The ‘Pick a Moderate’ Canard

A narrative that I’ve been hearing for a while, most recently from my children, is the one that posits how much better the GOP would fare in presidential races if only it nominated “moderates.” Never mind that this hypothesis has already been tested numerous times—e.g., during the campaigns of such luminaries as the two Bush presidents, John McCain, Robert Dole, and Mitt Romney. Each time a putative moderate has received the Republican nomination and run for president, the media has pounced on that person with a vengeance, and before long these media targets are made to resemble the Grand Kleagle of the KKK or the deceased leader of the Third Reich.

This year I’m hearing the same praise of moderates so I decided to see how the national media are responding to two Republican presidential candidates who don’t even give the vaguest hint of being on the far Right and who don’t look noticeably white. These candidates are former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and current South Carolina Senator Tim Scott—both of whom play up their minority backgrounds while ostentatiously denouncing racism.