“Volunteer voters” disillusioned by the current state of the GOP may stay home and cost Republicans more losses in the 2008 election, Rep. Steven Pearce said in a wide-ranging interview with Heading Right Radio.
“We are fighting for who the party is,” Pearce, a Minnesota Republican, told Minnesota-based blogger and BlogTalkRadio political director Ed Morrissey.
Other subjects covered in the interview included spending earmarks by Congress and energy policy. Pearce predicted that the energy bill that Congress cleared this week, including the mandatory increase in fuel-efficiency standards, will hurt the country.
“I did not have to vote against my constituents, so we voted ‘no’ on the energy bill,” he said.
Mike Huckabee has been climbing toward the top of the Republican presidential polls, but he hasn’t gotten so big for his political britches that he won’t take time for the smaller fish in the big media pond. Today, he joined Ed Morrissey for an interview at Heading Right Radio.
Morrissey posted excerpts of the interview at Captain’s Quarters. Here’s one comment on immigration:
Every person who lives in this country ought to live with his head held up, and not in fear of each other or our own government. … The laws are broken. Fix the law, fix the border, and then if people do come back, they’ll come back with an actual permit.
Huckabee also answered questions about the role of religion in politics — his own as a Christian and those of GOP rival Mitt Romney, a Mormon — and about the proper reach of the federal government, among other things.
At 4 p.m. EST today, I will be a guest on Lisacast, a BlogTalkRadio show about technology, media, culture and journalism.
The host is Lisa Padilla. Call in to the show at (646) 478-4956 if you would like to ask questions about AirCongress.
Earlier today, at 11 a.m., Lisa will interview Jeff Crigler, the CEO of Voxant, whose “Newsroom” online syndication service I have used at AirCongress.
Two deaths in Congress earlier this year have left open two Republican seats that will be filled in Dec. 11 special elections — one in Ohio and one in Virginia. Ed Morrissey of Heading Right Radio interviewed both GOP candidates this week.
Ohio state Rep. Bob Latta is running to fill the 1st District seat left open by the death of Rep. Paul Gillmor. Twenty years ago, Latta ran for that seat when his father retired after 30 years in Congress but lost the primary by 27 votes to Gillmor. Latta has served in the legislature since then but will be term-limited out of office this year.
“Unfortunately, term limits does not add stability to the system,” Latta said in a recorded interview when quizzed about that subject. “We lose a lot of folks that have great knowledge in certain areas … in the legislature.”
Morrissey also interviewed Rob Wittmann, who is running to replace Jo Ann Davis in Virginia’s 1st District.
Producer’s note: Through a partnership with BlogTalkRadio, AirCongress is promoting federal policy and political content produced by the company’s Internet-based talk-show hosts.
Ed Morrissey of Heading Right Radio aired his pre-recorded interview with Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani during his live show at a new media conference in Las Vegas. Here are excerpts from Giuliani:
“We have to maintain a feudal government [in Pakistan], but we have to push [Pervez] Musharraf to do two things”: restore the constitution and the rule of law, and root out the Taliban and the al Qaeda terrorist network. “So there’s a big agenda with Pakistan, and it has to be handled very delicately.”
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has been guilty of “a great deal of double-talk.” She “has had six different positions on Iraq; she won’t answer a question on Iran. … And [she] can’t give a straight answer on driver’s licenses? If you can’t do that, I don’t know how you can deal with these more complex issues.”
“I’m really the only candidate that has a chance of beating Hillary in those places [New Jersey and Pennsylvania]. I’m really the only candidate that can be a 50-state candidate among Republicans. So I think that’s something that has to be considered also.”
Producer’s note: Through a partnership with BlogTalkRadio, AirCongress is promoting federal policy and political content produced by the company’s Internet-based talk-show hosts.
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