Flip-Flop Nation

This article about Mike Huckabee's blatant flip-flops on Cuba policy and illegal immigration, coming as it does in a season where the immigrant-embracing ex-mayor of New York is rebranding as a deport 'em all toughie while a northeastern RINO Republican Mormon performs daily feats of Moral Majority-pleasing contortionism, begs the question—didn't Republicans think that flip-flopping was bad last time around?

And has there been a single broad area of pandering this cycle that one would describe as indicating a positive trend for the Republican Party*? It would be one thing if every candidate felt compelled to burnish his bonafides on limited government, but it seems the required notes this year are ever-shriller shrieks against immigration and ever-louder hosannas to God. Am I missing something?

* (I haven't actually paid any attention to the Democratic primary, but feel free to detail the horror in the comments.)