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Happy Independence Day Weekend!
 Happy 4th of July weekend. I'm heading to CA tomorrow, so blogging will be light for the next few days. Please keep Fighting for Freedom!
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"At Least it Ain't Yoko ..."
  I'm not sure why, but I've enjoyed juxtaposing these two pictures. If you can come up with a better caption, please let me know ...
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Dem Candidate of The Future?
Writing in Roll Call, Mort Kondracke says that if former VA gov Mark Warner runs for president, he's likely to utilize some pretty cool technology: The Web site of Warner's political action committee, Forward Together, has nifty graphics, and Warner (co-founder of NEXTEL) told me that he's exploring such new media techniques such as creating mobile phone instant messaging networks to contact supporters -- perhaps more to emphasize that he's the candidate of the future than for any actual tactical advantage it will give him.
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 20
We'll review all 20 next week in a posting. Duverger's law n. the apparantly 'iron law' of politics, one of the few, attributed to French sociologist Maurice Duverger that states that plurality electoral systems will always yield two-party systems and never multi-party systems. taken from my notes from the first comparative political systems class I took at Gtown
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Unforgettable
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
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Matt in Orange County, July 8!
On Saturday, July 8, I'll be in Orange County, CA, conducting our training seminar: Teaching Elephants to Run! In Just One Day, You'll Learn: ... The Latest Insider Campaign Secrets That Work
... Updated Techniques on How to Craft a Persuasive Message
... To Identify & Target Your Voters
... Tips on how to Recruit an Army of Supporters, Including Donors
... How to Get Out Your Vote!
... Meet Leaders & Candidates Who Have Won Elections and Learn How They Did It!
... And Much, Much More! For more info -- or to register -- please email Beth Holder, Executive Director The Lincoln Club of Orange County at Beth@lincolnclub.org.
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Bloggers for hire ...
Howard Kurtz has some thoughts on the phenomenon of campaigns hiring bloggers (as Hillary recently did) ...
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Oh Eight
This is a pretty neato site to keep track of potential GOP prez nominees as they make the news.
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Conservative Student Toolbox: Hammer
Yesterday, the ISI provided us with some good pulling grease (a subscription to National Review) for our toolbox. Tuesday, we started our toolbox with a receptacle analyzer (The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis). Today we add a hammer, not least because I recall using an actual hammer very often in college to try and fix things with force (so seriously bring one to college). For our Toolbox, our hammer is a famous paper written by my all-time favorite international relations scholar, Charles Krauthammer. It's called: "Democratic Realism: An American Foreign Policy for a Unipolar World." If you plan to take an international affairs / relations course, or if you want to be armed with cogent arguments to defend the United States' liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan, you'll want to read this piece closely. Liberal professors have been often seperated from reality in their own little reclusive academic world for so long that they expound crazy theories of how the world works that make so little sense that it's sometimes hard to rebuke them. (Such claims as: countries aren't important anymore, or terrorists are the product of an implicit psychological warfare from western prosperity). Krauthammer gives you a hammer to fix this situation in the classroom. By understanding this paper, you'll be more effective saving yourself and your classmates from starting to believe liberal mumbo-jumbo in international affairs.
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NYT: Tomorrow's Top Story
I don't think funny man J.Lileks is too far off on his predictions for New York Times headlines coming up. ...
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 19
Dear Pa, NASCAR dad n. a white, working class father, seen as an ideal campaign target. 2002 Washtington Times (June 30) A2 The Democrats appear to have just discovered this electoral fact and are publicly admitting they have a "NASCAR dad gap." 2004 Boston Globe (Feb. 19) A15 NASCAR Dad is man of the political year. He's the XY chromosome heir to the Joe Six-Pack, Reagan Democrat, Angry White Man types and stereotypes of years gone by. ...I found a Nascar Dad blog that is unfortunately not updated anymore, and the def. is from the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang
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Unforgettable
"I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around a campfire but are lousy in politics."
-Newt Gingrich (???)
