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...

In recent weeks, we have seen several states make strides towards equality for gay and lesbian Americans. Jeff Cook, a former staff person at the national office of Log Cabin and currently working with the New York state chapter of Log Cabin Republicans, has done a good job of letting people know of the brave Republicans that stood up for civil rights. You can read his posts on victories in Vermont, Iowa , Connecticut and Delaware. The GOP has a pretty sorry history when it comes to gay rights....

There is a lot to be said about the whole Obama-taking-over-the-American-auto-industry line, but the thing that has been bothering me for months is how Republicans have dealt with the current situation, which is to say, they have dealt with it by acting rather boorish. Now, I know some liberal wags will say that this is the only way that Republicans know how to act, but that is not necessarily so. Listening to this recent comments like this one from Kevin Hassett and the recent glee from some conservatives...

When it comes to economics and money matters, I understand it…to a point. My partner is the better person when it comes to money. But I will give it a go when it comes to the following issue. I work for a non-profit, actually one and a half: I work part time as a pastor at a church and full time as a webmaster for a the administrative body of a mainline Protestant denomination. Non-profits and churches are at the mercy of the goodness of people. A church stays open because people give offerings...

Megan McArdle has a great post about the whole AIG bonus debacle. What we are starting to learn is that things are not what they seem. According to the popular rhetoric, the people getting these bonuses are the same ones that got us into this mess. But the reality is less clear. McArdle links to this letter op-ed letter from one person who received these bonuses. Before you start throwing tomatoes, you might want to hear him out: It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from...

Every so often, I will be posting links to posts I tend to brand as “alternacon,” stuff that you don’t normally hear from conservatives. Conservatism has a wider reach than the stuff peddled by Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter and I would like to point them out and pass them along. So here is the first update: Geoffrey Kabaservice (who has written a series of wonderful articles on moderates in the GOP) has written a profile on the former Republican California Senator Thomas Kuchel....

Jim McGrody, a blogger from Texas, has put together a possible platform for Republicans as they enter the 2010 midterms. It’s called simply, “2010 Republicans.” Here is what he says: What does it mean to be a 2010 Republican? One often hears the expression, “Strong on defense, fiscally conservative and socially moderate”. Although this is the essence of the answer it does not go far enough to allow the shaping of public policy. We do hear a lot about being fiscally conservative...

Ross Douthat has a good post today about Obama and the Center-Left. He notes that conservatives were happy with some of the Clintonite picks he made in the cabinet. However, as policy started coming out, those same conservatives (myself included) were not as happy. So what happened? Douthat posed three solutions and it is the third one that makes the most sense: But there’s a third answer as well – which is that the smart center-left, embodied by Larry Summers as much as anyone,...

A few weeks ago, I did something that seems a bit anachronistic in this digital age. I got a subscription to the local newspaper in town: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. I don’t always agree with the paper’s editorial page, but I did it to make a point of the importance of newspapers and because I’ve loved newspapers since I was a little kid. I remember way back in the 70s, looking forward to getting the Detroit Free Press. My parents only got the Sunday edition, but I loved reading...

This post over at Conventional Folly was a bit annoying at first blush, but then made sense: I went and listened to the on-air debate between David Frum and Mark Levin at the urging of Massie and Sullivan, and I came away with the surprising conclusion that Levin definitely got the best of Frum (all use of the mute button aside). I think that’s because Frum is not acknowledging a sad fact: the dearth of charismatic political leaders on the right means that Levin’s incessant digs about relevance,...

I should have known better. For those of you who have been following me, most of you know that I grudingly voted for Obama last November. It was a ticket-splitting vote: voted for Obama and then voted GOP down the line. I noted that I was going to cast my vote with some trepidation: While I am supporting Obama, it is with trepidation. I worry that once in office he will veer too far to the Left, pleasing the Democratic base. I can only hope that with so much support from independents and Republicans,...

I grew up in Michigan, about sixty miles from the Canadian border. Our local cable system offered (and still does) the closest Canadian television station: Channel 9, a CBC affiliate in Windsor, Ontario. Beginning in high school and through college and even today, whenever I am home in Michigan, I turned on the CBC to catch their two nightly news programs: The National and The Journal. (I especially loved the Journal with the late Barbara Frum, the mother of conservative writer David Frum.) It...

It’s interesting that other conservatives are now realizing what I’ve known for about 15 years: that Rush Limbaugh is a windbag that is more concerned about boosting his ratings than he is about trying to rebuild the GOP. But now, that conservatives and liberals are chatting about the rotund radio announcer, I am left wondering something: Why Does Rush Matter? Why have so many bloggers spent so much time writing about this guy? Yes, I know that he seems to hold a big sway over a...

Every so often, I have heard conservative Republican operatives talk about how the GOP has an inroad to persons of color because in many of those communities, there is strong opposition to gay marriage. Since there hasn’t been a flood of black people to the GOP based on their stance on gay marriage, I have always found that argument bogus if not bigoted. Being someone who is African American (and gay to boot) I’ve always believed that most African Americans are concerned with bread...