CNN

Gutsy move for the Republicans.

Maybe there is hope for the GOP yet!

It is funny...a Conservative arguing with a Conservative is like getting into an argument with your spouse. You either don't win and let the the woman win or just repressed your memories for a long time...

This is a sad display, but they need to go through this painful process to find themselves. Hopefully, they kick out the bigots, warmongering, narrow minds and keep people who realize they have to govern a country of people who refuse to be dictated too, but respect different points of view.

Could it be that they finally see that moderates are the key to this country's future? Stranger miracles have happened...

Which of the candidates were the most conservative? You have got to be kidding me. These people are in a deep state of denial.

The republicans have been chasing their tails for so long now I don't think they know which way is forward. Long may they spin.

The slogan of the Republican Party has been an " I`ve got mine-To Hell with you" attitude with bigotry lurking just below the surface.

The Republican Party is Disfunctional - Disassociated and in Disarray. They are a Disaster

Whomever is the considered the least conservative should be the one that runs the DNC.

They would have a whole different perspective and a better chance of bringing in new blood into the Republican Party.

@Charles L. Shaw, Liverpool, NY
-------------
I respected your stance of being against both parties because they seem to hate each other, until it became obvious that you hate both parties for it. Ironic, isn't it?

On topic, the GOP will disappear into the history books as a party that eventually folded because it allowed itself to become out dated. A vote to see "Who is the most conservative" has the sound of "Who is really out dated here...we are losing members left and right because we are TOO conservative, so let's keep going with that...we hate those people that left any ways!"

The GOP needs to move further to the middle, not the right. It's a simple fact. Too much of anything is bad, and too much conservatism, is ROTTEN, we've learned that from the past eight years of Bush/Cheney. Never mind the complete destruction of our constitution and bill of rights.

I'm an ex-republican and presently a proud independent. If I have to choose, I usually vote outside either party, but that doesn't mean I can't stand the whole lot of either party. You have your good one's and bad ones. But it's a scary thought to think that these people actually were going to vote for 'who is most out dated in our group?...let's have that person lead us"

Wow, how pathetic the party has become. Testing who's more conservative? This is the same party that elected John McCain and then turned on him when he lost because he was deemed 'not conservative enough'. What a joke. Republicans just accept that until the members of your party genuinely become more inclusive instead of my divisive and exclusive, you will continue to lose elections.

This is coming from an Independent who turned away from even considering the Republican party when the campaign last year turned to name calling, racist slurs (by rally members), insinuations that Barack was a terrorist by Palin, etc. and embraced the Democratic party.

Wooow!! It seems the RNC is finally waking up and realizing that times are different.... after all elephants are not renown for their speed!!!!

Members of the RNC’s Conservative Steering Committee had originally planned to vote on which of the candidates for chairman were the most conservative, after holding a series of 30-minute interviews with each Republican hopeful.

This is the problem with our govt. They should be loking for the most center conservative. I am a conservative but I still have liberal views on many issues. The left has the same problem with Pelosi.

Funniest news I've read in WEEKS. MONTHS. Well - it's been weeks since Palin ended her run so...weeks.

It's clear the Republican party has almost totally self-destructed. The fact that they've lost so resoundingly in the last two national elections (sorry, Repubs - the Democrats have only held a majority TWO of Bush's EIGHT years, YOUR party had it the other six and I didn't see things getting better then) is a result of the people finally having enough. Enough hatred. Enough outright lies. Enough badmouthing. And enough completely mucking up the running of this country.

What I can't believe is that there is still a rabid audience for the likes of Limburgher, Sean "I'm A REAL Journalist, Dammit" Hannity and the like. It's evident on these blogs as they come on and all spew forth the same regurgitated one-liners from their so-called "news" shows that aren't really news when you criticize them for not acting news-like and are news when they have something they really really want you to believe, right or wrong.

Maybe if I heard the Republican leadership openly distancing themselves from Sean, Rush, FOX news and the like, I might start listening to see if they're actually changing. But I'm not betting on that any more.

