We conservatives are going through a lot. We must trudge through torrents of biased and stilted news at the hands of "liberal" outlets like CNN and the "moderate"-pushing FOX. We must cope with the Republican Party pronouncements that we have no choice but to accept their personal, inside choice of John McCain. Please note that their dictates come BEFORE the major primaries, not after. Yes, I know their message is "blessed unity", but I hear something else. I hear the RNC and new "center-right/moderate" leaders telling me that THEY have made their decision- the deals struck, the smoke filled-rooms already vacated. I hear from every corner of the Republican establishment that I am betraying blessed unity to even consider a vote for conservative Romney. In fact, my vote is no longer even needed. 

I feel as if I live in one of those pseudo-democracies we hear about on the news, where there is only the APPEARANCE of opposing parties and only the fantasy of an election in which a vote does matter.

How did we come to this place? How does it happen that millions of conservatives are rapped across the knuckles by their own Party and the liberal and moderate press and sternly lectured about the necessity of adopting a candidate they find inferior? One answer is that the Republican Party doesn't really even exist any more.   

The Democrats have always been slyer and more clever than Republicans. Today, I tip my hat to them. They have actually been smart enough to take control of their opposition.  They are pulling the strings of the GOP puppet. They know damn right and well that John McCain is the campaign reincarnation of Bob Dole. They know that insulted and marginalized conservatives will stay home and that Donald Duck as their nominee could then take the White House. Do you really think that they have no hand in pro-McCain delectability polling? Have you noticed all the slack -jawed interviewers asking Democrat analyst after Democrat pundit whom it is they fear? Did anyone else find it odd that they all praise McCain off the same talking points? I find it hilarious that so many of these stupid reporters, viewers and Republican activists blindly accept their words. Nobody questions the fact that all these people who make their livings off the success of the Democrat Party have magically decided to be totally altruistic and give the GOP the best advice they could, and help the GOP as much as they could by helping them pick the best nominee! It's more likely that coaches of one Super Bowl team would have press conferences to suggest plays and lineups that would be best for the opposing team. Only an idiot would fall for that. The RNC must be chock full of 'em.

Look at the people pushing the McCain Bandwagon. They are the new leaders of the Republican Party. And in recent years they have "reached across the aisle" so consistently, and so frequently taken counsel from- and been so greatly influenced by- liberals and Democrats that they are no longer identifiable as Republicans.  

The pundits can quit whining about the "partisan divide" in Washington. Not to worry. It takes two parties for that tango and we've only really got one, now. Don't get me wrong- the GOP still exists in a way, but it is only the shell of a Tweed-style political machine. There's no heart, no soul, no solid ideology. It is now an organization that strives to control people and is no longer made up of people. When you can say that about a Party, you can expect plenty of defeats in its future.