Politicos Pushing for Hutchison
Written by Sam on August 27th, 2008
In his online column for the conservative TownHall.com, Michael Medved argued that McCain should reject the Pawlenty-Portman-Romney types as too safe and take another look at Hutchison.
“OK, she’s not a dynamo of fiery charisma; in fact, as I’ve noted before, she’s a bland and sometimes boring speaker, and a pleasant if unprepossessing television presence. Nevertheless, she is a she — and that fact in itself would allow McCain’s choice to upstage Obama’s,” Medved wrote.
Among other things, having a woman on the ticket could bring in the disenfranchised Hillary Clinton supporters, Medved argued.
Houston Chronicle
I’m indifferent to Hutchison for the most part. It won’t bother me to have her on the ticket nor will it bother to not have her on it. I would prefer someone much more charismatic, but Medved does make a point about putting a woman on the ticket to upstage Obama. Rumors are McCain could announce his pick by Friday.
27
AM
Surely there is a women who isn’t so liberal? Why not Susan Collins or Olympia Snowe while we’re at it? Hell let’s blur the line even further and throw Hillary on the ticket, that would guarantee McCain wins.
Besides if she is being picked merely because she is a woman in an effort to outflank Obama then that is a little insulting no? She should be a qualified pick not a gender quota pick.
27
PM
Calling her a liberal is a stretch. She is not a movement conservative to use the term the writers of the blog use a lot, but she is definitely considered a conservative on almost every issue with the exception of abortion, where she probably sits in the center.
She also fits the experience argument well. She is the longest serving female Republican in the Senate. This is the only objection I would have to someone like Sarah Palin. If we are picking a female VP, she probably has the right balance of experience and ideology. She is not a Collins or a Snowe to say the least.
27
PM
And of course she votes for higher spending and voted in favor of amnesty and she broke her pledge not to serve more than two Senate terms, there is also the slight problem of her abortion stance (which is not middle of the road, she believes the Constitution guarantees the right) which wouldn’t be a deal killer if she was otherwise conservative.
Her support of taxcuts is tepid with a 74% NTU rating.
She is a big-government Republican in every sense of the word.
27
PM
But Mike, the conservative movement supports big spending as shown by their failure to stand up to Bush. While I think we would both agree its not conservative to be a big spender, conservatism is now known by most of the public as big spending and the Huckabee example makes Hutchison look like a right wing nut on fiscal issues. Sadly enough, McCain is one of the few standing up for something resembling good government fiscally conservative policies.
27
PM
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I agree that people have a perception that Republicans spend big, but if they think conservatives spend big that is because of their association with the tattered GOP brand.
Just because we have the reputation of crooks, doesn’t mean we should start acting like crooks.
And to say that the conservative movement supports big spending because they failed to stand up to Bush isn’t quite fair either. A great many conservatives stood up to Bush in Congress and that is where our future leaders are.
27
PM
Mike I wish it was the case that a substantial number of conservatives stood up to Bush on the growth of government, but few did and the so-called conservative media pieces did not grill the Bush administration in the first term because there was this perception of it being unpatriotic in some way. Sadly enough, McCain was one of the lone voices standing up to Bush’s spending sprees and the only serious presidential candidate to be on the record doing so.
During the Bush era, conservatism has become detached from its root in the distrust of government and the desire to limit the powers of the state. Until the entire conservative movement readopts this principle, there will never be a truly conservative president and I will not call myself a conservative.