[As an Eagle Scout, I feel obliged to point out that Newt missed these "Boys Scout words": trustworthy...helpful, friendly, courteous, kind...cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent -- all very Republican of course. If you're interested in Boy Scouts, you may be interested in this book by a up-and-comer in the conservative movement. He used to write columns for the paper I published in high school]
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... And the News
VikingSpirit has an interesting post up about MySpace. Check it out ... Cleveland Plain Dealer Blog writes: "Like a child who's discovered a new word, Ney refers to his critics as liberals six times in his latest fund-raising letter. And just in case his supporters are wavering, Ney mentions the boogeyman: billionaire and Democratic supporter George Soros." (Hey, if you ask me, this is smart fundraising. Frankly, he should have mentioned how Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy want to stop him, too...)
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Obama: Dems Must Engage Evangelicals
National Journal's " On Call" blog reports: Speaking to a conventional of religious liberals today, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) plans to say that "the majority of great reformers" in history used "religious language to argue for their cause."
And when Dems fail to appeal to evangelicals, they cede the field. Says Obama: "In other words, if we don't reach out to evangelical Christians and other religious Americans and tell them what we stand for, Jerry Falwell's and Pat Robertson's will continue to hold sway."
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Psychological Warfare in VA Race
A few days ago, I wrote about how political consultants sometimes make strategic decisions based on their opponents' consultant. The Allen/Webb race in VA is shaping up to be this sort of race. Frankly, it's fun to watch. The latest little maneuver that I've picked up on is that (in press releases) the Webb campaign is continually referring to Senator Allen as "George Felix Allen, Jr." This reminds me of how George H.W. Bush would intentionally mispronounce Saddam Hussein's name. On both sides, this is hardball politics at its best; Both sides are having fun and trash-talking ...
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Campaigns & Elections Magazine
... Another item for your toolbox is Campaigns & Elections Magazine. You can get 40 percent off by clicking here .
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Conservative Students' Tookbox: Pulling Grease
Along side our receptacle analyzer (C.S Lewis' Screwtape Letters), a conservative college student will need pulling grease in his/her toolbox. Pulling grease makes it easier to pull wires through metal conduit. Our pulling grease is a subscription to National Review. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) offers free subscriptions of National Review to college students right now. Take advantage of this amazing opportunity! You can join ISI here, and they offer a ton of great workshops, opportunities, seminars and contacts for college students. Now, there is no information on the ISI website about getting your free NR subscription because it's a limited time/while supplies last kind of deal. So join now (also free) if you're headed to college. You will probably not have time to read the paper everyday, so block out an hour every two weeks and read NR cover-to-cover. Consider it grease for pulling yourself through the liberalism at college without damage to your values.
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Unforgettable
We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air -- war with all our might and with all the strength God has given us -- and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. -Winston Churchill
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 18
Sorry for the delay this morning...I was down at the Heritage Foundation. More on this later... horse-shed v. to attempt to influence individual voters, witnesses, or jurors, esp. while feigning impartiality. 1901 in DVNI (1933) 369: There was no opportunity, as Mr. Lincoln used to say, to "horse-shed" [the witnesses] before they were brought in. 1856 B. Hall College Wds. (ed. 2) 258: Horse-Shedding. A the University of Vermont, among secret and literary societies, this term is used to express the idea conveyed by the word electioneering. from the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang
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Put That in Your Toolbox ...
Good point, Boz. If you can't read Matt Lewis then C.S. Lewis is a close 2nd... But seriously, Matt Lewis & The News focuses primarily on being a resource for people who are philosophically conservative and want to become more technologically proficient. (It is very dangerous to make someone who is not philosophically correct more technologically proficient. In that case, all you are doing is making more efficient socialists.) For this reason, Boz makes a good point; If you are in an environment (such as most colleges), where you are constantly barraged with liberalism, it is important to find a way to counteract the negative influence. For example, when I was in college, I would listen to Rush Limbaugh on my way back from class. ... Boz reads C.S. Lewis. While his choice may be more intellectual than mine (hey, he goes to Georgetown and I went to Shepherdstown...), we both had the same results: We weren't brainwashed by our professors! Put that in your toolbox ...
