Tow the Line or Else. Republicans Always Want to Debate, Except within the Party Itself

Diverse ideas and moderation has never been an accurate way of describing the GOP. Case in point:

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said at the state GOP convention the party has a long way to go to rebuild after
stinging electoral defeats in recent years … Steele told party activists they had to return to GOP principles and restore faith with voters. "It's not that Americans are less conservative," he said. "It's that our credibility is shot."

The GOP can restore its credibility by returning to core party principles of limited government, low taxes, individual freedom, personal responsibility, economic freedom and faith, he said.

After seeing their ideology crumble under the weight of failed free market theories, limited government regulations that tanked the global economy, Americans retirement funds destroyed and phony rhetoric about “lost freedoms,” Steele couldn’t make up his mind about who’s in, and who’s out:

Earlier he told reporters that the party also welcomed moderate voters but wouldn't abandon its conservative principles. "If you want to be a part of this, welcome," Steele said. "If not, you have other choices."

Not exactly a welcome mat for diverse ideas and an open healthy debate.

Citing Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's vote in favor of President Barack Obama's $787 billion federal stimulus law, Steele said the senator "voted (himself) out of the party. We didn't kick (him) out."

Yikes, and that was just one vote.

Reince Priebus, the state GOP chairman, said of Steele's opponents within the party, "They don't like it and we told them to hit the road and we told them things were going to change in this country."

But that doesn’t mean the door is locked.

(Steele said that) while returning to its conservative roots, the party is reaching out to moderates. If voters agree with 70 percent of the GOP agenda, that can be enough to make them identify with the party, he said. "Your choice,"

Just don’t vote with the Democrats or your out.

Like state Democratic Party chairman Joe Wineke said, "From shunning moderates to hemorrhaging members from its ever-shrinking tent, it is clear that the Republican Party is in a state of chaos."