When you count on buffoons to get out the word, what you attract is buffoonery.

"Well I guess in the DNC it is up to the president-elect BO who will serve as chairman. Talk about Dictatorship!"

Actually, the tradition is that the the President of the party in power picks the chairman of his party, from what I read on CNN. For now, that means Obama picks the DNC chair.

"Also, this wasn't a vote on leading the RNC (they will have that later), this was a vote on who was the most conservative."

Yes, but the one would have influenced the other. I'm sure that was the idea in trying to get the vote on "who's most conservative".

To KB Co.

You hit it right on the spot!! RNC is sooooo in trouble.

DO IT! DO IT!

Please hold a vote so that we can see who should never be allowed in public office again. This is a great idea. Thanks guys.

They wanted to vote to see who is the most conservative?!? LOL! What a bunch of nuts! Yeah, that's what you need! Vote for the most out of touch morons in the RNC. I'm really enjoying the downfall of the republican party!

Come on, the Republicans must show that they are to the right of David Duke. The Republicans must show they are a regional party of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and other pseudo-religious figures who never won election to a political office, and who will never move the new Republican Party to a competitive position beyond the strict confines of the religious right. Continue the movement of "the Republican right wing way or the highway." Pretty soon, the Republican Party will be invisible outside the deep south.

The GOP might get back on track if they finally stop trying to recreate a Leave-it-to-Beaver country that never was, and return to the true conservative values of fewer taxes, smaller government, free market economy and minding you own business overseas. Oh, wait, that's the Libertarian Party. Right, never mind.

I really like most of the comments on here....lol

Here's the story in a nutshell....The Republicans had better have meetings not for weeks, or months, but for YEARS......It will be a while
before they win the white house, for sure.....they may win the senate, or the majority in congress, but that's IT......

They need to roll back the "abortion factor" and all the right wing "Religious Stuff"..........

If they really believe in the U.S. and our "FREEDOMS" what makes the difference what religion people IS ? And another thing, What makes the difference if the woman Wants to get an abortion, or not ? Why should they make it THEIR LAW ?? That's taking away THEIR Freedom...period......I say, Let GOD take care of the nes who are doing and performing all those abortions.....It isn't up to us....
Larry C.
Houston, Texas

I am not surprised by the grade-school vote for most conservative. I'm sure it was in regards to social conservatism. I voted republican for a long time but out of fiscal concerns. I voted straight democrat this time and will never, ever vote republican again until the social conservatives are gone. I've never seen a more rigid, rude, pathetic group. And the "literal translators of the bible" are the absolute worst. Please go away.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Oh my god I wonder why? Could it be that most of the members required to vote are in prison ? Or hanging out in the mens room at local airports? lololololololololololololol

Most conservative – exactly what does that mean. Does it mean the most vigilant against anti-American sentiment, or who has stayed clear of paling around with terrorist and who set the bar for what is an acceptable level of conservatism?

The GOP is in a bad, bad state. They only have two ways out:

a) denaunce neocons, wingnuts and the religous right or

b) add a cross to their logo and pray for voters.

Seeing how far Sahra Palin got my money is on b), and that will be the end of the party. Separation of state and church prohibits what these right fringe groups want, and if they don't get what they want – and they want more every day, every hour – they won't turn up to vote (or might even oppose the candidate, like they did with Guiliani).

So, in a way, the neocons goal of a permanent Republican majority may turn out to be exactly the opposite: a party divided, no credibility with the voters, bickering about the way out. Wanna now what? I couldn't be happier!

The irony of the situation is that all the moderate republicans we want to take back the party were the ones that loss there seats so that leaves mostly right wing southern republicans who were already in charge anyway.

What have we done!!

