A very sad day for America. I think he was the only true Repbulican of the bunch.

I guess he got tired of debating all his of his different positions with himself.

This "conservative" maintained he was an independent during Reagan-Bush; he backed Tsongas in the 1992 Primary in NH.

Mitt is a great guy but out-of-step with America. The Country wants change and most Republicans want moderation. Living in Orange County it is easy to forget that we comprise a very small and increasingly less influential enclave of right wing conservatives. In fact an analysis of the OC's Tuesday night's votes clearly indicate that things are changing in Orange County.

The right wing and left wing die hards will rarely admit that their day has passed, but it will become more and more evident as the months and years grind forward.

Mitt's departure is symbolic of the departure of the conservative right wing both in our great Country and County.

Well perhaps our only recourse is for every right winger to move out of OC to a more liberal place and start holding "facts and figures" meetings with their new neighbors so we can drum up more conservatives in this country. Then we will let the Trannies version of "right wing" take over OC and run it.

I'm just really really worried about who is going to pay for all the stuff Hillary and Obama want to do "for" Americans. Universal Healthcare? Since it won't be "paid for universally" that means a burden on those that can pay, a giant burden. Unless you mandate that Doctors who spend half their lives learning to be doctors can't drive Mercedes and own million dollars houses anymore. And Drug companies that have stock holders can not charge outrageous prices for all the R&D that went into their little pills. Wow, what a choice Hillary and Obama....who ya gonna call? (Hear the theme from Ghostbusters playing loudly with deep bass) where is the money coming from?

Take from those who have and give to those that have not. Sounds seriously socialistic to me.

And if you think Dole, pardon me I mean McCain can win over Obama or Clinton, think again. We've just lost the White House folks.

Anon 11:50 cool your jets!! All the right wingers shouldn't leave OC they just need to be a little more practical and accept the fact that their day has passed. The fact that the Republicans are moving to a more moderate platform reflects the attitude of the Country and more specifically the majority of the party.

No doubt the hard-core right wingers continue to have influence in OC but to the rest of the Country they look like people walking around in polyester "pant suits" (the really bad looking polyester....you know..the kind that melts in the sun).

Anonymous @ 11:26 AM:

Mitt's departure is symbolic of the departure of the conservative right wing both in our great Country and County.

The "conservative right wing" ended with Reagan's presidency. Republicans since then have sold out to the neoconservative platform of big spending, big deficits, big regulation, extra-Constitutional powers, anti-privacy, and an interventionist foreign policy.

Good riddance, Mitt. The Republican Party gets what it deserves: a socialist, war-mongering, lunatic RINO.

Mrwhipple obviously wears polyester pant suits (probably with a white belt and white shoes to match). The conservative attitude he expresses is the right wing attitude that may thirve in OC but is causing the demise of the GOP. While you may disagree with Mc Cain; calling a United States Senator,former POW and a mainstream American a socialist and lunatic makes the case for how terribly out-of-touch the right wing is with the rest of the Country.

I would like to see Huckabee as VP. Huckabee can help McCain to win coservative christian wing and provide strong foundation to knock out potential high flying Dem. candidate.

If the age of the "righter"-wing conservatives is past, then just how is Huckabee the conservative Christian Evangelical getting so many votes? If you added his votes with Romney's and compared them against McCain what would you have?

By the way, polyester is still very wearable and conservatives can at least be conservative about buying clothes that last even if they don't buy the white belt and shoes...LOL

Candidate Votes Percent
Mike Huckabee (Rep) 272,719 11.6 %
Duncan Hunter (Rep) 12,215 0.5 %
Alan Keyes (Rep) 9,544 0.4 %
Sam Brownback (Rep) 2,041 0.0 %
John H. Cox (Rep) 2,668 0.1 %
Rudy Giuliani (Rep) 115,787 5.0 %
John McCain (Rep) 986,384 42.0 %
Ron Paul (Rep) 99,591 4.3 %
Mitt Romney (Rep) 801,873 34.1 %
Tom Tancredo (Rep) 3,303 0.1 %
Fred Thompson (Rep) 45,805 1.9 %

Let's add up all those conservatives votes of candidates that dropped out; who might their voters have chosen if they had dropped out BEFORE absentee ballots or even the regular ballots were printed...humm let's see...Fred Thompson 45,805; Tom Tancredo 3303; Duncan Hunter 12,215; Alan Keyes 9,544 that adds up to 70867...and just suppose that only 1/2 of Huckabee's voted for Romney what would we have? 1,009,099 - hummm a slight win over McCain. And I didn't count how the votes for some of the others might have gone (Ron Paul - who knows, the Guilani voters could have gone either way,who knows about Cox and Brownback, Brownback's supporters might have voted for Hillary for all we know LOL.

