Posted by
Playful Walrus on Tuesday, May 05, 2009 1:41:00 PM
Nor are a lot of them in "third" parties. There are some that are registered Democrats, independents, or "decline to state".
Take Tammy Bruce, who has her own radio show but sometimes fills in for Laura Ingraham. Bruce also writes books and columns and appears frequently on Fox. Bruce is anything but a GOP shill. Heck, she's pro-choice, a self-identified feminist (was even President of the Los Angeles chapter of NOW), openly lesbian, and for most of her life was a registered Democrat, working to elect California Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and President Clinton.
Ah, but she is also a proud gun owner, pro-death penalty, and supports waging war against terrorists
Clinton's actions towards his female intern and his feminist supporters, NOW's abandoning of feminist issues for the sake of Leftist unity in the Clinton scandal and the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman helped push Tammy Bruce towards independence. And while is pro-choice, she points out that having an abortion is nothing of which to be proud – it usually means a woman screwed up, and, despite the ability to abstain or use many different forms of contraception, she got pregnant when she wasn't ready to be pregnant.
So what makes Bruce a conservative? Her opposition to big government, her championing of individual instead of collective rights, and her support of strong national defense, and her making those things a priority.
So tell me - if Republican became more like Democrats, would Republicans gain any votes from independents like Tammy Bruce? No way.
There are no doubt many "sleeping conservatives" – people who aren't politically active and rarely vote, but who live conservative values and, if we reach out to them the right way, and if our elected conservatives actually lead or vote as conservatives, will put us into more offices.