“Raging moderate” is a political term that appears to be an oxymoron. Tennessee Senator Al Gore, Jr. was running for the Democratic presidential nomination in April 1987 when he described himself as a “raging moderate.” “They (the American people—ed.) are raging moderates who find themselves bewildered by the extremism of the right and left” was written in a newspaper editorial in 1992.
 
“In contrast President Reagan is a raging moderate” was cited in print in 1983.
 
     
Wikipedia: Al Gore
Albert Arnold “Al” Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, advocate and philanthropist, who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President and lost the 2000 U.S. presidential election despite winning the popular vote. Gore is currently an author and environmental activist. He has founded a number of non-profit organizations, including the Alliance for Climate Protection, and has received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in climate change activism.
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During his time in Congress, Gore was considered a “moderate” (he referred to himself as a “raging moderate”) opposing federal funding of abortion, voting in favor of a bill which supported a moment in silence in schools, and voting against a ban on interstate sales of guns.
 
9 May 1983, Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA),  “Search for solutions” by Nicholas Von Hoffman, pg. 7-B, col. 1:
In contrast President Reagan is a raging moderate.
 
25 November 1984, The Oregonian (Portland, OR), Northwest Magazine, pg. 8, col. 3:
They accuse the Sierra Club and its allied groups of being raging moderates who are all too willing to make political compromises.
 
Google News Archive
3 April 1987, Lewiston (ME) Journal, “Low in the polls” by Sandy Grady, pg. 6A, col. 6:
What stripe of politician is Gore? He calls himself a ‘raging moderate.”
   
Google News Archive
16 April 1987, Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA), “Albert Gore Jr.: ‘raging moderate’” by George Will, pg. A-4:
WASHINGTON—Iowa, already seething and teeming with presidential candidates, sould brace itself for one who describes himself as a raging moderate and who says, in the calmest way, that the sky is falling.
 
Google News Archive
25 August 1992, Beaver County )PA) Times, “GOING TOO FAR: GOP is in danger of going to extremes” (editorial), pg. A6, col. 2:
That’s because most Americans are neither liberals nor conservatives. They are raging moderates who find themselves bewildered by the extremism of the right and left.
     
OCLC WorldCat record
Raging Moderates: America’s fourth-biggest foundation - the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts - is no longer a sleepy family charity
Author: P Starobin
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: NATIONAL JOURNAL, 29, no. 19, (May 10, 1997): 914-918
Database: British Library Serials
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Raging Moderate - Lindy Paull fills one of the most important positions on Capitol Hill-she’s staff director of the powerful Joint Committee on Taxation. That makes her the queen of Washington’s tax wonks, but quite a few skeptical conservatives aren’t bowing.
Author: Ben Wildavsky
Publisher: Washington, D.C., National Journal Group Inc.
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: National journal. 30, no. 12, (1998): 630
Database: ArticleFirst
 
Google News Archive
28 October 2001, The Blade (Toledo, OH), pg. B5, cols. 1-2:
A raging moderate enters the governor’s race
JACK LESSENBERRY
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“I’m a raging middle-of-the-roader,” said Mr. Schwarz.
(Michigan State Senator John Schwarz.—ed.)
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Raging moderates : second party politics and the creation of a Whig aristocracy in Williamson County, Tennessee, 1812-1846
Author: Robert Holladay
Publisher: ©2007.
Dissertation: Thesis (M.A.)—Florida State University, 2007.
Edition/Format:   Thesis/dissertation : Document
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The all-American sport of bipartisan bashing : common sense rantings from a raging moderate
Author: Will Durst
Publisher: Berkeley, CA : Ulysses Press, ©2008.
Edition/Format:   Book : English
 
Los Angeles (CA) Times
Op-Ed
For better politics, it’s time for some raging moderates
DAN SCHNUR
July 11, 2014, 9:50 PM
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There’s an old saying on the campaign trail: There’s no such thing as a raging moderate. For politics to work again, those who occupy the center of the political spectrum will have to invest the time and effort to prove that adage wrong.
Dan Schnur is director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.