The conservative movement ended with Read My Lips. Then, Jobs Americans Won’t Do added his brand of compassionate conservatism.
The term and movement have been so bastardized by various factions that they accomplished their mission — making conservatism into a weak force in politics. Same with The TEA Party.
Nearly every Republican presidential candidate since 2000 has claimed to be ‘the’ conservative. But many of them have tried to refine it to their benefit.
GW Bush — compassionate conservative
M Romney — seriously conservative
J Bush — reform conservative
The concept has been so watered down by political factions that it means only what the identifier intends it to mean for him or her.
The conservative movement began to die in the 1980’s when conservatives failed to find and unite behind a conservative who would sustain the Reagan revolution. By 1988, the Republicans had to choose between George Bush and Robert Dole—Tweedledee and Tweedledum—for their presidential standard bearer.