A Lady's Ruminations
An Enlightening and Comprehensive View of Politics

National Summary had the opportunity to interview Jane from A Lady's Ruminations to ask her about the web site she runs and about her insight to politics.

A Lady's Ruminations is a thorough and sophisticated reflection of politics and current events from a refreshing conservative perspective.

Below are her responses to our interview questions. And National Summary would like to thank Jane for her time and effort for this interview.

Web Site: A Lady's Ruminations

Q. Please give us a little bit of personal background about yourself.

I have a degree in history, minored in English, and got my teaching certificate through Gonzaga University. I have a sister and two parents and a darling dog named Dani, who has cancer. I love history and literature, particularly English. My favorite English historical period is the Regency, during which my favorite author Jane Austen was writing. I'm Catholic and attended Catholic grade school, high school, and (a nominally) Catholic college.

Q. And also give us a background about your interest in politics.

I'm not really sure when I became so very interested in politics, but it has been a number of years. My parents are Republicans, so I learned from them, but have since decided to be a conservative for myself. My mother is more conservative than my father, who isn't as interested in politics, and she says I am more conservative than she is. We have always listened to Rush Limbaugh. I can remember listening to him at my grandparents (Conservatives) and in the car and around the house.

The Clinton administration disgusted and outraged me and I began learning more about politics. Upon turning 18, I sent in my voter's registration and began voting. At college, I joined the College Republicans and we had the greatest time. I finally had some good, Conservative friends and loved it. I wrote a Conservative political column for the Gonzaga University student paper during my last semester and had a great time. They even censored me once, in a column about censorship. Since then, I've helped on campaigns, including the President's 2004 campaign and the 2004 Nethercutt for Senate campaign. I love reading political books, watching debates, listening to talk radio, reading magazines, and all the rest. I just love politics.

Q. What inspired you to create your web site?

I decided to start my own blog because my friends from the College Republicans (April, Paul, Josh, Nick, and Jason---and the four guys now have the Four Horsemen) had their own and suggested I start one. I loved writing my political column and having people challenge me and missed it, so I thought it would be fun to blog.

Q. What have been the biggest challenges to maintaining your web site?

I suppose the most challenging thing about maintaining my blog is finding things to blog about that I find interesting and others might find interesting, and having the time to do it.

Q. What has been the greatest satisfaction you have gotten from your web site?

The greatest satisfaction I have received from my web site is people telling me they enjoy my blog (or even people telling me I am an idiot). I love the feedback and knowing someone is reading it. I also very much enjoy expressing my opinions.

Q. The 2004 presidential election has been one of the most polarized elections in recent memory. Do you think that today people are more politicized than ever before?

I do think people are more politicized than ever before. With 24 hour news channels (my favorite is Fox News) and the internet, people are able to find out all sorts of information about politics (some true and some not). Politics intrude into almost every aspect of life. "Movie stars" think people want to hear what they think about politics while promoting their latest movies. Politics are every where and in every thing. After thinking about things according to my faith, I look at things through my political perspective.

I also think people are becoming interested in politics at a younger age. When I was in high school, I was not as aware of politics as teenagers are today (I only graduated in 1999, so it wasn't that long ago).

Q. Do you think the bitterness and divisiveness in politics will recede or are things just getting ready for something bigger in 2008?

It would be hard to top the bitterness and anger that the Liberals have been spewing since before the 2000 election, but they just keep on going. I really think the bitterness and divisiveness in politics are here to stay. The Libs have pulled out everything they can think of to take President Bush and the Republican leaders down: calling them Hitler, murderers, terrorists, sympathizing with the terrorists, etc., etc., etc. What haven't they tried? Being nice is the only thing I can think of. Liberals have had marches, gone over to visit Saddam (before we got rid of his evil regime), held die ins, puke ins, sat around naked, made propaganda films and called them documentaries, burned effigies, and everything else.

The bitterness and divisiveness isn't on the Conservative side. I haven't seen mass marches of people holding signs with Teddy Kennedy or Howard Dean or John Kerry as Pol Pot or Stalin or Lenin. We haven't spewed venom and hatred and tried to ruin the reputations of their "leaders." They have done all of that and more.

I do not see any signs that the 2008 election will be a friendly tea party, or even a particularly civilized one, especially if Hillary Clinton runs for president. I daresay she will. The Democrats constant barrage against the President and the Republican Party haven't slowed in the months since the 2004 election, I don't think they will wake up one day before the 2008 election and decide to be nice. And they say we are the mean party.

Q. The president’s approval ratings are dismal. In your honest opinion, do you think that the media has been unfairly biased against the George W. Bush?

The media has been extremely unfairly biased against George W. Bush. The media has facilitated Left-Wing attacks on the President by showing clip after clip after clip of the anti-Bush protests, interviewing only those hostile to the President, etc., while showing nothing of the President's supporters or the good news from Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the country. During the 2004 election, the media constantly criticized the President and had negative story after negative story about him, while the coverage of John Kerry was all sunshine. Add to that the CBS false news story about the President being AWOL from National Guard duty. The media created fake stories to discredit the President.

Q. If so (to the above question), do you think that the Democrats have gotten a free ride from the press?

The Democrats, in contrast, have received a free ride from the press. During the 2004 election, as I said, all of the coverage about the President was negative, while all of the coverage about John Kerry was upbeat and positive. Even when legitimate issues with John Kerry's record and statements were brought up by the alternative media (talk radio, the internet, etc.), the MSM (mainstream media) ignored them. People who did question John Kerry were called liars, paid hacks for the President, and all sorts of other derogatory names. The MSM didn't look into the stories to see whether they were valid or not, before attacking. I don't remember any negative Kerry stories during the election, nor negative stories about the Democrats since. If Democrats are being investigated or say outrageous things, the media is mum, but if a Republican even puts a toe out of line or says one little thing, the MSM has a feeding frenzy.

