What is a moderate Republican?

[Cobbler]

I have noticed some people on here (particularly Democrats) campaigning against Republicans that are considered by the media to be moderate (Christie, Huntsman) saying that they are in fact not moderates, and then list off some things they did that left leaning individuals oppose (ie Christie challenging teachers unions, Huntsman cutting taxes). I personally disagree, because Christie and Huntsman support policies that are left leaning as well (climate change, gay marriage in the case of Huntsman, immigration reform, looser approach to marijuana). In the American political spectrum, they are right of center, which is why they have conservative positions on some issues and are Republicans as opposed to Democrats. But I'd put them as center-right rather than right (of which I am talking about Generic conservative Republican, not Tea Party conservatives).


So I was wondering, what is it that makes a Republican a moderate in your eyes? I'm particularly interested in what Democratic leaning posters on here would use.

[Flake]

Someone who's fiscally conservative and socially moderate.
 
-wants to lower taxes
-pro marriage equality
-against abortion personally, won't restrict it
-free trade

and etc.

[Oakvale]

No such thing. To quote Gore Vidal, the Republican Party is a mindset, like the Hitler Youth. Membership thereof disqualifies someone from being "moderate" (whatever that even means).

[TNF]

A Democrat.

[bedstuy]

Some mix of the following qualities:

-Moderate on some social issues: pro-Choice, pro-gay marriage, not a fundamentalist Christian
-Believes in the basic government economic programs of Medicare and Social security
-Not racist (Not a birther, not afraid of Muslims, supports immigration reform).
-Not a tool of industry lobbyists particularly oil/gas, insurance/medicine and banking.

In my opinion, there are arguably zero moderate Republican members of Congress or in statewide elected office.

[IceSpear]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

[TNF]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

The GOP has been as nuts as it is today at least since the Gilded Age.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Basically a unicorn at this point.

[All Along The Watchtower]

A Democrat.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Peter the Lefty]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

The GOP has been as nuts as it is today at least since the Gilded Age.

Eh, it's had a few phases of being less nutso (the 50's, for instance).  But I would definitely agree that it is just as nuts now as it was then.

[All Along The Watchtower]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

The GOP has been as nuts as it is today at least since the Gilded Age.

Eh, it's had a few phases of being less nutso (the 50's, for instance).  But I would definitely agree that it is just as nuts now as it was then.

No.

[TNF]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

The GOP has been as nuts as it is today at least since the Gilded Age.

Eh, it's had a few phases of being less nutso (the 50's, for instance).  But I would definitely agree that it is just as nuts now as it was then.

The GOP has, since 1877 at the very least, been the party of the aggressive, insane variety of capitalism.

[Peter the Lefty]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

The GOP has been as nuts as it is today at least since the Gilded Age.

Eh, it's had a few phases of being less nutso (the 50's, for instance).  But I would definitely agree that it is just as nuts now as it was then.

The GOP has, since 1877 at the very least, been the party of the aggressive, insane variety of capitalism.

True, but there were at least a few phases wherein one could win a Republican primary as an open "moderate" who supported at least some progressive elements. 

[RogueBeaver]

Northeasterners like the Maine twins, Chris Shays, Scott Brown, Pete King, etc. I'd put Christie as centre-right. Varies by region: I'd peg Sandoval and Martinez as moderates.

[TNF]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

The GOP has been as nuts as it is today at least since the Gilded Age.

Eh, it's had a few phases of being less nutso (the 50's, for instance).  But I would definitely agree that it is just as nuts now as it was then.

The GOP has, since 1877 at the very least, been the party of the aggressive, insane variety of capitalism.

True, but there were at least a few phases wherein one could win a Republican primary as an open "moderate" who supported at least some progressive elements. 

When?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Northeasterners like the Maine twins, Chris Shays, Scott Brown, Pete King, etc. I'd put Christie as centre-right. Varies by region: I'd peg Sandoval and Martinez as moderates.

Aside from Sandy relief, what makes Peter King a moderate?

[Peter the Lefty]

The perception of a moderate is so skewed because of how far right the GOP has moved in the past 5 years. 5 years ago, Christie would be (and was) considered a hardcore conservative. "Hugging Obama" is not a policy that places you further to left on an ideological spectrum.

The GOP has been as nuts as it is today at least since the Gilded Age.

Eh, it's had a few phases of being less nutso (the 50's, for instance).  But I would definitely agree that it is just as nuts now as it was then.

The GOP has, since 1877 at the very least, been the party of the aggressive, insane variety of capitalism.

True, but there were at least a few phases wherein one could win a Republican primary as an open "moderate" who supported at least some progressive elements. 

When?

The 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's, for instance.  True, they also had nutjobs like Taft and Goldwater and Buckley and Reagan, but they also had Nelson Rockefeller, Hugh Scott, and even Gerald Ford, all of whom I can't see winning a Republican primary today.

[Sec. of State Superique]

Joe Manchin.... Oops!

Huntsman, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, that's it!

[DC Al Fine]

Well this thread has been edifying

[Goldwater]

So... What issues are a moderate Republican allowed to be conservative on?

[PJ]

So... What issues are a moderate Republican allowed to be conservative on?

Most true leftists consider moderates to be conservatives, so none, apparently.

[DC Al Fine]

So... What issues are a moderate Republican allowed to be conservative on?

Assuming they aren't a True Leftist, probably fiscal ones. People who are moderate on everything but foreign policy or social issues, tend to get tagged with the "neocon" or "fundie" label.

[muon2]

The definition depends when and who you ask. Consider this chart of Senate voting records. In the 1980's a moderate Pub was one who had a few Dems to their right, and there were liberal Pubs who had a lot of Dems to their right. Both Dems and Pubs would see it that way since there were members of both parties well to the other side of center.

Thirty years later there is no crossover in Senate vote ratings. A Dem now sees all Pubs as too conservative, because they are in fact all to the right of every Dem. A Pub sees any member too close to the center as a RINO since there are no Dems who cross the middle to provide context. Without voting records that cross it is hard to define a class of members who are moderate for either party.

[bedstuy]

So... What issues are a moderate Republican allowed to be conservative on?

Assuming they aren't a True Leftist, probably fiscal ones. People who are moderate on everything but foreign policy or social issues, tend to get tagged with the "neocon" or "fundie" label.

I think you're just missing the point here.  Moderate isn't just being between the two empirical extremes.  The moderate position on slavery isn't "some slavery."   

Mark Warner is a moderate.  Mary Landrieu is a moderate.  If Mark Warner was a member of the Republican party, he would be a moderate Republican.  Once upon a time, you had Nelson Rockefellers and Harold Stassen in the Republican Party.  Now, you have only a handful of national Republicans that can lay claim to being moderate.  If you're truly moderate today, you don't have a place in the Republican party.

[H. Ross Peron]

In general
-Supportive of none single-payer UHC system such as Obamacare at the right-wing end and perhaps a more robust one such as the German system
-Pro Free Trade
-In favour of actual fiscal responsibility in times of prosperity
-Interventionist but from a multilateral perspective

The last moderate Republicans left were Jim Jeffords and Lincoln Chafee.