The common perception is that the GOP is anti-gay. While there are many Republicans who are homophobic, there are also many who are very gay-friendly and willing to stand up for gay rights and, in this case, against Proposition 8, the proposal that would ban gay marriage in California. One such person is Tom Campbell a former Republican legislator in California. He says: Republicans believe deeply that government should be limited. Government has no business making distinctions between people based...

Ah, Rush: “How come the conservative movement is fracturing,?” when there’s a blueprint for winning it, 1980, there’s a blueprint. McCain is not the blueprint for how Republicans win landslides. Going after moderates, independents, and all these yokels is not the blueprint. The blueprint’s there, 1994, taking back the House, the blueprint’s there. Why are these people ignoring it? Did this jerk forget the “Reagan Democrats?” Alex Massie notes...

With the seemingly-likely blowout of the GOP from the halls of power, there has been a lot of talk about what will happen to the conservative moment. Blogger Peter Suderman believes it’s a bit premature to say that conservatism is doomed: I don’t want to go too far down the road of arguing that the right doesn’t have problems. It does, and I desperately hope that it takes this current moment of confusion and anxiety as the impetus for some serious soul-searching and reform. But the drama...

The lead article in this week’s Newsweek describes the United States as a “center-right” nation, and that Democrats must realize that fact or risk defeat. Author Jon Meacham writes: The argument I am making—that we are at heart a right-leaning country skeptical of government once a crisis that requires government has passed—is probably going to look dumb, or at least out of step, for many months to come. A big blue tsunami appears imminent. Election night and the first phase...

In their endorsement of Barack Obama for President, the Houston Chronicle had this to say about a lost opportunity for John McCain: McCain has an illustrious record of service to America, first as a pilot taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese, and then with a distinguished Senate career. To his credit, he has broken with his own party in the past to fight for campaign reform, oppose the sanctioning of torture and acknowledge the threat of human-induced global warming. However, in his bid for the...

Ross Douthat has a good read about how some in the media are depicting McCain-Palin rallies. I really just want to focus on the last paragraph: But of course, everybody knows that conservative hate – especially when it comes from anonymous hecklers at massive rallies, or when it involves booing the press – is fascism come round again, but left-wing hate is just, well, kitschy and adorable. Now, there is no excusing some of the vitriol that comes from conservatives. But I’ve been...

I don’t usually care for Nick Coleman, the liberal columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (don’t worry, I don’t like the conservative columnist, Kate Kersten, either. They are both jerks.). However, he does a have a good profile of Aubrey Immelman, the moderate Republican who challenged Michelle Bachmann for the Republican primary in the MN-6 and who has now revived his candidacy as a write-in campaign. Here is how Coleman describes Immelman: A South African immigrant to the...

Bloggingheads.tv has a great conversation between Daniel Larison of the American Conservative and Eli Lake of the lamented New York Sun, on the tactic among liberals to draw hidden meanings from McCain ads (e.g.; the celebrity ad with Britney and Paris-white-women-paired with a picture of Obama) and things supposedly said at McCain rallies. I think the conversation is important because as Eli Lake says, it tends to demolish the “plain meaning” of speech, or at least the speech coming...

I look up to Colin Powell. He’s a fellow black man that happens to be a moderate Republican like me. When there was speculation back in the mid-90s that he might run for president, I was hopeful. Here was a black man who had a real shot at the White House. When he became Secretary of State under Bush, I was excited that we had our first African American Secretary of State, a black man sharing the world stage. But it isn’t mere racial pride that has made me an admirer of the former head...

Aubrey Immelman, the Republican challenger against US Representative Michelle Bachmann says his write-in campaign is about a referendum on the state of the GOP: He says one thing he will NOT do is ask Democrats to vote for him. He says he wants his candidacy to be a Republican referendum on Representative Bachmann and the direction the party has taken this country. I’ve donated to his campaign. He may not win, but this is about one Republican speaking out against people like Michelle Bachmann...

After Michelle Bachmann’s spectacular flameout of an interview on Friday on MSNBC, her Democratic challenger in Minnesota’s Sixth District, Elwyn Tinklenberg, received a big boost in donations to his campaign. Now it looks like Bachmann’s GOP challenger in the September primary, Aubrey Immelman, is getting back into the race as a write-in candidate:

My hometown newspaper, the Flint Journal, has a fascinating story of two sisters named McCain, who are descendants of slaves owned by Senator John McCain’s great-great grandfather. It’s a great read about American history. Check it out.

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with someone about the upcoming presidential race and I must have said something that made her asked if I was wavering in my support for McCain. I said no, but in reality, I was. At this point, I am not sure who I will vote for. There are certain things that make me pause with both candidates. No matter what I do, voting for McCain or Obama will have its risks. The thing that has given me doubts about McCain can be summed up in two words: Sarah Palin.

