Thanks for naming names. Looking at the sources, back then, I would not have recognized the names named as important parts of the GOP coalition. That stuff seemed fringe to a lot of us then, leftovers of Buchananism 1.0 instead of harbingers of Buchananism 2.0. Mocking Buchananism as the senile grandpa who couldn't remember to pull his p…
Thanks for naming names. Looking at the sources, back then, I would not have recognized the names named as important parts of the GOP coalition. That stuff seemed fringe to a lot of us then, leftovers of Buchananism 1.0 instead of harbingers of Buchananism 2.0. Mocking Buchananism as the senile grandpa who couldn't remember to pull his pants up from his ankles after excusing himself was even a pastime among more cosmopolitan members of the GOP. Oh, our hubris back then!
In particular, the California GOP was a state party losing power, and growing more fringe in the process. A GOP optimist at the time would have said California was evidence Buchananism was no longer going to work. Plus, "Hey, it's California. It's not like the rest of the US. People are crazy there," was a common right-wing trope at the time. In retrospect, this trope seems strategic, doesn't it?
Thanks for naming names. Looking at the sources, back then, I would not have recognized the names named as important parts of the GOP coalition. That stuff seemed fringe to a lot of us then, leftovers of Buchananism 1.0 instead of harbingers of Buchananism 2.0. Mocking Buchananism as the senile grandpa who couldn't remember to pull his pants up from his ankles after excusing himself was even a pastime among more cosmopolitan members of the GOP. Oh, our hubris back then!
In particular, the California GOP was a state party losing power, and growing more fringe in the process. A GOP optimist at the time would have said California was evidence Buchananism was no longer going to work. Plus, "Hey, it's California. It's not like the rest of the US. People are crazy there," was a common right-wing trope at the time. In retrospect, this trope seems strategic, doesn't it?