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Conservative Bootcamp...
At the Reagan Ranch, courtesey of YAF--in today's NTY. These kids read good books.
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people are talking back ...
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Unforgettable
This is one of my favorite (and indeed, one of the most quoted) passages in our conservative heritage. It's really hard to condense Burke's idea into a "quote" of reasonable length...but I think that this captures the essence, at least, of the conservative's instinct that society is intergenerational: "Society is indeed a contract...It is to be looked on with other reverence, because it is not a partnership in things subservient only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable nature. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. Each contract of each particular state is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society..." Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 37
Back from NYC, less one credit-card but equipped with a better appreciation English after falling down a "malfunctioning" staircase in Chinatown and having to jesticulate the incident the non-English speaking owners of the building. Anywho, back to politics: G-heat n. pressure or trouble from federal law enforcement agencies (also) federal law enforcement agents. 1937 Hoover's Persons in Hiding 114: You're hot. It's G heat! We don't want to lay eyes on you! 1949 in Harper's (Feb. 1950) 74: The G-heat may assume it has been stolen and enter the case on that basis.
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Words to Avoid ...
I was in a meeting last week, in which a very intelligent woman used a word which means, "grudging and petty in giving or spending." While this word is proper and found in dictionaries -- and is in no way relating to race -- the trouble is, this word sounds very much like " the 'N' Word." My take was that she was unwise to use this word, even though it was technically grammatically correct. Why couldn't she just say "stingy," instead? In using the term, she may have impressed some with her vocabulary, but she distressed me with her judgment. Recently, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney found himself in a similar situation. According to the Boston Globe, he was quoted as saying: "The best thing for me to do politically is stay away from the Big Dig -- just get as far away from that tar baby as I possibly can," he said in answer to a question from the audience.
The best thing he could do politically is stay away from using that term ... In fairness, though, according to the Globe: The expression "tar baby" has had different meanings over the years.
A definition from Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary traces the expression to the tar baby that trapped Br'er Rabbit in an Uncle Remus story by Joel Chandler Harris, which became popular in the 19th century. The dictionary now defines the expression as "something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself."
(Hey, didn't Tony Snow use this same term in his first press conference???) Here's my take on the controversy: It is unwise for a leader or a communicator to use terms which will offend his or her audience. This doesn't mean that we should go overboard with the politically correct stuff (I will not use the term: "Personkind," for example). I truly believe Gov. Romney didn't know the term was sometimes used in a derisive manner. In short, I believe it was an honest gaffe. But the fact that he didn't know that implies he may be out-of-touch. Communicators and leaders should do their best to be sensitive to how language effects people. In a sense, that what "Teaching Elephants to Talk" is all about.
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Voter Registration for Techies ...
For you techies, this is pretty cool ... You want painless voter registration, you got it. If you're here to register, it's easiest to do it online, or you can text the word "voter" to 75444 and do it via text-message if you'd rather.
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The Big "D"
I'm headin' down to Dallas to do some training tomorrow for the TX GOP. I'll do my best to stick to politics, but I just know my Washington Redskins' rhetoric is likely to offend someone (hey, pre-season is right around the corner) ...
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An interesting encounter
So last night I was over by the Leadership Institute to deliver one of Matt's books (if you don't have it, seriously click here) to a nice guy from Ghana that's heading back today. Aside from telling me how awesome Ghana is ('it's the most free, the most democratic country in Africa, it's where it's at' to paraphrase him), and how much he'd like to bring Matt to Ghana to help out his party (I might just tag along for that trip), his reverence for the Republican Party was inspiring. He told me excitedly: "My party, the NPP, we even picked our symbol as the elephant -- and our colors are red, white, and blue."  Sweet.
