At least Captain Ed correctly recognizes the GOP’s self-destructive impulse, as exhibited most recently by RedState’s ban of Ron Paul supporters:
I disagree with Leon’s assumption that these Paul supporters are all or mostly cryptoliberals. Plenty of libertarian-leaning Republicans exist in the party, along with the former Buchananites and isolationists of the GOP. Instead of cutting these people off, it might be better for Redstate to keep engaging them. After all, Paul will not be in the race all that much longer, and we need those voters to stay in the GOP when Paul disappears. There are worse impulses than libertarianism.
The GOP does need those voters, but they’re not going to get them. Not because its leadership has rejected the only candidate who can beat Hillary in 2008, but because it is rejecting the conservative principles upon which the party is supposedly based. Many conservatives and libertarians have learned their lesson from their betrayal by George W. Bush and will never again vote for a big-spending, Constitution-ignoring, globalist, big government candidate, much less one that is openly pro-abortion to boot; the fact that he might have an (R) after his name only makes the candidate that much more offensive to them.
None of this is a surprise, of course. Except for the unexpected Paul irruption, this entire campaign has been a charade on both sides of the aisle. As I predicted literally years ago, the whole point of nominating a Giuliani or a Romney is to permit the GOP to take a dive for Hillary. If you still believe there are two different political parties in the United States of America, you have been paying attention to the style of their pre-election promises rather than the substance of their post-election actions.