Interesting point — and it makes a lot of sense.

But while tax rates were lowered, our spending path wasn’t. And that’s always been my biggest frustration with the Republicans: they’re great at pushing for tax cuts, and virtually unwilling to push for spending cuts….which are, obviously, a lot more politically perilous.

Moreover, I’d say that our wacky jihadist friends have filled the void that the Soviets left in terms of providing an external threat to unify around fighting.

The best model for what Republicans need to become, IMO, is Gov. Mitch Daniels in Indiana. Rhetorically, he’s not an ideological firebrand. He does prefer to keep taxes low for all the right reasons — but he’s most intently focused on reforming government to make it more efficient and cost-effective. He’s keenly aware of how to attract capital investment. And, best of all, he’s not afraid to pull out the budget ax.

That seems to fit perfectly both what Republicans and the country need right now.

…….You’re right in some respects but these factions are much more interrelated than you suggest…….the Reagan coalition as I’ll call it was composed of economic, nationalist and social conservative……..the economic conservatives (who could also be called the management conservatives) have largely jumped ship outside the south and mormon corridor(I’m one of them) so Republicans are left overly dependant on the socials/nationalists who are largely interchangeable and a strategy which I will call Roveism or polarization which relied on maximizing their vote. Roveism requires drummers like Limbaugh and Hewitt, and it also has the electoral effect of polarizing the type of people who get elected within the GOP. The problem with Roveism is that it alienates large slugs of country. Rove himself perceived this potential problem hence his out reach to hispanics but by then it was too late. He’d lost control of the demons he’d conjured up and they weren’t interested in accomodation with the immigrant community……….The Southern strategy and Roveism/polarisation have left the GOP entirely dependant on the most socially conservative/nationalist segment of the electorate which is concentrated disproportionately in the South and mormon corridor. Even worse it’s predominantly white and aging(see that latest NBC/WS poll I mentioned above)…….it looked smart at the time but has proved to be a massive miscalculation that will probably take a generation to correct.

………He may be slightly wrong on some of his facts but he’s surely right in the spirit of his comments……..I’m a semi admirer of David’s because he was the first highly visible pundit to blow the whistle on Palin, but he was definitely a fully paid up member(if only a minor one) of the Republican establishment that summoned up these demons because they were useful…….and now they have taken over…….it’s been going on for well over 20 years but accelerated in the nineties when the party became much more southern and polarized (Gingrich’s leadership was the tipping point I think)…….In the medium term there is no chance whatever of exorcizing these demons……so things will take their natural course.

The fundamental problem is that the original raison d’etre for the conservative coalition had ended.

The conservative coalition had three components: Social conservatives; free market advocates; and anti-Communist hawks. What held this coalition together since the 1950s was really anti-Communism: Free market advocates hated command economies, and the social conservatives considered Communism to be “atheist” and “godless” and “secular.”

But the economic and foreign policy battles were eventually won: Taxes had been cut dramatically, the USSR was gone, Communism was spent as a possible threat. So activists in those issues drifted away, which is what always happens when the issue they care most about no longer matters.

As a result, the only sure component of the conservative coalition left was the social conservatives–because their issues were the only ones yet unresolved. Taxes had been cut dramatically, the USSR was gone–but Roe v. Wade remained in effect. So the social conservatives were the easiest to keep mobilizing.

And David Frum cannot “go back to Canada.” He became a U.S. citizen in 2007.

I know you hate Frum and all Republicans. But try to get your facts straight.

“more nonsense from our New Majority Village Idiot”

………from the latest NBC/WSJ poll……there seem to be rather a lot of village idiots…….but keep up contaminating the dog food I’m sure you’ll be proved right someday

*** Time to resurrect that dog food metaphor? While impressions of Obama’s professional performance are mixed, the same can’t be said of the Republican Party at large. Put simply, the GOP’s brand is still a mess. According to the poll, just 25% have a positive opinion of the party (compared with 42% for the Dem Party), which ties the GOP’s low-water mark in the survey and which is a worse score than it ever had during the Bush presidency. (Honest question: Can the party still blame Bush for their problems if their numbers have gotten lower since he left the scene?) In addition, only 23% approve of the way in which congressional Republicans have handled health care (compared with 43% for Obama). And looking ahead to the 2010 midterms, 46% prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, versus 38% who want a GOP-controlled Congress. Last month, Dems held a 43%-40% advantage. Also, don’t miss this: Despite being out of office and (relatively) out of the news, Sarah Palin’s fav/unfav in our poll has dropped from 32%-43% in July to 27%-46% now. In fact, her numbers now are nearly identical to Nancy Pelosi’s (26%-42%). By the way, both Palin and Pelosi are more popular than the Republican Party.

“David, David, David … don’t you get it? Your involvement in PNAC and the needless invasion of Iraq has empowered these wingnuts.”

…….This is unfortunately all too true……..party professionals like David let the Morlocks out of the basement when it served their purpose but now they have taken over the house and are burning it down.