Clinton rebuked a person for calling for an immoral reaction--he was actually on the side of morals in that particular case.
The Republican examples are all exactly opposite of that.
In 1996, Bob Dole lambasted the pro-life movement in attempt to make his platform look more “big tent.” Dole went on to lose to Clinton by a wide margin on Election Day. In 2000, both George W. Bush and John McCain had their respective Sister Souljah moments in the GOP primary. Bush critiqued Robert Bork’s cultural pessimism in a high-profile speech and McCain tore into the religious right. McCain lost the primary. Bush went on to lose the popular vote in a general election he narrowly won. In 2008, McCain reveled in the opportunities to please media elites by denouncing alleged extremists on his way to losing the general election to Barack Obama. In 2012, enraged liberal opinion-makers called upon Mitt Romney to castigate Rush Limbaugh for insulting Sandra Fluke. Romney did so, albeit tepidly, and was rewarded with constant coverage of his supposed “war on women.” He also lost the general election.Dole--rebuked pro-life movement
If you get on the right side of an issue, you win.
Get on the wrong side, like so many Republicans trying to please the Left, and you lose.
Not only that, but Republicans, especially conservative ones (rare as unicorns), will never get a fair play from the media, no matter what they say, and the media is more blatantly biased now than it was in Clinton’s day.
Establishment Republicans dump on their base and are then surprised when the base doesn’t show up on Election Day.
Either they’re too dumb to figure it out, or they don’t want to be associated with conservatives.