Bottom line: Conservatism has never been about the elimination of the government, but rather it has been about its careful and limited use, especially in circumstances that threaten the whole national community, and Rush simply does not understand this.

BTW, I find Huckabee to be unacceptable, because of his excessive use of faith and because he has used the Mormon card against Romney.  I am not LDS and have no interest in the faith, but Romney should be criticized for his policies not for his religious beliefs.

This really smells like a dirty trick by another candidate or someone who just hates Huck.  I mean think about it: what could be gained by attacking Rush?  Nothing.

It sure was a nice slimy Christmas present for Huckabee.

Since I’m guessing a lot of Huckabee supporters are in the Rush demographic, this would seem to be unwise. After all, what happens if the dittoheads stop ditto-ing? Limbaugh must assume he is now more powerful than God. Naturally, the hard liners are …

Its to the point where each coalitions’ platform planks are completely inconsistent, incompatible, and irreconcilable.

I disagree, or at least I think it shouldn’t be so.

Conservatism has many roots, and the Republican party was always able to represent conervatism in many forms, not just ’small government’. The philosophies that guide conservatism can either relate to keeping a check on government (which would describe your brand of government), to keep it out of people’s lives in the economic and social venues, as much as possible, or they can relate to traditionalism which seeks to protect the structures and traditions of society from rapid change. The latter of course is why some people see Christianity as a conservative ‘plank’. Those who value this part of the philosophy need not be for ‘big government’, although they’d undoubtedly embrace some things that a libertarian conservative would not. That’s where the compromises need to come in.

If you asked me, a lifelong registered Republican, I’d say that a Republican candidate needs to be a strict federalist and fiscal conservative.  I don’t go to church & I think religious politics is completely incompatible with liberty, and I think our foreign policy is extravagant and dangerous.  If you ask Rudy’s supporters, you would probably hear something about the war on terror and "beating the Democrats."

Rush is just calling Huckabee out because they aren’t in the same coalition.  This is the division I’m talking about, and these sub-identities are growing within the conservative party.

Its to the point where each coalitions’ platform planks are completely inconsistent, incompatible, and irreconcilable. 

So the ultimate irony is, Rush attacking people for voting as "Christians," while saying he can’t support Huckabee ‘cuz Huckabee isn’t "conservative" enough.

Libertarian,
I’m not a Rush fan but I don’t think that’s a valid criticism. There’s nothing wrong on the face of it, with Republicans wanting a conservative candidate. That actually should be somewhat of a litmus test, it’s a conservative party and it’s only natural that the party should want to make sure that their candidate is ‘conservative’ enough.

Insisting on someone who is ‘Christian’ enough, while I’m not 100% opposed to that (because if that’s what conservative voters want, the party should pragmatically embrace it as long as it doesn’t dilute other planks in the platform, and there’s no reason that it should have to do so), isn’t the same thing at all so I see no irony in Rush decrying the one thing while he engages in the other.

As someone pointed out elsewhere, Rush is playing "identity politics" here, too.  He says, "I’m a conservative and I’m not ashamed to admit it."  So the ultimate irony is, Rush attacking people for voting as "Christians," while saying he can’t support Huckabee ‘cuz Huckabee isn’t "conservative" enough.

If Huckabee wins the nomination, how can he unite the party?

Will Huckabee unite the Republican party?  Haha, no.  The Republican party is practially on life support.  The factions in the Republican party have been radicalized by Bush and now each coalition is in near-perfect disagreement.  Huckabee’s supporters despise Giuliani’s secular social stances, and Ron Paul’s supporters are still in shock that the Republican party has become the party of Bush.

Then again, the Democrats are weak around the edges too, with a fault-line developing between the "progressive" and the "hawkish" camp.  So you will see politicians on both sides reaching out to the disaffected… Don’t get me wrong, most of the people will continue to play the party team, but I think there are more people than usual who are willing to cross party lines and this will shake up how both parties approach gathering support in the next few years.