“McCain’s come-from-behind win in the primaries was not only proof of the strength of the center but a repudiation of Karl Rove’s play-to-the-base approach because he won the Republican nomination without the support of right-wing talk radio and evangelicals”
That is a crock. McCain won with a calculated trangulation of the base. Giuliani and Thonpson pulled in conservatives who could not stomach McCain’s progressive stance and his identification with the Democrats in the Senate. Many who voted Giuliani did so despite his anti-gun stance, because his was less liberal than McCain. Huckabee was allowed to thrive, built up by the press without the attacks later thrown against Palin, so he lived to collect the evangelical votes. Before the votes were dry, long before the phoney convention, Giuliani and Fred handed their collection of non-McCain votes to McCain. No bargaining, no convention speeches for their supposedly competing viewpoints. McCain walked into the convention already nominated, and Huckabee threw his votes to McCain too in a triumph over the greater evil of Mormonism. McCain won the nomination without a majority of Republicans backing him, because the majority of the the other candidates supported him over themselves.
A candidate nominated without the majority consent of the party members has to campaign outside his party to win. There was already a liberal party candidate who did not pretend to be a Republican so McCain lost. Bringing in Palin brought in enthusiasm but did not restore trust in McCain with the base (why should it?) and the low Republican turnout was the reason voter count did not exceed 2004
“The Republican Party can re‑emerge as a force by reconnecting with independents, centrists, and libertarians in the future. Great parties have to be willing to grow, and in the GOP’s case, become more diverse”
This election was run by the RNC, not the Republican party base, and the RNC is hardly libertarian, barely conservative. The RNC (and the RNCC) is the Rockefeller wing, liberals who want to protect their personal financial assets from government control. This is a small but wealthy group,and explain McCains poor fund raising since he could only cull money from this small crowd while the base of voters withheld funds in mass protest.
In general the US is 20 percent liberal, 30 percent conservative, with demographic growth favoring conservatism. Illegal immigration growth favors liberalism. McCain promotes the illegal immigration agenda as a prime requirement, even using leading spokesmen for open borders on his campaign
Libertarians have a libertarian party. Independents do not want a party. Centrists do not exist as a definition. A centrist is someone who does not identify with liberal or conservative for any reason, too many to predict. That is why the only two successful parties have taken the identity of left or right, which are reasonably defined.
The problem with McCain is his greater identity with the values of the left.
The problem with the RNC/RNCC is their definition of conservatism ends with protection of their personal corporate assets, and not the protection of personal wage and salaried assets or personal moral standards of the base, which is the only wealth of the base
The morality clauses required by the base are the real anathema to the McCain elitists, who dream of a new party devoid of Lincolnesque beliefs. Sorting this chaff from a conservative base leaves few votes
The McCain wing of the party has nowhere to grow, but could leave and form a new party. The base will not follow them. The new party could attempt to lure libertarians, although the libertarians will throw down the protections the corporate McCain backers have relied upon for years, for instance, government bailouts. The libertarian crowd will also work to dismantle the military which produces a lot of wealth for the McCain supporters, while protecting their overseas investments. The new party could attempt to lure ‘centrists’ who are social liberals, favorable to open borders, favorable to social safety nets, job security laws as well as corporate obligation to community in the form of taxation. Independents do not tilt to libertarianism, and are a mixed bag for the Nanny state.
The RNC bigheads are the real dreamers, dreaming of a constituency who share their values. They tried to pretend it existed in this election and lost. Now they are rushing to expand the party with the only groups left, high tax moderates, no tax anti corporate libertarians, and the distrustful of corporate independent.
“Great parties have to be willing to grow”
This is the biggest crock of the article. Parties do not grow to collect votes, they are formed to express the politics of their members. They are an assembly of intent, not a scheme to trick votes to their side. That was McCain’s mistake this election
