The Republican Party was
famously described by Ronald Reagan as a “three-legged stool”
comprised of fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, and
national security conservatives. Rather than representing the
triumph of any of those groups, writes Matt Welch, presumptive GOP
presidential nominee Mitt Romney is a consensus electability
candidate who dabbles in all three with varying levels of
conviction. As the party gathers in Tampa this week to coronate
Romney at the 2012 Republican National Convention, keep an eye on
the unresolved discord between the party’s competing factions.
Though you will hear a lot this week about GOP unity against
President Barack Obama, that masks an ideological peace that at
best is fragile, unattractive, and unsatisfying.

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