Where are the moderate Republicans?

AdMan said:
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Way back when I was a freshman in college in the late 80s, I joined the Young Republicans. Yes, I was a progressive (and even a coming-out-of-the-closet atheist) in many ways, but I still felt I shared many of the GOP's goals, particularly in the area of economics and fiscal restraint. (I didn't feel, for example, that my atheism conflicted with belonging to the Republican party--believe it or not, you 21st centurers!)

That day is long gone. I no longer think I could ever support a Republican candidate. They have alienated me, and I think many others, by their unyielding focus on religiosity and social conservatism that I think makes no sense in the 21st century.

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My experience is much like yours. I was a Republican/conservative as a youngster too and now am an Indepedent in my old age (44). The Republican party has moved so far right since the 1980's I just don't recognize it any more.

As to this year's Republican candidates, I think they took the wrong message from the midterm elections. They saw the gains in the House and Senate as a sign (from God?) that America was now in line with their far, far right-wing vision of the world instead of just the usual midterm backlash against a sitting president and his party.
 
cwalner said:
Not quite. McCain seems to have actually changed his politics. In 2008, he tacked pretty hard right before he chose Palin as his running mate and based on some of his more recent rhetoric, he seems to have stayed there.
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He just stopped winking at the left and giving them the false impression he agreed with them about anything.
 
I get the impression that the Republicans are trying a different strategy: since a moderate conservative couldn't beat Obama in the 2008 election, their trying a conservative conservative. They're also trying to appeal to the evangelical base which pushed Bush Jr over the edge.

Its not going to work. In fact I think they're setting themselves up to lose a few seats when Republican congressional seats are up for re-election.
 
Dessi said:
I get the impression that the Republicans are trying a different strategy: since a moderate conservative couldn't beat Obama in the 2008 election, their trying a conservative conservative. They're also trying to appeal to the evangelical base which pushed Bush Jr over the edge.

Its not going to work. In fact I think they're setting themselves up to lose a few seats when Republican congressional seats are up for re-election.
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I think they know they'd lose to Obama no matter who they run, so they let the idiots run and get an L so they don't have to deal with them in 4 years when the Democrats also have to produce a new candidate.
 
Travis said:
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. A frightened person tends to make noise. And right now there are elements in the GOP that are terrified. They look around them and see an America that might be allowing gays to marry, electing atheists to congress or even the Senate and then there is the prospect of universal healthcare that they think means the onset of Communism. They see these things as possible and it has them quaking in their boots. Therefore this thoroughly scared element is asserting itself and trying to fight a last stand for their ideal society where everyone is forced to be Christian, heterosexual and resigned to death if they get sick while poor.

So they have risen up and taken control while moderates, as much as there still are some, lay back as they are frightened to say anything against these people who seem to think they have God on their side. Because when someone thinks they have God on their side they are willing to do terrible, terrible things since they think it is their path to heaven.
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Exactly. The trend is quite clear. The GOP is going to have to realign its politics or become irrelevant. So they are grasping at what has worked for them in the past and are moving further to the right doing so.
 
Silly Green Monkey said:
Barely more. He never got more than a thin margin.
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But but I thought bush was given a mandate by the people in his 2004 victory. You know that victory with the slimmest margin since 1916.

As far as moderate republicans go I hear them on various radio and TV shows asking why the GOP candidates are running on social issues when the economy is what matters. I often respond to no one in particular, "Because they can't win on economic issues."

It seems a lot of moderate republicans are independents now. They left the right when recruiting evangelicals became the main goal of the GOP.
 
This moderate republican is really tired of various liars and frauds calling him a "socialist" and a "leftist". I'm right here, I am, but the liars, frauds, and other facista-mongering radical rightists insist on libelling me with the term "leftist".

Obama is clearly, testably, and verifiably to the RIGHT of Dwight D. Eisenhower, yet the same liars and frauds call Obama "socialist". These are the same liars and frauds who threw Barry Goldwater out of the Arizona Republican Party for being too liberal. That should tell you something, eh?

I'd vote for Barry in a flash (well, except that he's dead). Ditto Millicent Fenwick (but she's dead too).

The VISIBLE moderate Republicans (by today's standards) are not even in nursing homes, they are dead of extreme old age.
 
RandFan said:
The GOP is going to have to realign its politics or become irrelevant.
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I agree. But how long will it take? And will their modernization be slowed by victories won by accident and not by keeping up with the attitudes of the American public?

In another thread, SezMe posted a link to an article in New York magazine, "2012 or Never". I think the author has it largely right.


jj said:
The VISIBLE moderate Republicans (by today's standards) are not even in nursing homes, they are dead of extreme old age.
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Looking ahead, I think it will be a while before enough fire-breathers fade away into nursing homes and graves, and allow a less-religious, less-white, less-Bircher GOP to gather itself. There are still an awful lot of White Americans who remember (or convince themselves they remember) halcyon days before Brown and before 1968. As the above-linked article points out, there are still too many Republicans pushing for a return to their alternate 1950. Maybe only the attrition of time will free them from these shackles.