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Unforgettable
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke Letter to William Smith, January, 1795
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 36
heeler n. a hanger-on or adherent of a politician or political party who usually carries out the orders of political bosses in the hope of personal aggrandizemnet --used contemptuously. Now rare except as ward-heeler. 1886 T. Roosevelt, in Century Mag (Nov.) 78: The "heelers" stand at the polls. from the oxford dictionary of american political slang
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And The News ...
Steele's Response - How To Turn a Political Gaffe Into a CatastrophePeter Beinart in the Wa Post: The Democratic Party's single biggest foreign policy liability is not that Americans think Democrats are soft. It is that Americans think Democrats stand for nothing, that they have no principles beyond political expedience. And given the party's behavior over the past several months, it is not hard to understand why.
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Unforgettable
God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 35
Red-Diaper-Doper-Baby [RDDB] n. derivation from Red-Diaper Baby, a term used to describe children raised in the 40s and 50s by Communist parents; see quote: Michael Savage: "I tried to figure out what took an ordinary communist and turned him into this psychotic type of mad-dog leftist we have today. I believe that when you take the red-diaper baby, and realize he came of age in the '60s, and you put the drug into the mind of the red-diaper baby, presto, you have the RDDB, who is the current anti-American fanatic."
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The Club Combines Traditional Politics & Technology
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Religious Left ... Oxymoron?
The Washington Post says the "Religious Left" is gearing up ... While the religious right is still more powerful, the left is setting its sights on this year's congressional elections and the 2008 White House contest.
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Take that, Patton ...
BTW, did you know that Thomas Jefferson invented the swivel chair?
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Newt
This article by Rich Lowry of National Review appears in today's Washington Times. The most important thing that Lowry says is that a Newt run in '08 would "raise the bar" of debate for Republicans in the primary. We've all seen Newt make very intelligent and coherent arguments on nearly every topic under the sun, and certainly his presence in primary debates would force any conservative candidate to better articulate practical applications of conservatism and the challenges we're facing, and would force the moderates and RINOs in the pack to reconcile RINOism or their more progressive ideas with the tour de force conservative arguments and witty charm of Newt. Lowry ends his piece by saying of a Newt candidacy: "There are worse places for the party to look for a renewed agenda." The question of Newt's efficacy as a candidate will ultimately be broader, can he find and sell a message reminiscent of the title of his great book from back in the day, "To Renew America."
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Unforgettable
No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair
General George S. Patton
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 34
gut-fighter n. a candidate or political operative who wages an unusually aggressive, uncompromising campaign, especially against a politically stronger opponent. 1984 Univ. Tenn instructor: I guess the classic example of a political gutfighter would be Richard Nixon.  1962 Time (Feb. 23) 62: Brusque, sly and opportunistic, Standton...was the special blend of gut-gighter and idealist that LIncoln wanted and needed. from the oxford dictionary of american political slang
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Location, Location, Location
Wow. This is an interesting idea. Stanford Graduate School of Business researchers say that a polling location could influence your vote ... "Voting at a school could increase support for school spending or voting at a church could decrease support for stem cell initiatives..."
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Fixed???
Hmmm. Sounds like the Fix read the Time article Boz did ... In all seriousness, the importance of timing cannot be over-estimated as a factor in politics.
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More Political Timing
Matt's post reminded me of this piece from Time Magazine from the begining of the summer. (Yes, I read Time pretty often, for the same reason all of us read the NYT or the WPost). This is the best part: The argument against an Obama candidacy is obvious: he is as green as Kermit the Frog. He is a mere 44 years old and has been a member of the U.S. Senate for less than two years. He sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he has zero military and national-security experience. He's a very smart guy, a quick learner, but no one is that quick. If he runs and makes a fool of himself, a very promising political career could be suffocated in the crib. But somehow you get the feeling that Obama would not make a fool of himself--indeed, it is far more likely that he would bring a freshness, eloquence and thoughtfulness to Democratic Party politics that have been absent since Bill Clinton was in the hunt. Freshness doesn't last forever. If Obama waits and hangs around the Senate for six to 10 more years, he may wind up sounding like a Senator--which is to say he will no longer have command of the English language--and, worse, he may start thinking like a Washington politician, wizened by the accepted limits of the possible.
