The GOP is more like an amorphous mass of puss at this point, so driving a stake into it would just get the stake all gooey. Hopefully, it will reconstitute into the fiscally conservative, socially laze faire form you mentioned, but, like any wounded beast, it is currently shrinking further and becoming even more dementedly rabid....which is good for the side of modernity, I suppose, but the Dems definitely need a counter to their bullshit on occasion.