Conservative radio host visits Hilton Head, urges Republicans to coalesce around nominee
Conservative radio host Rod Eccles is still unsure which Republican candidate will go on to be the party's nominee, although he has a few guesses.
But come November, even if that nominee isn't one of his first choices, Eccles will be at the polls pledging his support to the Republican Party, a road he hopes more conservatives will take instead of staying home on Election Day.
Eccles, a Republican online radio host from New Hampshire who bills himself as "the coolest, most politically incorrect conservative black man on the planet," urged fellow Republicans at the Hilton Head Island First Monday Republican Lunch Group to vote in November even if they may not support the nominee.
Questions from the attendees at Monday's meeting about leading Republican candidate Donald Trump prompted the plea for Republicans to get out and vote. Asked if he felt Trump's nomination would cause Republican voters to stay away from the polls, Eccles said the party couldn't let that fear determine the nominee.
Even though he did not support John McCain in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012, Eccles said he still voted for both candidates to support the Republican Party. He plans to do the same 2016 because the Democratic "alternative is much worse," he said.
"If you didn't vote in 2012, thank you for supporting Barack Obama's second term," he said. "That's exactly what you did ... . You need to buck up and grow up. This isn't about your feelings."
In his remarks Monday at Aunt Chiladas on Hilton Head Island, Eccles said there was no "perfect" candidate to support. But, he said, Trump, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson would all be good choices for the Republican nominee. Although he declined to say who he favored out of that group, he seemed to hint at supporting Trump by asking that voters "give the amateurs a shot."
Eccles was also critical of several Republican candidates, including Jeb Bush, who he called "too liberal" -- and slammed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who hails from nearby Vermont.
Eccles said he couldn't fathom how millenials and college students supported an "old, grumpy curmudgeon" like Sanders, prompting a round of laughter from the mostly senior-age crowd, although he said he did have an answer why. Eccles criticized Sanders offering "free stuff" in the form of aid programs to young voters and forcing taxpayers to pay for them.
"Free's too expensive," he said. "I can't afford free. How about you?"
Follow reporter Matt McNab on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Matt.
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- Trump blasts Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush at Hilton Head rally, Dec. 29, 2015
This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Conservative radio host visits Hilton Head, urges Republicans to coalesce around nominee."