Why Scott Walker's failure is such a tremendous blow to conservatives

The Wisconsin governor is a true conservative who seemed capable of beating both Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton

A photo of Scott Walker sits on the floor.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The conservative movement is now back to square one, at least in the 2016 presidential race.

That isn't to say that the constellation of ideas surrounding writers like William F. Buckley Jr. and magazines like National Review hasn't succeeded in moving the Republican Party to the right. They most definitely have. Consider that the supposed "liberals" seeking the GOP's nomination in the last two presidential cycles were Jon Huntsman, a pro-life, anti-gun-control supporter of Paul Ryan's budget plan, and John Kasich, author of the last balanced federal budget. But despite this clear shift right, when a very conservative lawmaker can still be viewed as too liberal by many true believers on the right, conservatives' success in getting one of their own nominated has been limited to exactly two people: Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

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W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.