The Republicans need to go we will never get this country running again WAKE UP REPUBLICANS LOSE THE OLD SCHOOL POLITICS AND WAYS, THIS IS THE 21st CENTURY GET UP WITH THE TIMES DO YOU THINK MAYBE FOR ONCE YOU CAN WORK IN A BIPARTISAN MANNER AND HELP THIS COUNTRY IF NOT THEN IT WILL BE ALONG TIME BEFORE YOUR PATHETIC PARTY COMES BACK!!

The Republican Party is a "conservative" party by modern tradition, not by some institutional requirement. The party of Lincoln was originally a centrist antislavery coalition which was quickly coopted by business interests under Grant's corrupt administration. Parties which fail to evolve can indeed disappear, such as the Whigs and Know-Nothings in the 19th Century...

Do these people live on earth? They are insane.

They just can't decide who will be hated least by the American people who voted them out in November.

They just can't decide who will be hated least by the American people who voted them out in November.

Hey TCM. Thanks to you and your Dad for serving our country! But how woefully stupid can you get? Bush and the [R]s have tried to systematically undo much of what you and your father supposedly fought for. But if you want to defend the indefensible, be my guest, I'm sure you feel that you fought to have that right in this country, and I do not question that.

But know this: you and your father did NOT fight so that so-called "whiny wimps" like me could claim to be an American. MYSELF AND ALL OTHER AMERICANS ARE AMERICANS QUITE INDEPENDENT OF YOUR OR YOUR FATHERS PARTICULAR SERVICE IN THE ARMED FORCES; MANY HAVE FOUGHT AND SACRIFICED OVER MANY YEARS IN MANY ARENAS TO AQUIRE AND PROTECT OUR FREEDOMS. The fact that you think your service gives you some special right to pass judgement on the citizenship of other Americans that you don't happen to agree with, is indeed a sad comment on your pathetic rightwing view of this country. Talk about a "liberal" feeling of entitlement! So thanks again for your service, but NO THANKS to your perverted rightwing politics.

The newly selected head of the RNC will be chosen by that person's ability to steal from the poor and give to the rich while lying and saying the opposite.

The GOP or "Greedy Old Party" is the old Torrie class of rich land owners who like the notion of indebted servitude and slavery, just look at what they accomplished in the last eight years.

There's nothing like a good old depression to get people to work cheaper!

RNC meeting = and excercise in stupidity.

This is the first smart thing I've seen the Republicans do since the election. Ideological rigidity my be a selling point for ideologues but most of us care more about pragmatic solutions than conservative notions of purity. If the GOP can lose the thought police then, who knows, they might even win back some political credibility sometime in the next decade or so.

That good old GOP. Still clueless and still heading in the wrong direction, with no understanding that this is a center-left (fiscally center, socially left) leaning country.

When "stupidity" suffices, why search for any other reason?

At least it wasn't a vote on who is most patriotic.

Also, this wasn't a vote on leading the RNC (they will have that later), this was a vote on who was the most conservative.

The real reason they dropped the straw poll was that NONE of those neoconliberal fools make the conservative grade, and only the Paul wing of the GOP does, and they would lose their cushy spots. They'd rather go down with the ship rather than save it by relinquishing the helm, and we're seeing it happen now, as was predicted months ago in various spots.

When will they just go away, so this country can get the respect that we use to have back from the rest of the world.

what will save the republican party is simple, the democrats. If the republicans act like the dem's did under bush i.e., let them spend like crazy and let conditions get bad enough then the conditions for a republican especially a true fiscal conservative will be the likely candidate in 4 yrs. Of course if republicans stick to family values ha, ha, religious dogma, and button issues they are going to once again be left real far behind. Republicans need the middle to middle right, McCain could have won but he went to the right and what did republicans learn from that ?

@REG in AZ: no, I say its more like attempting to close the barn door on a barn that has just burned down, with the horse inside.

