McCain and McGavick
I went to the fundraiser last night for U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick (R-WA), at which Seator John McCain spoke.
It was quite good, as far as these things go.
I sat next to an Alec Sr. and Alex Jr., both Washington natives, who also spent a bunch of years living in Alaska. The younger of the Alecs noted that this was similar to Alaskan events they had attended, minus the bolo ties.
U.S. House candidate Doug Roulstone was also there, at the next table over. He's got his own big fundraiser next month: Vice Preswident Dick Cheney will be his guest. It's hard to top Senator McCain, but that'll do it. Cheney and McCain are the two most powerful Republicans in the District of Columbia, after the President. So these two candidates are big-time.
The luminaries made their rounds, shaking hands at each table: former and likely future gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, McGavick, and recently elected state party chair Diane Tebelius. The latter asked me if we'd met before, and I wasn't sure; I know I'd seen her before at various events, but I couldn't recall if we'd actually met. She assured me we had, as she remembered my eyes.
McGavick spoke first, and worked hard to position himself as a moderate, independent Republican, saying that McCain was the perfect example of what he hoped to be as a Senator. He railed against fiscal irresponsibility and pork, and against partisan bickering. He said that such division is not the Northwest Way, that in the Northwest we work together to reach common goals. I wondered, to myself, why then the state legislature is so bitterly partisan.
He took only one real jab at his opponent, incumbent Maria Cantwell, when he said that if he were in the Senate, the Gang of 14 would have been a Gang of 15, and pointed out that Cantwell was in the trenches lobbing partisan bombs.
McCain had a similar message about cutting pork and working with the Democrats, instead of being a partisan jerk all the time, and he certainly has the record to back up both. He criticized the "hysterical" response to the Dubai ports deal, and said we made a bad mistake by rejecting it. He went on to talk about illegal immigration, and I went home and looked up the details of his plan, and I like it more now than I did when I read about it before.
Basically, if I understand it correctly, his plan would be border enforcement first and foremost, he says. Everyone says that. I have yet to see a real proposal for doing it. But after that is where there's a lot of disagreement. Under his plan, illegals can get a work visa for up to six years. There would be heavy penalties for working without one, or hiring someone who didn't have one. If you decide you want to stay after the visa expires, you have to learn English and pay a $2000 fine to apply for permanent resident status, getting a Green Card. Else, you have to go home.
He noted that many Republicans want to deport all illegals, but a. there's no way to do it, and b. that's a terrible political move.
That's going to be a huge issue in the 2008 election (I have little hope it will be resolved before then).
It was quite good, as far as these things go.
I sat next to an Alec Sr. and Alex Jr., both Washington natives, who also spent a bunch of years living in Alaska. The younger of the Alecs noted that this was similar to Alaskan events they had attended, minus the bolo ties.
U.S. House candidate Doug Roulstone was also there, at the next table over. He's got his own big fundraiser next month: Vice Preswident Dick Cheney will be his guest. It's hard to top Senator McCain, but that'll do it. Cheney and McCain are the two most powerful Republicans in the District of Columbia, after the President. So these two candidates are big-time.
The luminaries made their rounds, shaking hands at each table: former and likely future gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, McGavick, and recently elected state party chair Diane Tebelius. The latter asked me if we'd met before, and I wasn't sure; I know I'd seen her before at various events, but I couldn't recall if we'd actually met. She assured me we had, as she remembered my eyes.
McGavick spoke first, and worked hard to position himself as a moderate, independent Republican, saying that McCain was the perfect example of what he hoped to be as a Senator. He railed against fiscal irresponsibility and pork, and against partisan bickering. He said that such division is not the Northwest Way, that in the Northwest we work together to reach common goals. I wondered, to myself, why then the state legislature is so bitterly partisan.
He took only one real jab at his opponent, incumbent Maria Cantwell, when he said that if he were in the Senate, the Gang of 14 would have been a Gang of 15, and pointed out that Cantwell was in the trenches lobbing partisan bombs.
McCain had a similar message about cutting pork and working with the Democrats, instead of being a partisan jerk all the time, and he certainly has the record to back up both. He criticized the "hysterical" response to the Dubai ports deal, and said we made a bad mistake by rejecting it. He went on to talk about illegal immigration, and I went home and looked up the details of his plan, and I like it more now than I did when I read about it before.
Basically, if I understand it correctly, his plan would be border enforcement first and foremost, he says. Everyone says that. I have yet to see a real proposal for doing it. But after that is where there's a lot of disagreement. Under his plan, illegals can get a work visa for up to six years. There would be heavy penalties for working without one, or hiring someone who didn't have one. If you decide you want to stay after the visa expires, you have to learn English and pay a $2000 fine to apply for permanent resident status, getting a Green Card. Else, you have to go home.
He noted that many Republicans want to deport all illegals, but a. there's no way to do it, and b. that's a terrible political move.
That's going to be a huge issue in the 2008 election (I have little hope it will be resolved before then).
Now Playing: Sting - The Secret Marriage
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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