Whatever happened to "liberal" Republicans?

[kentuck]

I can recall several during the 1960's and '70's. Not so much during the '80's and '90's. Hardly none nowadays. They seemed to have become extinct about the time talk radio and Rush Limbaugh became popular during the late '80's?

With the latest polls showing most Americans and the majority of Republicans favoring Medicare and more taxes on the wealthy, I wonder how a "liberal" Republican would do running for President? The first impulse is to write them off as an impossibility.

However, if they had the right message, they could co-opt much of the vacuum in the Democratic Party and the more rational Republicans in that Party. It would create an interesting political environment.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Wasn't one recently found

in the La Brea tarpits?

[ejpoeta]

2. you see conservative republicans being threatened by the tea party folks....

any 'liberal' republicans have probably long since been reformed or kicked out.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Hell, at this point I'd buy a cup of coffee for a moderate republican.

[cali]

4. Jim Jeffords, Linc Chafee are two who were republicans during that time period

I can think of quite a few more. Currently? Nope.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Liberal Democrats: going the same way. nt.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. Well, there's this...

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) said Friday that she will not support the 2012 budget passed by the House last week.

Here's the DU discussion thread in GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=945476&mesg_id=945476

I suspect this gesture is made more out of political self-interest, however; time will tell whether any other GOOPers are sufficiently motivated by the possibility of losing their next election to break ranks with GOOPer hive mentality.

[slackmaster]

7. They smoked weed and became Libertarians

HTH

[marmar]

8. .................

[alsame]

9. I think the culture wars turned many of them into

conservative Democrats. I'm too young to remember, but I recall my father telling me that in the 60s and early 70s, he personally knew liberal Republicans. But after opposition to Roe v. Wade, the emergence of the religious right and rampant homophobia began to take over the GOP, they became Democrats or Independents.

Over the last 30-35 years, the GOP has become increasingly right wing due to their litmus tests and a liberal Republican would have no chance of survival, they'd have to run as an Indie, IMO.