Talk to Power: Sen. Cochran on the future of the GOP
Talk to Power host Judy Woodruff interviewed Senator Thad Cochran in November of 2007 in response to hundreds of questions and comments from Yahoo readers. Several topics were addressed including:
The Future of the GOP
The Role of U.S. Troops
Saving Social Security
No Child Left Behind
The State of Education
Defining Victory in Iraq
Bringing the Troops Home
Stay tuned this week for excerpts from this interview. First, Senator Cochran addresses the Future of the GOP. Read the transcript below.
Future of the GOP
MS. JUDY WOODRUFF: From the South, and, again, in this vein, a reader writes: “I am wondering about recent comments in the news media after the mid-term elections that the Republican Party will primarily be a Southern-based party. Your recent election to minority leadership positions of primarily Southern senators plays this out. Will the Republican Party be able to appeal to the broader nation in future elections, with this Southern-based leadership and outlook? Will the Southern conservative values and perceptions be able to win broad appeal across the nation and return the party to power?”
SEN. COCHRAN: Well, it’ll be interesting to see about the transition and how much farther it goes in terms of realignment of states with political parties. When I was growing up, we didn’t have any local Republican elected officials. It just didn’t happen. But back in the Civil War days, the Republicans were the ones who were reforming the federal government, and the Democrats were sort of the old Confederates from the Civil War, and it took a long time for that transition to be made.
And there’ll be continuing evolution of our system and realignment going on over time, but I don’t foresee anything really dramatically sudden or inherently evil or frightening about transitions. They seem to occur fairly slowly and evolve in a way that doesn’t put in jeopardy individual liberties or our basic rights as citizens. On the other hand, it seems that we have a more sensitive government now, sensitive to individual rights and interests, than we’ve ever had in our history. We’ve broken down a lot of barriers for people of different races, of different ethnic backgrounds, trying to ensure an equal footing and opportunity for everybody, no matter race, religion, background. And I think that’s great. I think we’re moving in the right direction, and we will continue to get better as time goes on.
NEXT: THE ROLE OF U.S. TROOPS
Click here to see video footage of Senator Cochran’s response or click here to view the article on Yahoo! News.
Tags: Cochran interview, Cochran on the issues, Future of the GOP, Interview, judy woodruff, Republican party future, talk to power, Yahoo news
