Thorough-going movement conservatives are a minority but so what. We always have been. The key is to remember that Ronald Reagan put together a coalition of disparate groups who together swelled into a majority: A patriotic assembly of social conservatives, defense hawks, and small-government fiscal conservatives. Those elements of the electorate are all still out there but we lack a leader with the skill and vision to call them together.
McCain has no credibility with social conservatives. Romney has little or none, and has no obvious credibility on national defense. Huckabee has little of anything but god-talk and wisecracks. Giuliani was a security hawk but little else. Thompson could have been the man but he dithered until long after the train left the station.
Where is the leader who can evoke patriotic images of a limited, domestically mild government which yet maintains a fierce commitment to national security while nurturing the eternal values which made America the "last best hope?" Find this man and stand back, because you will have a bandwagon and a president for the next eight years.
“The key is to remember that Ronald Reagan put together a coalition of disparate groups who together swelled into a majority: A patriotic assembly of social conservatives, defense hawks, and small-government fiscal conservatives. Those elements of the electorate are all still out there but we lack a leader with the skill and vision to call them together.”
Reagan also had the good fortune to follow Carter, probably the most ineffective president in history. Reagan also got plenty of Democrats to cross over for him. I’m playing Devils Advocate here, but it seems that if a candidate reaches out to the various factions, then the “True Believers” from his own faction turn on him.
Dang that was good Hinckley !
All true