This talk about the Republican establishment goes back 50 years to the days when the Northeast ran the country and the party, when Republicans easily carried Vermont and Oregon, had trouble in Arizona and Oklahoma, and had no hope of winning Mississippi or South Carolina. In those days, Rockefeller and Javits and Lindsay were big Republican names. Wall Street and companies like GMC, US Steel, International Harvester were solidly Republican. Time Magazine and the New York Herald-Tribune were forces in the party, and even the New York Times endorsed Republicans for president.
That Establishment is gone. So when you say that Snowe (or Collins) who's barely still in the Republican Party are the party Establishment, it's kind of like saying the liberal tail wags the conservative dog (when that tail's only barely still attached to the dog). And to say that nowadays Establishment Republicans come out of South Carolina or Arizona or Kansas or Utah is to say that the old Northeastern Republican Establishment is deader than dead.
Are Graham and McCain some kind of Washington Establishment? Okay, but when it comes to elected officials the walls between insiders and outsiders, Establishment and insurgents aren't as high as they once were. When Ann Coulter's part of the Establishment and Newt Gingrich isn't, it may be time to rethink the whole "Establishment" idea.
I don't entirely agree with Medved, though. First, a lot of what people call the Republican Establishment nowadays is conservative pundits like himself, not just elected officials. It's more about George Will and other columnists and National Review than about Senators and Congressmen.
Second, a lot of the reason people are calling Romney the establishment candidate has to do with all the big contributors he got on his side, rather than just endorsements by elected officials. Those big contributors aren't as monolithic as the old GOP power structure. A lot of them aren't even solid Republicans. But the candidate who has the most millionaires and CEOs on his side is bound to be seen as the Establishment's guy.
I appreciate your reply. But what do you make of the old guard republicans in FL gerrymandering congressional districts that strongly favor Alan West’s congressional opponent?
And why does the RNC repeatedly support guys like Charlie Crist and Mel Martinez over conservatives?
Thanks.