What I continue to find rediculous is how, after these past 8 years of [R] executive rule, and ~12 years of [R] legislative rule, these people can keep labeling themselves as "conservative". If recent experience has shown us anything, it is that there are very few real conservatives left in high places in the [R] party. That party has always been the refuge of the rightwing, but now it has been completely hijacked by that pathetic group. Even those [R] politicians that are now showing this false fiscal remorse are doing so as the initial move towards partisan political obstruction; and now after so many years of so freely giving away our blood and money to whatever the rightwing has cooked up, the [R]s are so uneasy with the new ground they are trying to stake out that their weak talking points are obviously scripted.

Rightwing is NOT conservative; in fact it is one of the most reactionary, liberal-based philosophies going. I voted straight Democratic party for the last few elections, and I'll put my conservative credentials up against any of the kool-aid drinking neo-tards who post on here.

The GOP has lost its direction; they have lost their way when they decided to become centralists on all policy. Any GOP member, who is concerned, read this and weep, I was a member of this party for over twenty years, and not once was I asked to be involved in any process, short of me giving them money. They have no connection anymore with the American citizen, nor are they willing to listen.
And I see no difference in their policy than those of the Democrats, both are above the Citizen; both parties think they have the righteousness to rule the American Citizen's lives.
Isn’t this why our founding father’s fought for this Country’s Freedom and Liberty in the first place? I for one lonely voter way up north in NY, say that neither of the two major parties have the best interest of the American people at heart. Their only concern is to gain more power, and gain more wealth at the expense of the American people.
Was it not said that the Wall Street bailout was required to protect the American citizen? Well all I have seen is Wall Street executives taking their big fat pay bonuses, and my neighbors loosing their jobs, homes, and dignity. As our national debt climbs to the stretch of the next 10 generations leaving them to a life of serfdom.
The two major parties have failed their oath of office, and it is time for some real change. And that change is going to start with my vote. I’m going to be more vocal, I’m not going to let the hatred of both the liberals and the conservatives blind me from my mission to return the country to the rule of Constitutional law.
In the words of William Wallace, “FREEDOM”!

Those idiot GOP members just dont get it. The salvation of the party is to root out all those corrupt old timers who made the party rot with their greed once the GOP won the Presidency. Why do they think conservative is a bad word still after getting their clocks cleaned the last two elections? Duh, the country is right of center!

Until the spirit of the Contract with America is renewed and the philosphies of Ronald Reagan replace their current liberal path, conservatives wil never rally and they will continue losing. Will some true conservative please step forward and LEAD??

Rush Limbaugh and his lover, Sarah Palin, will be very disappointed. yay!

Governments are good to have in a country to establish certain guidelines for people to live by; to render justice and protect the rights and privileges of all so that the strong and powerful doe not oppress the weak and powerless; so that the intellectual and malicious does not exploit excessively the ignorant and naive without being chastised. But governments turn out to be the strong and powerful ones, the intellectual and malicious ones that afflict the people of all injustice. Governments and the people speak different languages, and define words differently. Governments speak in their own language regardless if the people understand or not; they pass their own laws regardless if the people agree or not; and they impose their own definitions to words for the people to accept without objection. For instance, the word "conservative" which means to keep things as they are, whether they are bad for the people who, blind of ignorance or fear of being prosecuted, accept them and even vote for them. Conservative that falls into harmony with the people's moral value and spiritual belief fits the decent context which the people happen to allude with Government "Conservative" that stands for no change in the tribulation of the people and in the prosperity of the opulent. They bring the people to distrust the word" Liberal" that derives from the word "liberty" freedom to speak, to accept or reject, to vindicate, and to exercise their rights and privileges as they see fit. They carry guns and forbid the people to carry them; they pay no or evade paying tax and forbid the people to do the same; they give death penalty, but forbid the people to kill; they lie under oath, but forbid the people to do so, and many more. Yes, Governments and the People, a story without end.

Look, conservatives, your only hope now is to do the same thing that some religious leaders have done: downplay the religions, emphasize the god. They realized that if they could get the morals and the basic ideas through, they could kill the corrupt views that others had ascribed.

