But you see an “extreme moderate” like Steele,  and many others within the GOP Hierarchy  believe radically in their particular brand of “moderation”.  These haughty moderates are so enamored with themselves for being able to move back and forth across the aisle compromising, communicating and working well with those on the far left, the center and, occasionally, even the right.   Like a honey bee buzzing from flower to flower.  Yes, it is almost sexual.  That’s how strong it is.  Self adoration.  Infatuated and totally in love with self.   You can see it when they operate.  Restraint and genteel rhetoric.  Fake humility.  Dulcet tones.  No real passion because, in their effort to be all things to all people they are, in fact – no where!   Certainly they’ll occasionally self-destruct when they get caught in their own trap of trying to play both sides toward the center. 

So, what we have here is  Steele “and others” making a deliberate and determined effort to steer the entire political process of the GOP (and the Nation) back toward the left.   Driving toward the center and most likely beyond!  And the probing actions?  Well, these Extreme Moderates are trying to determine what they can get away with.   Steele is bravely taking “the point”  but do not think he is alone in this endeavor.  You can be certain that he has the blessings of many within the GOP Hierarchy.  I totally expect John McCain to jump to his defense and will be surprised if he doesn’t.  This is, I believe, a planned, organized and choreographed offensive.   It’s a long term plan designed to eventually wear down the opposition.   He and his skirmish line are advancing under fire. 

And what about this “skirmish line”?  Who are some of the combatants? The participants?  Well this is actually a new movement, in its infancy.   I’m calling it the Movement of Extreme Moderates (MEM).  An oxymoron of sorts, I suppose.   I mean, there have always been moderates but they’ve not been so combative.    David Frum is, in my view, an MEM leader and he’s already proclaiming victory.  Saying they are the “New Majority” .  In his view, his brand of conservatism (which is not conservatism) is the only formula that can win.  

And we have “new recruit”.  Valley girl,  Meghan McCain.   Already going on the offensive against anyone that she considers too extreme.  Making Daddy proud.  Riding her high horse, she even slammed her fellow MEM member Steele! : ( link2 ).  That’s normal.  Remember all MEM members revere their own particular brand of moderation above all.  They’re in deep, rapturous love with their own opinions.  A weakness that can be exploited by Movement Conservatives, by the way.

So we have, in my view, this MEM forming up without its members even being aware of the fact, apparently.  A weak and fragmented cabal fomenting a mini-revolution within the GOP.  Vying for control – and  on the attack.  Their one big advantage?  The confused, clueless 168 members of  the RNC made a boneheaded move and placed an MEM member in its “Chair” at the head of the table.  Or maybe many of these “168” are, in fact, Extreme Moderates, too? 

Now what will Movement Conservatives do?  Are they so demoralized and defeated that they’ll  sit on their hands and watch 30 years of hard work  evaporate?  Will they stand idly by while this pip-squeak, up-start of a movement pushes their way in taking more control of the Republican Party than it already has?   Diluting the Republican message down into some lukewarm pablum that right-thinking Middle America will, once again, spew out of their mouth come next election day? 

Michael Steele and his hip-hop strategy ;  it’s all about pandering.   The same destructive pandering tactics of  Bush43 and Karl Rove.  This is what has placed the Conservative Movement in the mess it is now in.  And Steele and his ilk want to move more toward that groveling, pandering, doormat of a direction??    By pandering to specific groups, the “panderer” only draws the ire and disrespect from those in other groups not being pandered to. 

Question is, do we Conservatives have the will to stop this insanity and get this Nation moving rightward again?  The direction that the majority of Americans want our nation traveling.   Do we have the stomach to aggressively go after people in our own political party that have now, for what ever reason, strayed away from the Conservative Movement and are drifting (or in some cases running) leftward? 

About 173 years + 10 days ago in an abandoned mission, fortified by Texas freedom fighters, in what is now San Antonio, Texas,  Col. William B. Travis read a letter aloud to his men.  It was a letter demanding surrender from Mexican Gen. Santa Anna.  Travis unsheathed his sword and drew a “line in the sand”.   Well, you know the rest of the story, I’m sure.  If you don’t, shame on you.

Darvin Dowdy 

Another big payoff of the Limbaugh/CPAC speech, though,  is that it drew out into the open some of the  pseudo-conservative element within the Republican Party or those outside the actual party that are influencing it.  Rino’s that are part of the problem rather than the solution but have somehow managed to stay concealed in the shadows.     There are legions of these “sleeper agents” that have been responsible for “compromising” the party leftward toward the center.  So at least as a result of Rush’s line in the sand, a handful of these “isle crossers” now have the spotlight shining strong on them.     Most notably David “chuck me in the shallow water” Frum.   Frum and his ultra-moderate ilk must be allowed no influence whatsoever in the GOP steering  process.   And there’s  Cong. Eric Cantor, supposedly a rising star in the GOP!  But, we find, Cantor doesn’t want Pres. Obama’s socialist agenda to fail!  He’s young. Maybe he can be turned and taught to acquire some backbone.  And then we have our newly hired RNC Chair Michael Steele, calling Limbaugh “ugly” and “incendiary”    ??  Poor Michael.  In way over his head.  Someone please throw him a life preserver! 

