McCain vs. Coulter

Ann Coulter has been the recent target of attacks from McCain–that is Meghan McCain, daughter of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate. She writes at The Daily Beast:

…certain individuals continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about Republicans. Especially Republican women. Who do I feel is the biggest culprit? Ann Coulter. I straight up don’t understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time. But no matter how much you or I disagree with her, the cult that follows Coulter cannot be denied. She is a New York Times best-selling author and one of the most notable female members of the Republican Party. She was one of the headliners at the recent CPAC conference (but when your competition is a teenager who has a dream about the Republican Party and Stephen Baldwin, it’s not really saying that much).

Coulter could be the poster woman for the most extreme side of the Republican Party. And in some ways I could be the poster woman for the opposite. I consider myself a progressive Republican, but here is what I don’t get about Coulter: Is she for real or not? Are some of her statements just gimmicks to gain publicity for her books or does she actually believe the things she says? Does she really believe all Jewish people should be “perfected” and become Christians? And what was she thinking when she said Hillary Clinton was more conservative than my father during the last election? If you truly have the GOP’s best interests at heart, how can you possibly justify telling an audience of millions that a Democrat would be a better leader than the Republican presidential candidate? (I asked Ann for comment on this column, including many of the above questions, but she did not answer my request.)

I am not suggesting that extreme conservatism wasn’t once popular, nor am I suggesting I should in any way be any kind of voice for the party. I have been a Republican for less than a year. Still, even after losing the election, I find myself more drawn to GOP ideals and wanting to fight for the party’s resurgence. And if figureheads like Ann Coulter are turning me off, then they are definitely turning off other members of my generation as well. She does appeal to the most extreme members of the Republican Party—but they are dying off, becoming less and less relevant to the party structure as a whole. I think most people my age are like me in that we all don’t believe in every single ideal of each party specifically. The GOP should be happy to have any young supporters whatsoever, even if they do digress some from traditional Republican thinking.

3 Comments

  1. 1
    Eclectic Radical says:

    I’m very curious about what Ms. McCain considers to be ‘progressive’ exactly, but I have to admire the shot at Coulter. It was worthy of The Snarking Lot.

    Megan McCain seems like a sweet girl and I have to admire her loyalty to her father. I wonder about what she thinks ‘GOP values’ really are, as I haven’t seen her actually communicate her political thoughts except for generic statements. I want to like her, and on that note I sort of wish she would shy away from the limelight a little. I don’t think it is doing her any good, and some of the nastier liberal writers out there are taking pot-shots at her. That said, I applaud any Republican criticism of Ann Coulter.

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    She wrote a little more about her views in the post:

    One of the biggest issues from which I seem to drift from the party base is in my support of gay marriage. I am often criticized for previously voting for John Kerry and my support of stem-cell research. For the record, I am also extremely pro-military and a big supporter of the surge and the Iraq war.

    This does put her outside of the Republican Party’s mainstream these days (but possibly more in line with the historical Republican Party).

  3. 3
    Eclectic Radical says:

    That does make her sound more like an Eisenhower-era foreign policy hawk than a modern day religious loony, yes. I feel kind of bad for her for some of the shots she is taking from some liberal writers for some of her recent statements, and I mostly like her. It does somewhat re-enforce my faith that the younger generation, even younger ‘conservatives’, are becoming more tolerant and scientifically minded. That’s a good thing.

    Of course (obligatory cheap shot) if one keeps in mind her father’s personal life, she was not precisely raised in a religiously conservative environment. 🙂

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