Q. What has been your overall impression of the Bush administration?

I have been a very solid supporter of the President since he was running for the office. The first time I wavered was in August 2001 when he allowed, wrongly, the continuation of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research on the 60 lines the government already had. That made me very angry. What has consistently angered me is the President's lack of responsibility for the borders. Illegal aliens are one of my biggest issues and the President has been, if not for allowing it, rather tepid about doing anything. That is unacceptable, especially as we are fighting a war on terror. Our borders must be secured and anyone who entered our sovereign nation illegally must be rounded up and deported. We won't be safer until that happens.

I supported the President on the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. I believe we are right in both instances and right to continue fighting it where ever it takes us. I think the President needs to do a better job of reminding people why we are fighting and of the good we are doing there. He is not proactive enough on that front.

I wasn't especially happy with the John Roberts nomination, because there are other much more open Conservatives I would have liked to see on the Supreme Court. But, compared with the Harriet Miers nomination, the Roberts nomination makes me deliriously happy. I am very upset with the President for nominating an unknown, bland, lacking in Conservative qualifications friend to the Supreme Court. We elected him to give us another Scalia or Thomas, not another O'Conner or Souter. If we wanted those two, we would have picked McCain in 2000. I have posted quite a lot about the Miers nomination on my blog. I am very against this nomination because we do not know anything about her, other than bits and pieces, most of which are not positive. Saying "trust me" and "I've known her for 15 years" does not cut it when I expected someone the President would not have to ask us to trust him on. He's stabbed us in the back.

I think this is especially important, as he has not done a thing for us on the domestic agenda. Caving in to Teddy Kennedy on education and the R.I.N.O.s on Campaign finance, plus a number of other things, hasn’t left me feeling happy. We have not received what we were promised.

Right now, I am not thinking very positively about the President's administration. For the last five years I have. It will take a lot for me to be as big a supporter of George W. Bush as I have been. Still, I think the President has been genuinely magnificent on the War on Terror. I thank God every day that we don't have Al Gore or John Kerry mucking that up. I would probably be wearing a burqa right now if either of them had won an election. George W. Bush is not afraid to stand up for the American people and fight back against evil enemies who want all of us, including the peace-loving commie Libs, dead. I thank him for that.

Q. Who do you see as being the major contenders for the 2008 Republican nomination for president?

I really think Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2008. I do not buy her assurances that she is content as the junior senator from New York. She will not say she is not running, so that leads me to believe she will. I daresay the usual Dem. lot of losers will be running, as well: John Kerry, John Edwards, perhaps Tom Daschle.

As for the Republican nomination, I think George Allen from Virginia might run, Newt Gingrich, John McCain, Bill Frist. Probably some others.

Q. Who do you think will be the 2008 Republican nominee?

As of now, I have no idea who will be the 2008 Republican nominee. I am not very excited about any of the possibilities. No one really grabs my attention.

Q. Who do you think would be the worst 2008 Republican nominee?

The person who would be the worst 2008 Republican nominee is John McCain. He's a complete R.I.N.O. If he won the nomination, it would be very difficult to vote for him. He has been too friendly with the Democrats and too weak on very important Conservative issues, not to mention the ridiculous piece of legislation known as McCain-Feingold. He better not even try.

Q. Who do you think are today’s most influential conservative female authors, columnists, or bloggers?

The most influential conservative female authors, columnists, bloggers would be Ann Coulter, who is my favorite and a role model, and Michelle Malkin. They are very smart, very interesting, very talented women, as well as good, staunch Conservatives. I also love Laura Ingraham. She, Ann, and Michelle are my favorites. They are not afraid to speak the truth.

Q. Is there a female author or politician that has greatly inspired you?

Ann Coulter has certainly inspired me. I would love to emulate her style and toughness. She isn't afraid to cause controversy. Lady Margaret Thatcher is a wonderful inspiration, as well. She has done so much for the world, with grace and elegance.

Q. There are so few women in the blogosphere. What is your opinion on why there are so few?

I cannot say I have noticed there are few women in the blogosphere. I do not pay attention to that sort of thing. I am not a feminist. I do not think women are oppressed or held down or kept out. I think if such a thing is happening, we are doing it to ourselves. We are not men. We do things differently and that is perfectly alright.

If there are fewer women, then it is probably because women are too busy with other things in life: taking care of the house, the children, and all the rest. Perhaps, too, women who are stay-at-home mothers do not use the internet as much as men might at work. Perhaps men are more interested in blogging. Anyone who wants to can blog and anyone who doesn't want to doesn't have to. It's called freedom. It doesn't matter who is doing it and who isn't.

Q. Many segments of the media have all but declared Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee. What kind of impact do you think she will have on undecided female voters?

Hillary Clinton is a very polarizing figure. Liberal women might like her, but she has been trying to moderate her image of late. Conservative women do not like her because she stood by her adulterous husband and denigrated other women who accused him of hurting them. She also looked down on women who chose to stay at home and do things like baking cookies.

Undecided female voters will be swayed by the media's coverage of Hillary, so I daresay many will be influenced to vote for her and support her. Of course, it depends on which way the undecided voter already leans. Good, Christian women will probably vote against her. I will certainly work against her, when she does announce she is running for President. I hope undecided voters will do their own research and understand what kind of person Hillary really is.

Any opinions or views expressed herein belong solely to the author and does not represent any employer, organization, political party, governmental agency, or any other entity and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site owner or its participants.