The end of the modern Republican party?

Many conservatives on the fringe are more angry than usual lately. And it's not the usual suspects (the Clintons, the Kenedys, Howard Dean, Michael Moore, welfare recipiants, ad nauseum)No, the recent uproar on the AM radio dial and on Fox News is directed at one man. This man's name is John McCain.
If you go on Rush Limbaugh's website (I suggest you don't) you'll find a picture of John McCain, Rudy Giulliani, and Govenor Schwarzenegger of California. Above this photo is the caption "McCain chooses to surround himself with liberals." Limbaugh has been very public in his criticism of McCain, and he's not the only one. Fringe right-wing collumnist Ann Coulter has publically said she'd vote for Hillary Clinton before McCain. Michael Savage has said McCain is "not qualified to be president." Many on the right feel that McCain is far to liberal for their tastes -he has, after all, signed a controversial immigration bill with Ted Kennedy, and he did pick up an endorsement from the New York Times, the most hated paper in the eyes of the AM Talk Radio crowd- and are outraged that he is well on his way to becomming their party's nomination.
And this isn't the only potential bad news for the Republican Party. Many prominent conservatives aren't supporting Republican nominees. Tom Bernstein, a Republican who is a former business associate of President Bush as well as his Yale classmate, is now behid Obama. Bernstein, who was a co-owner of the Texas Rangers with George W. Bush, donated the maximum $2,000 donation for Bush in 2004, and gave another $5,000 to the RNC. Mathew Dowd, a former Bush adviser, has announced that he is disapointed of Bush's "my way or the highway" attitude, and will support a Democratic candidate this year. Other famous Republicans who are now supporting Obama are Rober Kagan of the PNAC and Susan Eisenhower, President Dwight Eisenhower's grandaughter. Hillary Rodham Clinton has some high powered Republican supporters of her own. John Mack, cheif executive of Morgan Stanely who helped raise $200,000 for Bush and the RNC, has said he is very impressed by Mrs. Clinton's "expertise." Between the two Democratic frontrunners, more than $750,000 has been raised by former Bush supporters. There are websites such as Repbublicansforobama.com that cater to these Republican voters who have been scared off by the acts of George W. Bush. Bruce Bartlett, a former Reagan and Bush 41 administration member, has written two articles need in which he makes the case that "sophisticated" conservatives need to vote for the least liberal of the Democratic choices or "go down with the sinking Republican ship."
Many Republicans fear a split in the party. If a third party candidate enters the ring who can give these disenchanted conservatives a voice, John McCain (assuming the current trend continues) doesn't have a chance. Mind you, this is a big "if" but since many conservatives may stay out of the 08 race anyway, it isn't really that out of the question.
Ron Paul is just one of the possibillities here. Paul has collected an extreme amount of money through the internet, I for one am curious what he is doing with the money. He stands for many of the conservative ideals that right wingers accuse McCain of being soft on (on things like immigration, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay adoption, and limiting government)It's more than possible that Mr. Paul would make a third party run for the presidency, and in doing so, split the vote between himself and McCain.The Republican Party is fractured between those who are disgusted by the imcompency of Bush, those who are disgusted by moderate McCain, and those who are just plain disgusted. The Party's old leaders are dying or fading from the public eye, and leaving behind a disjointed grouping of religious conservatives, corporate conservatives, libertarians, moderates and neocons. The party may be well on its way toward a schism.
And I'm loving every minute of it.