General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We're Living in Phyllis Schlafly's America [View all]JHB
(37,160 posts)Schlafly and her fellow conservative activists (William F. Buckley, Brent Bozell, etc.) were smarter about it, but they were out to advance their cause at all costs and would wreck anybody who got in their way. The fostered hatred of the media about "liberal press bias", by which they meant "failure to cheerlead the conservative viewpoint."
They spent the 60s and 70s going after and wiping out the Rockefeller Republican wing of the party. If you weren't Conservatively Correct, you either got the boot or were isolated and replaced after retirement with an Approved Conservative.
They were successful at that, so why would they change tactics? Demonize the opposition, push through their agenda, and brazen out the complaints and pushback. Just ask Mitch.