HARD RIGHT TURN: How The GOP Destroyed Its Moderates

[Plasmaball]

It's not that there is a far left; it's just that what is considered to be left is so far away from the extreme right that it seems far left to the extreme right.

I totally agree.

Some of ours posters here rally are so extremist in their attitudes than many Conservatives look like Marxists to them. That is fine - but I do think we should all recognise where our bias lies and be able to be honest and objective about where we sit on the political spectrum.

You can't suppport a flat tax rate of 10% or compulsory prayers in schools or want to invade Iran - and then claim to be a moderate.

Of course you agree... you're both ridiculously partisan. Anyone who disagrees with the messiah is 'far right'. The problem is one of credibility... in that you have none.

Your problem is that instead of actually listening to Romney, you instead rely on your media to explain what he said.... and they lie about what he says. That's your fault - you allow your media to lie to you. Twits.

Sadly you believe your own hype. You are a bigger cheerleader for romrom than tm is for obama.

 

[Plasmaball]

More to the point about the OP. The op Is basically correct. We have seen a basic push of far right push for more absolute policies. Now for good or ill is your opinion, but they have.
From Abortion to taxes.

What hasnt helped is this media push to excite everything to the extreme. Fox, Cnn, Msnbc all do it, in order to get viewers. It creates a problem. It create harsh partisan lines that nobody is really willing to move. The far right, unlike the far left are louder and quite honestly typically win the PR battle everytime. Why? Simple wins and they tend to have a simple message.

Take abortion for example. The talking point from the extreme is that its Murder. Well murder is supposed to be this shocking thing that nobody likes. Well calling abortion murder already creates a bad narrative. It makes them have a one up in a sense. I mean how do you argue against someone who constantly calls it murder? Now take that and apply it to every other issue out there.

Simple messages work these days because we have become a nation of 30 minutes or less. You can thank the media and Internet for this problem and its not going to get any better.

Look a Romney who has reinvented himself a few times now. His own campaign has admitted they can do this based on how the culture looks at elections.

Its like this. You have a select group who watch politics. Then you have more people take interest when the debates come up. Then finally the final run even more people come aboard. Romney seeing this understands you can reinvent yourself over and over again in order to win. You can be far right during the primaries because thats all who watches. You can move to the middle while not alienating your base because thats who starts to pay attention. ranted Romney always had the base. Just like Obama will always have his base.

All this and i haven't even touched the fact of Bubbles these people tend to live in.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Serious question here, can anyone explain why Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee if the GOP took a hard right turn and destroyed all its moderates?

 

[Bfgrn]

I would agree that the Republican Party has made it more difficult for moderates. Moderates are often targeted by right wing special interest groups in the primaries. There is even a name for moderates - RINO. I don't recall such derision for moderates in the Democrat Party.

I think this is a problem for the Republican Party. The more they cede the center, the more likely they are to end up as a rump, opposition party, like they are in California.

Isn't the nomination of both McCain and Romney enough proof of what you say is just pure liberal story line? Neither of them, along with GWB is anywhere near a Reagan type conservative.

What is a Reagan type conservative?

 

[Bfgrn]

screw you...

some names you left out...

richard armitage
dick cheney
donald rumsfeld
peter rodman
francis fukuyama
bill bennet
zalmay khalizad

and those were just names off of the pnac letter to bill clinton in 1998

Letter to President Clinton on Iraq

p.s. scoop jackson isn't jewish, neither are bolton or schlesinger ... oops.

so no to both of you... it is not only far-right theocrats who are neo-cons... it's just one section of the GOP ... far more numerous than the wacko randians.

You're right about Jackson, but you are wrong about Joshua Bolten and James Schlesinger, both Jewish.

The theocrats in the GOP are fundie Christians.

it's john robert bolton. i'm not sure where you're getting 'joshua' from.

you're right about schlesinger, though. that isn't an excuse for your implication.

Joshua B. Bolten served in the White House under President George W. Bush as Chief of Staff from 2006 to 2009, Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 2003 to 2006, and Deputy Chief of Staff from 2001 to 2003. He was director of policy for then-Governor Bush during his first presidential campaign. In earlier White House service he was Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs in the Administration of George H.W. Bush.

 

[Bfgrn]

You're right about Jackson, but you are wrong about Joshua Bolten and James Schlesinger, both Jewish.

The theocrats in the GOP are fundie Christians.

it's john robert bolton. i'm not sure where you're getting 'joshua' from.

you're right about schlesinger, though. that isn't an excuse for your implication.

