re: #1 Dark_Falcon

That crowing sound you hear is an overconfident Proggie about to get brought crashing down to earth.

Where has Allen gone wrong in this, Dark? The central paradox of the modern Republican party is simply this: Candidates must gain the approval of the Tea Party to be nominated, yet TP ideas are solidly rejected by most Americans, and such candidates cannot therefore win in the general. How do you and other sane Republicans propose to resolve this, especially since you are the target of a ferocious purge by the TP fanatics?

An aggravating factor is that the real tea party leadership, people like Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, and Ted Nugent, are not truly interested in winning. Like their close affiliate, the religious right, they would be perfectly content to keep raking in profits from their speaking engagements, video and book sales, and Fox TV contracts. They win some elections, but it is not strictly necessary for their real goals to be achieved, so long as they do well enough to keep attracting an audience. Being out of power may in fact be helpful, since they can play the contrarian critic constantly without ever having to deal with the consequences of their own alternatives being put to the test.