My Kind of Republican

Supportive of gay marriage and highly critical of Ann Coulter.  I love Meghan McCain!

I’m often criticized for not being a “real” Republican, and I have been called a RINO—Republican In Name Only—in the past. Many say I am not “conservative enough,” which is something that I am proud of. It is no secret that I disagree with many of the old-school Republican ways of thinking. One of the biggest issues from which I seem to drift from the party base is in my support of gay marriage. I am often criticized for previously voting for John Kerry and my support of stem-cell research. For the record, I am also extremely pro-military and a big supporter of the surge and the Iraq war.

More so than my ideological differences with Ann Coulter, I don’t like her demeanor. I have never been a person who was attracted to hate or negativity. I don’t believe in scare tactics and would never condone or encourage anyone calling President Obama a Muslim. But controversy sells and Coulter is nothing if not controversial. Everything about her is extreme: her voice, her interview tactics, and especially the public statements she makes about liberals. Maybe her popularity stems from the fact that watching her is sometimes like watching a train wreck.

I am sure most extreme conservatives and extreme liberals would find me a confusing, walking contradiction. But I assure you, there are many people out there just like me who represent a new, younger generation of Republicans. It took me almost two years of campaigning across this country and hanging out, on a daily basis, with some of the most famous and most intelligent Republicans to fall in love with the Republican Party. If it took that much time and exposure for me to join the party, how can GOP leaders possibly expect to reach young supporters by staying the course they have been on these past eight years? Where has our extreme thinking gotten us? President Bush will go down as one the least popular presidents in history. I constantly hear stories about Republicans who previously worked for President Bush and my father feeling ostracized, unable to get jobs in D.C. right now.

Tonight Ann Coulter and Bill Maher are kicking off a weeklong debate tour—I will be attending here in New York. Maybe they will prove me wrong, but this seems more like a traveling circus than a serious debate about the ideological differences between these individuals. I hope viewers understand Ann Coulter is not the woman we Republicans need representing us right now. The GOP is at a crossroads. I love the Republican Party, but if it turns out I am somehow not conservative enough to please its leaders, it makes me wonder—am I then not worthy of even being a member?

Comments

[Greg]

My kind of Republican. Be careful it might make conservatives heads explode.

Frank Schaeffer on What's Left of the GOP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy1G1qdvIAI

[Dizzy Girl]

I'm so glad to find someone who agrees with me. It's a shame that the you either have to be a die-hard Republican or no Republican at all. There's no middle ground in the party.

Meghan McCain is Enemy #1 right now for speaking her mind and that's a share. What's worse are the bloggers making fun of her weight and calling her all sorts of nasty names. It's shameful and hypocritical and only cements the idea that people have about Republicans being stodgy and stuck in the Stone Ages.