It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

In the eyes of the theocon purists, those of us who are Giuliani fans are not "real conservatives." Okay, I'll concede that maybe I'm not a real conservative but I am a real Republican in the tradition of Presidents Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr and Jr - and Goldwater. All of these men were/are mavericks with strong convictions which they stuck to in spite of opposition.

Lincoln was (incorrectly) despised for being a "nigger lover." Teddy was reviled by his own party for opposing monopolies. Eisenhower was criticized for using the National Guard to protect the rights of blacks in the south. Nixon was lambasted for his overtures to China. Ford is still loathed by "real conservatives" because he "compromised too much." Bush Sr was roasted for raising taxes and Bush Jr is villified for not being hard enough on illegal immigrants - among a host of other sins in the eyes of the theocons.

Even the darling of theocons, Reagan, would not be elected by "purist" conservatives nowadays. After all he gave amnesty to 2 million illegals thereby opening the floodgates to ten million more. What is not well known outside of California is that, in 1978 when Reagan was just starting another run for POTUS, he opposed the Briggs Initiative in California. He knew that this could damage his reputation in the eyes of the theocons but he stuck to his principles and helped to defeat it.

From Wiki:

Proposition 6, more commonly known as The Briggs Initiative was an initiative on the California State ballot in 1978. Sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County, the failed initiative would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in California's public schools.

The Briggs Initiative followed similar legislation that had passed in Oklahoma and Arkansas, banning gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. It stated that any teacher that was found to be “advocating, imposing, encouraging or promoting” homosexual activity could be fired.

However, it is historically significant that the polls changed in the opponents favor when former Governor Ronald Reagan, later President, publically opposed the measure. The Initiative was defeated by more than one million votes.

Reagan vigorously opposed the ballot initiative sponsored by religious conservatives that would have barred homosexuals from teaching in the public schools. The timing is significant because he was then preparing to run for president, a race in which he would need the support of conservatives and moderates very uncomfortable with homosexual teachers. As Lou Cannon (Reagan biographer) puts it, Reagan was “well aware that there were those who wanted him to duck the issue” but nevertheless “chose to state his convictions.”

Reagan explained his opposition to Prop 6 by saying that it was an inhumane attack on personal freedom and individual rights.

Goldwater, once the darling of the Dixiecrats, of course would not be at home in the GOP of today. He was very wary of the theocons of his day and the GOP has been hijacked by those theocons/former Dixiecrats who haven't got a clue about classical Lockean individual sovereignty and want to control people much the same way that the commies do.

The GOP is truly the Big Tent party. Let's not ruin the only political party which stands for individual freedom, private property and self-reliance in the USA. The GOP has traditionally been the party of sensible, practical, business-like people who understand that the world is far from perfect. Since the days of Lincoln, it's been the party of "the lesser of two evils" pragmatists who want to win not the bailiwick of fanatical "purists" and ideologues who are willing to cut off the branch on which they are sitting.

Theocons and paleocons, by insisting on ideological purity, could destroy the underpinnings of the freedom that allows them to practice their religions or be grumpy curmudgeons. If you want to be fanatical, then maybe you belong in the Constitution Party. The GOP is for those of us who are willing to settle for the lesser of two evils in a fallen world.