Get back to the basics of the conservative POLITICAL stance. Let the other zealousness go and keep focused. You'll lose your party otherwise, because you're not going to gain any new followers with the drivel you spout now. Get updated or bye bye.

PS – I'm an agnostic and I'm liberal, so who cares what I think, right? Just know that if you get back to basics, liberals may even respect you when they disagree with you. (Tried to post this 4 times already... c'mon CNN, you'll late hate through, but not advice?)

what maroons.

Bring in the clowns. Bring in Sarah Palin.

Republicans are not going anywhere ofrward but backward until they come to the realization that the middle class people are just like any other human beings out there. The Republican Party has for long catered to the big companies and their executives and forgotten the main street along the way. This last election should have taught them a lesson but they haven't learn their lesson when they keep fighting auto workers instead of lending a listening ear.

Conservative enough? Who decides? Limbaugh, Hannity, Reagan, Faux News?

The problem with the Republicans is that their tactics of spewing, hate, lies, fear and division have been and will be rejected by, we, the American people!

Unless or until the GOP decides to take the high road and stop their vile campaigns, such as Elizabeth Dole launched against her opponent, they will ......LOSE.

McCain/Palin campaign was disturbing, hateful and mostly based on lies and fear-mongering (calling Obama a terrorist, Muslim, etc.,)!

The Republicans just do not get it. Its not about being 'conservative enough' its about ......ideas...... taking the high road...... not demeaning your opponents nor calling them names!

THANK GOD, ALMIGHTY THAT HOPE WON!

Until the Republicans come to the realization that the middle class people are just like any other human beings out there they are not going anywhere. The Republican Party has for long catered to the big companies and their executives and forgotten the main street along the way.

The cry of the small guy never meant anything to them until this last election and even at that they still haven't learn their lesson when they keep fighting auto workers instead of lending a listening ear. We may forgive but we don't forget that easily not if history is there to always remind us.

Disgusting.

Who's the most conservative? Which ones think the earth is 6 to 10 thousand years old. All the others leave the room.

Which ones think the white race is superior? All the others leave the room.

Which ones think woman was made out of a rib from a man?

And so on.

It's in everyone's (the country's) best interest to get the Republicans act together,Obama and the media will have all but destroyed the country as we have known it ,in the next four years.Conservatives will be the only way of ending the financial crisis we are ,and will be ,in the next few years.The government at some point will have to cut spending and downsize,otherwise this crisis will not end until we do stop spending.

I second the motion.

"Part of freedom in America is for private individuals to be able to meet
together on issues of common concern".Uh,is this a Republican get together or the Klan?

Alas, the Old and Crotchety in both stature and ideas gather to fight over who is oldest and most crotchety.

RNC, you do realize that whoever is the winner is still a loser, right?

Well I guess in the DNC it is up to the president-elect BO who will serve as chairman. Talk about Dictatorship!

Since when did being the most conservative equal being the most qualified to run things? By that logic, Denis Kucinich should have been the democratic presidential nominee. There is a such thing as being too conservative, and the Republican party needs to get away from the ideaology that says " I won't work with this man because I'm more conservative than he is."

according to the Republican playbook of the past eight years conservativism is measured by a willingness to ignore warnings and be caught off guard on 9/11, plunder the national treasury to make the rich richer, drive our nation deeper into record debt with deficit spending, trample the Constitution, and destroy our nation's good standing in the world through torture in Abu Graib and Guatanamo.

Look, conservatives, your only hope now is to do the same thing that some religious leaders have done: downplay the religions, emphasize the god. They realized that if they could get the morals and the basic ideas through, they could kill the corrupt views that others had ascribed.

Get back to the basics of the conservative POLITICAL stance. Let the other zealousness go and keep focused. You'll lose your party otherwise, because you're not going to gain any new followers with the drivel you spout now. Get updated or bye bye.

PS – I'm an agnostic and I'm liberal, so who cares what I think, right? Just know that if you get back to basics, liberals may even respect you when they disagree with you. I hope CNN respects me by posting this.

