That's not to say that you don't have every right to do so- but my complaint is when you then question those of us who are sticking it out with McCain as though we're the problem and we just don't get it. We get it alright- we just know there's a lot of work to do and it might take more than one election cycle.

IOW, again, I disagree with your whole premise that the party isn't working hard enough to reform itself, and I feel like you are giving up before we've even had a chance to start getting there.

Personally I feel that there's excellent reform happening at the lower eschalons- a really good group of spending hawks in the House, and some great young governors. And if the complaint is that the central, higher level leaders aren't similarly reform minded, then how does it make sense to punish John McCain for that when he at least has a credible record as a spending hawk and fighter of pork, and thus a more sensible fiscal conservative brand- not to mention a more sensible social conservative brand as well?

Again, I think that instead of getting angry at the people who leave, there needs to be more thought given into why people are leaving the party altogether or are voting for Obama.

In fact even the nomination of McCain disproves your belief of denial. If the party still had its head in the sand, it would have rallied around somoene with socon cred or someone who met Club for Growth's litmus test on taxes while ignoring spending. McCain represents a true change because he has always been a spending hawk and he's shown that he contemplates tax changes in the context of the current state of the economy, not as a knee jerk ideological stance.

The real question is, how do you expect the party to regroup and reorganize itself when you jump ship during difficult times? Why not stay and help bail out the water, instead of leaving only a few behind and then complaining that they're allowing the ship to take on more water that will sink it? (Pete, this means you- because yes, I'm angry that you reversed yourself on your decision to work toward reform of the party.)

I think that even if Tuesday ends in a crushing defeat for the Republicans, those currently in the leadership will simply follow the same lines they've said for years when elections don't go their way. It's all the fault of the biased MSM for not putting forth the proper explanation of their answers for our problems. It will never even occur to them that they just might be wrong. Maybe a political philosophy rooted in the 1920s, including the religious revivals of the time just aren't viewed as the answers to problems of the 21st century.