Meghan McCain's Big Tent

"I consider myself a progressive Republican. I am liberal on social issues. And I think that the party is at a place where social issues shouldn't be the issues that define the party. And I have taken heat, but in fairness to me, I am a different generation than the people that are giving me heat. I'm 24 years old. I'm not in my 40s, I'm not in my 50s and older." -Meghan McCain on Larry King Live Full interview here

In case you haven't noticed there's a bit of an ideological war going on for the helm of the Republican party. Conservatives versus moderates or to use Meghan McCain's term Progressive Republican, ever notice how liberals and moderates are afraid to be identified as such so they come up with neat names like progressive? I'm willing to give Meghan the benefit of the doubt though I mean after all someone who voted for John Kerry in 2004 and didn't become a registered Republican until her Dad (a moderate himself) started running for President she probably still doesn't have a total grasp on what it means to be a conservative. Now as a 22 year old Rush Baby I have a slight advantage here but I'll exercise some restraint.

First of all, the fact that you aren't lounging around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue should be your first clue that running as a moderate progressive squish Republican is not the way to win elections. Even when your Dad claimed to be a foot solider in the Reagan Revolution nobody really believed him. In fact the only time your Dad jumped up in the polls was when he announced Sarah Palin, apparently the only conservative that was allowed anywhere near the McCain campaign, as his running mate. Even after that some in your Dad's campaign had no problem turning Palin into a human speed bump and your refusal to even comment on Sarah Palin is pretty indicative of what you think of her and her conservative values. I know, I know your not a conservative you're a Progressive and totally more open minded except when it comes to mean people like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.

"I was raised in an open-minded home. I was raised a Christian, but I was raised open-minded Christian -- one to accept people, love people, not pass judgment...I personally am pro-life, but I'm not going to judge someone that's pro-choice. It is not my place to judge other people and what they do with their body." - Meghan McCain on Larry King Live

You say you want a big tent party? Fine so do I but that doesn't mean I want to water down my principles and beliefs so it becomes Democrat Lite. With your definition of a big tent we wouldn't have a party we'd have a bunch of talking heads not talking about principles but spouting off flavor of the month policies that have no long term foresight. You want to build a big tent Meghan? Then stand for something! Reach out to people and say this is what I believe in and this is how it can help you! Stop equating conservatism to being judgemental. It isn't judgemental to say "Get a job and take responsibility for yourself so you can get of welfare and not be a slave to the government." You believe in being an open-minded Christian? Great so do I because Christ opened is arms to all sinners no matter how great the sin and forgives anyone who seeks His forgiveness but He also says don't keep sinning either we're supposed to strive to live better lives. So yes you can be pro-life and not pass judgement on women who have received abortions but that doesn't mean you just throw your hands up and say "Whatever works for you!" You encourage a culture of life by standing on your principles.

And stop making this a generational thing Meghan. Solid core values stand the test of time they might not always make you popular with the rest of the world but then again the rest of the world knows deep, deep, deep down inside that it's those principles that have kept them safe from tyranny. In the grand scheme of things this isn't a popularity contest Meghan most people who have a beef with you aren't really upset that you're the liberal media's new lap dog they're more irritated that you're talking about things you don't fully understand. You're selling out on something that you don't really believe in to begin with. So go ahead and peddle you "Progressive" agenda but don't be surprised when it gets thrown back into your face.

Fairness:Liberal style

Yesterday in a radio interview with Bill Press Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822) had this to say about bring back the Fairness Docterine, "I think it's time to bring accountability to the airwaves. I mean our new president has talked about accountability and transparency. You know, that we all have to stepup and be responsible. And, I think in this case, there needs to be some accountability and standards put in place."

OK fine I'm all for transparency so let's add some clarity to this. First of all Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822) is married to Tom Athans who has held key positions at three liberal companies that tried to field liberal radio talk. The first was Democracy Radio which he co-founded and was the CEO until it fizzled out after three years. He then went on to that great leviathan of liberal failure Air America which is now bankrupt and for the past three years he's been the CEO of Talk USA Radio who's station OBAMA 1260 recently shut down. So one could say that Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822) has a vested interest in the success of liberal talk radio. You probably also noticed two patterns that Athans seems to be the kiss of death at any company he comes to and that no matter how much money you pump into something and how much hype it gets if the public doesn't like the product it will fail, huh that's kind of this pile of lard stimulus package the more the public knows about it the less they like it perhaps Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822) and the rest of the Senate should take not of that. Probably not though because they have this silly notion that they know more than the people who will actually be paying for this but anyway back to Senator Debbie Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822)

The best part is her line about how Obama has called for "transparency and accountability." Huh, well if those things were really important to Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822) then why oh why did she vote to confirm the tax-cheat Timothy Geithner? Where's the accountability there? Well it was an honest mistake, oh please if you or I had tried to get away with what he did we'd be in jail. When the tax cheat Tom Daschel dropped out as Obama's nominee for Head of Health and Human Services Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822) lamented this saying "I'm very sorry that that happened. He's a great leader and would have made a real difference in health care." What are you sorry about Debbie? Are you sorry that he resigned in a cloud of shame or that he got caught? And I'm sick and tired of this "We'll he's the best candidate for the job" line B.S.! There are other more qualified people out there and America deserves better then to have a bunch of tax cheats and liars leading us, there are plenty of them there and they should be voted out because America can do better.

