Why is the GOP Establishment Rallying Around a Tea Party Baby?

[I support Sanders]

The party has gone so far to the right that yesterday's Tea Party candidates are today's establishment candidates.

Exactly. This is also why a '90's conservative such as Kasich, Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore can pass for progressives within the Republican Party.

[I support Sanders]

The party has gone so far to the right that yesterday's Tea Party candidates are today's establishment candidates.

Exactly. This is also why a '90's conservative such as Kasich, Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore can pass for progressives within the Republican Party.

And probably why my views are considered moderate hero while in the 80s and 90s they would be considered strongly conservative

What exactly does "moderate hero" mean? Does it mean you are a hero for moderate causes, or does the term "hero" imply an ideology?

The party has gone so far to the right that yesterday's Tea Party candidates are today's establishment candidates.

Exactly. This is also why a '90's conservative such as Kasich, Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore can pass for progressives within the Republican Party.

... Not sure Pataki deserves inclusion.  I'm sure some red avatar from NY will jump in (every partisan hates to see a moderate governor of their state from the other party be seen as a moderate), but he really was.

I tend to agree, but have been scolded by certain red avatars on here for calling any of the above moderates, so I have fallen into a habit of just calling them conservative to avoid sparking a feud.

[I support Sanders]

Just because the party has gone haywire doesn't mean that mainline conservatives are suddenly moderates. There are no real moderates in the Republican Party anymore because they all agree on the same issues beyond a couple of nuances, the way they say things, and minor sympathies towards the gays and abortion rights.

There used to be Moderate Republicans. Mark Hatfield was a moderate. William Cohen was a moderate. Arlen Specter was a moderate. These people simply do not exist anymore.

Is Susan Collins a moderate?

[I support Sanders]

Just because the party has gone haywire doesn't mean that mainline conservatives are suddenly moderates. There are no real moderates in the Republican Party anymore because they all agree on the same issues beyond a couple of nuances, the way they say things, and minor sympathies towards the gays and abortion rights.

There used to be Moderate Republicans. Mark Hatfield was a moderate. William Cohen was a moderate. Arlen Specter was a moderate. These people simply do not exist anymore.

Jeffords and Chafee were 2 pretty moderate Republicans. Lowell Weicker was defeated when the Republican establishment backed Joe Lieberman instead.

And longer ago, there used to be liberal Republicans like Fiorello La Guardia, John Lindsay, and Jacob Javvits.

Chafee was to the left of many Democrats, and still is, even as a Democrat.