work out for McCain? It would seem to me that we sent forward a candidate that should have been one of the best candidates for a middle of the road/center-right Republican. That didn’t turn into much electoral success, particularly in New England.

I will not say that we do not need the Rockefeller Republicans. I would only say that we do NOT need them setting the agenda or establishing the platform.

centrists et al agree with conservative positions on the weightiest issues of the day is absurd.I strongly doubt that the conservative base would be as angry with the likes of Specter,Snowe,Collins,McCain,and Graham because they desert their party on procedural votes.Rather it is their abandonment of the conservative position on big ticket items like the Stimulus bill,the budget,amnesty for illegal aliens,conservative judicial nominees,campaign finance,etc.,that has us up in arms.

Second,you posit that only by placating the “centrists”can the GOP win elections.It is impossible to placate centrists unless you become one.And becoming one requires the abandonment of any “grounding” principles that govern the basis for taking positions on the “weightiest” topics of the day.Given the fact they are not grounded by political philosophy they are more likely to pick sides based upon the popularity of a position as dictated by the mainstream media and the damage that media can do to their electoral chances.

Republicans lost in 2006 and 2008 because they abandoned conservative principles.The electorate equated the GOP with hypocrisy,corruption,and ineptitude.Obama used this discontent and by campaigning as one of you centrists won the Presidency.John McCain had no desire to evangelize the conservative message-his selection of Palin was a recognition that his candidacy was in serious trouble of losing a significant portion of the conservative base.In the wake of the savage media attack upon Palin by a suddenly fearful left,McCain not only failed to adequately defend her,but also chose to effectively mute her message.Our nation is now suffering from the election of a false moderate because of the lack of political principles of a real one.

You say the GOP needs your kind.I say we need the votes of every American who upon hearing the clear and eloquent articulation of our conservative principles chooses life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness promulgated and defended by a limited government which seeks to grow our economic prosperity,secures our borders,and keeps us safe.You imply that the GOP is beholding to the small percentage of centrists that like to think they hold the balance of power.Not so.Our tent should be large enough to shelter our principles,boldly colored in the advertisement of our principles,and strongly staked so the vagaries of instant public opinion,and the groundless wanderings of misguided centrists cannot bring it down.You are the ones who must make your choice-stand with us or go with them!

You say that liberals are those “…who believe that government offers the best hope for a just society and therefore a large federal government, complete with all that entails, is an objective good.” And you seem to suggest that the Rockefeller branch is a shade closer to the center than the liberals, so we shouldn’t try to toss them over the side. I have to take issue with that. The establishment Republicans that you respect had pretty much kept the Republican party in the minority for over 20 years. Their effort to work in a ‘bipartisan’ way, enabled some really stupid things to come to pass, because of the hope for a ‘just society.’ We spent trillions on the War on Poverty and got nowhere and we kept expanding Social Security and Medicare to morph them both into the uncontrollable programs they are today. Not a great track record.

After comparing conservatives and liberals, you then say “Now neither side is unAmerican, evil, or stupid- they simply have drastically different ideas for what America should be.”

This is absolutely the crux of the issue. There’s no ‘middle’ to this one–they are in fact unAmerican, or stupid or both. Allowing liberals or ‘statists’ to cripple capitalism and absorb power at the speed they’re doing isn’t a slight disagreement about ‘what America should be’–it’s a full scale attempt to change America into something completely different, and departing completely from the Constitution along the way.

How much drastically different do they have to go to get you to say “uh-oh” and realize that they aren’t just slightly misguided, but well intentioned people??

it is not “moderate” Republicans who are socially liberal versus Socons. Those two groups both believe in big government, they just want to use it for different ends. Our failure and our opportunity is to bring in libertarians. The problem with this party is that it has joined the Demonrats in believing government has the answers to our ills, even though empirical evidence shows otherwise.

I do not agree we need to bend or placate anyone. We need to look to our Founders, to their written words, to the Constitution, there you will find the answers. If we do not do this, then we do not deserve to win because we are a party with no soul, just a group of people that want to beat the other team. Are we simply going to be the Red Sox and they the Yankees? or do we stand for a core, the law and foundation of our land? Men have bled for that document, can we not take the time to read it again?

But what do Rockefeller Republicans actually stand for in the way of principles.
Why are they in the Republican party to begin with ? For that matter, why aren’t they independents or democrats. Republicans stood for conservative principles, all THREE of them. So I will ask, why Republican ?

rock-repubs never won a majority. They were accomodationists of the big guv welfare state, essentially being defined by their insistence that big business get its share of govt largesse and more recently, that they get monopoly power in exchange for accepting liberal policies.

Today, Rocke-repubs are known as liberal democrats.

or, pro-abortion republicans

All the arguments that have been raised on this topic seem to start from the same unchallenged premise; that the GOP has to move to the “center” to placate Rockefeller (“moderate”/”centrist”) Republicans.

I’m of the opinion that it’s supposed to be the other way round. The so-called “moderates” need to acquire some principles and move to the Right, and even more importantly, they need to stop being such sniveling quislings and actually start being proud of being Republicans.

While they may not agree on everything, if they take a serious look, issue by issue, most will find that the so-called moderates are on board with conservatives on the weightiest topics of the day.

This is patently untrue – it is exactly on the weighty issues that our “moderates” repeatedly fail. We had 55 Senators in 2005. Yet we couldn’t pass legislation or get nominees confirmed because time and again, our “moderates” preemptively surrendered and handed victory over to the other side in exchange for TV interviews and complimentary headlines.

Let me be perfectly honest – at the moment Rockefeller Republicans have made themselves more of a liability than an asset. If you want to know why Republicans were purged by the voters in New England, look at the people they ejected from their seats.

People (Shays, Chafee, Johnson, etc.), who routinely pounded on their own party, called fellow Republicans names, questioned their motives, sabotaged their leadership, repeated Democratic talking points on policy, all in a bid to appeal to the “center.”

After a while, the people in their districts asked themselves; “if Republicans suck so much – as you say – why should I vote for you?”

Have you noticed how much more disciplined the GOP Caucus in the House is now that so many of the so-called “moderates”, the ringleaders, who seemed to live for providing bipartisan cover for Democratic policy are gone?

Kinda makes mincemeat of the idea that “moderates” are with us on the weighty issues, doesn’t it?

I get very nervous when I hear a lot talk against Republicans who don’t agree 100% on all issues on this site.

I grew up in RI and while I would of loved to see more Conservative Rep elected that is just not the case so perhaps that clouds my judgement. I remember volunteering as a kid and up on many Republican candidates campaigns ( and we lost more times) but when we won it was grand in my eyes and still is. I just like to see Republicans wins and in NE a Republican by their standards is not really a republican an eye in many on here standards.

I will say this why do they call Snowe, Collins, Spectar moderates and yet they call someone like Landrieu, Nelson, Lincoln Conservative Democrats? Once again, its the media allowing Dems to molded into their fashion

The GOP would be well-advised to expand its tent by appealing more to libertarians than to “Rockefeller Republicans.”