I tried as hard as I could to avoid this, but I clearly created the wrong impression with my post yesterday on Guns, Babies and Taxes. This from National Journal:
We’re not sure if Howard Dean was the first to coin the phrase “god, guns, and gays” to describe the issues that drive the GOP base (but we’re definitely sure you will correct us if we’re wrong). Either way, we do find it interesting how willingly conservatives at The Corner and RedState seem willing to embrace a similar label coined by The Corner’s David Freddoso: “Guns, Babies, and Taxes.” RedState’s Erick Erickson comments on the phrase: “Down here in Georgia, over in Louisiana, up over to Kansas, and in most of the rest of the country, David is absolutely right — the Republican base, which consists of conservative voters, looks at babies, guns, and taxes.”
As I noted yesterday, the “G-B-T” formula — which I most certainly did not “coin” — is not a philosophical definition of conservatism. Conservatism is far more robust than politics. Guns-Babies-Taxes is a quick and dirty way of talking about elections, a yardstick for conservatives to size up a political candidate. Whatever your issue, a candidate who is good on those three issues will probably be good on that, too — and if he isn’t, most conservatives will hear him out anyway.