No, not that one.
Now, assuming that you set aside the fact that she sounds like she’s in the first half of her twenties, this is a message that can at least remove some of the stigma of being a conservative right now, which will be necessary before the Right can get the socially-moderate Center to listen to them again. If a person can call herself a “progressive Republican” with a straight face and say, essentially, “don’t worry about that older generation,” it can gradually change the face of what it means to be a Republican at all. At the very least, it could take social issues off the table, not because left and right suddenly agree, but because people who don’t want Roe v. Wade overturned or who want their gay friends to have the right to marry can say to themselves, “Well, the party IS becoming more moderate,” and turn their attention to the economy, the military, etc.
This is both a good thing for liberal social causes and a bad thing for Democrats. If Republicans become more palatable to the center on social issues, the Dems lose their biggest stick to whack them with. They’ll have to have better policies than, “Oh, did AIG get bonuses we don’t like? That’s okay, we’ll just tax 90% of them! Happy now?” Uh… no.
Of course, the K-Lo’s and Kristols and Limbaughs and Hannitys of this world will want to strangle young McCain before she makes it out of her political cradle anyway, so let’s see how this plays out within the party first…
March 25, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Following your thinking to its conclusion, there would be no difference between Republican and Democrat, so why would that trouble you? Many of us rightwing nutjobs think we’re already there and are working overtime to fix it. The Republicans got their butts handed to them because they acted too much like the Dems, not because they don’t act enough like them. Those that voted against the Rs are now seeing what they really voted for. We’ll see together in 2010 how that works out.
March 25, 2009 at 4:44 pm
[...] 2009 The GOP’s Hope, cont. Posted by Michael under Uncategorized In response to my favorable opinion of Meghan McCain, a dissenting reader writes: Following your thinking to its conclusion, there would be no [...]