Wisdom in what he's saying but the "hugging the center" is a bit of a misnomer. Like he points out, the center doesn't really exist. So you can't hug the center, you can though water down your beliefs into nothing. Reason people do it is because they're essentially fishing for approval. Once you do something "extreme", and notice people are distancing themselves, you instinctually start to tone down your behavior. So the problem with the right is actually the fact that a lot of the things they say, and do which is not much, doesn't really have mass appeal. Most people are not angry, most people don't want a race war. So once you start expressing these kind of sentiments you lose people. The true test of the right is how can you be true to your beliefs, while also making them seem cool and normal.