It's not discredited but there are people who are certainly discredited, and there have always been such people. Mitt Romney, for example, is wholly discredited, but Muawiyah, ME, isn't!
Mitt's now a professional coupon clipper ~ no job, no occupation, nothing but his money to play with. He joined the 47%
The core principles are not discredited, but preception is reality for today’s world. And the Dems and the GOP itself backed up peoples perceptions, deserved or not, with actions contributing to them. And flatly refused to fight back against the unjust charges leveled at them.
No one considers such actions those of leaders. There is no strong horse there for anyone to get behind. Palin and (so far) Cruz are it. And that’s not nearly enough a reason to buy into the BS that comes with the new ‘brand’
Hopefully soon they too will get to Stage 5.