Posted on 03/09/2014 1:31:54 PM PDT by x
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Were accustomed to a narrative of Republican politics that pits the Tea Party against the establishment, the right against the center right. But that has always been an oversimplification, and in a wide-open presidential campaign, its likely to fit political reality more poorly than usual.
A better framework is suggested by Henry Olsen, writing in The National Interest, who argues that Republican presidential campaigns are usually defined by four factions rather than two.
One faction is centrist (think John McCains 2000 supporters, or Jon Huntsmans rather smaller 2012 support), one is moderately conservative (think the typical Mitt Romney or Bob Dole voter), one is socially conservative (think Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum backers), and one is very conservative but more secular (think Gingrich voters last time, or Steve Forbes voters much further back).
The moderately conservative faction holds the balance of power, which is why the party usually flirts with ideologues but settles down with a safer, establishment-endorsed choice. But different campaigns take very different paths to this result.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan basically worked from the right to the center, consolidating secular and religious conservatives and then wooing enough moderate conservatives to win.
In 1996, Bob Dole relied on moderate conservatives to fend off a centrist (Lamar Alexander), a social conservative (Pat Buchanan) and a secular conservative (Forbes).
In 2000, George W. Bush used support from moderate conservatives and religious conservatives to defeat both McCains centrist insurgency and Forbess lesser challenge from the right.
In 2008, McCain combined his original centrist base with enough moderate conservatives to win the nomination a trick Romney basically imitated in 2012.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
5.56mm
What Douthat and his pals call “centrist,” I would call leftist. McCain has been working with the Democrats for his entire career, and Jon Huntsman is a virtual Communist.
G O P= Gangs of Progressives!
It’s clearly at the point that we need a candidate that, when it comes down to the reality of government machinations, will solidly refused to work with leftist traitors. The only viable candidates I will recognize are the ones with a solid record of refusing to compromise with the domestic enemies of the nation on either side of the aisle.
“The moderately conservative faction holds the balance of power, which is why the party usually flirts with ideologues but settles down with a safer, establishment-endorsed choice.”
Who then loses to the Rat because the MSM said the candidate was “too radical.”
“Centrist”=liberal.
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