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Conservative Student Toolbox: A Receptacle Analyzer
Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs) on a receptacle analyzer will alert you, among other things, if your receptacle is properly grounded. The counter-part to a receptable analyzer that a college student needs to survive college is The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It's a quick read, but read it a couple times (at least once a year during college), to make sure you're properly grounded at school. Many of the temptations that Screwtape and Wormwood discuss are the very ones that you'll be hit with every day in college. This book will really help you keep your head screwed on straight (pun intended) with materialism, multiculturalism, religious pluralism, involuntary collectivism (Marxism), and cultural secularism praised as the religion of college professors. If you're a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle make sure that your college student has his receptacle analyzer, The Screwtape Letters, in his/her toolbox before heading off to college.
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New Series of Posts...Tools for Surviving College
A Conservative College Student's Survival Toolbox I've spent two years at Georgetown University,a no doubt very liberal Jesuit college. I imagine that many of you have kids that either already in college or planning on going to college. At the very least, most of you know a college student or maybe you're a college student yourself. Whatever the case, as the 'back to school' shelves at retail stores across America are being put up, I'd like to offer my two-cents on what a conservative student needs to survive college. Now, I didn't have all of this stuff when I got to college, but that's what this list is for: I wish someone told me this three years ago...the first tool forthcoming in a couple minutes. image from epa.gov
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... And the News
Grover Norqust vs. John McCain. This is a long-running feud that could someday become an MTV Celebrity Deathmatch for politics ... Mitt Romney on the 700 Club. No matter how good you are, comparing yourself to Ronald Reagan is always a tough sell. I'm just waiting for someone to say, "I knew Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a good friend of mine ..." Rush Limbaugh detained. The latest in a string of bad news breaks for Rush ... Daily Kos: Organizing vs. Campaigning . Frequent readers know I sometimes link to this liberal site. While I don't agree with them philosophically, I follow the adage to "know thy enemy as thy self" ...
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Unforgettable
Yonder are the Hessians. They were bought for seven pounds and tenpence a man. Are you worth more? Prove it! Tonight the American flag floats from yonder hill or Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" -- John Stark, at the Battle of Bennington, 1777
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Hillary Hires Blogger
The Fix reports that Hillary Clinton is stepping up her efforts to reach out to the liberal bloggosphere: She has hired Peter Daou, author of the Daou Report (a blog on Salon.com) and the director of blog operations for the 2004 presidential campaign of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Daou will join Clinton's senate race fundraising committee, "Friends of Hillary."
In a post announcing his new job, Dauo said that "as a true believer in the importance of [blogs], I'm thrilled about Senator Clinton's interest in building this bridge with the online community and I intend to do everything I can to make it as productive as possible." As a "blog advisor" to Clinton, Daou will seek "to facilitate and expand her relationships with the netroots," he said. Frankly, I think this is a good move. She was recently booed by liberals at a conference because of her stance on Iraq. This problem wasn't going to go away, so she figured she might as well co-opt them. Hillary's strategy: If you can't beat 'em -- buy 'em!
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Neducation
I missed this earlier, but re Matt's last post...Ned Lamont also has a MySpace site. I have a sneaking suspicion it's not really him though.
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More Creative TV Ads
 Ned Lamont is back up with some more creative commercials. This time, he has superimposed Lieberman's voice and President Bush's face. Obviously, the goal is to transfer voter angst for Bush (among Dems) to Lieberman...
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Failure to Re-Launch the Dixie Chicks
Like many conservatives, I felt a sense of Shadenfreude when the Dixie Chicks announced plans to cancel about half their concerts planned for their current tour. While their anti-Bush comments were the single greatest contributor to their fall, several factors conspire to keep them down. More... The Dixie Chicks burst onto the scene in the late 90's with a fresh look and a fresh sound. They combined traditional sounds like bluegrass with an irreverent sensibility (who can forget "Goodbye Earl?). Until they arrived, it's hard to recall any famous country "girl" bands (though I'm sure they existed).
But like all success, theirs spawned imitators. For example, SheDaisy has had some big hits, recently. And though Sugarland isn't an all-girl band, I would argue they are now occupying The Dixie Chick's niche.
