True To Type

No one gets bitter on the right side of politics quite like Ann Coulter, whose philosophy may well be 'why hit the bulls-eye when you can destroy the entire target?'

But she's surgical with an observation about centrist conservatives of the type of John McCain and how conservative voters see them:

...unelectable, ultraconservative Reagan won two landslide victories... Bush (Snr)... rode Reagan's ultraconservative coattails to victory, then snipped those coattails by raising taxes and was soundly defeated four years later... How many times do we have to run this experiment before Republican primary voters learn that "moderate," "independent," "maverick" Republicans never win, and right-wing Republicans never lose?

There are lessons here for Australian conservatives who are straying too far to the centre to offer a meaningful voice to their constituents for much longer.

-- Nick