Actually, the best reason for Obama to run is precisely that he is young and everybody else seems so old. (bold emphasis added)
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The Importance of Political Timing ...
The Fix has some good thougths about the importance of timing -- and why Barak Obama should consider running for president in '08 ... In politics, timing is everything. If you pass on an opportunity, it might not come around again. Just ask former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
In the run-up to the 1992 election, Cuomo was widely seen as the frontunner for the Democratic nomination against President George H.W. Bush. After two months of publicly hemming and hawing, Cuomo announced in December 1991 that he would not run, saying he could not simultaneously address economic problems in the Empire State and run for president. (Cuomo had also walked away from a presidential candidacy four years earlier.)
The rest, as they say, is history.
... For those who say Obama needs more seasoning before making a national bid, take a look at history. No senator has been directly elected president since John F. Kennedy in 1960, although scads have made the attempt. National polling shows the American public has soured considerably on Washington, and many Democratic insiders are coming to believe that the longer someone stays in Washington the less chance he or she has of being elected president.
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Matt in Hotline
Hotline picked up on this post by Matt this morning. "Matt Lewis at Human Events Online also made HRC/Bill distinctions: "Still, give Clinton credit for having another Sister Souljah moment, and standing up to an important constituency in his party. He is taking on the liberal bloggers. And ironically, this is the kind of maneuver that inspires his admirers to love Bill Clinton. Hillary, for example, would never have thought to make this move. She would have hung old Joe out to dry. Not Bill. Not when there's a chance to work his magic."
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Candidate in Focus: Sharron Angle
Rep. Jim Gibbons is giving up his seat to run for governor...so Nevada's 2nd Congressional District is up for grabs in the GOP primary on August 15th. The victor will win the general (it's our seat; though the Rothenberg Political Report implies that the Dems may have an opporunity to pick it up; unlikely.). Let's take a brief look at the race, and a brief look at the real conservative candidate. Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, who's characterized by the media as "anti-tax,"and by Rothenberg as having "cool confidence and determination," is opposed by Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons and NV Secretary of State Dean Heller...(click full post)
Rothenberg (in Roll Call) said that Angle "has built her reputation as an opponent of taxes, and she is going to ride that horse are far as it will take her. It may well take her to Capitol Hill."
While Gibbons did successfully pass Nevada's constitutional Tax Retraint Initiative, Angle is the only of the three that didn't budge in 2003 and fought against the ridiculous tax increase passed that year in Nevada ($788 million! -- which Gibbons voted for; Gibbons also opposes school choice by the way).
Angle has a very solid tax record and supports reductions in personal income tax, a cap on capital gains, abolition of the estate tax and alternative minimum tax, and a freeze on non-defense domestic spending. Her Angle Property Tax Restraint Initiative is like a property tax TABOR, aiming to cap property taxes. (The Club for Growth has endorsed her).
On other issues, Angle supports expanding refining in Nevada; having not built a new refinery in this country for 30+ years, Congress needs more vocal advocates in this regard. She's proved herself as anti-amnesty, and made a prudent and responsible vote against the Millennium Scholarship for doling out taxpayer dollars to foot the bill of non-citizens' college in Nevada.
Angle is the only satisfactorily pro-life candidate. (Explaining endorsements by National Right to Life, the Republican National Coalition for Life and Concerned Women for America).
Angle is in a in a close fund-race. Heller has raised a good deal of money, but because the campaign is not premited to use money from donations exceeding $2,100 in the primary, he can't use a lot of it in the primary; about $380,000 of his on-hand cash is discretionary in the primary. Gibbons is at around $261,000. Angle has $340,000 of cash on hand for the primary.
Angle is going to have a real tough race; Gibbons took an early lead. It's going to boil down to how well she can get her message out.
