From Neo-Con to Cruncy-Con

My column in the Madison County Journal this week discusses whether John McCain could be the second "crunchy-con" president. Here are some excerpts.

On the second day of the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, delegates watched a video tribute to Republican President Theodore Roosevelt. From charging with the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, to hunting with Holt Collier in the Mississippi Delta, to his iconic graving onto Mount Rushmore, Roosevelt is one of America's more storied leaders. His biography speaks well to Republicans promoting John McCain and Sarah Palin: a war hero who fought against special interests; a former police commissioner who fired bad cops, he was elected governor before joining the Republican ticket as vice-president.

The Roosevelt video reminded me of conversations with Republican friends in canoes floating down rivers: fishing, swimming, and enjoying our country's natural resources. Roosevelt is considered by some the father of national park system because of his conservation vision. I consider him the first Crunchy Con President.

Dreher released the book, "Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)."

Dreher writes this thumbnail of the Crunchy Con Manifesto: "We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream; therefore, we can see things that matter more clearly. Modern conservatism has become too focused on money, power, and the accumulation of stuff, and insufficiently concerned with the content of our individual and social character. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government. Culture is more important than politics and economics. A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and good stewardship - especially of the natural world - is not fundamentally conservative. Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract. Beauty is more important than efficiency. The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom. We share Russell Kirk's conviction that 'the institution most essential to conserve is the family.'"

McCain often references Theodore Roosevelt as his favorite President and carries his campaign and ideology with a similar maverick sentiment and environmental commitment. But, many Crunchy Cons see themselves more at home with someone like Ron Paul (for whatever reason) or in third parties like the Constitution Party.

McCain's similarities to Roosevelt are not merely symbolic. It will be interesting to see if those Republican delegates from Minnesota and counter-culture conservatives will unite to elect a second Crunchy Con president.

Read the full column here: PERRY/A 'crunchy con' president?

Mississippi McCains

Luke Fowler wrote in Sunday's Clarion Ledger about Senator John McCain's family connections to Mississippi. Here are some excerpts.

Mother's Side:

His mother's side of the family first settled in northeast Mississippi in the late 18th century. Sometime around the year 1800, James Howard (Sen. McCain's maternal great-great-great-great grandfather) moved from South Carolina to Pontotoc County.

In 1851, Nancy Adeline Atkins (Sen. McCain's great grandmother) was born; she remained in Alcorn County her entire life, starting a family with her husband, Franklin Alexander Wright of Muscle Shoals, Ala. In 1875, Nancy Wright gave birth to Archibald (Sen. McCain's maternal grandfather) in the village of Kossuth.

Archibald was the first member of Sen. McCain's maternal family to leave Mississippi. In about 1900, Archibald made his way to Indian Territory near present day Oklahoma where he made a fortune in oil. While in Muskogee, Okla., Archibald's wife gave birth to twins in 1912, one of whom was Roberta (Sen. McCain's mother). Roberta later married John Sidney McCain Jr., the senator's future father who also had strong ties to Mississippi.

Father's Side:

On his father's side, the first generation of McCain's family to move to Mississippi arrived in the mid 1800s. Mary Scales of Rockingham County, N.C., married Joseph McCain of Scotland in 1807 (Sen. McCain's great-great-great grandparents). After 33 years of marriage, Joseph died in 1840; Mary moved with her children to Tallahatchie County.

Her son, William Alexander McCain (Sen. McCain's great-great grandfather), died fighting for the Confederate States of America in the 5th regiment of the Mississippi Cavalry in the Civil War in 1863.

In 1851, the first John Sidney McCain (Sen. McCain's great grandfather), known as J.S., was born on Teoc. He served as sheriff of Carroll County and later as president of the county's board of supervisors.

John Sidney McCain's brother, Henry Pickney McCain (Sen. McCain's great-great uncle), attended the U.S. Military Academy, retiring as a major general in the U. S. Army. Major General McCain is actually the "McCain" for whom Camp McCain, the Mississippi National Guard training site in Grenada County is named.

In 1884, in rural Carroll County, John Sidney McCain Sr. (Sen. McCain's grandfather) was born. McCain Sr., the first McCain to leave Mississippi, attended the University of Mississippi before transferring to the U.S. Naval Academy.

Camp McCain:

Camp McCain is a Mississippi National Guard training site. Covering more than 13,000 acres in Grenada County, it was named in honor of the "fighting" McCains of Carroll County, and principally Major Gen. Henry P. McCain. Opening in 1942 as a 42,000-acre site, the 87th and 94th Army Divisions trained there before being sent to combat in Europe. At its peak, Camp McCain trained as many as 50,000 men simultaneously.

In addition to training, Camp McCain served as a prisoner of war camp for German soldiers during World War II, one of four in Mississippi. At the height of its POW camp status, it held more than 7,500 German prisoners and administered the POW camp in addition to its training function.

After being deactivated in 1947, Camp McCain has found new life in the 1960s as an Army National Guard training site. By the 1970s, facilities for the housing of 1,200 troops were completed.

