I firmly believe that what “moderates” respond to more than anything else is competency and leadership. If you display these traits, they will vote for you. If you are wishy-washy, won’t take a stand for anything, and give the appearance of weakness, they will abandon you.The author is entirely correct here. Most people are "moderate" because they don't really get the issues and want to appear reasonable. When they come to realize that the more power government gets, the more it wants and the more of your money it takes then they wise up. The GOP isn't going to win by saying "I'm not Obama" any more than they succeeded by saying "I'm not Clinton". They need a message that resonates with the people. Above all when something is supported by the people, like the AZ law, don't apologize for supporting it.
Most people are "moderate" because they don't really get the issues and want to appear reasonable.I can't speak for "most" people, but I am both a conservative and moderate in my political perspective. The adjective "moderate" is defined by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary as avoiding extremes of behavior or expression; tending toward the mean or average.
On the political bell curve, rigid or strong ideologues occupy the left and right ends of the curve, and represent a minority of the total population. As with all bell curves, the majority of any population will be somewhere in the upper part of the political curve. Not only is there no shame in being moderate in this sense, but the political ends of the bell curve are constantly pulling, tugging and competing for the votes of the majority in the center-left, center and center-right part of the bell.