Ugly & Incendiary? Rush Limbaugh?  No.   In the thinking of most authentic conservatives Rush is a force for moderation, rationality and reason within the Conservative Movement.  Yes, that’s right.  I’m calling Rush a moderate.  In the conservative sphere, that is.    And most of “us” believe that while there is room  for our elected Rep’s to maneuver on Limbaugh’s right flank,  we have no patience and will no longer tolerate having our elected Republicans  wandering even 1 degree to the left of where Rush Limbaugh resides on the issues.  We are all out of patience and good will regarding those who continue to pander and wander leftward.  Evidenced by the absolute firestorm resulting from the comments by Frum, Cantor, Steele and others.   If the Republican Party learns nothing else from this little skirmish, they should learn that it (the GOP) and the Conservative Movement are 1) two separate entities and 2) For the present Rush Limbaugh  may not be the Movements Leader but, more importantly, he is our Benchmark.  A message to you Republican politicians and officials;  venture off to the left of where Limbaugh is positioned politically – at your own peril.   We hold this loveable little fuzz ball up before you with a sign around his neck, “Do Not Travel Leftward Beyond This Point”.  You’d best heed that warning.  Clear?  Don’t take 2010 for granted.  Make no mistake, the Stay-at-Home Conservatives punished/spanked you hard on 11/7/06 and 11/4/08.  Will you learn your lesson?   Turn and begin your migration rightward!

As to those, such as myself, who would occasionally travel to Limbaugh’s right flank?  Well there is plenty of room to maneuver safely and freely.   There’s even room for an occasional (and sometimes justified) jab at the Great  El-Rushbo himself.   After all he’s only correct some 98.8% of the time, or something like that.  But as one wanders in the far reaches of the rightosphere, far from the Benchmark, there are very real dangers.  Some outer region travelers have become disoriented and confused, pointing an accusing and critical finger at one of our Nation’s only remaining and dearest friends in this world; Israel.   Brilliant intellects have fallen into this confusion.  Pat Buchanan,  Ron Paul,  Lou Dobbs to name a few.  We can only hope to turn these fallen comrades one day and give them a helping hand out of the pit they’ve descended into.  At times like this we need them desperately.   And there are ”others”  who’ve crossed over the far right boundary line.  They fret over something called “the Browning of America”.   As if skin pigment/color can prevent love and devotion for our Constitution.  The modern Conservative Movement must be an inclusive Civic Conservatism rather than some dark form of ethnic conservatism.  And after all, as Limbaugh pointed out in the CPAC speech, there is enough racism on the democratic left.   We can’t tolerate any form of that contamination within our Movement. 

One more little reminder for the GOP Hierarchy regarding the effectiveness of our rotund Benchmark [with one hand tied behind his back].   If you’ll go back with me in time to May/June 2007.  The McCain/Kennedy Amnesty Bill.  We had Hannity, Ingraham, Beck,  Gallagher, O’Reilly and a host of others valiantly pushing this monstrous piece of legislation towards the edge of a cliff.  To its destruction.   Just as they get it teetering on the very edge, well they run out of steam.  Can go no farther.  Cigar in hand, El-Rushbo saunters up to the teetering mass and re-names it the “Comprehensive Destroy the Republican Party Act” and with his pinky sends the hideous mass crashing down into the ravine below.   Not to diminish what the others did but it required Limbaugh’s gentle nudge. His endorsement.  Unfortunately the arrogant,  dim witted Republican Party did not learn from this.   Because look who their ’08 nominee was?  And furthermore, the GOP remains populated by armies of these unteachable sorts.  For these rino’s winning is simply not a priority.  There are other far more important things, in their arrogant view.  But for those who understand that a GOP win in 2010 is the only option, they’d best walk into this realization  with eyes wide open,  focused and guided by our Conservative Benchmark.      Darvin Dowdy

“We are in for a real battle. We’re talking about the United States of America . . . remaining the country we were all born into and reared into it. And it’s under assault . . . but it’s never been under assault like this before, from within.”

That obviously didn’t penetrate.  Conservatives, generally, do not have their war paint on.   No, most just want to keep having fun and continue  to protect their own little patch of turf. 

One of the “subtleties” Rush brought up:

“Obama can’t appeal to the American people without appealing to Reagan voters and we’ve got people on our side who want to throw them out. We’ve got to stamp this out or it will destroy us.”

