> Yes - he wasn’t just some fluke but had near-unanimous support from both elected Republicans and the most important right-wing media sources like Fox.

Not at first he didn't.

That depends on how far back you go. 2005, sure, but by the time he was running he was pretty much in tune with the tone on Fox; most of the remaining moderate Republicans were purged as part of the post-9/11 turn towards previously extreme positions. A lot of the shock came from people who didn’t follow the right-wing media that closely and hadn’t realized how normalized those positions had become.

I take it you were watching a lot of fox news back then? Or is that just what you "heard"? Because I was watching Fox news back then, and you are absolutely incorrect.

That's my recollection as well. I didn't watch FOX or anything conservative really, but the highlights that I sometimes came across were all pushing Bush and maybe a couple of other candidates here and there.