The grass-roots clout of the Tea Party movement has transformed the GOP presidential contest into a demolition derby in which candidates try to race away from their record before their vehicle crashes and burns.
Mitt Romney has been arduously attempting to justify his Massachusetts health plan while denouncing Obamacare (though both rely on individual mandates) and not sounding very convincing in the process. Tim Pawlenty has been in abject apology mode for the grievous sin of once supporting a cap-and-trade barter system for cutting pollution. Jon Huntsman was also a cap-and-trader and even wanted Barack Obama to push a bigger stimulus, which is now deemed a dirty word. …
The range of acceptable views for a GOP candidate has narrowed dramatically in this cycle. A Bush-style compassionate conservative, circa 2008, would be laughed out of the race.
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