The GOP’s policy positions of the future

>>> there's this kind of liberal fielding that today's conserve conservatives are not that bad. to the same time we have empirical voting methods in the house. you actually see the parties move to the right. i don't think that's that deniable.

>> let me take a piece of that. to me, this say fascinating thing. the republican party was a diverse party and a party that had many ideological streams within. forced the republican a lot of ways. civil rights . john lindsey and a group of republican's.

>> goldwater --

>> no, before. kennedy. the first civil rights put forward with getting a chance to get some place, republicans were very involved on it. but my point is if you look back at the history of the republican party it's had conservative streams in it for a long time. conservative leaders historically called out the nuts. william f. buckley went on the front page of " national review " and called out the burkiers. and reagan called out the nuts.

>> you were not writing that about reagan in 1994 --

>> when reagan was there.

>> no, but --

>> you know what's amazing, we're already doing this about george w. bush .

>> i know.

>> well, george w. bush was --

>> but do we not accept then, that is the generation of the republican party which we should be concerned about?

>> yes. but i also think it's important to not fall into the temptation of then kind of putting reagan on a pedestal.

>> so, i'm a little devil's advocate here. talk about me and my evolution, such as it was. it was more --

>> you're the founder of the cranky party.

>> society evolved around me. which is when george w. bush came in and i wrote a book, i had many wonderful people telling me i was really a republican who didn't want to admit it. i would openly admit for a year and a half, i considered it. i tried to to be open minded in everything. it made sense to the gestures towards conservatism. frankly, i think welfare reform was a wonderful thing. however, what's happening over the past ten years, in particular, no me could possibly consider becoming republican, and no more young people .

>> you're right about the republican party losing its moderate wing and gesture towards capacity, and it has absorbed the saluatory tradition. obama does have respect for families, institution, all these kinds of things. but the identity politics that you're docking about, although the modern democratic party is a coalition of these different groups, you don't see any kind of of the ridiculous -- you know, this isn't the party that's going to support ebonnics.

>> i want to get to the idea of reagan and buckley calls out the nuts. one of the structural things about the conservative movement today, it's leaderless. there isn't any one person who has the stature today, since reagan died, basically, or since buckley leave the scene who has that kind of stature to say here's what conservatism should stand for. here are things that conservatism should not. if there becomes a conservative bearer over the next few years that could change.

>> george w. bush was that. let's be clear.

>> let me ask you --

>> there were a lot of conservatives, on this issue of compassion. conservatives are already compassionate.

>> let's be clear about this, this is revisionist history . conservatives loved george w. bush .

>> i loved george w. bush .

>> everyone wants to talk about when they became anti-fascist, right? paul ryan cast the deciding vote in medicare part "d" which i will never get tired of saying. bush was a conservative, if you criticized that --

>> that is not true. in early 2000 , he actually was moderate.

>> that's my point, after 2000 --

>> he wasn't a leader of the intellectual --

>> no.

>> but the intellectual -- we could go back and find some embarrassing floral, purple hints of the conservative hints --

>> controller go find --

>> let me ask you a question, you said didn't have the leaders. when buckley called out the john birch , he became conservative and said i am not this. i think the crisis in the republican party today is that there are not people standing up and taking the risks.

>> i want you to think that ted cruz is the problem with the conservatives.

>> well, what he's saying harvard is the seed bed of communism.

>> hold off. i want to play the president making his argument for loyal opposition. the republican party getting its act together to be an effective counterbalancing force that works to govern the country, right? there's this question of sort of purging of the nuts which is a term i don't really love. but about people that we think are extremists or stand in the way of actual functioning, practical politics, right? the exchange. but the thing to me, as someone who is to the left. pretty far to the left of the american mainstream politics, what investment do i have in getting that worked out? the question is, do i want a republican party that, fringeor instance, comes to the