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Unforgettable
"We can breathe the air of liberty only to the extent that we are ready to bear the burden of moral responsibility associated with it."--Wilhelm Roepke"Education in Economic Liberty" in What is Conservatism, 1964
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 33
doubledome n. a scholar or intellectual, esp. a highly educated person who holds impractical or unrealistic views. 1953 Michener Sayonara 11: Then the doubledomes in Washington set a deadline.
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Sticking': Clinton's 2nd Sister Souljah Moment
Bill Clinton deserves credit for coming to the aide of his old friend, Sen. Joe Lieberman. Some would call it cronyism, but if you can't stick up for a friend of 36 years -- when he's down -- then you aren't much of a friend. ... Of course, the skeptic in me says Bill Clinton knows Lieberman will remain a Senator (whether he is as an "I" or a "D", is the real question), so this wasn't as much of a gamble as it might seem. Still, give Clinton credit for having another Sister Souljah moment, and standing up to an important constituency in his party (the liberal bloggers). This is the kind of counter-intuitive political maneuver that endears regular folks to Bill. Hillary would never have thought to make this move. She would have hung old Joe out to dry. Not Bill. Not when there's a chance to work his magic. A few years ago, former Clinton advisor James Carville wrote a book titled Sticking': The Case for Loyalty. When I look at the way Bill is sticking with Joe, and compare it to what happened Trent Lott and Tom DeLay, I wonder if the GOP is more willing to throw people under the bus than the Dems are. I guess sometimes this instinct isn't always a bad thing; most Republicans wisely abandoned Nixon (not that I would compare him to these more recent examples). Still, Americans admire political courage, and Bill Clinton has once again proven that -- despite his flaws -- he has it.
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Always Wanted to Publish a Book?
If you've ever thougth of publishing your own book, the liberal DailyKos actually has some good advice ...
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Hotline, Hugh, and ML&TN
Hotline today picked up on Matt's recent post about the NRSC, Senator Dole, and LibLinc: In a post called "Blame Chaffee," the Hotline notes: "Conservative bloggers had a uniform reaction to a New York Times 7/23 article cataloguing NRSC financial woes. Matt Lewis at Human Events Online: "But, if there is any room for criticism of the NRSC -- and Senator Dole's leadership -- it lies in their unwavering support of liberal Republicans, such as Lincoln Chafee. Granted, it may be part of the NRSC's charter to support all Republicans, but to what degree they support these candidates is a matter of discretion." Hugh Hewitt agrees: "The New York Times wants you to believe that its Senator Dole's fault that the NRSC is far below its fund-raising goals. Two words: Lincoln Chafee."(emph. added) Matt and Hugh seem to be on the same page.
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Unforgettable
You gotta love that a legendary Greek fabulist writing over 2,500 years ago scribbled some pretty politically applicable wisdom... All from Aesop (629-560 B.C.) Please all, and you will please none.The Man, the Boy, and the DonkeyThe haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.The Eagle and the ArrowYou have put your head inside a wolf's mouth and taken it out again in safety. That ought to be reward enough for you.The Wolf and the Crane
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 32
FOB n. [ friend of Bill] a supporter or acquaintance of President Bill Clinton. 1992 Wall Street Journal (Mar. 12) 1A: Nobody collects friends like Bill Clinton--And nobody puts them to better use. Inside the Clinton campaign, they are known as FOBs--Friends of Bill's--and they make up a remarkable network.
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... And The News
... This NY Times article is my Reason 103 to always under-promise and over-achive -- and book a small room for fundraisers and events: The tables were loaded with untouched platters of food as Senator Elizabeth Dole rose this week to introduce her party's Senate candidate from Nebraska. Sixty people were supposed to be at the fund-raiser, but Mrs. Dole, the host and leader of the Republican effort to hold the Senate this fall, found just 18 people scattered across an expanse of empty carpet. ... I know, I know, I keep harping about the dangers of MySpace, Face Book, etc. Here is yet another article about the dangers of being over-exposed on the net. ... And lastly, I found this line from the Washington Post interesting: ... "Israel now says it is willing to accept the organization (Hezbollah) if it sheds its military wing and abandons extremism ..." My take: Asking Hezbollah to give up violence and extremism is sort of like asking the Democrats to give up tax-hikes and being pro-abortion -- it's kind of their "brand" ...
