[protomyth]

You give more credit than I would, especially about the recent election since the messaging was anything but coherent from the party leadership. I think the Scott Walker / Chris Chrissy feud is a pretty nice indicator of where the breaks lie. The GOP is basically a split party these days under one roof. I would expect at some point to get back to a single message, much as they did before.

Yes, Cruz is popular among the rank and file, but he is very unpopular among the leadership and media. He is a very good speaker and makes a fair number of good points. He is also very easy to soundbite-attack.

If you look at rhino369's comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8585565 you can see what many of the Republicans fear. The boogeyman of "fairness doctrine" has even been raised. If you are serious about net neutrality and brush aside the concern then you are not going to advance any issue.

I don't expect anything to advance on this issue. Its to mantra and flags now.

If someone would narrowly define a technical definition of what techs actually want for net neutrality, then I think you could a fair bit of Republican support. Particularly if it was phrased as keeping the fairness doctrine out of the internet. Never mention the poison phrase net neutrality.