Jennifer Nettles -- Sugarland's lead singer -- has the same spunk as Natalie Maines -- minus the anti-Bush rhetoric. And with hit tunes like Baby Girl and Something More, Sugarland has soothed the cravings that country listeners have had for the Chicks' sound.
And like the Chicks, Sugarland has proven to have crossover appeal. In fact, Nettles recently recorded a duet with Bon Jovi (Who Says You Can't Go Home?).
Were it not for Nettles, country fans might have missed the Chicks more, and thus, been more willing to forgive.
Of course, instead of fighting Sugarland for their country base, the Chicks decided to concede their country fans, hoping instead to gain success in the crossover world.
Their marketing strategy sought to re-brand them as the "thinking man's" country band. The fact that you can buy their cd at Starbucks says something. It is doubtful that Toby Keith would sell many cds at Starbucks (now Crackerbarrel, on the other hand...).
Here's the problem: How do you re-brand a band called "The Dixie Chicks" and make them endearing to the Volvo-driving, latte sipping crowd? I mean, the name screams "redneck." (I propose they rename themselves The Latte Ladies.)
As you can see, the Chicks find themselves without a home. They have been replaced in the country world -- and have not been able to successfully transition into the Starbucks world. It will be interesting to see what their next step is...
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Who's Who in MySpace Politics
I have no trouble finding politicians' kids on MySpace or FaceBook. But from my cursory research this morning, I'd say that the Democrats are in the lead as far as getting candidates on these sites. This is what I found--let us know if you find any others. Phil Angelides -- Democrat candidate for governor of California has a MySpace site. Angelides' Democrat opponent, Steve Westly, also has a MySpace site. Allan Lichtman, Democrat running for MD's open Senate seat has a MySpace site. Pete Ashdown, Democrat running against Senator Orrin Hatch in UT has a MySpace site. Joe Ford Jr., Democrat candidate for TN-9 has a MySpace site. Barack Obama has a MySpace site. All 3 Democrat candidates for the Maryland Governorship have FaceBook profiles (I can't link this, unless you're a member, but here's the WPost article that tipped me). They are Douglas Duncan, Martin O'Malley, and Roberty L. Ehrlich Jr. Oh...and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a MySpace site. Independent candidates are popping up on MySpace too.
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MySpace Strikes Again ...
San Diego Union Tribune reports: As Bilbray was busy conducting his first full week as the congressman elected to finish the term of imprisoned former lawmaker Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a popular political blog was busy posting pictures of the Carlsbad Republican's two youngest children -- one of them 19 -- in various poses holding beer and liquor bottles. The photos initially were posted elsewhere online by the Bilbray kids themselves. Running for office? Do you know where your kids are???
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Unforgettable
"I do not fear failure. I only fear the "slowing up" of the engine inside of me which is pounding, saying, "Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?'" -- George S. Patton
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 16
Farley's Law n. a theory postulated by former Democratic National Chariman James A. Farley holding that voters are unlikely to change their mind on which Presidential candidate to vote for after Labor Day. 2000 Jewish World Review (Sept. 6): James A. Farley was one of Franklin Roosevelt's chief political operatives, and he stated that there was no use campaigning after Labor Day because voters has already made up their minds by then. In other words, whoever was ahead on Labor Day won. Farley's Law is not followed today--polls show a large number of voters make up their minds after Labor Day.
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Campaigns & Elections Magazine Special Offer!
You owe it to your philosophy to study how to win. And one way to study is by reading. That's why I am so happy Campaigns & Elections Magazine is offering our readers this special offer. For a 40% off educational discount, click here, and enter the password: 7YALENote: It is important that you enter the code where it says "Special offer code" if you want to receive the discount.Enjoy!
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Quote of the Day!
For those of you who have never been a campaign manager or a consultant, this is what is some of the unbelievably bad comments you have to deal with (from some candidates)? As if beating a five-term congressman wasn't hard enough, John Jacob said he has another foe working against him: the devil.
"There's another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C.," Jacob said. "It's the devil is what it is. I don't want you to print that, but it feels like that's what it is."
