Of Tattoos and Open Minds


I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to people I don’t particularly care about. I’ve been called enough names and accused of enough BS to know that the battle usually isn’t worth my time.

But this one was just too much fun to pass up.

If you know me or my writing at all, you’ll know I have a bit of a history regarding the writings of the lovely Meghan McCain. To make a long story short, we tend to disagree on…things, and stuff: namely, on the fact that she’s a conservative, and that I am an extreme right-wing meanie who hates gays and wants to shoot illegal immigrants as they come across the border.

Par for the course.

At any rate, Meghan recently put out her latest finger-wagging admonition against the GOP in the form of a formal declaration of war against Michelle Malkin, people without tattoos, and “the extreme right wing.” Interesting concept, considering 1) people like Michelle (and I) are nowhere near “extreme” and 2) Miss McCain herself claims to be absolutely conservative. Cute how that works out.

Personally, I don’t really care whether or not Meghan McCain shuts up or keeps flapping her jaws until the day she dies. What I don’t appreciate, and what I think most conservative pundits who have come under fire for criticizing her don’t appreciate, is the fact that she does exactly what she abhors and condemns in the “far right wing” of the GOP: the seeks to realize her agenda by way of pushing other people out of the party! Her telling me to shut up is the same as me telling her to shut up.

In short, her logic fails. Miserably.

Anyway, let’s wade through this thing and rip her apart, shall we? I know it’s what you’ve been waiting for.

So Michelle Malkin successfully rounds out the trifecta of extreme female conservative pundits, following Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter, who believe that I, and Republicans like me, need to shut up and get out of the party…What do Malkin and the other conservative pundits hope to accomplish by arguing that people “like me” have no place within the Republican Party? And who exactly are people “like me”? Young people? Moderate people? Young female people? People with tattoos who go to biker rallies?

True…the trifecta of fabulous conservative snark is indeed in play. First of all, I’d like to say that women tend to be a little…bitchy…when it comes to criticizing the work and wisdom of other women. I know I am, which is fine, as long as you can back up the bitchiness with crazy things like facts and smart commentary and whatnot. This is not the case with Meghan. Is she not, essentially, telling people to shut up and get out of her way? Is that not what she complains about every 15 seconds on Twitter? Fantastic.

Then comes the “I’m going to SHOCK them with my tattoos and bad behavior!!!!!” part of the post. It’s really my favorite part, because 1) she’s assuming that all young people are just like her and 2) that no conservative in the history of the universe has ever gotten a tattoo or ridden a motorcycle. Also, cute how she accidentally labeled herself a “moderate”…did you see that? At least she’s finally admitting it.

I don’t know exactly what about me threatens them so much, other than that people are listening to me. Malkin has the No. 1 book on The New York Times bestseller hardcover nonfiction list, but I have nearly twice as many Twitter followers as she does. And trust me, Twitter is more of an indication of where young people are than books published by the hyper-conservative publisher Regnery—which will be bringing you Carrie Prejean’s new book and published one of Ann Coulter’s.

Okay…exactly who is threatened here? Comparing NYT bestsellers to Twitter followers? Really? Trust me, Meghan, if you took away people like me who follow you for pure entertainment purposes, you’d be significantly less proud of your follower count. (Which applies to all of us, actually, but who cares?) Plus, young people aren’t the only people who count. And for the record, I’m young and I read books, so there goes that piece of logic.

There is a place for the far right in this party, Malkin included, and I respect their right to be heard. But the Republican Party will continue to lose elections unless we start reaching out in a more effective way to people my age and to moderates. Barack Obama won the last election on the slogan “Yes We Can,” and there is no reason why Republicans can’t go forth and win elections with equally positive messages. We will not get anywhere by continuing to sell hate and fear…The old conservatives of the past need to start accepting that this is a new era and I am a part of a new generation. I am as sick of the infighting as everyone else, but I would like to point out that I am not the one starting this fight or demanding that the other half of the party leave.

Uh huh. There’s a place for me, a member of the “far right” crazy mob, but we should probably shut up so we don’t offend the sensibilities of those members of the party with questionable morals and an overwhelming desire to please everyone. Got that, everyone? Moe? Erick? EPU? STOP OFFENDING PEOPLE! It’s your fault we’re losing elections. Wake up, think young, and get serious. We, the youth of the world, have our iPods, our motorcycles, and our tattoos, and we’re taking over. And we’re going to be POSITIVE about it, because God knows all of your hateful fear mongering over the years has completely destroyed any chance the Republicans have of kissing the butts of people who live to destroy conservatives. UGH. Now my buzz is totally harshed. Thanks a lot.

