RedState Talks to John Shadegg (R-AZ)
By Erick Posted in Congress | Featured Stories — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ) is one of those people who lets his actions speak louder than his words. In fact, Congressman Shadegg can be a rather soft spoken man, but he is very vocal in the need to keep the Republicans in the majority.
I spoke with Congressman Shadegg this past Thursday. The interview was suppose to be a RedState Radio Podcast, but the portion of my hard drive on which that mp3 file lived is no more, despite my best recovery efforts. In any event, I still have my notes, and Congressman Shadegg is worth paying attention to, whether by podcast or by text on screen or page.
Read on . . .
The Wall Street Journal reported last Wednesday that Congressman Shadegg has given a boat load of campaign contributions in the past few months, which many are speculating is a precursor to his bid for a leadership post in the next Congress. Congressman Shadegg was the conservative choice for Majority Leader to replace Tom DeLay (R-TX) -- RedState heavily promoted his candidacy.
The Journal wrote
After losing his race for House majority leader earlier this year, Arizona Republican Rep. John Shadegg today showed his colleagues that he may be planning another run for the Republican leadership. At a closed-door meeting today of all House Republicans, Shadegg announced he had raised $625,000 for the House Republicans' campaign arm. The sum far surpassed amount he and other Republican lawmakers were asked to raise for the National Republican Congressional Committee. . . .
House Republicans hope to raise $17.5 million for the get-out-the-vote fund. The man who beat Shadegg earlier this year, Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, has contributed $550,000 to the fund, and he kicked in $210,000 total to cover the obligations of three vulnerable Republicans so they can focus on raising money for themselves. Others to top the $550,000 mark include Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia and Rep. Jim McCrery of Louisiana.
Congressman Shadegg did not deny wanting a leadership position, but he said, "I feel it is extremely important that Republicans stay in the majority. That's why I contributed. Losing the majority would be bad for this country." To toss the GOP, he said, "would send a bad signal" to the terrorists who are watching us and to our men and women in uniform. According to Congressman Shadegg, we cannot afford, when our national security is in jeopardy, to put in leadership positions those who would cut and run. He said he was not focused on a leadership run. He was focused on holding the majority, which he thinks is possible.
Repeatedly throughout the course of our interview, Congressman Shadegg echoed that theme -- we cannot, at this time, trust the Democrats with the reins of power. Nancy Pelosi would be a disaster.
I also asked Congressman Shadegg about the current House leadership and reform. "We lost our way," he said, and "there have been some disappointments." But, credit where credit is due, Congressman Shadegg is adamant that the leadership of Majority Leader John Boehner has helped the House GOP begin turning the corner. Congressman Shadegg pointed out that John Boehner has never been a friend to earmarks and placing him in leadership has helped move the reform process forward, but, he cautioned, there is still work to be done.
John Shadegg can be surprisingly candid. He said that yes, he is disappointed in the House GOP's failure to govern as conservatively as they have campaigned. He is disappointed by all the spending and growth of unneeded government. But, he accurately points out that the other side would be far worse. He admits that this is not a good justification for keeping the GOP in power, but it all comes back to the war. "Cutting and running is not an option," he told me. And that, he believes, is why at time moment in history, our nation cannot afford the Surrendercrats returning to power in the House -- power they would no doubt use to de-fund the war, retreat from the combat, and begin dismantling all of the good things the Republicans have done, while leaving in place all the things conservatives don't like.
His failure to give a definite answer one way or the other notwithstanding, I hope we see John Shadegg in leadership in January.
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RedState Talks to John Shadegg (R-AZ) 2 Comments (0 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
is a terrific guy with a terrific family. He needs to stay in Congress and move into more influential positions of leadership.
Losing the majority will be a disaster, especially if it is done out of some misplaced desire to send Republicans into some kind of self-enforced exile until they "come to their senses." I'm proud of having done the transcript of his conference call during the recent leadership shakeup and I'm glad he's being very clear about his thoughts on that issue. The only way forward, it seems to me, is to keep electing people like John Shadegg, keep supporting people like him, and gradually keep moving the needle.
This interview has given me another idea for a blog entry, also: a kind of synthesis with Pejman's most recent post on Drezner's article. In order to really craft a lasting Republican/Conservative majority, we need to bring all the pieces together into a workable, coherent synthesis (if anything so bold could even be attempted): national security, trade policy, and also immigration policy. At the very least, the last two of those have some serious sticking points between different coalitions on our side of the Big Ditch™; as Shadegg himself said in that conference call:
Now, in the Drezner piece that Pejman is discussing, I read the following:
Gulp. If Drezner is talking about what I think he's talking about when he says "cross-border movement of foreign workers" we can see the outlines of the problem, here.
Putting that aside for the moment, I'm glad to see that Congressman Shadegg is still making waves in Washington.