It sounds like they are planning to stick their heads further down in the ground instead of realizing that there are better ways of doing business. They still don't get it.

CONSERVATIVE HAS BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH NAZI !!!

YOU GUYS SHOULD TRY TO THINK OF THE REST OF US AS

AMERICANS TOO. THERE IS ONLY ONE AMERICA.

Ohh man, I shouldv'e put my name in the box, LOL!!

Love this article!

The nation watches as the right-wing extremists in the Conservative controlled GOP marches in the nation's parade just to the right of the Nazi Party. No wonder these idiots crumbled and fell in the last election.

This registered Republican has become (obviously) totally disgusted with the Republican(???) Party. And to think that I was once the Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party in my Town. Zounds!

Wow! "Members of the RNC’s Conservative Steering Committee had originally planned to vote on which of the candidates for chairman were the most conservative." This sounds like something out of the dark ages.

From recent observations, I'm not sure the Republicans know the meaning of Conservative. Being a conservative formerly meant possessing values, principles, prudence, responsibility and wisdom yet the recent years have seen the Republican rule violate human values, Constitutional principles, fiscal prudence, ethical responsibility and conventional wisdom. Any party which sanctions war without cause, party members violating laws, spending uncontrolably, torturing human beings, and violating Constitutional protections of personal property and violating privacy laws without due process is not Conservative but dictatorial and unacceptable in our society. Until the Republican Party can complete a self-inspection and comit themselves to our Constitution, they are neith Conservative not American, only worthless!!!

Again...another reason why the Republican party will not rise any time soon. The country has rejected the crazy conservative bias.

Lt. Gov. Steele belongs on Fox News or on Right Wing radio, but not as a leader in the Republican Party.. His comments are 90% negitive on any issue raised by a Democrat regardless of the issue.. His goal is still to split the American voters, and yet offer no sound solutions of his own. It appears he needs Hannity or Rush L. to tell him what to say or do. a big NO for Steele as Chair of the RNC.

Which Republican is most conservative? Easy... the one who is most vigorously acting out his suppressed homo erotic fantasies. Is Mark Foley still available? If not, maybe Cheney can take a break from firing those great big shiny missiles at those dirty, dirty Iraqis...

No vote in the RNC? Dictatorship will continue in the Republican party as long as voting is dismissed as a bad idea.

Why the pretense RNC, just come out and tell Mr. Steele that blacks need not apply for RNC Chair. The RNC want to hold its "conservative" values, moderate is a curse word as far as they are concerned. The new charman will either be Duncan, or the singing sensation Chip Saltsman. It's fun watching RNC implode. How any minority can belong to this party is beyond me.

Now they find fault with Bush-Cheney but isn't that much like 'closing the barn door after the horse is gone'? Where were their criticisms, instead of strong and belligerent support, over the last eight years when it may have done some good?

To facilitate round figures let’s just say that the Obama stimulus plan ends up around an even trillion dollars which, when combined with the estimated $7 trillion committed before (see Bush-Cheney), it amounts to a total of about $8 trillion. Not a small amount by anyone’s measurement and especially when it is understood that a lot of the payback falls on the taxpayers’ shoulders. If it works, then probably few will complain. However, what I find hard to explain is all of the questioning and inferring of fault aimed at Obama’s efforts when they represent only a minor portion of the total, are the first sincere efforts really aimed at the average American and when what we have seen to date has had little oversight/control and has amounted to just handing money over to Special Interests and a select few. Once again there seems to be a scary inequity and then a real effort to sway public opinion and cover over questionable actions by our government. What we really need now is an honest bipartisan Herculean effort to turn things around and with real honest accountability for a change. From the looks of things, I don’t know if we can ever get that.

Man the life rafts.Republicans first,women and children last or stay with the ship.Thank you for your support.

A straw poll to decide who is conservative enough, are you kidding? Maybe the party is finally starting to understand that these backwoods tactics are only going to continue a political regime whose ratings are in the toilet.