What Does A Moderate Republican/Conservative Stand For?

acesfull86

acesfull86

Well-known member
Genuinely curious about this. With so many saying that the GOP is moving further to the right, getting hijacked by crazies, I'm interested to know what positions a moderate on the right would take up on the major issues of the day.
 
I think they strongly support the Endangered Species Act.

Seriously, Mark McKinnon is one of the founders of the bi-partisan No Labels movement and he's your standard moderate Republican. Jon Huntsman has also been involved with that group.

Generally, I think they are about less spending and a more sensible tax policy (think something like the Romney plan in terms of credit/deduction reduction but not as drastic in terms of marginal rate reduction). Strong, consistent (but not particularly adventurous) foreign policy. More competition in public education and health care. I'm a moderate Democrat and most of the moderate Republicans I talk to sound something like that.
 
What does a moderate Republican look like?

480px-President_Barack_Obama.jpg
 
Heres two examples. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Basically most of the non tea party republicans. Republicans are really in a tough spot. They are doing what they are doing to satisfy their voters. They are being put on notice by their voters that they will be replaced by other republicans if they dont obstruct Obama. So they can either obstruct Obama and probably win reelection or they can not obstruct Obama and risk losing the primary in their next reelection campaign. Democrats werent going to vote for them anyways so they dont really care about pissing them off.

Personally I subscribe to the plan of just giving Obama everything he wants and just wait until his policies turn to **** and use that as campaign fuel. Eventually people get tired of whoever is in power and votes in the other side. Thats why each side doesnt give a ****. They know no matter how much they screw up the american people will be back. I mean what else are they gonna do, vote for a third party? I dont think so.

edit - I like that you think Obama is a moderate republican. Republicans consider Bush a moderate liberal.
 
It's funny because I can remember when Tom Coburn, Bob Corker and Lindsay Graham were considered far right-wing.

Now they've basically look like center-right moderates compared to Cruz, Gingrey, Rand.

Just like when Bill O was considered a far right-wing guy. Then Glenn Beck comes on Fox News and dwarfs him.
 
cajunrevenge said:
Personally I subscribe to the plan of just giving Obama everything he wants and just wait until his policies turn to **** and use that as campaign fuel. Eventually people get tired of whoever is in power and votes in the other side. Thats why each side doesnt give a ****. They know no matter how much they screw up the american people will be back. I mean what else are they gonna do, vote for a third party? I dont think so.

edit - I like that you think Obama is a moderate republican. Republicans consider Bush a moderate liberal.
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Olympia Snow already retired. See: Angus McFadden

Obama's policies so far:
Foreign - Drones, Libya, Extending Afghanistan
Healthcare - Uses a Republican & Heritage Plan from the 1990's. Result? Socialism
Taxes - Extended Bush tax cuts for a few years, then only let the cuts on wealthy expire.

I'd say that's pretty moderate Republican.

Many Republicans loved George Bush until the last few days of his Presidency. They were in huge support of him until the bailout, which he had no choice but to sign to avert another depression.
 
Oh and another reason Obama is a moderate Republican? His infatuation with Ronald Reagan.

Most liberals/progressive (note I didn't say Democrats) loathed Reagan. Obama brings him up every time.
 
If you want to pick a democratic president as a moderate republican your best bet is Bill Clinton and thats mostly because he let the Republican Congress do what they wanted with only some obstruction and then took credit for their work.

Republicans loved George Bush because they loved having power. Anyone who is a conservative considers Bush's presidency a disaster because he wasnt actually conservative. Just look at the platform he ran on then look at what he actually did when in office. He really redefined what Republican is, from conservative to the **** stain it has been since his presidency. The conservative party pre George Bush is now the Libertarian Party. Its really misleading to call Republicans conservative anymore. If voting for Obamacare would get them reelected they would do it in a heart beat.
 
cajunrevenge said:
If you want to pick a democratic president as a moderate republican your best bet is Bill Clinton and thats mostly because he let the Republican Congress do what they wanted with only some obstruction and then took credit for their work.

Republicans loved George Bush because they loved having power. Anyone who is a conservative considers Bush's presidency a disaster because he wasnt actually conservative. Just look at the platform he ran on then look at what he actually did when in office. He really redefined what Republican is, from conservative to the **** stain it has been since his presidency. The conservative party pre George Bush is now the Libertarian Party. Its really misleading to call Republicans conservative anymore. If voting for Obamacare would get them reelected they would do it in a heart beat.
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A moderate republican will probably tell you he doesn't care what folks want to do socially anymore. At least, if they want to have any chance of getting elected.

W was one of the most popular presidents in history after his first term. Anyone likely in power would have made the same moves he did.
 
Tapate50 said:
A moderate republican will probably tell you he doesn't care what folks want to do socially anymore. At least, if they want to have any chance of getting elected.

W was one of the most popular presidents in history after his first term. Anyone likely in power would have made the same moves he did.
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Moderate Republicans tend to be, hard to find the right term here, more "embracing" on issues like abortion and *** rights (Censors! Let me re-phrase: "the rights of those who are attracted to members of the same biological sex"). I don't know where Representative Peter King is on those issues, but he represents Long Island (I think) and my guess is Kippy, Biff, and Muffy and most of his other constituents see those issues as "personal" issues.

One of the joys of my life in politics/government is that I've been able to watch trends, almost all of it Minnesota, and one thing I've noticed is the migration of the social issue conservatives from the Democratic party to the Republican party. Minnesota has this reputation as this bastion of liberalism and it is deserved in some sense given some the national figures that have sprung from here, but it's always been a strong pro-life state. When I started as staff at the Minnesota Legislature in the mid-1970s, there were a couple of bills introduced that proposed to limit abortions and prohibit the use of Medicaid for abortions. Both houses of the legislature were overwhelmingly Democratic and the bill passed both houses easily and was signed by a Democratic governor. And most of the Republicans (at least in the Senate where I worked) voted against it. They were largely suburban "banker" types. The heart and soul of the anti-abortion movement in Minnesota was comprised of legislators from small towns who had grown up during the New Deal and embraced government intervention, but were also tied to what is now termed "traditional family values." As the New Deal receded further in the rear view mirror, that contingent moved to the Republican side of the ledger. I think a lot of that movement had to do with the evangelicals abandoning Jimmy Carter, who they initially saw as one of them, and moving in the direction of the Republicans.

W's average popularity spiked after 9/11 and that really inflates, at least in my view, his first-term popularity score. He was just above 50% in the 2004 election season.
 
KeithLockhart said:
Olympia Snow already retired. See: Angus McFadden

Obama's policies so far:
Foreign - Drones, Libya, Extending Afghanistan
Healthcare - Uses a Republican & Heritage Plan from the 1990's. Result? Socialism
Taxes - Extended Bush tax cuts for a few years, then only let the cuts on wealthy expire.

I'd say that's pretty moderate Republican.

Many Republicans loved George Bush until the last few days of his Presidency. They were in huge support of him until the bailout, which he had no choice but to sign to avert another depression.
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Just because some republicans came up with an idea that their allies didn't support doesn't make it a conservative idea. Why do you automatically say.... oh, well Obama must be a moderate republican as opposed to those republicans who came up with the thought are moderate democrats? It works both ways doesn't it? I mean why not just look at what the idea is. It's giving federal government the power to mandate healthcare. This isn't a conservative policy. I would argue that those who came up with the idea were really moderate democrats.

Obama clearly supports demand side economics and that is another democrat idea. He did indeed raise taxes during an economic recovery on all Americans not just the rich.
 
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