It seems like he is trying to reinforce the right-wing of the Republican party's ownership of the flag-waving, my-country-right-or-wrong (but it's always right), God-fearing, unborn-baby-protecting position in the country. It doesn't seem as though he and his bud Rush give a damn about the center-right/moderate wing of the party, which has people like Colin Powell in it. What he is going to end up doing is making the split between the two segments wider and make it much harder for the Reps to get back up on that horse. Not a bad thing, perhaps, but we do better (IMHO) with a strong dissent rather than with one side or the other running away in its own direction.