The Friday Random Ten+5 reaches across the aisle.

In the course of discussing political topics on this blog of late, some people have implied that I never say anything bad about liberals and only say bad things about conservatives. Well, I don't want to come off as vulgar or needlessly confrontational here, but that is just a dirty motherfucking lie, and shame on you for saying something like that. I work with conservatives, I'm friends with conservatives, I've even dated some conservatives -- and took one or two of them on a voyage to ecstasy the likes of which they'd never before experienced, if I do say so myself. But anyway, the point is that I have great admiration for more than a few conservative-identified individuals even though I disagree with them on a whole host of things politically, and just to prove it, I thought I might take this opportunity to tell you about some of them. Step to the side, haters -- the left side or the right side, whatever your personal preference happens to be -- 'cause this week's +5 is Five Conservatives I Don't Have A Problem With And Actually Like:



Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)
Endorsed John McCain and voted in favor of the Iraq war, but also voted against the 2003 Bush tax cuts and supports gay rights. So if you think about it, she's kind of the maverick that McCain used to be. Either way, she gives the impression of being someone who bothers to think things through before she makes up her mind about something, which is the kind of attitude Washington has been sorely lacking for a while now.



Andrew Sullivan
All you conservatives who claimed you spoke out about your supposed displeasure with the Bush administration way back when? Sullivan actually did, and not as a wild-eyed commie pinko like yours truly but as an intelligent conservative who cares about fiscal sanity and civil liberties. Also a pretty good blogger, not to mention a Pet Shop Boys fan, which is an excellent way to weasel yourself into my good graces no matter what your political beliefs are.



Kent Williams
Kent Williams owns an Italian restaurant in Elizabethton, Tennessee, where I probably ate at least once when I was living down the road in Johnson City as a youngster. A couple of years ago, he ran for state legislature as a Republican -- which pretty much everyone in that part of the state is -- but voted to re-elect the Democratic speaker of the house, who was a shoo-in anyway, trying to build consensus and put himself in a position to get things done for his county. The House minority leader, Jason Mumpower, was cheesed off enough by this that he tried to get someone to run against Williams in the primary last year, but Williams was re-nominated, and re-elected, with ease. When the dust cleared on election night, Republicans had pieced together a 50-49 majority in the state House, their first since Reconstruction. Mumpower, who is thus in line to become the new speaker, has every House Republican swear an oath to only vote for a Republican for speaker.

When the new House convened for the first time in February, the Republican whip nominated Mumpower -- and his Democratic counterpart, now the minority whip, nominated Kent Williams. Forty-nine Republicans voted for Mumpower, forty-nine Democrats voted for Williams . . . and Williams, keeping his promise, voted for a Republican. Himself.

I don't care which party you're punking, Democratic or Republican, that's awesome. The longtime reader and Tennessee native who sent me that story last month summed it up best: "Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Obama combined have never played politics with the skill of a high school diplomaed lasagna cook from the most redneck place on earth."



Lucy Pinder
Sorry, I totally forgot what I was going to write here. Oh, yeah: British Page 3 legend and reality-TV star Pinder says she wants to work with Britain's Conservative Party and that she doesn't want to be lumped in with "bleeding-heart liberals." Aww, we're not all so bad.



T. Kyle King
I'll be honest, when I first started out at UGA and Kyle was a law student regularly writing for The Red & Black's opinion page, he annoyed the crap out of me. But having gotten to know the guy -- both through his blog and in person -- I've become a huge fan. And don't get into a debate with him, be it over football, politics, legal issues, history, or anything else, without actual evidence to back up what you're saying, 'cause that's bringing a knife to a gunfight, kid. Kyle will hit you with a barrage of arguments, statistics, and historical facts and bounce your ass back to grade school. And even when I don't agree with him -- which, unless he's talking about the Bulldogs, is regularly -- it's fun watching him do it to someone else.

Also: Meghan McCain, because I think she's cute, and Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.), because dear sweet Lord that woman is entertaining. Palin/Bachmann 2012? I think I'd trade the Lego Taj Mahal for that.

See? Bipartisanship! And now the Ten:

1. Pete Heller, "Big Love" (extended mix)
2. Crowded House, "Walking on the Spot"
3. The Beatmasters, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
4. Billy Idol, "White Wedding"
5. Dr. Dre, "Bitches Ain't Shit"
6. Basement Jaxx, "Where's Your Head At"
7. My Bloody Valentine, "Soon"
8. Mo' Horizons, "Hit the Road Jack (Pe Ña Estrada)"
9. KRS-One, "Sound of Da Police"
10. Pet Shop Boys, "KDX 125"

Now it's time for you to show your own open-mindedness by putting your own Random Tens, along with names of people you like in spite of the fact that you can't stand their politics and/or parties, in the comments.