And I watched this go right over the heads of the party animals in the gallery.  These out-of-touch boneheads haven’t got a clue as to what Rush was talking about here.  Who are these “Reagan Voters” Rush was speaking of?   Lets go back in time for a “sampling”.  Ronald Reagan aggressively sought and acquired the Teamsters Union endorsement both in ’80 and ’84.  Ronald Reagan would not have allowed that aspect of Nafta that allows Mexican and Canadian truckers to drive freely on U.S. taxpayer highways without proper work visa’s/permits.  Pushing U.S. truckers out of their jobs.   As we speak the Teamsters Union (1.5 million members) and OOIDA (160K members) are battling to keep jobs for their members.   And to prevent 75% of the U.S. trucking industry from, in the next 5 years, disappearing and reappearing in Northern Mexico.  Unfortunately the GOP under Bush 43 would not lift a finger to help the union rank and file.  In the eyes of the Mom/Pop working American voter, the GOP has turned its back on them.  The McCain EADS/Boeing tanker fiasco didn’t help much either. 

And these are the Wal-Mart voters that Rush spoke of:

 “That we have to figure out how to get the Wal-Mart voters, we’ve got most of the Wal-Mart voters already. . . .

He is partially right.  We “did” already have them – prior to 11/7/06.  These are the same class of people that have elected mostly conservative, pro-business Presidents since the early 50’s.  These are the same hard working folks that stood up and cheered when Reagan refused to back down before Patco.  These are the same who, over the decades  have rejected unions in their work place.  So how does the GOP Hierarchy reward them?   They team up with the seditious U.S. Chamber of Commerce and cover their eyes while 12-20 million illegal immigrants pour in and steal the jobs that are the birthright  of U.S. citizens.   And I’ll wager you that many in that  CPAC audience are among this group of blackhearts. At least a sprinkling of them.  Certainly the GOP Hierarchy remains controlled by them.  Which is why we will continue to lose come 2010 if these transnationalists aren’t purged from influential positions. 

I love Rush like a brother but I think he left many things unsaid.   Issues that need to be discussed openly that, instead are being hushed.  There remains a “great gulf fixed” between the conservative voting Base and the GOP Hierarchy and , sadly, leaders of the Conservative Movement.   And if the mutual admiration society called  CPAC ’09 is any indication, little progress is being made to close that gap and reconnect with the former, estranged conservative Base.  Darvin Dowdy

I sat staring at the envelopes wondering what something like this might have cost.  Sent out to millions of people.  The printing, the software involved, the maintenance of the database and manpower, etc.  The expense must be very high.  What a waste of valuable resources that could have been used for more productive, positive and informative purposes.   You know this is almost like a failed relationship.  A “former” friend who recently made it abundantly clear to you, with a vote of no confidence, that they wanted to strictly limit future encounters.  And you weren’t sure why.  [kind of like this relationship between the Republican Party and the conservative Base]  If you were the spurned friend wouldn’t you want to at least sit down and pen  a sincere, personal letter asking them why?  Posing a few questions in order to get a better understanding as to why the relationship went south?  Wanting to recover that relationship?  Seems a no-brainer to me.   Certainly you wouldn’t send them a letter begging for money. That would be like rubbing salt in the wound and would be downright weird.  A strong indication that the sender had some real “issues” which might require professional counseling. 

So, the RNC has these real “issues”.   They have not even the slightest interest in trying to understand why the waning support for the party.   They simply don’t think in terms of using that fabulous mailing database to reach out and touch their former supporters.  Oh, certainly they’ll occasionally include a very short survey with rigged, carefully crafted, “safe” questions that most right thinking people would answer in only one way.  That survey being attached to another “plea” for money in order to coax a bit more out of us.  And we never see the compiled,  analyzed results of these surveys, do we?  Which can only mean that once the money was fished from the envelope the rest was, most likely, contemptibly tossed in the trash.

So the RNC has the know-how, the tools and the ability to reach us. Individually!  Isn’t that amazing?  They can and do easily communicate directly with all of us. But not for the purposes of gaining knowledge.  Only for bumming more money.    Large, successful corporations value feedback from their customers and employees.  They mail or email their customers and/or employees a PIN number which gives them access to a website.  On that website is an exhaustive, comprehensive, in depth questionnaire/survey covering all aspects of all issues within that company regarding the company’s products/services.   Once the survey is completed/returned, experts analyze the results and report to top management.   You see, in business factual data is an important tool that helps keep them competitive in the market.  Knowing what level of service and product sophistication their customers are desiring.  They have to stay mindful of the wants of their customers.

