It's a good issue to define your opponent. If your opponent is for flag burning, he's got to go through a very sophisticated explanation.

The Republican Party, which John McCain led as our nominee in 2008, is going to become irrelevant if we become the party of intolerance and hate. The party founded by Abraham Lincoln was a party that fought slavery and intolerance at every level.

What we won't become is a 'Democratic Party lite!' We are a party that wants smaller government and lower taxes. Obama and the Democrats do not. We are a party that wants to encourage small business. We are a party that has a large constituent group that believes in a social agenda and we will not abandon them.

I am not predicting here that Obama will fail like Jimmy Carter. What I am predicting is the Republican Party is not extinct and will after a period of time become a strong opposition party.

I became a Republican in the summer of 1972. I was involved in running President Nixon's re-election campaign in California and became part of his administration at the start of his second term.

Everybody in this race is against Obama, okay? So saying you're against Obama, against Obamacare, all the rest, it's all fine, well and good, except it doesn't move you forward.