re: Ted Cruz announces candidacy.

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The Republicans have been hijacked by Tea Party conservatives who have rolled social issues to the forefront of the party. They have alienated many social groups from supporting them.

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you seem to mischaracterize one side a lot more than the other for somebody who claims to be in the middle.

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The Republicans have been hijacked by Tea Party conservatives who have rolled social issues to the forefront of the party.

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While some holy rollers have fallen under the TP umbrella, the quoted is flatly false.

The moral majority really pushed the social issues a couple of decades ago. If anything, this is the most socially liberal conservative movement in recent memory. Yes religious conservatives are still a sizable portion of the GOP and have to be pandered to, but the Tea Party's main focus is on fiscal issues and has been on fiscal issues. I fell into the trap of this thinking before, but it's just wrong.

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They have alienated many social groups from supporting them.

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They lose gays on the gay marriage issue but make up way more in religious conservatives. They lose some women on abortion, but without seeing the numbers it is not THAT big of a difference.

The GOP's big demographic loss has been with Hispanics due to the tone of the immigration discussion. That's not a policy position problem, as much as a presentation problem. Sure it won't be super popular, but the xenophobia bubbles under the surface.