I also remember the premier placement in the program of the "log cabin" conservatives, and the placement of the "religious right" anti-abortion crowd way in the back, out of sight and mind during Bob (let's make a deal) Doles run at knocking off Bubba.
The purposeful ignoring of the wants of those considered "radical right-wingers" or the "enemies of the good" is not new. It is part of the strategy of both parties. They want the votes, but don't want to heed the needs of any group that seems too strident, that may embarrass them in their peer group. After all, they are smarter than us, and they don't see any problems from their seat in the back of the limo, or from behind the iron gates. To those that gain high office, it is all casual. It is just so much hoopla, they don't worry about the country being destroyed because the opposition party wins high office. They go to the same clubs, drink at the same pubs, and slap each other on the back and talk about how they fooled them today.
The system exists for a govt that is not ruled by man, a way of doing things that required only honest people to take care to "preserve and protect". It is gone now, forever a footnote in history. It WAS a constitutional Republic, but now it is a democracy, run by the rich and corrupt, to benefit those that keep them empowered. The rich corporations and their boards, and the poor that can be bought to vote them in every time they are needed.
Deja Vu.