But not the RNC.  They continue to demonstrate that they care nothing for what the conservative Base thinks.  Instead they turn to their manipulative pollsters, their inept strategists and all manor of advisers and consultants who have their own biased agendas.  Nope.  No exhaustive questionnaire for conservative voters covering all aspects of all issues such as The GWOT,  the Geneva Convention(s),  immigration,  illegal immigration,  environmental radicalism, the man made global warming hoax,  domestic trade, international trade, the never ending trade deficit,  GATT and its evil offspring the WTO,  the UN,  world opinion, the diminishing influence of the U.S. Constitution, etc, etc.    And no gathering together of  the best and most enlightened conservative minds to analyze the results of said questionnaire once completed and returned.  Obviously they think we hayseeds out here in flyover country just don’t have sufficient or sophisticated knowledge of these issues to be able to adequately contribute to the discussion/debate.  

Oh I can hear the skeptics, “Unnecessary!  We have pollsters and other experts.  We know what the Base wants.  We have our finger on their pulse”.    Yes, and how has that been working for you, knucklehead?   No, the only reason to oppose a sincere, meaningful and substantial outreach from the RNC toward the Base is that the findings  might upset the status quo.  Can’t have that.    And there is another dark secret not spoken of in public.  The GOP Hierarchy might now have to confront and deal with something that they’ve known for some time; the extreme hostile opposition that exists between the Conservative Base and traditional corporate donors to the GOP.  Leaders with moral courage, like Ronald Reagan, would have no problem with a dilemma such as this.   Without question or hesitation  – loyalty to the Voters.   But, as I once again examine this little envelope from the RNC, I have no doubt what route they’d take.  They’d opt for the money.   Darvin Dowdy

The Conservative Movement has certainly contracted this ailment, in my view.  It has been sucked up in a vortex of emotional reaction directed towards the totally predictable course our government has taken since 1/20/09.  As if it should be a total surprise that this course has taken a sharp turn to the “left” under Obama/Pelosi/Reid.  “So” you ask, “how is this a pleasant distraction?”  I don’t know.  But it seems that Limbaugh, conservative talk radio, pundits and blogs are effuse with comment after comment, article upon article, essay stacked on essay, over and over and over again [ad nauseum] regarding the extreme leftward direction the democrats are steering our Nation.  Conservative commentators such as Ann Coulter continue to pump out articles and books telling us what we already know [and are sick of hearing] about the left.  Alright already!  We know enough about the devious, deceitful, Constitution-hating democrats!  My gosh how many times must we be told?  We’re convinced, ok?  Yet our conservative orators/pundits seem gleeful and shocked at the very same time in their continuous reporting of  the left’s shenanigans.  As if this is the first anyone has heard about this agenda of the left which works tirelessly  towards undermining our Constitution and moving us, instead, toward and under the control of some world governing body.  I mean, what the heck did they expect?  That congress would pass a bill declaring Ronald Reagan’s birthday a national holiday?  Why would they or any thoughtful person be surprised?  The answer is – they are not surprised.  They, the present conservative pundits, simply enjoy this game.  Tit for tat.  One-upmanship.  It’s a battle of the titan ego’s.   A glorious hobby!  They are having a blast.  They fiddle while Rome burns!  Its all become just a big game to them.  Again, they’ve been pulled into this vortex of strife and discord and have, hence, been rendered somewhat ineffective.   If they remain, they will become totally irrelevant. 

“So” you ask, “what should they do?  Shouldn’t they report these hideous attacks on our Constitution and Liberty? Shouldn’t we all protest?  Be shocked and appalled?”  Well, some years back I watched a football game with horrible officiating.  One call in particular was obviously flawed and unfair costing one team much needed points.  The team coach on the wrong side of the bad officiating kept his cool and did not complain.  His team was far behind but they had a superior strategy and tactics.  A better,  flexible plan.  Long story short, they came from behind and won the game despite the odds being completely against them.    The Conservative Movement has been beaten down by an unscrupulous opponent yet they have no come-back strategy, whatsoever. Oh, there are plenty who have a national “bloody pulpit” of some sort and they are standing behind those pulpits whining continuously about the encroachments of our arrant enemy.   There is no winning strategy, however,  or even a questioning of what went wrong on 11/7/06 and 11/4/08.  No attempt to reach out to the estranged GOP Base, better understand them and make adjustments that would draw them back.  Among conservative politicians or pundits there is no significant plan to go on the offensive against those negative forces within the GOP that continue to have a strangle hold on it.  Those that continue to drive away millions of former GOP voters.  No naming of names. No pointing of fingers.  No stomach for going after some of their golfing buddies or former comrades who have steered our GOP off of the super highway it was once on and into a muddy bog.  No sir, too unpleasant a task.  No gathering together of the great conservative minds for the purpose of an exhaustive analysis.  Why?  Largely because they’re afraid of what they’ll find. 

Nope, the only strategy our “distracted” side has now is that of throwing a few rocks at the democrats who are so well shielded by the MSM that the pebbles simply bounce off.  You hear the pinging sounds amid the laughter of our gloating opponents. 

Darvin Dowdy