Editor’s note: Hopefully Mr. Powell will listen to this. Dear Mr. Powell, You probably have not been getting a whole lot of emails from Republicans thanking you for your words as of late, but I want to be one of the few Republicans that says thanks. I am glad that you are staying in the GOP and telling those who want to make lists of who is in and who is out to stop being so exclusive and narrow-minded. You are one of the reasons I became a Republican. It’s hard to find many African...

The May 14th issue of the Economist had another article on what ails the Republican Party and how it can be rejuvenated. The article stresses the importance of the GOP in being a center-right party again, but it also has something to say about those centrists: The first lesson from the Democrats is to create a “vital centre”—one that is a source of ideas rather than split-the-difference compromises. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) has been challenging old-fashioned liberalism since...

The blogosphere is chatting about former McCain and now former Huntsman advisor John Weaver’s fears of a 2012 GOP Blowout if the party’s guiding lights are Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney. There is a lot of talk that if the party doesn’t start appealing to moderates soon, 2012 is going to be bloody. That prospect used to bother me, but I’m beginning to wonder if that’s not a bad thing. Let me explain. As Ross Douthat explained a few weeks ago in his case...

Upon hearing that Utah Governor Jon Huntsman was taking Obama’s offer to become Ambassador to China, I was saddened. Huntsman was a conservative that didn’t live in the GOP echo chamber and could see the change that needed to happen in the Republican Party if it is to be a viable force in the age of Obama. He was for civil unions for gays, and was pro-environment. He was considered the one candidate that the Obama team was afraid they would face come 2012. As Andrew Sullivan has noted,...

Candace Straight and Susan Bevan, the Co-Chairs of Republican Majority for Choice wrote a strong op-ed at the Huffington Post calling for the GOP to be more tolerant of moderates. In it, they call on party leaders to take a look at who won in elections last November: The Republican leadership must look to see who in their Party is winning — both elections and new voters. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine both won their last elections with 61% and 72% of the voter respectively....

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is a smart guy. I mean that. He had a fairly good record as governor of Arkansas. But, that said, when it comes to the future of the GOP, he doesn’t know what he is talking about. Recently he has stated that the Republican Party should not “moderate.” If they do, they will be as vital as the Whigs. “Throw the social conservatives the pro-life, pro-family people overboard and the Republican party will be as irrelevant as the Whigs,”...

Yesterday’s post was primarily a response to why Ross Douthat’s snarky dismissal of New England or Rockefeller Republicans was off base. Using a column by Ross’ workmate at the New York Times, David Brooks, I offered that moderate Republicans are not opportunists as they are bearers of an old tradition in the GOP, one that makes the case for a civic-minded conservatism. Today, I want to talk a bit about why moderate Republicans matter electorally using a post by Noah Millman of...

What are Moderate,Centrist, Progressive, Rockefeller or whatever they are called Republicans good for? That’s the question that is on my mind this morning and it has probably been the question many in the GOP are asking. In many cases, the answer is that we are good for nothing and that we should join Arlen Specter in leaving the GOP. By now, I am familiar with the epithets lobbed at us: we are RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only), wishy-washy and willing to leave the GOP for the cozy confines...

Back in January, there were many people who hoped that Michael Steele would become the next chairman of the GOP. He had worked on the centrist Republican Leadership Council and had made some pledges to work hard to include moderates in the party. Five months later, I now see the former Lt. Governor of Maryland as a joke. Instead of standing up for moderates, he has caved in the far right. But in his mind, the party is still open to moderates: as long as they sit down, shut up and know who is running...

In the days following the defection of Senator Arlen Specter to the Democrats, I’ve been thinking about what to write about in the wake of all of this. As a moderate Republican, I can say that it has been a hard week and, more than once, I’ve thought of just ending my relationship with this party. As I thought about and read through all the articles by moderate Republicans like Christine Todd Whitman and Olympia Snowe, as well as conservatives like Peggy Noonan, and their calls for...

Note: The Following Letter was developed by Travis Johnson, the founder of Progressive Republicans. We, the Undersigned, as long-time, loyal Republicans, supporters of the Party’s candidates and its core values of smaller, more efficient government, individual liberty and personal freedom condemn in the strongest possible fashion the circumstances and actions of so-called “conservatives” who have driven Senator Arlen Specter and many of our best and brightest from our Party....

Over the last few decades, an experiment has been taking place within the Republican Party. It has been conducted not by party leaders as much as by the rank and file or so-called base. It has been an experiment as to whether a politically-pure party can be a viable party. To my knowledge this has never been done before. Over the years, groups such as Club for Growth have sought out those who were considered apostates and targeted them for inter-party challenges. In many cases they have picked...

