Conservatism is Soon to be Tainted

Gallup ran an interesting poll recently; it turns out that conservatives are recognized as the top ideological group in the country. The numbers show that 40% of Americans identify themselves as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. Gallup also notes that from 2005 through 2008, moderates and conservatives were essentially tied, and liberals made about a two or three point jump. Is this good news, or what?
It seems good on the surface, but I have a bad feeling that conservatism is about to be tainted.
Flashback to 2006. The Democrats destroyed the GOP at the ballot box in the mid-term elections, with pretty much the only exception being Bob Corker from Tennessee winning one of the more contested races. Lincoln Chaffe, Jim Talent, Rick Santorum, and George Allen were among the casualties in the Senate races.
What President Bush described as a thumpin' was actually a pretty shrewd move. The Democrats got a bunch of "conservative" Democrats to run in these races; notice how a lot of them were pro-life, pro-gun, and supposedly pro-tax cuts and anti-spending. They also locked away Howard Dean and Harry Reid for about a week before the elections and gave Nancy Pelosi another plastic surgery so the liberal base was out of sight to help seal the win. They even rolled out Trojan horses like Allen Grayson in Florida among others in 2008, and we all know that Barack Obama was just a misunderstood moderate, right?
The Gallup poll is relevant to my recollection of the past two elections because it's about to happen again. Now that Gallup shows that most Americans classify themselves as conservatives, you can bet that Harry Reid, Arlen Specter, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the far-left crowd will be waving the conservative/moderate banner. Even though supporting the stimulus, the health care debacle, passing cap and trade, and not supporting our troops fighting terrorists proves otherwise, we're soon to be reminded on just how "moderate" or even "conservative" they really are. Notice how Democrats don't even use the substitute word "progressive" anymore.
Hopefully the GOP will do its homework and start moving to the right again, and not recruit candidates where they have to run to the middle or even to the left. There is a golden opportunity to make a huge dent in the Democratic majority or even take the majority back in the 2010 mid-term elections. 2012 may even give Republicans the presidency. But it's time that the GOP realizes that conservatism works, and when elections are about ideas and solutions instead of campaign slogans, it wins every time.