Anonymous said at 3:34 PM:

The conservative attitude [MrWhipple] expresses is the right wing attitude that may thirve in OC but is causing the demise of the GOP.

Perhaps I'm naïve enough to think that the notions of freedom, individual rights, small government, and property are still revolutionary. The Founders certainly thought they were ideas whose time had come.

Unfortunately the Democrats don't believe in those things, and the Republicans have been running away from them for a couple of decades now. Perhaps some time "in the wilderness" will reawaken the GOP to what made our party and America great.

Consider this a replay of 1976 -- the Republicans go down in flames due to the excesses of the Nixon/Bush years, but four years later emerge triumphant under a Presidential candidate who tells the people, "Government isn't the solution to the problem; government is the problem."

(There is one Republican candidate who is preaching that message, but the party has ignored him to their own hurt.)

While you may disagree with McCain; calling a United States Senator, former POW and a mainstream American a socialist and lunatic makes the case for how terribly out-of-touch the right wing is with the rest of the Country.

To quote the Apostle Paul, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"

Once again the OC right wing wandering aimlessly in the past. Adding votes from multiple canidates to demonstrate that a single canidate is out of step with the American people. Idealouges in OC are being overtaken in the Nation and in their own County but they hang on hoping someday the South (southern OC) will rise again. Accept the fact we now have indoor plumbing, air conditioning, computers, automobiles and folks commute by air.

That's right, folks -- let's dump the Constitution with all that nonsense about limited government and individual rights. That stuff is so 18th century.

In these modern times, we need government to take care of us, to keep us from saying things we shouldn't, to detain us without messy lawyers and trials and stuff, to keep guns out of everyone's hands, to give us free health care and retirement.

Whatever would we do if the nanny-state wasn't there to protect us?

I love you today Mr. Whipple.

Mr Wipple,

That was awesome!!!

Have you given any thought on endorsing a candidate in the 73rd Assembly race?

Andy Favor
73rd Assembly District Candidate

Whipple, Whipple, Whipple....climb out of the pant suit and step into the real world. The conservative republicans have expanded government beyond what anyone could imagine, wasted more money with their private war profiteer friends while spending extraordinary amounts of cash in a war in Iraq, intoduced a new high in the sleeze factor department including same sex activity, and totally dismantled the economy. Your rants about healthcare and retirement will really inspire the rest of our nation particularly in lite of the fact that these are among the most important issues to Americans.

No question OC is the place for you. I think there is a sale for white belts and white shoes at the local OC WalMart. Hey you could even check on a greeter job while you are there !!!!

Anonymous 5:14 PM:

I completely agree with you that the Republican Party has sold out. The message of freedom and limited government disappeared somewhere near the end of the Reagan administration. I'm a Ron Paul Republican, hoping to restore the good name of the GOP. The big government, big welfare, big deficits, big war, big security state neocons are not Republicans.

And I don't live in OC anymore -- rampant socialism, high property taxes, and expensive real estate forced me and my family to move to southern Utah last summer.

Andy Favor,

I voted for you when I lived in Laguna Hills (2004-2007).

I do have to agree that the Republican party has slipped into the mainstream more and more. Soon it will be unrecognizable as a party, there will just be one big DemoRep party with massive debt and little concern for personal freedom. I have actually given thought to moving to the mountains in another state myself.

I don't think the RP should RIP. It should go back to its roots. While our deterers rant on here that the RP conservatives are a thing of the past; I disagree. Remember the boomers? There are still plenty of us white belted Walmart Greeters to make a difference. But will we/they stand up? That is the real question.

Looks like the OC right wingers are fleeing to their bunkers in the mountains. That should make the sensible mainstream repubicans happy and the rest of us can feel a little more safe at night. Polyester wears well in higher altitudes.

Don't feed the trolls.