It’s true that Democrats make being a member appealing in a much different way than the Republican Party does. The Democrats seem to have mastered inclusiveness—whereas Republicans, like a country club, seem to require a litmus test.

Ah. This is it. The motherload. The epic finger-wag we’ve all been waiting for. I’m so…ashamed of myself. I mean, here I was, sticking to my principles and working hard to prove that it’s possible for young people like myself to appreciate conservatism without compromising every time our values contradict someone else’s life choices, when all of a sudden my eyes are opened by this little gem of wisdom from a young, progressive conservative just trying to make a difference in this crazy world. Wow!

The only reason the Democrat party is more appealing to the population at large is that they require no commitment. Their values and goals change with the winds of “popular opinion,” which means that the have no real mission other than to appeal to the whims of the majority. Sounds like something I’d like to be a part of.

Right…If I were a flaky idealist with schmutz for brains and a compulsive need to validate my existence with meaningless rhetoric and shock value.

Which I’m not. So I guess as far as all those young, hopeful, progressive conservatives are concerned, I’m a lost cause.

Sorry, Meghan.

Crossposted at The Minority Report



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17 Comments Leave a comment

Meghan McCain has reached the point...

Thrhheggeegwc Jjtkylkfofud (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 11:43AM EST (link)

…that her mind is so “open” her brains are falling out.

That's the funniest thing I've read in ages!! (nt)

azaeroprof (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 11:49AM EST (link)

I read her article yesterday

wordsarepower (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 12:08PM EST (link)

and shook my head through all of it. I wonder how “daddy” feels about her take?

Love your analysis! And, oy vey, (did I spell that correctly?) I’m so glad you don’t have “schmutz for brains” :)

"Daddy" taught her all she knows

Erick Brockway (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 12:50PM EST (link)
 
 

Meghan McLame is an a**hat

galensmark Saturday, August 22nd at 3:36PM EST (link)

We sit by and watch the Barbarian, we tolerate him; in the long stretches of peace we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence, his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creeds refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.

H. Belloc

 
 

Awesome diary, Amy!

azaeroprof (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 11:49AM EST (link)

I hope Meghan reads it, though it does exceed her buffer limit of 140 characters ;)

 

The Democrats suceed at "inclusiveness"

civil truth (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 11:51AM EST (link)

…because they’ve suceeded in guilt tripping enough of their consituency into eagerly cutting their own throats. They’ve tapped into same spirit of blood-atonement that has poisoned so much of human history, clothing it in modern drag. This is progress????

The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis

http://www.gmsplace.com/

 

Good takedown, Amy.

Loren Heal (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 11:52AM EST (link)

Except for one thing:

The only reason the Democrat party is more appealing to the population at large is that they require no commitment….

The Democrats are not more appealing to the population at large. 2008 was a special case in which conservatives were motivated to stay home, in no small part because of the squishiness of one John McCain. That same squishiness caused him to back TARP and not declare that Barack Obama was unqualified to be President.

But even if the Democrats could be considered to be more popular with the public at large, it is not the case that they have no litmus tests. Ask Joe Lieberman, or any Democrat who doesn’t toe the MoveOn.org line. They have a litany of litmus tests, the failure at any of which signals lack of a proper leftist mindset.

I think the Tea Party thing has given moderate Democrats enough cover (and scared them enough) to allow them to stand up to their Marxist fellow travelers. We’ll see.


Join the Concord Project, and follow @lheal, if you dare.

Socrates, this might well depend on what

janis (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 12:50PM EST (link)

kind of money the administration is willing to throw at the Dem holdouts. God knows that tactic has worked plenty of times in the past. And not only on the left, unfortunately.

September will be a significant tipping point one way or the other, I assume. If nothing else, we will have a better idea of just how many members of Congress are going to be willing to sell out America.

 
 

Who are 'people like me'?