Some thoughts about the third and final presidential debate: It was a long day for me, but I don’t ever think I’ve ever been drowsy at a debate, and I was tonight. It was boring. Was anyone else tired of hearing about Joe the Plumber? Obama was his usual cool self. Again, it gave people the perception that he can be presidential. Whether you agree with him or not, he did have the temperament to be Commander in Chief. Doesn’t mean he would be good at it, but in politics, perception...

The reason that John McCain and the rest of the GOP is failing this year is not because of media bias, or dirty tricks by the Obama campaign, but because conservatives have run out of ideas. McCain has never been an idea person, hoping that people would elect him on his august resume. But you can only go without new ideas for so long, which is why the GOP is getting its head handed to them come November. But I tend to think this is a Republican loss and not a Democratic win, meaning just because...

One of the things that has been astounding me as of late is the abandonment by moderates and conservatives of John McCain. Many of them are jumping ship and going over to Obama, even though the Senator doesn’t share share their values at all. They talk on and on about how John McCain isn’t the McCain of old and that he’s become mean and nasty. While I will agree that the tone has become more negative and that focusing on people like Bill Ayers in the time of a economic crisis...

With John McCain tanking, I have sometimes wondered why on earth am I still supporting him. Giving it some thought, I come up with one answer: I know what I’m getting with the Arizona Senator. I don’t know what I’m getting with Barack Obama. I know that I am getting a man that supports the environment and that tends to be more gay-friendly than past GOP nominees. I know that I am getting a man that has worked with Democrats and shunned his own party’s narrow interests...

No, it’s not what you think. Jay Cost has an interesting analysis as to why John McCain is doing so badly in the polls and there is nothing that he can do about it. He notes: McCain’s problem a week ago is the same as his problem today, enhanced anxiety about the economy. The deal failed to sooth any nerves, so McCain is still in a weakened position…So long as the newspapers and the televisions are full of stories about contraction, which as you can see dominated every day this...

We hear a lot about bipartisanship these days. A lot of people talk about it, but these days very few practice it. In some way, it’s become a relic of a long dead past, something that old men talk about with a wan smile of good days long past. The days we live in are incredibly partisan. Democrats and Republicans look at one another as strangers and enemies. Being a Republican in a very Democratic town, I can tell you that people can say really horrible things about Republicans. I can...

Over the last few months, I’ve noticed how race has been rearing its head in the presidential campaign. The race card is being played, but it’s not by Republicans. What has been fascinating is that the people who are playing the card are Obama supporters and the media. On more than one occasion people have asserted that something that has been said or shown by a Republican has been racist. On other occasions, it has been said that if Obama loses the election, the only reason will be...

Sarah Palin is toast. Or, at least that is how a lot of conservatives are feeling (myself included) after Palin’s disastrous interviews with ABC’s Charlie Gibson and CBS’s Katie Couric. Blogger Alan Stewart Carl thinks those die-hard Palin supporters are throwing out accusations of “gotcha” journalism and questioning Gwen Ifill’s integrity (Ifil is the moderator of tonight’s veep debate), to hide the fact that their VP candidate is so craptastic. On more...

People will laugh, but I’m beginning to think that the McCain-Palin GOP ticket is one of the most gay-friendly Republican tickets in history. No, they aren’t where Obama and Biden are at. But in light of past GOP tickets, this one is much more inclusive of gay and lesbian Americans. Log Cabin Republicans reports that the Washington Blade, a local GLBT newspaper in the nation’s capital interviewed McCain recently, making the Arizona senator the first Republican candidate to be...

CBS has made another Sarah Palin Interview with Katie Couric available. It’s an interesting look at Palin’s views on some of the hot-button issues like abortion and homosexuality. Here is the link to the interview: For those who aren’t patient, here are the highlights:

Well, fingers are pointing fast and furious about who is to blame for the failure to pass the bailout package. I wanted to pick up on one thing my fellow blogger Patrick Edaburn brought up in a recent post. He was not sympathetic on the reasoning of some Republicans who said they voted against the bailout because of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speech: But if you see the bill as necessary and important to our economy but vote against it because someone said something you didn’t like, that is...

David Brooks has a worthwhile op-ed on John McCain today. I’ve always liked Brooks because he’s one of the few conservatives that is willing to be critical of his own movement. In today’s article he presents a critical view of the Arizona Senator that is a lot more nuanced than many in the media and more than a few bloggers have about McCain. He shares primarily what is bothering him about the campaign that McCain is running and it’s a familiar complaint: …what disappoints...