Just look at Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Seriously, folks, this is the problem. In 2005 and 2006, some conservatives gave the indication that they could deliver if the GOP were to embrace “pure” conservatism as they defined it. Schwarzenegger, in fact, pushed a package of measure in a special referendum in November, 2005 and all of them failed.

Well, November 8, 2006 came, and they did not deliver. They didn’t have the pull to do it. The GOP is acting accordingly in a number of ways. One of which is the fact that they are not going to be as inclined to take their cues from talk radio or pundits. As Ernst Stavlo Blofeld put it in You Only Live Twice, “This is the price of failure.”

Luckily for conservatives, the GOP doesn’t feed those who fail to piranhas. Instead, they are simply told that they will not be calling a lot of the shots. The latest example is visible now, with the fact that the GOP Front-runner is Rudy Giuliani, with John McCain and Mitt Romney the next two candidates running behind him. None of them are “pure” conservatives. In fact, each of them probably have had one beef or another. Giuliani disagrees with the social conservatives on a number of issues. McCain and conservatives don’t exactly get along. Romney is a recent convert, and the subject of allegations of “flip-flopping” and pronouncements that he is not a “true conservative” (pay no attention to his efforts against the redefinition of marriage in Massachusetts).

In essence, the social conservatives no longer have their veto over a prospective GOP nominee. And that, Rush, is because you and others pushed the GOP into some untenable positions over the last two years. Had the GOP stuck together, had they been willing to get things done, they might have taken hits due to Cunningham, Abramoff, and Iraq, but the losses would not have been as serious.

Conservatives have done a number of good things. They even display tactical brilliance at times. However, they also have proven that they have serious deficiencies in strategic planning, knowing when not to pick a fight, a tendency to overreach, and they have been lousy team players at times.

Unless that changes, consrevatives will find the GOP much less willing to stick its neck out for them.