The problem is that Stabenow (call her at 202-224-4822) and the rest of her liberal colleagues don't understand the free market. People will buy, support, listen to what they want not what the government tells them to. Talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh are successful because they are informative, entertaining, and on point. If people believed in liberal policies and wanted to hear them trumpeted every day Keith Olbermann(the antithesis of accountability) would have 20 million viewers a day and MSNBC would be the most watched network but people don't which is why Rush has 20 million listeners and Olbermann has been finishing a distant second or third in the his 8 o'clock time slot. In fact the least watched program on Fox News Channel has more viewers than the most watched show on MSNBC.

You might have noticed that I'd like you to call Debbie Stabenow and even if you don't live in Michigan I'd still encourage you to give her a call because she wants to silence at least half the country by destroying talk radio as we know it and perhaps Debbie would do well to actually listen to the people of America before threatening the First amendment. So give her a call at 202-224-4822.

Oh and as a final note Bill Press is a flaming liberal so it isn't as though the left has no voice on the radio.

A call against Complacency

To hear the liberals on T.V. last night you'd think that House Republicans are a bunch of sore losers childishly standing in the way of The One's great economic plan you might even have gotten the impression that the plan had actually failed at first. Once in a great while I watch a few minutes of the cesspool known as MSNBC and at this particular time Rachel Maddow was lamenting how Obama extended the hand of compromise over and over to those ingrate Republicans only to be thanked by not getting a single Republican to vote for the much hollowed stimulus package. According to Maddow Republicans should be falling over themselves to help the economy that was destroyed under Bush's watch (no mention of the Democrat corruption over at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of course). She then complained about how no House Republican would come onto her show for an interview (perhaps because they've either never heard of it or they were doing interviews on shows with an actual viewership) except for Representative Don Manzullo from Illinois who spent the time explaining to Maddow what actual stimulus is as opposed to funding more government programs thus growing the beast that got us into to this mess. After the interview Maddow continued to harp on the fact that ZERO Republicans voted for the stimulus absent however, was her noting that 11 Democrats also voting against the package making the nays the only bi-partisan effort last night as noted by the Great One Mark Levin (never to be confused with The One).

This is to me the most important thing from last night's vote because the Democrats in both sides have the majority and can pretty much run roughshod over any Republican opposition which is why the strength of that opposition is so important as well as the number of Democrats we can pull to our side. So how do you maintain a strong opposition? Stand by your principles even in the face of an old-fashioned drubbing stand tall GOP because your strength will attract those from the other side who believe as you do never underestimate the Blue Dog Democrats. I am convinced more and more that the party names don't mean so much as do the terms Conservative and Liberal. When you look at the R and the D by a congressman's name don't stop there look at their record are they a Conservative? Liberal? Or that dreaded wishy washy moderate? Conservatism will win the day it might not win every battle in Congress but if you stand by those values we the people will stand behind you come 2010 and beyond.

As an example I live in Ohio's 16th Congressional District which for 50+ years had been a Republican stronghold but is now being represented by a Democrat John Boccieri who replaced the retiring Ralph Regula a moderate Republican. The question is though how did a Democrat take a historically Republican district? Some will say it was just a Democrat year and there wasn't much a Republican could do. I blame complacency not just on the voters and local party leaders but on the man who was replaced Ralph Regula. Why blame the retired Regula because he along with local Republicans was lulled into a sense of complacency. He had been in Congress for 30+ years so how could a Republican not win? He was primaried by Matt Miller(whom I supported) who lost but the fact that Regula was even primaried should have sent a signal that the people weren't just satisfied with an R representing them they wanted some conservative principles to go with that R something that overtime Regula felt like overtime didn't need much tending to. People are waking up and they aren't just going to vote for the D or the R because that's the way it's always been. Now I know that not every House Republican is a rock solid conservative but if we continue to call and "Melt the phone lines" as Representative Michelle Bachmann called for yesterday perhaps they will find and maintain their spine. Many of our politicians have grown complacent we can not afford to do the same. Last night was a statement that we will not stand by as liberals try to turn America into a mediocre socialist state and we can not let this statement fall to the wayside but we must continue to repeat it and support those in Congress who share our cause.