A Challenge for GW?

Most of you know me as a pretty left-leaning kind of guy. I honestly didn’t start out that way. I was raised Republican (not that politics was religion in my house – we rarely talked about it, but my parents are both on the Right), and voted for George Bush the Elder in ’94, and voted for John McCain in the 2000 Republican Primary. Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich, George W. and John Ashcroft forced me out of the GOP for good. But, I still have a lot of respect for a lot of Senators on the right, and don’t think Republicans are evil. I think the party has been taken over by the Religious Right and the Neo-Conservatives and that concerns me. The moderate voice of the party has been effectively silenced.

This should change. There are some good ideas on the moderate Right, especially when it comes to the now forsaken idea of fiscal responsibility and I would love a bipartisan moderate majority in the Senate (I have no hope for the House) and a moderate Democrat or Republican in the White House. George W. Bush, with all of his “compassionate” conservatism he touted during the 2000 campaign is far removed from anything that smells like compassion. There is hope! What hope, you ask? Let’s get someone to run against GW in 2004! I nominate John McCain and John Warner. They both have better qualifications on national security and defense (because whoever inherits the White House after GW better be able to handle this mess) than the current President. They’re both moderate and have proven track records of bipartisanship, and they’re both willing to buck the party line and go with their conscience.

I know, I’m crazy. I’m still recovering from the flu, but you know, I’d be willing to sacrifice the chance to vote for Howard Dean in the VA Primary if I could vote for John McCain again and show that it’s time to abandon the radical fringes of the Republican party and move towards the center with the great majority of the country.