… was posed in this piece, “Republicans’ Tack to the Right: With or Beyond the Mainstream?,” in The Wall Street Journal today:
There now seems little doubt that Republican primary voters have shifted to the right. The question is whether that reflects a move by the country more broadly in that direction—or a shift by GOP candidates outside the mainstream, which could benefit Democrats in November.
I suppose we’ll find out in a few months.
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The SCDP could stand to drift a little bit to the right itself. Clearly Vincent Sheheen is trying to accomplish that in his own campaign, but it would help him and other Democrats running in the state if their party just went ahead and did more to take social issues off the table by adopting pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-right to work platform planks. It certainly hasn’t hurt state Democrat Parties in our sister Southern states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to just go ahead and say “yeah, we’re pro life”.
I don’t know about the nation, but in South Carolina, it’s pretty clear that the rightward shift reflects the mainstream. I would love to believe that Sheheen could win in November, but look — Haley very nearly avoided a runoff in a four-man race against three candidates who would have been plenty conservative in the years before Sanford. Most South Carolinians are Republican, and most want ANOTHER four years of Sanford-style politics, because in South Carolina, we hate us some government.
If scandal doesn’t overtake her (please, God), Haley will be the Republican nominee. The other candidates will fall in line behind her because they are politicians responding to the public’s will, and South Carolinians will make her the next Governor.
I despair.
Matt,
Most SC Dems take at least two out of three of those stances. Are you saying the problem then lies in the party not putting that in the platform? I think you are right from a political science standpoint but as a lifelong Democrat I know it won’t happen – Democrats will never line up behind one uniform platform. This is both a blessing and a curse.
KP, you’re too pessimistic. Common sense just needs the right messenger. We’re pretty crazy and self-destructive in this state, but we are not entirely immune to reason.
Matt, as to the Kulturkampf stuff: All I know about Vincent is that he’s Catholic. So for me, that makes him one of us. I have no further questions…
I’m pessimistic? We’re not immune to reason? We elected Sanford by a huge margin for a second term when we had every reason in the world to know better. We elected Jim DeMint, maybe the most right-wing member of the Senate EVER, and we LOVE him. We hate Lindsey Graham, who’s pretty much the last elected Republican in the state with any common sense.
You are probably surrounded in Columbia by people who think the way you do. Here in the hinterlands, it’s just plain scary. We’ve had plenty of good messengers, we just have too few people who can hear.
Amen, KP. Amen!
The GOP just blew their chance to beat Harry Reid. They might actually let their Senate seat in Kentucky slip away, as Rand Paul’s lead over his Democratic opponent is now down to the single digits even in Rasmussen’s (generally GOP-leaning) poll. Their split in Florida might possibly hand the election to Meeks. There is a significant chance that Sheheen can beat Haley, if he can convince the electorate that she represents a third term of Mark Sanford. (although I glumly anticipate frequent visits to our state by Queen Fraudulent of Wasilla).
The right-wing has made itself feel all tingly inside this spring; come November, the national GOP will be wondering what happened to the landslide they were supposed to have.
Seizing the center generally wins November elections.
Yikes, Brad– Did you just endorse Vincent Sheheen based on identity politics, to wit: he’s Catholic?
@Phillip,
I agree with you. In 2008, all too many Democrats who won their seats in congress ran in the middle, a little to the right. Liberals or Progressives probably won’t agree, but this country is still a center to center right majority by a large margin.
The country had a tantrum in 2008 and went for a promised change in tone and atmosphere. Neither one has come about and won’t. If anything, we are more polarized than ever and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
Sensible discussions between political factions are practically impossible about any subject or issue affecting the average citizen. There is no middle ground. It is either all or nothing, compromise has been eliminated from the equation and when there is the appearance of compromise, the extreme factions of both sides raise hell about not getting everything they wanted.
The ying and yang have to have an effective government is a necessity, but in American politics, especially in today’s environment, it is a myth.