Excuse me, but I WAS a GOP operative and national political director for 3 of the 4 national GOP organizations.

And I did the GOP's Deukmejian' campaign vs. Tom Bradley as the Field Director for the Western States for the GOP's Governors Assn. in 1982. There never WAS a "Bradley Effect" as the writer opines, and as others have also repeated, incorrectly as IF RACE had been an issue in the outcome of that election between an African American and an Armenian American.

It never happened. It's a "strawman" argument.

Duke's polls showed him LOSING to Mayor Tom Bradley. A bright young staffer came up with the idea to build an ABSENTEE VOTER PROGRAM among likely "Duke" voters. It worked.

On election night, the voters had told the truth to the pollsters as the majority DID vote for Bradley on election day! EXCEPT, that when the Absentee Votes were counted, Duke squeaked by Mayor Bradley, and won the election for Governor of California.

So many people "TALK" about the "Bradley Effect" which has about as much authenticity as the Republican Party's promise to balance the national budget or the appearance of the Sasquatch on national tv; neither of which can be believed!

There was not, and never has been, anything called the "Bradley Effect."

Thank you.

Let's get this straight. Sen. Ted Stevens was found GUILTY and the voters of Alaska re-elected him? Congressman Don Young has also been re-elected by Alaskans?

Two questions from this Citizen of the United States: Are Alaskans OUT of their minds? Do Alaskans NOT have BETTER citizens to represent them than CRIMINALS?

And, Alaskans wonder WHY the United States has gone to hell? Take a look in the mirror Alaskans. YOU are the CAUSE of it!

Mr. Conason has it partially accurate. Mr. Conason among others, particularly those as self-described "conservatives" are NOT "conservatives" but corporatists/fascists who took over the GOP commencing with RMN and really took off with the election of RWR.

I served as a political director for 3 of the 4 national GOP organizations in the late '70's and early '80's and WARNED the GOP, particularly among the "conservatives" who were SELLING OUT to the corporatists (who were buying them cheaply). I left the GOP in '84 BECAUSE of the sell-out of our nation by the corporatists using the GOP as its vehicle for fascist control of the American largesse (now $10 Trillion in DEBT, and going up another $1 Trillion in bail-outs of AIG, et al without OUR citizens' approval!). The U.S. is in grave danger by both parties dominated by the corporatists/fascists.

The GOP is NOT a "conservative party" but a corporatist/fascist one that dominates the current U.S. Government at the policy levels.

Conservatives need to bring to bear the policies/values that reflect Main Street, NOT Wall Street.

Those Mr. Conason calls "conservatives" are NOT "conservative" at all. They are the corporatists/fascists who have taken the citizens' monies; have spent the taxpayers' $10 TRILLION into debt; while holding Americans hostage at home; and are now using the U.S. military to hold other nations hostage as well in the name of "democracy!"

Politically, from 2004 to 2008 (given the differences in voter outcomes in the states), this election demonstrated that there are only 4 states in "play" for the GOP (i.e. W.Va., Tenn., Miss., and Arkansas), making that party less than a "national" political participant worthy of the term "national." By the numbers, the GOP is now dead as a viable political organization as it has NO constituent' growth, but is marginalized in a very small region of the U.S.' South.

This is more about "DE-alignment" than "realignment" in the U.S. now. The GOP has been KILLED from within by its sell-out to the corporatists/fascists selling itself (for money) as "conservative," when NOTHING the GOP has done over the past 30 years can be described as "conservative."

Those who ARE "Conservative" have an opportunity to form a coalition across the U.S. that will break from the "Beltway Bunch" and reform our political process where it belongs: ON MAIN STREET AMERICA!

The GOP is dead. Don't take my word for it, ask the American people who just said so at BOTH ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The interview is a self-response. Since those three persons ARE already committed to the Republican Party, OF COURSE, they are going to give answers of the GOP's positive future.

They are WRONG!

The GOP's self-inflicted destruction will NOT be forgotten by this nation's citizens. From Reagan through Bush/Cheney, 10 Trillion Dollar national debt; Trillion dollar war on LIES; the Great Recession of '08; NAFTA, WTO, all committed by the GOP and the interviewees think that the U.S. citizens are going to forget that? Ask the GOP after Herbert Hoover (GW's numbers are worse than HH's).

The GOP's "brand" is destroyed. One look at the election results from '92-2008 (i.e. the differences in positive results), leaves only 4 states in play (the POOREST ones in the South) for the GOP, rendering the GOP a "regional" party at best!

It is TIME for NON-Beltway citizens, who ARE Conservatives from MAIN Street to organize politically, rather than those Beltway consultants who sold us Americans out to Wall Street in the name of the GOP. They are NOT "conservatives."

GOP: "Good-Bye OLD Party!"

Too many persons are focused on refilling an empty "piggy bank" as IF that will help in the long-run. It won't.

The U.S. MUST re-establish a broad "manufacturing base" to assure a SOURCE for income-production. The Federal Government's printing of "funny money" will only exacerbate the problem, long-term.

The U.S.' policy that out-sourced American manufacturing is now being FELT enormously as the old monetary policy approach can no longer work because America's economic "engine" has been turned off and sent to China, Asia, etc.

This is a classic FAILURE of ELITES to recognze HOW "wealth" is created: By Labor!