I don't know where the author of the posted article, David Stokes, got this statement from, but he seems to be dead wrong. IIRC, the "big tent" idea came from the Reagan people, Lee Atwater in particular.
In fact, Reagan would famously invoke his "Eleventh Commandment": "Thou shalt not speak evil about one's fellow Republican."
I like and approve of Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment as it leads to cohesiveness within the GOP.
We Republicans should be debating the plus and minus of policies - NOT trying to destroy one another.
That is what I so intensely disliked about Gov.Huckabee: he lied about another Republican candidate concerning abortion, and succeeded in forcing him out of the 2008 race. That threw the race to McCain.
“Big Tent”, IIRC, originally meant WE convinced people from all walks of life to AGREE with us.
What “Big Tent” has COME TO MEAN in certain circles (cough-McCain-cough-Arnold Schwarzaneggar-cough-Collins ‘n Snowe) is that we convince people from all walks of life that WE agree with THEM.
Big difference.