Note: The following was written by Travis Johnson, the head of Progressive Republicans. President Obama was inaugurated in January, but the Obama Era officially began today. Don’t believe me? wait til you see what he does with the filibuster-proof majority we gave him by driving Senator Specter from the Party. I’m appalled. Not at Senator Specter. At the Republican Party. You, me, all of us. Everyone one of us with an (R) behind his name on his voter registration card is responsible for...

David Broder doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in the blogosphere. In more than one case, Border has been viewed as some what bland and grey with his calls for bipartisanship. But of course, Broder has been a reporter for a long time, longer than some of us (myself included) have been alive. He remembers when politics wasn’t as nasty as it is now, and remembers when politicians of all stripes worked for the greater good. Broder wrote an op-ed recently where he called for the President...

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. -Martin Luther King Jr. In reading some of the blogs as of late, it might seem that moderate or progressive Republicans are finally getting some love. The recent speeches by Meghan McCain and former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, have given people the impression that maybe, just maybe, that those in the upper levels of the Republican Party are finally paying attention to us moderates. Maybe they...

On this earth day, it’s important to remember that care for the Environment has to be a bipartisan effort. Sadly, the GOP has not always lived up to it’s environmental heritage, but there are those who still do. Republicans for Environmental Protection has released it’s scorecard of Congress touting “Green Republicans” while slamming the “Brown Republicans.” Here is their press release:

Pat Toomey, the former head of Club for Growth is running against Arlen Specter in the 2010 Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary. A lot of conservative purists are probably saying “good riddance” to the moderate Specter who voted for the Obama Stimulus package and is a social moderate. Toomey has made career out of going after “RINOs” or “Republicans in Name Only.” But as David Jenkins shows, while he might have purged the party of moderates, he isn’t good...

Talk about the apple not falling far from the tree. Senator John McCain had been noted in the past as being a “straight talker.” I think that this aspect about him was sadly muted during his run for President. That said, it seems that the penchant for straight talk can also be found in his daughter, Meghan. Meghan McCain spoke Saturday at the national convention for the Log Cabin Republicans and presented a new face for the GOP: a conservative that is forward looking on issues like...

Steve Schmidt, the former campaign manager for John McCain’s presidential campaign has been making news today for saying that it is time for conservatives to back same sex marriage. In a speech to the national convention of the Log Cabin Republicans he makes a conservative case for gay marriage: “There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage…I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise...

Log Cabin Republicans are having their annual meeting in Washington, DC this weekend and Politico interviewed Terry Hamilton, the chair of the Board for Log Cabin about the convention, the outlook for the GOP, how President Obama is doing on gay issues and if Meghan McCain is the new gay icon for gay Republicans. Click here to view the interview.

The following is a note posted on Facebook, by Joseph Chambers, a young gay man from West Virgina who until recently identified as a Republican. I’ve posted his article in its entirety since not everyone has access to Facebook. I was reading the Wall Street Journal recently when I came across an article covering the founding of a new organization for gay Republicans: GOProud. Let me be clear: I’m a strong proponent of capitalism and a free “marketplace of ideas,” so to speak....

Every so often, you see something that shows there is hope for the GOP. The Des Moines Register profiled a businessman who has been described as the stereotypical Republican with one exception: he is a tireless campaigner for gay equality. Here’s a sample of Ted Coppock’s life: A longstanding membership in the Republican Party, a career in insurance and ages-old religious affiliations and understandings of right and wrong had not prepared him for this phone conversation with his daughter. Valerie,...

It seems that whenever the Democrats are back in power there is talk about the demise of the Religious Right. Kathleen Parker, decides to bring up the end of the Christian right in her April 5 column. Blogger John Armstrong also wonders if this is the end of the road for the symbiotic relationship between the GOP and the Right. He, along with Parker, thinks there is a generational shift afoot that is changing the Christian Right: The “deals” made with the GOP took most evangelical...

Before I go any further, I need to let you all know that I have been a part of Log Cabin Republicans since 2002. I’ve served in various positions with the local chapter including a stint as President. Ben Smith over at Politico, revealed that there is a move a foot to create a rival organization for gay conservatives. The new group will be called GOProud and will launch next week. So, why the need for another gay conservative group? Because some believe that Log Cabin has become “too...

I have to agree with Ramesh Ponnuru; it’s time for Norm Coleman to give up his fight for the Senate seat here in Minnesota. Now, I’m not a fan of Coleman, but I did vote for him because he was and is a better candidate than Al Franken. Franken comes accross as mean-spirited and while Coleman has been faulted with doing what the political winds told him to do, he was at least independent enough to be respected. Franken is nothing more than a liberal yes-man who will add nothing new to...