Moderates need not apply

Kos reports that moderates are no longer welcome in in the GOP. I guess it's true because Bill Frist doesn't like Sen. Specter (R-PA).

Some liberals hate us centrists in the Democratic party and some conservatives hate the centrists in the GOP so what do we centrists do now?

"If they can't agree and support the president and the platform, then they ought to go over to the Democrats," said Jan LaRue, chief counsel for the conservative group Concerned Women for America.[...]
The to-do list includes defending traditional marriage, banning human cloning, reforming Social Security, passing more-restrictive abortion laws and stepping up enforcement of obscenity laws, said Ms. LaRue of Concerned Women for America.
And if moderates don't agree with those objectives, perhaps they don't belong in the GOP, she said.
Ms. LaRue calls Mr. Specter a RINO - Republican In Name Only - and questions why politicians such as Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island remain in the Republican Party when they didn't even vote for Mr. Bush.
"Get real," she said. "These are Democrats in Republican clothing."

That quote is taken from the Dallas News. So Sen. Rudman, Bill Cohen, Eric Cantor, Arlen Specter, Norm Coleman, Rudy Guiliani, Lincoln Chafee, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, etc., are no longer welcome in the GOP?

How do the moderate republicans reply?

"There is no future for moderate and progressive Republicans in the Republican Party," said Jim Scarantino, president of the centrist GOP group Mainstream 2004. "The far right wing and the fanatics have seized control."
Mr. Scarantino isn't sure where his brand of Republican politics fits into the GOP. Some Christian conservatives say it doesn't.[...]

While big-name moderates such as John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudolph Giuliani took the stage in New York, conservatives controlled the party platform.

"The party has ruthlessly exploited moderate Republicans," Mr. Scarantino said. "I think they're deluding themselves thinking they're ever going to get anything more than the opportunity to be on the stage."

Folks, the moderates support Bayh. Why can't the liberal faction see that without centrists we cannot win?

I had the chance to interview Jonathan Miller, the State Treasurer, the other day and asked him if KY will go blue again. His reply:

Of course. We voted for Clinton in 92 and 96. Unfortunately, Gore and Kerry abandoned KY. With a strong centrist candidate (Bayh, Edwards), we can win Kentucky in 2008.

As to the favorites? Jonathan remarks:

Hillary and Edwards have to be the favorites, but Bayh is my dark horse.

If I do get elected as CDA President in 2007, I get a speaking role at the convention. If Evan Bayh gets the nomination, Jonathan would speak at the convention if he gets the option to do so.