Matt Welch on the GOP's Disputed Soul

The Republican Party was famously described by Ronald Reagan as a "three-legged stool" comprised of fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, and national security conservatives. Rather than representing the triumph of any of those groups, writes Matt Welch, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is a consensus electability candidate who dabbles in all three with varying levels of conviction. As the party gathers in Tampa this week to coronate Romney at the 2012 Republican National Convention, keep an eye on the unresolved discord between the party's competing factions. Though you will hear a lot this week about GOP unity against President Barack Obama, that masks an ideological peace that at best is fragile, unattractive, and unsatisfying.