In 1984, an additional 4,500 acres were added to the existing perimeter, a road network was expanded and improved; in the late 1980s, 10 modern weapons ranges were constructed.

Camp McCain is not what Mississippians think about when they consider significant military installations in the state. But the state benefits significantly from appropriations directed specifically for the improvement of Camp McCain - more than $10 million in the 21st century alone.

Read the full article here: McCain in Mississippi: GOP nominee a descendent of Carroll County's 'Fighting McCains'

Volunteer Phone Calls from Home

You can make volunteer phone calls on behalf of the McCain-Palin Campaign from your own home. Reaching out to undecided voters is vital to spreading the word that John McCain and Governor Palin are the right choice for voters all across America. That's why the campaign is asking you to take a few minutes or even a free evening to make calls for John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. Visit www.JohnMcCain.com/PhoneBank to get started today.

Volunteer Deployment for McCain-Palin

For those who are ready, willing and able to pack a suitcase and hit the road for voter turnout in a target state, Volunteer Deployment is for you. The McCain-Palin Campaign is recruiting McCain Marshals and McCain Mavericks to deploy to states all over the country to assist existing McCain-Palin 2008 operations in their final days/weeks of voter contact.

Who should apply?

McCain Marshals

This program is for those who are comfortable working independently, managing a local office and recruiting new volunteers. Additionally, our McCain Marshals must be familiar with the new political technologies we are using in the field. Ideally, they will have campaign experience, or have participated in Deployment in recent years and be familiar with our turnout operations. The requirements are a minimum two-week commitment (October 22nd through November 5th).

McCain Mavericks

This program is for all of you that are able to give the last week or two before Election Day to make turnout phone calls and go door-to-door in one of our top battleground states. You'll work all day (and night) long with a group of friends (some new, some old) to turn out voters on Election Day. The departure day is anytime before November 1st, and you'll be able to return home on Wednesday, November 5.

Please apply online at www.johnmccain.com/deployment.

Seven Weeks To Go

DailyKos Mississippi Poll: McCain 52 - Obama 39

A poll conducted by Research 2000 for the liberal web site DailyKos has the McCain-Palin ticket thumping the Obama-Biden ticket in Mississippi. Likewise it has Roger Wicker beating Ronnie Musgrove.

GOP Unites Behind McCain-Palin; Dems still unsure

Original Mavericks



Remote Control

McCain: Gulf Coast over Convention Politics

I've been in St. Paul at the Republican National Convention this week and filed my column on how John McCain changed the convention as Gustav approached Mississippi and Louisiana. Here are some excerpts.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sen. John McCain chose "Country First" as the theme for the Republican National Convention. As Hurricane Gustav crept toward the Gulf Coast, disrupting commemoration activities of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, McCain showed his theme was more than just words.

As the convention opened, the invocation asked for God's protection for the people on the Gulf Coast. The opening address, by Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, urged convention goers and those watching to pull out their cell phones and text the word "GIVE" to 24357 to donate $5 to the American Red Cross through a partnership with the Wireless Foundation.

Meanwhile an army of convention workers handed out printed cards that had the McCain "Country First" logo on one side and on the flip side a web address and phone number for relief and recovery agencies in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Delegates planned to assemble "country first" packages with emergency supplies to be sent to Americans needing basic necessities.

Later in the evening, Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush addressed the convention and urged folks to visit www.causegreater.com to find ways to help those affected by Hurricane Gustav. The "cause greater" plays off a McCain campaign theme that Americans should seek to serve a cause greater than ourselves. McCain has written, "Love of country is another way of saying love of your fellow countrymen - a truth I learned a long time ago in a country very different from ours. Patriotism is another way of saying service to a cause greater than self-interest. "

Changing his vice-president announcement campaign swing through battle-ground states, McCain and Palin instead accepted an invitation by Gov. Barbour to attend a briefing at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Rankin County. McCain saw a state ready and prepared and spoke of reforms needed in the federal response.

It reminded me of a column U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering wrote for ABC News in February 2007 when he endorsed McCain during the Republican Primary. Pickering wrote, "McCain is a reformer. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the federal emergency response frustrated Mississippians. From debris removal contracts, to reimbursing our local towns and counties and providing the funding necessary to recover, federal bureaucracies were slow and often more concerned with procedure than people; more focused on corporate storm chasers than rebuilding our schools and hospitals and even bridges and roads. We need a leader in the White House who will fight the bureaucracies, take on the status quo and demand results and reforms. Americans know McCain is ready for that fight and won't back down despite entrenched interests who benefit from the current, broken system."

After the Iraq intelligence failures, early mission execution failures in Iraq, and the government's failed response to Hurricane Katrina, voters want a competent adult in the White House. This week McCain demonstrated he possesses the will to make big decisions of a serious nature. McCain might not have the iconic presence to be celebrity in chief, but he has experience and judgment to be commander in chief.

Read the full column here: Gustav alters GOP agenda