My take, after spending some time with him, is that Kanye West is not a conservative. He's not a Republican, but he is a free thinker, and he's an independent thinker.
I am the last person whom it would be reasonable to expect to leave the Conservative Party.
I think the question is who am I? That's what we all should be asking ourselves. Who am I? Well, if I am first a Christian conservative then that dictates my response to all questions so my response first as a Christian conservative is to vote consistent with my value system.
Barry Bonds is outspoken. I think that the people of Pittsburgh felt, it's a syndrome of you've got to apologize for being successful if you're successful (as well as) black and outspoken.
Well, I outline fanatically. I am a long thinker and a slow writer, though I am trying to get faster.
I am not a political thinker. I'm not even much of a thinker. I'm a hack novelist.
We frequently hear how essential it is for someone to think "outside the box," but what actually determines one's facility for doing so? In other words, what skills make someone a creative thinker? Typically, creative thinkers can view issues from multiple perspectives, define problems in several different ways, and anticipate likely obstacles. Someone's aptitude for these skills determines how well he or she will perform as a creative thinker.
African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view. I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative. So it's just brainwashing and people not being open-minded, pure and simple.
One criticism that I hear occassionally is that I am actually not a real liberal, and I am secretly a conservative. Or sometimes they will say I am the only thing worse than a conservative - a dreaded 'right-winger.'
A celebrity is well known for being well known. I'm relatively well known - but for what I've written and said, or so I fondly imagine.
I am totally a fringe candidate, and so is Bill Weld: you know, two Republican governors serving in heavily blue states, outspoken, small government guys, outspoken on the social liberal side. We're fringe, totally. We're fringe.
I was a romantic, messy thinker. I was raised with very conservative beliefs, but that was a long time ago.
I am as conservative as anyone running in this [president's] race, but I am a conservative that can win. That's a big deal.
I am still baffled by those who feel that criticizing America is unpatriotic, a view increasingly being adopted in the United States since 9/11 as an excuse to render suspect what has always been an American right. An active, brave, outspoken (and heard) citizenry is essential to a healthy democracy.
Many people have thought of me as a thinker, as a philosopher, or even as a mystic. Well the truth is that though I have found reality perplexing enough - in fact, I find it gets more perplexing all the time - I never think of myself as a thinker.
Being outspoken about my faith isn't just something that I do; it's who I am because my faith isn't just a little piece of my life. It is my life. It's not a question of whether I'm outspoken about it or not. I'm definitely not ashamed of it.