James A. Barnes of National Journal takes a look at the GOP’s nominee, John McCain, and how his nomination is impacting or shifting the GOP. The article certainly is an intriguing piece that provides a lot of substance, however it has several shortcomings as well.

Among its most glaring shortcoming is that it barely mentioned the GOP’s growing libertarian wing, which were instrumental in electing Norm Semanko to his post as Idaho GOP Chair or in electing Shawn Steel, an RLC Advisery Board member and former California GOP Chair, to the Republican National Committee post.

The author contends that the GOP is becoming more conservative despite McCain’s coming nomination. I don’t know if that is the case or not, however the platform changes outlined in an earlier post certainly show that GOP is not becoming more conservative on issues related to the housing crisis or global warming. However, according to this article, the makeup of the RNC has tilted right.