Joshua B. Bolten served in the White House under President George W. Bush as Chief of Staff from 2006 to 2009, Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 2003 to 2006, and Deputy Chief of Staff from 2001 to 2003. He was director of policy for then-Governor Bush during his first presidential campaign. In earlier White House service he was Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs in the Administration of George H.W. Bush.

My implication is FACT. These neocons want to spill the blood of American sons and daughters for Israel. America is not the surrogate army for Israel.

I grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by Jewish neighbors. I love the Jewish people. They are the most friendly and warm people I have ever met. But I call a spade a spade. And if your implication is that we shouldn't criticize Jewish neocons, please tell me what gives them a pass?

To begin with, I brought up their religion to dismiss Oddball's false accusation that the neocon are the theocrats. The theocrats are Christian.

 

[Bfgrn]

After four decades as a Republican insider, Victor Gold reveals how the holy-rollers and the Neo-Cons have destroyed the GOP. Now he's fighting to get his party back

Do you realize that "holy-rollers" and "Neo-Cons" are entirely different groups? The title is an Oxymoron because even though there is some overlap, you can't prioritize the socon agenda over the neocon agenda and vice versa at the same time. And the majority of Socons are not neocons and the majority of neocons are not socons. The author is the regular type of moron and it' kills his credibility that he doesn't know the difference.

Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
Edmund Burke

He traces the beginning of the end to the 1980 Republican National Convention and the presence of 'a militant new element...personified by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.' The other half of the equation, the neoconservatives, are embodied by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, 'two cuts from the same Machiavellian cloth.'

 

[ScienceRocks]

John P. Holdren --- Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

".......Overpopulation was an early concern and interest. In a 1969 article, Holdren and co-author Paul R. Ehrlich argued, "if the population control measures are not initiated immediately, and effectively, all the technology man can bring to bear will not fend off the misery to come." In 1973, Holdren encouraged a decline in fertility to well below replacement in the United States, because "210 million now is too many and 280 million in 2040 is likely to be much too many." In 1977, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich, and Holdren co-authored the textbook Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment; they discussed the possible role of a wide variety of solutions to overpopulation, from voluntary family planning to enforced population controls, including forced sterilization for women after they gave birth to a designated number of children, and discussed "the use of milder methods of influencing family size preferences" such as access to birth control and abortion.

Other early publications include Energy (1971), Human Ecology (1973), Energy in Transition (1980), Earth and the Human Future (1986), Strategic Defenses and the Future of the Arms Race (1987), Building Global Security Through Cooperation (1990), and Conversion of Military R&D (1998)......"

_______________________

The Intellectual Roots of Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb (and the pre-prehistory of climate alarmism) [John P. Holdren collaborated with the Ehrlichs on "The Population Bomb" [1968]

 

[Bfgrn]

john p. Holdren --- director of the white house office of science and technology policy, and co-chair of the president’s council of advisors on science and technology

".......overpopulation was an early concern and interest. In a 1969 article, holdren and co-author paul r. Ehrlich argued, "if the population control measures are not initiated immediately, and effectively, all the technology man can bring to bear will not fend off the misery to come." in 1973, holdren encouraged a decline in fertility to well below replacement in the united states, because "210 million now is too many and 280 million in 2040 is likely to be much too many." in 1977, paul r. Ehrlich, anne h. Ehrlich, and holdren co-authored the textbook ecoscience: Population, resources, environment; they discussed the possible role of a wide variety of solutions to overpopulation, from voluntary family planning to enforced population controls, including forced sterilization for women after they gave birth to a designated number of children, and discussed "the use of milder methods of influencing family size preferences" such as access to birth control and abortion.

Other early publications include energy (1971), human ecology (1973), energy in transition (1980), earth and the human future (1986), strategic defenses and the future of the arms race (1987), building global security through cooperation (1990), and conversion of military r&d (1998)......"

_______________________

the intellectual roots of paul ehrlich's the population bomb (and the pre-prehistory of climate alarmism) [john p. Holdren collaborated with the ehrlichs on "the population bomb" [1968]

and...?

 

[Bfgrn]

Good bye and good ridance.

Who won the House in 2010, make it stronger in 2012 and possibly take back the senate ?

Ask Dick Lugar.

EXACTLY! Moderate Republicans are not welcome.

It was the Republican party that wanted to impose a 'purity test' that Ronald Reagan would fail.

 

[ScienceRocks]

and Mitt Romney is a left wing nut. Not a moderate.

I don't fucking understand why you people oppose him. One of his advantages (real ones)is his knowledge in economics. He'd be an asset for advancing your values, plus recovering the economy.

He's likely going to set back the republican party. Hell if I was you...I'd vote for him.

 

[Claudette]

Good bye and good ridance.

