Romney’s exit from the race for nomination signals the end of the primaries, as the different facets of the party coalesce behind the Republican nominee. The conservatives are left out in the cold, but many of them will see it as their duty to support the Republican nominee as a part of party politics.

Romney’s exit also signals my return to furthering the debate about the issues in the context of liberal vs. conservative beliefs.

We have a great deal of work ahead of us on issues, such as abortion, the economy, illegal immigration and immigration policy reform, tort reform, energy, education, and preserving our right to bear arms (and returning our gun rights).  Those battles will have to be fought regardless of who ends up in the White House.

The work of the electorate is never done, so please continue to read and participate. Please continue to listen to our weekly talk show. Hopefully, we are touching political passion points for you, and not just shouting into a dark room.

Last night, Fred said what has been on our minds.  Huckabee is not a Conservative.

Oh - and then there is that endorsement  from Human Events.

The 2008 presidential election is the most unusual and most important in many years. It’s been more than five decades since such a race didn’t feature an incumbent President or Vice President. Since World War II, America has not had a presidential election at a time when the stakes were higher. Conservatives have to win this election, and to do so, we have to identify a candidate around whom we all can rally.

Fundamental Beliefs

So, you have the National Right to Life endorsement. Then, while everyone else is on stage making proclamations about their own “Reaganism”, Reagan’s news source does it for Fred. Stop supporting these baubles and get behind the only real conservative in the race.

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I will never vote for McCain.

He is being sold to us by a lot of people in the Republican party as the only Republican who can beat Barak Obama.

Presumptuous drivel.

Although Hillary may have had her Dean Scream today when she got teary eyed by a question about how she manages to get her hair done every morning on the campaign trail (”It’s just so hard to do, but I am passionate about these issues. It’s personal!”), the fat lady is not even on stage yet.

As for McCain, what makes him an electable Republican? That he is to the right of Obama? I am supposed to accept a right-leaning socialist over a left-leaning socialist? What kind of logic is that?

Oh - yeah. Those committee seats in congress! We’re not talking about the values and commitments of our party anymore - that’s out the window, as long as we retain our positions on the “good committees”. Forget it. I am not supporting that drivel. The RNC needs to get this train back on the rails because the alternative is a Democrat in the White House for the next 3 elections. You want good positions in the good committees? Earn them! Coalesce the party along the ideals of our conservative, federalist roots.

You guys prop up one of the 4 paper tiger “conservatives” in this race and you will find your base opt out of this election faster than you know what through a goose. We’ve had enough. We want the party to support the conservative - Fred Thompson.

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Part 1

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Part 2

What do you want? Someone who just really really wants to be POTUS or someone who really really can?

Everyone else is trying to become conservatives for your vote - Thompson is just telling you what his conservative record already supports.

I am a FredHead - it’s simple really. I’m tired.

I’m tired of flip-flop candidates - they are for a path to citizenship, using a delusional guest worker program no more enforceable than the 14 guest worker programs already in existence. They are for extending benefits and tuition rights to illegal immigrants. They shield people here illegally from prosecution and deportation. Then, when they need Republican votes - they have had their “come to Jesus” and promise to be good boys on illegal immigration. McCain, Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee.

I’m tired of weak tea rhetoric about why we need more federal government intervention in our lives. Whether it be abortion, education, or government health care. I am tired of politicians taking away my community’s voice in the debate. McCain, Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee.

I’m tired of outright lies to get my vote. Rudy - you are pro-choice, anti-gun, and supported liberal Mario Cuomo instead of someone from your own party. Stop telling people how conservative you are. McCain - you are not a conservative. You hyphenate your name with congress’ most liberal member to open the borders. You support embryonic stem cell research with our tax dollars, you think affirmative action is ok. Mitt - you’ve been successful in probably the most liberal state in the Union. This is mostly because you have spent years pandering to the left. Stop telling people how conservative you are. Huckabee - Conservative, Tax Friendly, tough on illegal immigration, right? No, Mike is a tax-raising, advocate of illegal immigrant college tuition with no foreign policy experience.

In direct contrast - Fred been consistent on:

• abortion
• prioritizing the national debt
• balanced budget as a constitutional issue
• ending discriminatory selection practices for jobs, school, etc.
• commerce clause is not a federal regulations blank check
• tort reform
• school choice
• oil dependency and alternative fuels
• Free trade
• foreign policy beneficial to American interests
• 2nd amendment
• national security
• illegal immigration
• social security
• tax reform
• welfare and welfare overhaul

If the question is who to vote for in 2008, the only clear answer is Fred Thompson. You boys talk Fred’s talk, but you can’t walk Fred’s walk. I’m tired of watching you try.

