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View Full Version : Why has the GOP been generally a moderate party?


CaughtintheMiddle1990
12-31-2010, 10:00 AM
I know a lot of people say the GOP is a conservative party...But I don't see it, at least at the Presidential level.

I mean let's look over the GOP nominees of the past 100 years (by today's political standards)

Election of 1900: McKinley (Center Right)
Election of 1904: Theodore Roosevelt (Center-Left to Liberal)
Election of 1909: William H. Taft (Moderate to Center Left)
Election of 1912: William H. Taft (Moderate to Center-Left)
Election of 1916: Charles Evan Hughes (Center Left)
Election of 1920: Warren G. Harding (Center-Right) [I say Center-Right because while he is generally called a conservative, he also started the first federal welfare program]
Election of 1924: Calvin Coolidge (Conservative to near Libertarian)
Election of 1928: Herbert Hoover (Center-Left)
Election of 1936: Al Landon (Liberal)
Election of 1940: Wendell Wilkie (Liberal)
Election of 1944: Thomas Dewey (Moderate)
Election of 1948: Thomas Dewey (Moderate)
Election of 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Moderate)
Election of 1956: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Moderate)
Election of 1960: Richard M. Nixon (Moderate to Center-Right)* At the time, Nixon was considered ultra conservative--Ally of Joe McCarthy, etc. Part of the reason Ike picked him as VP in 1952 was because of his strong Conservative reputation.
Election of 1964: Barry Goldwater (Libertarian)
Election of 1968: Richard Nixon (Moderate)
Election of 1972: Richard Nixon (Center-Left)
Election of 1976: Gerald Ford (Moderate)* I don't consider him a Liberal. Reagan wanted him to be VP in 1980, that says something about RR thought of him.
Election of 1980: Ronald Reagan (Conservative)
Election of 1984: Ronald Reagan (Conservative)
Election of 1988: George H.W. Bush (Moderate to Center Right)
Election of 1992: George H.W. Bush (Moderate to Center Right)
Election of 1996: Bob Dole (Center Right)
Election of 2000: George W. Bush (Moderate to Center Left)
Election of 2004: George W. Bush (Moderate to Center Left)
Election of 2008: John McCain (Center Left)
m00
12-31-2010, 12:21 PM
I know a lot of people say the GOP is a conservative party...But I don't see it, at least at the Presidential level.

Do you mean fiscally or socially conservative? Or conservative in terms of how they interpret the constitution
Satanicus
12-31-2010, 12:30 PM
George bush leaned center left.

Ya , OK , he didn't even lean to the right a little , it was all center left.
CaughtintheMiddle1990
12-31-2010, 01:00 PM
Do you mean fiscally or socially conservative? Or conservative in terms of how they interpret the constitution

All factors combined.
swirling_vortex
12-31-2010, 01:58 PM
George bush leaned center left.

Ya , OK , he didn't even lean to the right a little , it was all center left.
Please show me where Bush reduced the amount of domestic spending.

http://www.cato.org/images/homepage/federal_outlays_01-06.jpg
Wei Wu Wei
12-31-2010, 02:46 PM
That's because today's political standards are totally batshit crazy. we've skewed the perception of the political spectrum, thanks to the media, far to the right.

what was considered solidly liberal in the past would have be called Radical Socialism today.
what was considered solidly conservative in the past would be called Moderate today.

it' not because people are actually become more moderate, it's just the frame of reference has shifted far to the right.
Wei Wu Wei
12-31-2010, 02:47 PM
if you look at the tax rates, the spending changes, the deficits, and so on, Reagan would be considered way too liberal for the modern Republican party.
swirling_vortex
12-31-2010, 03:00 PM
That's because today's political standards are totally batshit crazy. we've skewed the perception of the political spectrum, thanks to the media, far to the right.

what was considered solidly liberal in the past would have be called Radical Socialism today.
what was considered solidly conservative in the past would be called Moderate today.

it' not because people are actually become more moderate, it's just the frame of reference has shifted far to the right.
I disagree. I think it has shifted largely in the opposite direction. Calling for cuts to government has largely been relegated as a "far-right" position and the centrist view seems to be basically liberal with a couple of disagreements over a few policy areas. When was the last time you heard a key figurehead call FDR a "radical socialist"? By contrast, Reagan and Bush are always stuck onto the far right.
Constitutionally Speaking
12-31-2010, 04:17 PM
George bush leaned center left.

Ya , OK , he didn't even lean to the right a little , it was all center left.

In everything domestic but the tax cuts he did.