN it’s too late without the difficulty of resistance.

(brother Uncle? insert redneck joke here)

… and all overwhelmingly white.

They abandoned me before they abandoned you.

Don’t kid yourself. They never really accepted you in the first place.