The Republican Party’s self-induced mad dash for irrelevancy is headlined by their reckless disregard for the Golden Rule of winning elections: first solidify the base.

The Party of Lincoln’s negligence commenced with George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism”. Conservatives preach tough love, but Bush distorted the “compassionate conservatism” redundancy into an oxymoron by defining “compassion” using the glossary of Jimmy Carter.

With the aid of a Republican Congress, Bush benevolently spent like a drunken Kennedy. His renunciation of conservative principals of conscientious expenditure failed miserably not only in courting the left hell-bent on destroying him, but disenfranchised conservatives of every ilk.

But Bush and the Republicans’ implosion was just in its infancy.

Speaking of aliens, the President from the once law-and-order party adopted a do-nothing course of action when it came to preventing illegal aliens from journeying across the Rio Grande.  If only crossing a Manhattan intersection could be done with such ease.

A new low point was achieved in the Terri Shiavo circus. Once a “family values” party, religious insurgents demanded that the excruciating life and death decision involving the brain-damaged comatose women should be decided not by her next-of-kin, but by a bunch of empty suits inside the Beltway.

While the Reaganites allowed Christian jihads to seize occupancy of the conservative movement, the rest of the party distanced themselves by nominating John McCain for President, the most center-left entrant in modern Republican history.

Lagging miserably in the polls, McCain skyrocketed once he threw a bone to traditional conservatives and chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. While her gaffes made her easy fodder for the left-leaning “if you can’t beat them, destroy them” media, it was centrist McCain who permitted Barack Obama to achieve the impossible.

Liberal Barack Obama successfully courted abandoned Reagan conservatives by convincing them that he would cut taxes for middle-class Americans more than McCain would.   

But Barney Frank has pulled the granddaddy of them all in dismembering the disremembered conservative movement. Somehow, someway, the unapologetic left-winger has positioned himself to the right of most Republicans on gambling civil liberties.

Personal responsibility and creating new streams of tax revenue was once etched-in-stone bare essentials of the Republican Party and remains basic principles in the non-religious nutter dieing wing of conservatism.

Fully legalizing the legitimate pastime of online gambling, while relishing in the cash flow that would funnel into the economy, should be embraced by the Republicans.

Yet so-called Republicans such as John Kyl and Bill Frist have declared mutiny on traditional conservatism and hijacked it to the point where estranged Reaganites acknowledge that Barney Frank represents their constituency much more than the derelict traitors who deceitfully call themselves Republicans.

Republicans are oblivious to how they alienated their base with spendorama “compassion”, a see-no-evil approach to illegal immigration, and allowing a left-wing presidential candidate to abduct their lower-taxes mantra.

By voting for full legalization of online gambling, they have an opportunity to return to their pro-business, anti-government intrusion roots. But consistent with their political death wish recent history, Republicans have allowed a progressive Congressman from Massachusetts to shanghai and pirate what should be a conservative calling card.

Ronald Reagan once said that that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left him. Now posthumously, the Republican Party has done the same.

Barney Frank is now the knight in shining armor to dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. Republican enablers have assured this Armageddon lasts well beyond the next mid-terms.

Supporting online gambling could be the Republicans last chance to court back conservatives. Here’s betting they instead choose to subvert themselves further into irrelevancy.    

The author Joe Duffy is CEO of OffshoreInsiders.com, the most respected sports betting site on American sports.     

NBA odds are backing Cleveland in the second game of their second-round playoff series with Atlanta, and they’ll look to their MVP to have another huge game. Meanwhile, the Hawks are counting on their All-Star player to have a much better game.

Hawks vs Cavaliers odds – Thursday, May 7, 8:00 PM ET

Joe Johnson had only 11 points in Game 1’s 99-72 beating at the hands of the Cavaliers, as he shot a decent 5-of-10 from the field, but he also didn’t have one single free-throw attempt. Josh Smith led the way with 22 points, while Mike Bibby had 19, and Smith was the only Atlanta player that looked like he wanted to challenge the Cleveland defense. The Hawks shot 43.8% from the floor, but they can’t afford another 17 turnovers against this Cleveland team.

LeBron James celebrated his first MVP award with an MVP-type performance, going for 34 points, 10 boards and four steals, and he shot an outstanding 12-of-20 from the field. Mo Williams added 21 points, while Cleveland’s bench outscored their Atlanta counterparts 20-10. The Cavaliers locked the Hawks down on defense in the second half, outscoring them 50-28 after halftime, and they enjoyed a +8 edge on the glass, including a 15-6 advantage on the offensive boards.

NBA odds have the Cavs as a 12.5-point favorite at home, where they continue to destroy the competition. You could tell the Cavaliers were a bit rusty in the first half, especially on defense, as they completed their four-game sweep of Detroit back on April 26. The Cavaliers have now won their five playoff games by an average margin of 19.8 points, and the Hawks will just be trying to avoid another rout. Johnson, and the Hawks as a whole, need to follow Smith’s lead and be as aggressive as they can, and when they get to the foul line, they need to improve at taking their chances as they were a miserable 9-of-18 from the charity stripe. As for stopping James, well, that’s not going to happen, but they can do a better job on Williams and Delonte West, who had 13 points and nine assists in Game 1. However, it’s not very likely that the Cavaliers will take their foot off the gas, and it looks like another long night for the Hawks. Take Cleveland and their NBA odds on Thursday night.