From R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. at The American Spectator:
"Since the 1950s conservatives have practiced inclusion and steadily expanded, creating the most diverse political movement in the country. We took in ever more groups of voters alarmed by Big Government and by feckless Liberalism.
In the 1970s there were the wayward Liberals who became alarmed by Liberalism’s extravagant domestic policy and lack of resolve toward Communism. Our longtime Board member Jeane Kirkpatrick was one of them. They were called Neocons, and we welcomed them into the Big Tent. In the 1980s there were People of Faith who became concerned as Liberals threatened prayer in public places, pornography at the corner drug store, and legalized abortion. They were called the Christian Right, and we welcomed them into our Big Tent. When certain Democrats became Reagan Democrats under a man who talked about America as a City on a Hill — beacon for all the world — we welcomed them too, and they joined our Big Tent.
Now there is a new group we have welcomed into our Big Tent, the Tea Partiers. They really do want to slash government, balance the budget, and address the entitlements that are scheduled to bankrupt the U.S. Treasury. They are the latest addition to conservatism and we welcome them. Their arrival will finally allow us to do something about the enormous deficits that face Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. They must keep the pressure on. We will keep the pressure on. We shall all bring the Republican Party, and the country back, to Constitutional values."