Who won the House in 2010, make it stronger in 2012 and possibly take back the senate ?

Ask Dick Lugar.

Might be more appropriate to explain how the Dems treat their moderates. You know. The bribes, threats and all that jazz.

Obamacare ring any bells??

 

[Bfgrn]

Oh gad another thread dedicating to the liberal fairy tale story line more then reality. Another liberal trying to define others and not themselves. Being a life long Republican the truth is that I am disgusted, not with the turn to the right, but the turn to the left that the Republicans have taken. Of course considering that the left has gone so far left it is unrecognizable from the party of JFK it is not surprising that the right is swinging to what used to be considered the left. "Ask not what your country can do for you..." was the mantra of JFK not that many years ago. Can anyone say that it is now a slogan expressed by anyone on the left?

So as usual with the left what they say and reality is always in opposition.

Absolutely! President Kennedy address’s most famous line exhorted a generation to pursue careers and lives guided by public service.

Obama Issues Call for Public Service

Before presenting his proposals calling for a renewed commitment to national service, Mr. Obama was endorsed by Harris Wofford, a former senator from Pennsylvania who helped form the Peace Corps during his time in the Kennedy administration. As he introduced Mr. Obama to the crowd, Mr. Wofford said he had not felt as inspired “since the days of John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.”

“Barack Obama has picked up the torch that they lit,” Mr. Wofford said.

 

[editec]

Political parties are FRANCHISES that bring with them enormous power.

There is an internacine battle for control of that franchise.

The extreme fascist wing of the GOP has more money than the moderate wing.

Hence the GOP moves further and further away from the former AMERICAN value system.

duh!

 

[Mac1958]

.

Example of what's happening inside the GOP right now, here's a headline from Daily Caller this morning:

"Senate Smackdown - Lindsey Graham's collaboration with Democrats points to Tea Party challenge in '14"

The message is loud and clear: Cooperate with the bad guys, participate in consensus in any way, and you're breaking the rules. You're gone, we're coming after you.

Limbaugh and Hannity and Levin, the right's division pimps, are getting their way. But when one party simply refuses to work with the other, we're in deep, serious trouble. Partisan egos are literally killing us.

.

 

[Stephanie]

.

Example of what's happening inside the GOP right now, here's a headline from Daily Caller this morning:

"Senate Smackdown - Lindsey Graham's collaboration with Democrats points to Tea Party challenge in '14"

The message is loud and clear: Cooperate with the bad guys, participate in consensus in any way, and you're breaking the rules. You're gone, we're coming after you.

Limbaugh and Hannity and Levin, the right's division pimps, are getting their way. But when one party simply refuses to work with the other, we're in deep, serious trouble. Partisan egos are literally killing us.

.

yeah I bet you said that about the Democrats during the Bush years

 

[Mac1958]

.

Example of what's happening inside the GOP right now, here's a headline from Daily Caller this morning:

"Senate Smackdown - Lindsey Graham's collaboration with Democrats points to Tea Party challenge in '14"

The message is loud and clear: Cooperate with the bad guys, participate in consensus in any way, and you're breaking the rules. You're gone, we're coming after you.

Limbaugh and Hannity and Levin, the right's division pimps, are getting their way. But when one party simply refuses to work with the other, we're in deep, serious trouble. Partisan egos are literally killing us.

.

yeah I bet you said that about the Democrats during the Bush years

More inter-party consensus was built and executed during the Bush years than is happening now. And FAR more inter-party consensus was built and executed during the Clinton, Bush I and Reagan administrations.

The last time this country was really purring was during the Clinton-Gingrich years.

.

 

[squeeze berry]

Political parties are FRANCHISES that bring with them enormous power.

There is an internacine battle for control of that franchise.

The extreme fascist wing of the GOP has more money than the moderate wing.

Hence the GOP moves further and further away from the former AMERICAN value system.

duh!

what extreme fascist wing?

 

[kaz]

and Mitt Romney is a left wing nut. Not a moderate.

I don't fucking understand why you people oppose him. One of his advantages (real ones)is his knowledge in economics. He'd be an asset for advancing your values, plus recovering the economy.

He's likely going to set back the republican party. Hell if I was you...I'd vote for him.

We knew when the libs were all swooning over Romney saying he was the only moderate and they feared him above everyone else during the primary campaign ... they were full of it. But then, they always are.

 

[Saigon]

Kaz -

I think many people felt Romney was a moderate - given his healthcare package and attitude towards coal - but now he has totally reversed his posiition on those topics.

Conservatives should be concerned about both the flip-flopping and the fact that their candidate seems to be stuck in about 1976, but few seem to be.