Did the GOP move to the right, to the left, or stayed the same after GW Bush

[hangfan91]

In your opinion, do you think the Republican Party has moved rightward as a national party (more vocal on social conservative issues, reduce government, etc.) or to the left (more inclusive of immigrants, trying to appeal to Latinos and moving away from the Southern Strategy) or stayed roughly the same after GW Bush left office in 2009?

I've heard many tea-party figures like Sarah Palin say that the GOP is losing because it is "becoming too Liberal" and on the other hand many young people/progressives are saying the GOP moved too far to the right for them.

[Landslide Lyndon]

To the right of course. At least Bush earnestly tried to pass immigration reform and was just a corporate stooge, not an Ayn Rand acolyte.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

The GOP has drifted further and further in Rand Land. 

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Bush was as right-wing as humanly (?) possible, but the party itself has gotten more right-wing since then.

[IceSpear]

I'm not sure the GOP can go any further right than it currently is without descending into literal fascism.

[pbrower2a]

I'm not sure the GOP can go any further right than it currently is without descending into literal fascism.

We face fascism if not (yet) with the torture chambers, beatings, and disappearances. We definitely have a fascist economy, at least as shown in the distribution of income. That is likely to get worse as republicans seek to cut taxes for the super-rich and impose new ones on the non-rich (perhaps a national sales tax which hits even food and rent) and perhaps abolish minimum-wage and child-labor laws.

[dead0man]

Clearly those millions of people voting for GOP Senators and for legalized weed and higher minimum wages are on the verge of fascism or Randland (depending on which kind of stupid the person making the claim is).  Obviously it had nothing to do with sh**tty Dem candidates, sh**tty Dem campaigns, Obama or the Democratic Party itself, those things are all perfect and couldn't possibly have been why they got their asses handed to them.

[Goldwater]

Clearly those millions of people voting for GOP Senators and for legalized weed and higher minimum wages are on the verge of fascism or Randland (depending on which kind of stupid the person making the claim is).  Obviously it had nothing to do with sh**tty Dem candidates, sh**tty Dem campaigns, Obama or the Democratic Party itself, those things are all perfect and couldn't possibly have been why they got their asses handed to them.

Silly dead0man, the voters are clearly too stupid to know where either party stands on anything. It's the politicians that are fascist Randroids.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I'm not sure the GOP can go any further right than it currently is without descending into literal fascism.

It's already there. There's not even any question about it anymore.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Clearly those millions of people voting for GOP Senators and for legalized weed and higher minimum wages are on the verge of fascism or Randland (depending on which kind of stupid the person making the claim is).  Obviously it had nothing to do with sh**tty Dem candidates, sh**tty Dem campaigns, Obama or the Democratic Party itself, those things are all perfect and couldn't possibly have been why they got their asses handed to them.

Wow! Someone seems to have a chip on his shoulder. Maybe that's why he gave such an irrelevant answer.

[dead0man]

So irrelevant you just had to respond.  Not to the substance of course, that would be hard.

[Landslide Lyndon]

So irrelevant you just had to respond.  Not to the substance of course, that would be hard.

The question was whether the Republicans moved to the right after Bush. Not why the Democrats lost the election.

[dead0man]

Ahhh.  My apologies.  It just seems funny to me that Bush the Lesser was seen as so cartoonishly right wing....and now the GOP has somehow now moved further right wing towards either fascism or Rand despite there being nothing substantial to point to that.  It just reeks of partisan politics.  "these people are the worst" <2 years later> "now they are even worser" <2 years later> "worser still!" <2 years later> "they've gotten even worser still" <2 years later> "have you seen how bad they've gotten?" <2 years later> "ohmygod"

Don't get me wrong, it's the same on both sides.  The right hated Slick Willy, claimed he was the worst ever and now think Obama is even worse and will no doubt think the same of Hillary in a few years.  It just all seems so silly and partisan to this outsider.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

I'm not sure the GOP can go any further right than it currently is without descending into literal fascism.

It's the moderates in both parties that are closer to Fascism. 

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

let's agree to ban the word "fascism" in an American context /fascist

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Hard right.

[Smash255]

Hard right.

^^^^^^^ This

[seanmpa]

I think the national GOP is becoming too irrational and extreme these days.

[pbrower2a]

I think the national GOP is becoming too irrational and extreme these days.

But also consummately ruthless and intolerant.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

People that were considered solid Conservatives back in the 2000's like Jeb Bush are now considered Left Wing Rino's for simply not being bat sh**t insane enough.

George W. Bush supported immigration reform, he supported extending the assault weapons ban and many other policies that would be considered socialism today. Remember back in 2008 when Newt and Romney both proudly supported the individual mandate ? Although the Tea Party lost a lot of primaries , they succeeded in dragging the ideological spectrum so far to the right that anybody to the left of Ted ing Cruz is now a moderate.

Democrats have only made it worse by moving to the right and being such moderate heroes. Conservatism is dominating ideologically right now.