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Same Dem Mistake ... Different Day
The Dayton Daily News writes that: National Democrats have once again set their sights on Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell, questioning his dual roles as Ohio's Secretary of State and a candidate for governor. ... The attack came from Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In a letter Thursday, they ask Blackwell to "take immediate action" to assure voters this year's Ohio elections will be "fair, efficient and transparent."They also say Blackwell's two roles -- as a candidate and the state's chief elections overseer --"presents the most acute danger of conflict of interest."
I'm told both the DSCC and the DCCC were planning on attacking Blackwell in a press conference yesterday. They ended up pulling the plug on it, though. Apparently, someone told them about this ... or this.
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Unforgettable
A man's feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world. George Santayana The Life of Reason, 1936
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 31
Christmas tree n. a bill or piece of legislation which includes many (unrelated or excessive) special provisions. often attrib. Also Christmas tree bill.  2004 St. Paul Pioneer Press (Feb 1) 1A: They are more likely to turn appropriations measures into "Christmas tree bills" by adding unrelated projects into giant spending bills.
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Drag on Rudy ...
 National Review's August cover story asks if Rudy Giuliani will "play in Peoria?". What do you think? If only Lee Atwater were alive to use this picture in South Carolina ...
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In the Office ...
My talk at the Leadership Institute went very well this morning. Lots of good students. That explains the lack of posts today. While we get settled in, check out this article about Bush's speech to the NAACP: "I think this was a good day," Gordon said of the president's visit. "He said exactly what he should say."
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Lieberman v Lamont: microcosm of America?
Mort Kondracke at Roll Call wrote a quite interesting piece in today's edition ( here, if you subscribe). His main point is that while 47% of the country describe themselves as moderate, the politics of this election cycle are being driven by Bush- hatred among a minority of voters, like we've said at ML&TN before. The Lieberman case is the perfect example: while Lieberman has voted with the Democratic Party 80% of the time, his support for the liberation of Iraq is tied to Bush and thus he's hated by default (not to mention "the kiss," President Bush and Lieberman's whisper at the State of the Union that kind of looked like a peck on the check and provoked lefties to whine). Click full-post for some good excerpts:
"If former Greenwich Selectman Ned Lamont beats Lieberman in the Democratic primary, it will represent a signal victory for the MoveOn.org-Michael Moore-DailyKos left wing of the Democratic Party and for vicious name-calling as a political tactic...
...The Democratic Party already is handicapped by the fact that its liberal base amounts to just 20 percent of the electorate, while the Republicans' conservative base is 33 percent, according to decades of polling....
...[Sen. Harry] Reid and [Rep. Nancy] Pelosi press conferences are dominated by Bush-bashing and virtually empty of positive proposals. Even so, mainstream Democrats are under constant Web log pressure to "take on" Bush and routinely get attacked for being too accommodating....
...Even before the current Middle East conflict, Lieberman was subjected to anti-Semitic attacks on liberal blogs DailyKos and Huffington Post. One commentary declared, "Ned Lamont needs to beat Lieberman to a pulp in the debate and define what it means to be an American who is NOT beholden to the Israeli lobby...
...Lieberman is a rare remaining vestige of the assertive Democratic foreign policy typified by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy. Though he's accused of being Bush's cheerleader on Iraq, Lieberman first called for toppling Saddam Hussein in 1993, before Bush was even governor of Texas...
...And it's now up to Connecticut voters to decide whether hatred-politics will prevail."
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