Jacob said Thursday that since he decided to run for Congress against Rep. Chris Cannon, Satan has bollixed his business deals, preventing him from putting as much money into the race as he had hoped. Seriously, if you were working on this campaign, you'd be pulling your hair out right now...
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More "Big Mo"
I believe the term was coined by George H.W. Bush after winning the 1980 Iowa caucus. Ironically, the victory did not give him momentum: This approach brought Bush victory in the Iowa caucus, where Reagan scarcely campaigned. With the national spotlight shining on him the weeks before the crucial New Hampshire primary gave him the opportunity to explain with Reganesque clarity what he would do if elected. Instead, Bush prattled away that he had the big momentum--the "Big Mo"--which suggest to conservatives that he was not a leader who took their causes with due gravity. Bush later confessed that such "preppy phrases" gave "an impression that my campaign lacked substance." In New Hampshire, Reagan turned the tide, besting him by more than two to one......
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Unforgettable
"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!" -- Winston Churchill
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Lexicon of Politics: Day 15 + review
Big Mo n. beneficial momentum, as in a political campaign. --opp. Little Mo. 1989 Life Goes On (ABC-TV): We'll get a jump on him and start building the big mo. 2004 U.S. News & World Report (Feb. 18): Uh-Oh: Big Mo No Mo. ...(review)...
granfalloon n. [coined by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (a true-blue lib)]
any large, amorphous organization without real identity.
front porcher n. [Cf. S.E. front-porch campaign, in Safire New Lang. Pol., p. 156] a political candidate who is reluctant to campaign widely.
shift and shaft n. having a tendency to increase taxes at a more local level by decreasing them at a regional, state, or federal level.--often attrib.
banana superpower n. a dominant nation which behaves like a weaker country with a fraction of its resources.
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The Consultant vs. Consultant Game
This month's Campaigns & Elections Magazine was especially interesting to me -- primarily because a lot of the focus was on political consultants. One article focused on an interesting phenomenon: political consultants using the opposing consultant, rather than the candidate, to craft their strategy. For example, Illinois-based consultant Mike Mason says he often runs his campaign based on his opposing consultant -- an idea he got as a college football coach: "When you're coaching, you always look at the other coach, the person in charge. Their different personalities are going to come through. There's a reason why a football team is a running or a passing team, because the coach likes to do it. It's not always because of the personnel he's got." This is the kind of stuff I love! (I know I'm a political junkie)...
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the word....
on various topics.... Roll Call: A new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday showed state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. (D) with a 52 percent to 34 percent lead over Sen. Rick Santorum (R). Roll Call: The Gun Owners of America-Political Victory Fund announced its endorsement of Tim Walberg (R) on Wednesday. The former state Representative is challenging 7th district Rep. Joe Schwarz (R), whom the group referred to as "anti-Second Amendment." ...also on Schwarz--some others are very passionate that " Joe Schwarz is a liberal" NRSC: play a fun online game with Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI) The Hill: Republican Rep. Ray LaHood (IL) opines via The Hill's blog on minimum wage: "This has been a fairness issue that hasn't been addressed for nine years. I think that our party should show some heart and sensibility to those who haven't had a raise. If we want people to move from welfare to work, one way to do it is for them to go to jobs in which the minimum wage has increased. The Hill: Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) is thinking about chairing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) next cycle: "I would be open to talking" to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) about the job, he said yesterday. "I have offered myself in service to the caucus in many ways. I do recognize the demands of that job." Crowley is chairman of the DCCC's business council. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ( this is the kind of news I read in my town) 80 year old man will attempt, despite his wife thinking he's nuts, to break the national high jump record. Go get 'em Bill. (It's 4 feet for an octogenarian). Life Style Extra: South Park creators play religious musical--about Mormons. Hat-Tip: The American MindRight Wing News: Right of Center Bloggers Choose Worst People in America. In response to Keith Olbermann's upcoming book The Worst Person in the World and 119 More Strong Contenders. "Matt Lewis and the News" did not participate in these rankings at all. Some are a little unfair. Nonetheless, it's chuckle-some.
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