No sooner had pseudo-Republican Dede Scozzafava, candidate for New York's 23rd Congressional District, announced suspension of her clearly doomed campaign, than she turned around and gave the finger to her misguided Republican cheerleaders, Newt Gingrich and Michael Steele. After withdrawing from the three-way race, did Ms. Scozzafava tell her supporters to vote for the other Republican in the race, Doug Hoffman (who, after being snubbed by the Republican elites, was forced to run under the Conservative Party banner)? Nope. She endorsed...the Democrat.

Her betrayal comes as no surprise to those of us familiar with the mentality of so-called RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). These putative Republicans have inevitably turned out to be little more than reeds in the wind, going along with whatever policy they see as beneficial to their own re-election, regardless of the affect on their constituents, not to mention the damage they do to the Republican Party.

You'd think the recent defection of Arlen Specter would have been sufficient to persuade the Republican Party leadership that sacrificing basic conservative principles in the hope of gaining a bigger share of those supposed "moderates" in the electorate is a deal with the Devil. But no, rather than backing a real conservative like Doug Hoffman, the once reliably conservative Newt Gingrich embarrassingly defended Ms. Scozzafava's selection by the Party's back-room boys - in spite of the fact that she is so out of step on fiscal matters that the Democrat in the race accused her of being the "tax and spend" candidate!

Even Michael Steele, to whom I gave the benefit of the doubt as a possible fresh conservative voice, lost all credibility when, in an attempt to justify the Party's pick, he actually repeated the tired old canard about not being able to win "with only 38% of the vote." For those unfamiliar with this comment, he is referring to the mistaken idea that appealing to the "conservative base" will automatically result in losing the "mushy middle" to Democrats.

But that is a false premise. The most recent polls show that a solid 40% of voters declare themselves to be "conservative" while only 20% of voters characterize themselves as "liberal" - with 36% claiming to be "moderates." Now, I know more than a few liberals who oppose Democrats on gun rights, taxes, and other fiscal polices, but just for the sake of argument, let's take that 20% figure at face value, and presume they will all vote Democrat. Ditto the conservatives - very few of those 40% are going to go for Democrats, even less so in the wake of the radical policies that Obama and the Congress are pursuing.

Which leaves us with those 36% of the electorate who fall in the "moderate" category - the ones that clueless Republicans seem to think will only respond to a Republican candidate who "moves closer to the center." But why do they continue to believe that, in spite of being proved wrong, time and again?

After all, even if we make the calculation that this group is roughly split between those leaning slightly liberal and those leaning slightly conservative, you end up with at least 18% of moderates supporting the conservative. And in case you've forgotten your basic math, coupled with the 40% solid conservative vote that works out to a total of 58% for the conservative candidate - a landslide figure in a presidential race (which is just about exactly what Reagan got - running as a clearly defined conservative).

But wait, it gets better. Given that TWICE AS MANY Americans are willing to call themselves conservative as liberal, would it not make sense to presume that there are likely just a few more conservative-leaning moderates than liberal ones?  In that case, you are looking at even stronger majorities in support of a Republican, even a conservative one. History has shown that while liberals do well in high-density inner city venues (enclaves of welfare recipients and government workers), almost everywhere else, real conservatives fare much better. That is because America is, and always has been, a fundamentally center-right country. And recent polls show the marked shift back to these conservative roots.

Ever wonder how Reagan got such a big share of that supposedly moderate vote? It wasn't his personality. It certainly wasn't that his policies moved "to the center" - on the contrary, from building up the military to the point that it forced the collapse of the Soviet Union, to facing down the unions when he fired the recalcitrant Air Traffic Controllers, Reagan stuck to solid conservative principles. And yet moderates gave him landslide victories...twice.

Because here's the secret that seems to elude Michael Steele and the rest of the Republican "leadership" - most "moderates" don't vote on policy. Any reliable survey of them indicates that they often don't even know much about what's going on politically (ask a moderate friend who George Soros is and you'll likely get a blank stare). No, moderates, lacking much in the way of solid understanding of policy issues, but fearing anything too radical, invariably vote for the candidate who seems to have a clear message, delivered with passion, and most importantly, with conviction.

Obama, even though he said almost nothing substantive, seemed to believe what he said. John McCain, on the other hand, had trouble standing for anything (he went along with Obama on everything from "global warming" nonsense to giving in on immigration). As a result, given a choice between two candidates who didn't seem all that different policy-wise, they picked the one who seemed the most committed.

Regardless of the outcome of the 23rd District race, the message being delivered to the obstinate Republican leaders who still cling to the "moderate model" is clear: take a stand or take the bus home. Because if Republicans persist in trying to be little more than "Democrat Light" they will be consigning the GOP to permanent minority status. After all, if there is no discernible difference between the parties, who needs Republicans?

Especially when there are now genuine conservatives willing to proudly run under that banner.