Beaglescout (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 11:59AM EST (link)

MeghaMac aks:
>>>So Michelle Malkin successfully rounds out the trifecta of extreme female conservative pundits, following Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter, who believe that I, and Republicans like me, need to shut up and get out of the party…What do Malkin and the other conservative pundits hope to accomplish by arguing that people “like me” have no place within the Republican Party? And who exactly are people “like me”?<<<

How about people who spend all their time attacking Republicans and conservatives while sucking up to bigtime Democrat partisans? Maybe Meghan could look for a jerk to get mad at on the Democratic-Socialist side of the aisle every once in a while, but that would be an apple that fell too far away from the tree. Wouldn’t it?

“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”

–Alexander Hamilton
 

Michelle Malkin is so BIG that McCain is a pimple on her butt...

JadedByPolitics (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 12:35PM EST (link)

a small pain to sit on but will disappear in a few days!!! and for me personally throw either McCain’s name in there!

 

"Personally, I don’t really care whether or not Meghan McCain shuts up or keeps flapping her jaws until the day she dies."

ColdWarrior (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 1:28PM EST (link)

Nor do I.

The top thing I care about regarding the likes of Ms. McCain and her ilk is whether we conservatives have a strong majority in the precinct committeeman ranks so that we can out-vote the squishy, have-no-real-principles moderates in the next round of Party leadership elections and the next round of Party endorsement votes for our primary candidates.

Imagine, Ms. McCain probably is a precinct committeeman in a precinct where one of her parents’ eleven homes sit. Whereever that is, I would hope that conservatives who live there would flood that legislative district and make sure that her votes, assuming they are cast for the have-no-real-principles moderate candidates in the Party leadership elections, and the votes of others who “think” like her, are outnumbered by the highest number of conservatives possible.

The Party ended up with Michael Steele because the fifty per cent of the precinct committeemen slots nationwide were not filled with conservatives. They could have been. And now should be.

Thank you.

ColdWarrior

In 2012, will YOU become a “voting member” of the Republican Party in your precinct?

Where it all started. Twitter @kaltkrieger
Learn how to GOTV at The Concord Project and at Procinct and Unified Patriots.

 

So let's see, Conservative Republicans

Uma Richie (Diary) Friday, August 14th at 3:33PM EST (link)

(with exceptions) are happy when America’s power is maximized on a global scale.
Liberals are happy when the Democratic party’s power is maximized within the US.
RINOs are happy when they control the Republican party.

Way to aim high Meghan!

 

Because her father was so effective with that strategy

fmaidment (Diary) Saturday, August 15th at 8:26AM EST (link)

“…the Republican Party will continue to lose elections unless we start reaching out in a more effective way to people my age and to moderates.”

John McCain is the “Maverick,” isn’t he? He’s the ultimate “moderate” republican, the ideal candidate in her eyes for the GOP (Daddy issues, perhaps?). Yet this strategy was not successful for the Republicans last year.

As many of you know, I’m more libertarian-leaning than most of RedState, but my positions don’t come from wishy-washy liberal guilt, as Ms. McCain’s clearly do. Mine come from my default to individual liberty. Further, my libertarian positions are fully in compliance with my belief in smaller government and less intervention in our lives. Ms. McCain’s, again, clearly do not.

I believe the reason she is so unpopular among strong conservatives isn’t her “expansive” or “less hate filled” viewpoint (as she claims). Rather, it is her pick-and-choose, cafeteria-style conservatism. “I like this, but I don’t want that,” and for no real reason other than she likes what she thinks is popular.

Follow Me on Twitter

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
– - Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791

The best reach out the GOP ever had to yutes was pro-lifer Reaganand his unapologetic, unabashed

Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Saturday, August 15th at 2:41PM EST (link)

conservatism. It delivered more money in the pocket, security from enemies; national pride and a challenge to be a more moral society and persons.

Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

 
 

I have tattoos...

jo_davi (Diary) Saturday, August 15th at 12:09PM EST (link)

what is she trying to say about me? Is she trying to insult me?

 

The biker rallies

mriggio (Diary) Sunday, August 16th at 1:45AM EST (link)

or flat-track races or poker runs or long-distance riding events that I and many of my friends regularly attend are highly populated with some very conservative folks; just because they left their Brooks Brothers outfits at home, doesn’t mean they don’t share our values. And I really liked the duct-tape graphic above! Perfect for Ms. McCain!

mriggio
SMSgt, USAF (Ret)
Precinct Committeeman (R)
Tazewell County, Illinois
Save the Cheerleader Party, save the World! (Heroes, ed.)