Boy, has the political world been turned on its head as Americans run from the fringes and towards ‘the center’. Today is one of those days I am a proud (and an original – since 1982) Independent Conservative. The madness overtaking the Mary Poppins Conservatives as they run around with their Holier Than Thou schtick is simply stunning. In a nutshell it goes like this – no matter how consistently conservative you have been over the last quarter century, if you disagree with the “true” conservatives – even partially – you are a lesser human being and not a good American.

That was the message from the newly self-minted “Independent Conservatives” Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity today. Brother, classic rock never sounded so good! My differences with these self annointed Apostles of Reagan (who was the one who converted yours truly BTW) are minor. I am very much pro-life and a strong and scientifically based opponent of Embryonic Stem Cell Research. I am a strong defender of the war in Iraq and The Surge (see here as well). I believe I have been a voice of sanity and insight on the entire FISA-NSA issue as I exposed the media lies around our national security. I was part of the effort to dispel the lies promulgated by the Plamiacs. I am a proponent of true science being included in the Global Warming discussions.

But all that is for naught because I do not agree we should distract our limited security resources and round up 12 million long term illegal aliens, instead preferring they be background checked, fined, pay back taxes and get to the very back of the citizenship line. For that one reasonable and defendable difference on immigration (which is the only issue between conservatives and the Amnesty Hypochondriacs) I, Bush, McCain, Kyle, Warner and others are demeaned and denigrated. For realizing Dubai Ports was not a security risk and knowing it was a security enhancement against nuclear bombs being smuggled into this country through foreign ports I became a lesser conservative (if you didn’t know the UAE was willing to purchase on their own dime state-of-the-art cargo scanners for all their overseas ports and pre-check cargo heading to America).

The fact of the matter is there are more conservatives who can disagree on some items than those too pure for the rest of us lowly beings to fathom. And that is the lesson that will be taught this election cycle. Hannity and Ingraham are divorcing themselves from the GOP for daring to disagree with them – they are now “Independent Conservatives”. How pathetic. They don’t get their way so they bolt, insults and demeaning comments flying against those who dare differ.

And let’s not forget the two versions of suicide voters out there. We have the Coulter-Beck club who are not RINOs, but will vote for Hillary before the GOP nominee (and yes folks, McCain is the GOP nominee as selected by the voters just as Bush is the GOP President, also selected by the voters). How is it they are more “pure”, “true” conservatives than those who disagree with McCain but still want to defeat liberalism? And there is also their close cousins the suicide non-voters, whose actions will also result in Liberals having an edge in this year’s elections? These suicide voters are holier conservatives than me?

The interesting part is if these folks keep bolting the party I may actually sign up to the GOP. Anyone willing to put Clinton in over McCain is backstabbing our military in my opinion (and yes, that is also a valid and rational view so get over it). McCain is a military hero. That means one of our military’s own is now a top contender for the WH. To diss him in favor of the surrendercrats is a double smack at those who risked and lost their lives in defense of this country.

Hannity tried to prop himself up again today by saying he is fighting for what he believes. Well so is everyone Sean – what makes you a better person or American than all the rest of us? The conservative talk shows have been nothing more than ego-stroking debacles since FL. It is 3 hours of why they cannot be wrong and why every other conservative who disagrees with them is fatally flawed as a conservative. As I said – the whole thing smells funky now.

If Laura and Sean want respect for fighting for their views then they should begin by showing it for the rest of us flawed conservatives who do THE SAME THING. Reagan brought me into conservatism because he was engaging and respectful. Today’s ‘true’ conservatives, as exemplified by the ranting of Savage, Levin and others, have undone all of Reagan’s good work and open arms. They have no tolerance for conservative views that are only marginally different from theirs. And you know what, I guess we should return the favor. I was thinking about going to CPAC this year – I don’t feel welcome so I am probably going to skip it.

Come November my guess is the ever shrinking and irrelevant ‘true’ conservatives will have become totally obsessed with their own greatness to the point the GOP will arise bigger and stronger to take on Hillary and Obama. It will be a center-right party devoid of suicide voters and those newly minted “independent” conservatives. Because this country is still a center-right country I think the GOP will see a resurgence, as it did when Buchanan bolted in his pique of frustration. America is still very religious, pro-life, strong on security, etc. One only need to look at the Lieberman-Lamont results to figure that one out. CT led the country in tacking from the fringes to the center, and I don’t see that trend ending since the largest voting block is always the independents (the real ones, not the ones who are too afraid to publicly declare they are no longer solid Republicans). And they decide elections, this year more than ever.