I am a conservative and I enjoy the reaction to Ron Paul’s candidacy, but let’s get one thing straight. He can’t do it. He won’t get the Republican nomination and if he runs as an independent, the Democrats will control the White House for the next 8 years.

Ron Paul’s campaign is not useless by any means. With so many conservatives in the race, I think the GOP is getting a good view of the kind of policy stances driving excitement in the party - and I hope they are listening. However, there are conservatives and there are conservatives. What the GOP cannot afford is to have the polarizing effect within the GOP that is already being experienced between Republicans and Democrats. So, while Ron Paul is certainly bringing visibility to what a great number of conservatives find important and correct, he will only appeal to those voters. That isn’t enough to win a presidential election in a country where the majority of voters are center-right and center-left.

I certainly do not advocate the GOP continue to abandon the 2004 platform. Most GOP voters, a great many independents, and conservative democrats are hard and fast believers that the party identity is reflected there. But, you cannot ramrod the rest of the party, let alone the rest of the country and expect results. Ron Paul advocates policy which will alienate roughly 1/3 of GOP voters. I have heard arguments that Paul’s anti-war stance makes him a good candidate to appeal to the far left. If that is true, you are still looking at a candidate who only deals in the extremes - a vast minority.

The candidate who receives the GOP nomination has got to be the one most equipped to garner cooperation within the party. The “odd man out” for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress isn’t going to do that.

Howard Fineman of MSNBC made a candid statement about the GOP chances this fall and GOP leaders had better listen. He is spot on!

GOP will lose next fall unless it can reunite the Reagan-Bush coalition

The indicators have been present for some time that the GOP is losing grip on its identity. The 2004 GOP platform and the actions of many GOP lawmakers do not coincide.

Many of you are going to jump right in with “Bush this and Bush that” but you’ll be wrong. George W. Bush is a heavily advised president, and in many cases has been ill-advised by leaders who have taken up a pragmatic approach to Republican party politics.

As Republicans head into one of the last televised debates before the voting starts, the cracks in their Reagan-Bush coalition not only are showing, they’re getting wider. The ideological ala carte candidates – Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani – are generating buzz; the one-size-fits-all conservatives – Mitt Romney, John McCain and Fred Thompson – have yet to show they can unify the party.

I find neither Rudy Giuliani an ideologue, nor John McCain a conservative. However, Mr. Fineman makes a cogent point when he says this election is going to be won or lost by a GOP candidate based upon bringing together a splintering, dissatisfied base.

While many talk about a candidate who will be able to work with the Democrats to get things done, the RNC and GOP leadership should be focused on a candidate who will work - period - in the minds of voters from those three groups Mr. Fineman mentions - evangelicals, libertarians, and hawks.

With the country split so evenly in numbers between Red and Blue, you can’t afford to have one Republican or right-leaning independent (who are generally so because they felt betrayed by the GOP and left) opt-out of the election process - and phone calls telling Republicans how much you hope they’ll come out and vote is not what they are looking for. They are looking for a reason to support a GOP candidate.

It is also possible McCain is channeling Mrs. Clinton - depending on whether you call his recent stance on border security a flip- flop or a self-reinvention. I vote for flip-flop.

John McCain could not have possibly been mistaken about the desire of Americans (who care one way or the other) to secure the border as a prelude to any fundamental changes in immigration policy. It could not have been made more clear - clear enough that Democrats won seats in 2006 because they were “for” securing the border and committed to “bring the troops home”.

McCain placed is immense Hero and All-Around Straight Shooter capital into play to push another guest worker program into law. I don’t know who I respect less on this issue, President Bush or John McCain - they were both poorly advised.

John McCain contributed to the landscape change in the House and Senate in 2006. Had not he and several other GOP leaders gone off reservation with this ridiculous guest worker program, it is likely that Gabby Giffords would not now be in Congress.

Today, however, John McCain talks about securing the border first. Easily done after a few years of failing to bring the guest worker program into law. I find it interesting that McCain spent so much time telling the voters how wrong they were on this issue and now is telling voters it was a lesson learned.

Mr McCain, the lesson you are going to learn is this. American voters, and particularly Arizona voters, have longer memories than you seem to think. We have not forgotten your involvement in The Gang of 14. We won’t forget how your name ends up being hyphenated with America’s most liberal lawmakers, yet now you try to appeal to the GOP base.

We especially won’t forget how you only acknowledged the wisdom of the voters on border security when you needed something from us - before then, we were just wrong.