Bucks
Michael Smerconish, Don Imus
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Mighty Betsy and I listened intently to radio talk show host, Michael Smerconish, as he addressed the Pennridge Republican Club on April 14. We expected him to tell the local Republican Club that no Republican Presidential candidate can win in 2008 unless he or she adopts the Smerconish Suburban GOP Manifesto.
I’ve said for years that either suburban voters or women voters or both determine national elections.
Unfortunately, Smerconish didn’t address the suburban voter…the Republican Party’s Achilles heel. Instead, he talked about the firing of Don Imus, a fellow talk show host.
I often listen to Smerconish in the early morning as I return from rowing on the Schuylkill River. He’s a Bucks County fellow, having lived in Doylestown and graduated from Central Bucks West. He’s quite entertaining. I reminded Smerconish about the GOP Manifesto which he presented on the heels of the Republican congressional disaster last November.
Smerconish posted his views about everything from Iraq to gay rights and asked his listeners to weigh in on his opinions. He claims that 3,449 people did just that. Smerconish believes that his radio listeners are mostly suburban, Republican and ideologically in the center, or to its right.
This is what his suburban listeners told him: They want an exit strategy in Iraq… even a specific timetable for withdrawal. In addition, listeners believe that we need to screen everyone at airports and borders, but some more than others (as in profiling, the dreaded “P” word). Smerconish listeners believe that the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations should be enacted; that the borders be closed before we deal with the illegals already here; the estate tax ended and term limits imposed.
These Smerconish’s opinions were supported by 70 percent of his respondents.
At least half of the listeners embrace embryonic stem cell research, he added. And they believe that the GOP must have room for both pro-life and pro-choice folks; make Plan B (the morning after pill) available to anyone who wants it; and oppose federal intervention a la Schiavo. His listeners were tolerant of homosexuals and think that gay rights don’t threaten heterosexual marriage.
“In short,” Smerconish wrote, “The GOP needs to be tough on the bad guys, not too preachy, and no longer willing to allow fringe elements to take over their platform. “The GOP future depends on a blend of pragmatism, moderation and conservatism of the kind advanced by Barry Goldwater, the man who started the movement and simply wanted government off our backs, out of our pocketbooks, and out of our bedrooms,” Smerconish wrote.
His suburban manifesto would have helped the Pennridge Republican Club understand that the local Bucks County GOP is in jeopardy when the national party strays too far from its center. Former Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick learned that lesson the hard way.
Unfortunately, Smerconish talked about Don Imus, the former talk show host that got fired for his racial and sexual insults about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. Smerconish thinks that Imus should have been punished but not fired. I like Smerconish but disagree. Imus crossed the line and got exactly what he deserved.
However, Smerconish was correct when he complained about the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who were quick to jump on Imus. “I cannot fathom how Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson became the arbiters of appropriateness, given “Tawana Brawley and “Hymietown,” respectively,” Smerconish wrote for the Inquirer, the next day (April 15).
Personally, I don’t understand why African American leaders don’t lobby against black entertainers who use demeaning language and violence against black women. Much of their lingo emanates from black inmates.
All in all, Smerconish was entertaining. I’m glad we went to hear him. But he missed an opportunity to tell a local GOP club how to keep its eye on the ball.
Finally, my friend Francis Ballard has excellent advice for America’s next President. “Charlie,” he began, “the next President must convince Israel to return the occupied land it took from the Palestinians after the six day war. Palestine must become its own nation. Second, the President must use his bully pulpit to end America’s dependence upon Middle East Oil. We’re sending money to the terrorists who use it against us via the gas pump,” Ballard believes (I do too.)
“And last,” he told me, “The next President must join in against global warming. America needs to restore its reputation with the rest of the world. We need to retake the high, moral ground.”
You can understand why Francis Ballard is one of my favorites.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith