Thread by @RadioFreeTom

So, to amplify on a point in my @TheAtlantic piece today. There are a lot of objections to my argument that whether you loved or hated what conservatives were back 40 years ago, they believed in certain things and reflected that in policy. /1
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

I think this howling about the eternal evil of conservatives is dumb, and worse, it's myopic and misses the point about the danger of the GOP as it stands today. Conservatives are not extinct - nor will they ever be. But that's not what Trumpers are and that's not the point. /2

People keep raising comments by @SykesCharlie or @stuartpstevens to say "see, it was all just lying nonsense," but having read both their books, I think people misunderstand something they (and I) are saying, and miss something important about conservatism back in the day. /3

Part of it is to grasp that "Republicans" were not just an undifferentiated blob even then. I've always said that my greatest sin was not paying more attention to the people who were on the same bus I was, but that doesn't mean none of us believed anything. That's just silly. /4

The heartbreak you see with NTers like Charlie and Stuart is *because* they believed in things. Likewise the "national security" Reps, among the first to walk out, were not faking it. I knew ppl like Kirkpatrick. She believed in what she said (even if you think we were wrong.) /5

Yes, @SykesCharlie was right today that the intellectuals were a crust overlaying a nasty base. But intellectuals and moderates (yes, even Nixon) were mostly, until the mid-90s, running things. Yes, even under Reagan, kids. He hired a lot of eggheads and professors. /6

I mean, really, I still think it's funny that people think Reagan was super-far-right. People really thought he was gonna put prayer in schools or something. (I think it was a Reagan staff guy who said of evangelicals: "Fuck 'em, what are they gonna do, vote for Mondale?") /7

Anyway, I'm not up for the "you've all been hideous since Ike" bullshit, just noting that conservatives are different from Trumper nihilists, and if we're going to ever return to a healthy left/right debate, "you're all the same since '56" is a dumb play - and factually wrong. /8

Too many Dems worry their new allies are just part of a reputation-laundering exercise, as if a bunch of old, vanquished GOP guys are going to march back into DC. This is so stupid it pains me. Stop worrying about a new GOP; deal with the dangerous one right in front of you. /9

PS: I actually think Biden is more entranced with the old image of the GOP than any former GOPer, and I don't think he should spend a lot of time of placating them now. But I wish other Dems spent more time thinking about the real threat than about coalitional purity tests. /10x