Moderate Republicans, RIP

Former GOP House Member Tom Davis writes an essay warning of the future direction of the GOP. Davis raises a point I've made before: The problem with the GOP isn't that they've strayed from their conservatives roots, the problem is that they've stayed too true. George Bush was a disaster, and a conservative's dream. Cutting taxes, going to war, conservative social policy on gays, stem cells, abortion, birth control and more. The problem with George Bush, and the problem with the Republican party, isn't that they're not conservative enough. It's that they're too conservative in a country that isn't. Republicans like to claim that America is a center-right country. I'm not convinced. But if America were center right, that would mean it's not far right. Center right is another way of saying "moderate Republican," a concept anathema to those leading today's GOP. I'm still not convinced that America is a center-right nation. But whatever we are, the views of moderate Republicans like Tom Davis are still far closer to most Americans than the current pack of Bible-thumping troglodytes running the current Republican party.