Guitar Man (Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI)

American Spectator ^ | December 2009 (print) | W. James Antle, III

[reaganaut1]

...

Thad McCotter is chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, a leadership position from which he will play a role in shaping the GOP congressional agenda. [...]

[...] Shortly after Barack Obama took office, Gutfeld asked McCotter the familiar question about whether the GOP was in "disarray." His reply was typical McCotter, with carefully wielded pop culture references sending his co-panelists into guffaws as he dutifully pressed his party's case.

"Well, when we were growing up we used to look at the Flock of Seagulls' hair and we'd say that looks in disarray, but there was a whole lot of work that went into sculpting that -- if not the music itself," McCotter quipped. "It may appear to be disorderly, but we are going through a very intense period of reorganization, restructuring the Republican Party, we're starting to see the unity come back, the message come back, the principles be expressed again, and we think you're going to be very happy."

McCOTTER IS A FUNNY GUY, but he's also a serious man. The 44-year-old is as quick to quote Russell Kirk, Wilhelm Röpke, or even Hilaire Belloc as the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, an unusual combination of references, to put it mildly. "I think he is one of the few members of Congress who can quote philosophers, scholars, and theologians but still relate to blue-collar,working-class people," says Congressman Peter King, a New York Republican friendly with McCotter. "He has a total sense of the ridiculous that allows him to laugh at himself, us, and the party but he takes his job very seriously."

McCotter's main job is representing Michigan's 11th district, attending to the "all politics is local" adage he suggests too many Republicans forgot in the run-up to the 2006 and 2008 elections.

[reaganaut1]

McCotter is being discussed in a thread here.

[Tweeker]

There is a great interview with Congressman McCotter regarding Bob Dylan with Right Wing Bob at this link:

http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/archives/5962

Anyone know if the video of Thaddeus reenacting Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues video is available online anymore?

[willyd]

McCotter should be on our next ticket...he is intelligent and conservative.

[willyd]

McCotter should be on our next ticket...he is intelligent and conservative.

[grellis]

If you would like to be added or dropped from the Michigan ping list, please freepmail me.

[Darren McCarty]

McCotter’s a good guy. He’s also in a quite difficult district as well.

[MaggieCarta]

McCotter bump.

[MaggieCarta]

FTA:
McCOTTER'S VISION EXTENDS FAR BEYOND his congressional district, however. He methodically walks through a five-point summary of the fundamental principles he says should guide the Republican Party: "Our liberty is from God not the government; our sovereignty rests in our souls not the soil; our security is through strength not surrender; our prosperity is from the private sector not the public sector; and our truths are self-evident, not relative."

I'm with Dennis Miller, I like the cut of McCotter's jib...Unless cutting a jib is painful, or offensive...No, wait, I think it's a sailor's term...

[Tweeker]

Right Wing Bob has another Thaddeus article today too.

I always check RWB before FR (yes I have my priorities straight)