Proof?

Even under Reagan....no major cuts in government (He grew it in fact). Cut taxes some, but then re-raised them later in 1983 and 1986. Fixed Social Security...but didn't end it or privatize it.

Same for Gingrich...Dubya and the GOP Congress even increased spending.

Sure they get tax cuts...and the deficits that ALWAYS have followed them for 30 years....but they don't cut the size of Government, rarely even "hold it in check". Dubya tried to privatize Social Security...and it bombed. Republicans run around TODAY telling folks they'll "protect Medicare from Obama's cuts"...not "We'll scrap it (gradually) and replace it with 'free market solutions'."

Even in Republican politics...they know they can't run "real conservatives" and win. Remember? Dubya ran on being a "compassionate conservative"...his dad ran on "kinder, gentler" conservatism. Because they knew the "other kind" (the Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity/Savage kind)...the public rejected. Cons admit Reagan's win was on Carter's failures...and his 1984 win was on a good economy, not "efforts to cut Government" (a phoney promise, see above)

Much as they bitch about "McCain being a RINO"....he won their nomination, didn't he? Why wasn't it ...Ron Paul...or Tom Tancredo....or Duncan Hunter....or Sam Brownback???

2010?...They'll pick up some seats. History indicates 20-25. They'll TALK as if their ideology is "on the rise again"...but guess what? It never was. They may even win 2012 and put a Repub back in the White House, but....

you REALLY think they'll "cut the size and scope of Government"...you even think with a GOP Congress (post-2012) they'll even "hold the line"????

A few honest ones will admit it...their philosophy is Utopian, "not letting it grow AS fast" is all they claim they can practically accomplish. And that hasn't even been approached, except for a few years with Gingrich....and the government shut-down was won by Clinton, not Newt.

So...if today...they want to claim "THIS time and NEXT time, the sand castle will withstand the incoming tide"....fine. I think deep down they know the truth and it's why they're so easily angered.

They know the truth....and probably get frustrated regurgitating the lie.

Looks to me like you just explained how Conservatism eventually wins!

Alice, just a quick question, is the country more or less conservative than it was 120 years ago?

While I agree that the GOP will pick up some seats in congress next year [10-20 in the house, 1-2 in the Senate], its unlikely that they'll take back the Whitehouse in 2012. By then the economy will be back on track and today's recession well behind us- one of the key factors in who wins the whitehouse.