Travis said:
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. A frightened person tends to make noise.
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Travis, have you read that New York article? If not, you might want to give it a look.
 
jj said:
Obama is clearly, testably, and verifiably to the RIGHT of Dwight D. Eisenhower, yet the same liars and frauds call Obama "socialist". These are the same liars and frauds who threw Barry Goldwater out of the Arizona Republican Party for being too liberal. That should tell you something, eh?
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I did not know that. I can't find it in a quick search.
I'd vote for Barry in a flash (well, except that he's dead).
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Surely you jest.
 
Dessi said:
I get the impression that the Republicans are trying a different strategy: since a moderate conservative couldn't beat Obama in the 2008 election, their trying a conservative conservative. They're also trying to appeal to the evangelical base which pushed Bush Jr over the edge.

Its not going to work. In fact I think they're setting themselves up to lose a few seats when Republican congressional seats are up for re-election.
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I actually think those on the right seemed to have learned a lesson from 2004, that the Republican establishment didn't. In 2004, Kerry got the Democratic nomination because he was seen as 'electable' in favor of more liberal candidates. We all know how well that turned out. I think nominating Romney will be the same kind of mistake for the Republicans this time around. However, I also think that nominating Santorum or Gingrich will be a different and much bigger mistake, so from my viewpoint, it looks like the Republicans are just screwed this election.
 
I know many moderate Republicans as friends. They definitely exist.

As for moderate Republican politicians, they're probably cowering in a corner hoping to not get a primary challenge, waiting to re-emerge after they're sure the Tea Party fervor is done.
 
So there's been a trickle of critical thinkers who've simply left the party, as we see. Unless the population of Republicans has notably diminished, however, it seems the broader conclusion is inescapable: the moderates have become extremists.

It's not hard to see how this could have happened. The Republicans have long been the party of goosestepping army soldiers. The trend setters dictate the tune, the soldiers sing it. They call themselves “Dittoheads” with apparently no sense of irony, certainly no embarrassment over the implications. You stray from the talking points, you're a RINO, your credentials are questioned, your very purity. Who dictates the trends to the trend setters? A matter for another thread, I suppose. “Follow the money” and all that.

On the other side, the Dems are many things but generally not goosestepping soldiers. Their ranks are too diverse, their constituencies too often at odds. This constant tug of war keeps them from clinching many an election, but it's also inoculated them against the poison the Reps have found so addicting.

My two-penny analysis.
 
Travis said:
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. A frightened person tends to make noise. And right now there are elements in the GOP that are terrified. They look around them and see an America that might be allowing gays to marry, electing atheists to congress or even the Senate and then there is the prospect of universal healthcare that they think means the onset of Communism. They see these things as possible and it has them quaking in their boots. Therefore this thoroughly scared element is asserting itself and trying to fight a last stand for their ideal society where everyone is forced to be Christian, heterosexual and resigned to death if they get sick while poor.

So they have risen up and taken control while moderates, as much as there still are some, lay back as they are frightened to say anything against these people who seem to think they have God on their side. Because when someone thinks they have God on their side they are willing to do terrible, terrible things since they think it is their path to heaven.
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I agree. The situation could one day become very serious indeed. As FDR said, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself". Fear is a powerful thing. When you combine fear with the faith that you are God's people, terrible things can happen. When 30% of the US population believes this way and fears that their side is losing control, strange things can happen; including their "right" to part ways and start their own Bible based country. Indeed, I have no doubt that in their minds, God will be there leading the faithful, to their victory over the followers of Satan. God will make it right.
 
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Travis said:
So they have risen up and taken control while moderates, as much as there still are some, lay back as they are frightened to say anything against these people who seem to think they have God on their side. Because when someone thinks they have God on their side they are willing to do terrible, terrible things since they think it is their path to heaven.
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So republicans are terrorists.

'bout right, i'd say.
 
Ryan O'Dine said:
On the other side, the Dems are many things but generally not goosestepping soldiers. .
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"I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."

-Will Rogers. (1935)​

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As for the thread topic:

They have sown the wind(bags) and now reap the whirlwind.1
exempli gratia:
RNC Chairman Michael Steele, in March 2009 “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary, yes, it’s ugly.”2
RNC Chairman Michael Steele two days later “My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”


(1) The Bible is not quite useful enough to base one's life on, but it does have enough poetry and metaphors that it is a good source for colorful quotes

(2) a statement which, if not 100% true, is far more true than untrue.
 
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Before Bush: <Democrats----------Independents----------Republicans>
After: <Everyone else------------------------------------------------TP Reps>

Anyone to the left of Santorum is a commie, Liberal!!!
 
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