Personally I don’t agree with that, and I think it’s true for many people I know. I don’t like “right” and “left” as a binary choice because I agree with Right on some things and the Left on others. I know a lot of other people who have a similar dis-similar collection of ideas. Case in point: gay marriage. I know a variety of people who are politically liberal, vote democrat, but they don’t like the idea of gay marriage at all.

In California, the GOP continues to be marginalized. They can elect a governor but almost nobody else. I don’t think pushing for a hard-line “conversative” agenda will help; those who’ve tried it have failed, and the “moderates” who don’t accept some of the basic tenants (like abortion rights) end up torpedoed by the hard liners at the primary level.

Rush likes to point to Reagan as the hard-liner who won. Yes, but there’s a pendulum effect. Reagan followed Carter, Nixon (a moderate) and Johnson and a decade of great social upheaval and turmoil. It was a swinging back of the pendulum. I don’t think Reagan could have been elected in more recent times since he wouldn’t have had something to push against.