"Moderate" Doesn't Mean What You Think it Means in the GOP

It occurs to me, in watching the Republican race for the presidential nomination, that the framing of "conservative" candidates (Gingrich, Perry, Bachman, Cain) and "moderates" (Romney, Huntsman) isn't really very precise.  For starters, we now have two ostensibly arch-conservative candidates (Gingrich and Perry) viciously attacking Romney from Left on his history as a "vulture capitalist" (to use Perry's term). We have Romney displaying foreign policy positions that are as right-wing as can possibly be imagined, and Huntsman's economic platform is as conservative as anyone's.

Romney's history is certainly not as conservative as the others in the race, but he's been running as fast as he can away from those old positions.  Yet he still can't seem to break into the Conservative Club no matter how hard he runs.

So I think that's because being a conservative today isn't really about policy positions, it's about style.  Gingrich has this thing nailed down perfectly- he's caustic, hyperbolic, and choked with rage all the time.  Perry has a less angry way about him, but his Texas Good Old Boy shtick, so reminiscent of George W. Bush, signals "conservative" to voters. 

Mitt Romney just doesn't speak to the Tea Party id, much as he tries.  Mitt is hyperbolic like Newt, but he can't carry it off with quite the same snarl that's really the hallmark of the Right these days.  And of course Mitt comes from the old Eastern establishment elite wing of the Republican party- he has so much of the patrician about him he just can't shake it.  It looks like he'll win the nomination anyway, thanks to superior organization and money, but he just doesn't seem to fit the Republican party any more.  The party is now dominated by the South and mountain West, and they like their policians "down home".  George W. Bush is the model for that party now- you don't have to be a regular guy (both GWB and McCain were very rich), but you're supposed to come off like one.  Romney just doesn't, and I think that's really why the party is holding their noses while voting for him.