Right Online Conference: John Fund
posted at 12:40 pm on July 19, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Wall Street Journal political reporter and author John Fund spoke at the RightOnline conference regarding the election and tax policy. He spoke first about the dampening mood of conservatives at many of these events, but Fund noted a great deal of enthusiasm and optimism at the ROC. The pessimism results from broken promises and unfulfilled expectations on the part of elected Republicans, but a lot of it comes from biased reporting from what Fund called “the lamestream media”.
In this election, Fund says that the lamestream media has already anointed Obama as President. The proof, he says, is in the network-anchor groupies following Obama around Europe. They’re poised to ensure that the reporting that does get back to America is properly managed to boost their anointed choice.
Fund says that the nation remains a center-right nation. He offered a few data points from polling to show this, but maybe the most effective was when Fund pointed out how Obama has shifted his positions since the end of the primaries. In which direction did he shift?
They want to sell us on the notion that the race is already over. The media and the Left fear fall elections, Fund says, like Dracula fears the cross. The American electorate usually runs to the center-right in general elections. In eight of the last ten elections, Gallup had the Democrat significantly ahead at this point, and only three of them won. Only one Democrat since 1944 has won 50.1% of the vote in a general election (LBJ against Goldwater).
Fund scoffed at the notion that conservatives who suggest that we can win in the long run by losing in 2008. With Democrats in charge of both chambers of Congress and the White House, the rules will change dramatically, and it will begin with the Card Check legislation — which will put enormous amounts of money into union coffers for future elections. In Michigan, they accidentally posted an initiative that explicitly admitted that their “reform” plan meant to install Democrats in government. Felon voting, same-day registration for voting, and more will be added to ensure a permanent Democratic majority.
If we don’t beat Barack Obama in this cycle, expect to be in the wilderness for a very long time.
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NO MORE ENCUMBANTS!!!!
TERM LIMITS FOR ALL (CONGRESS AND SENATE)!!!!
REVOLUTION THROUGH DEMOCRATIC MEANS!!!!!!
sorry for the caps tired of bull crap.
-Wasteland Man.
WastelandMan on July 19, 2008 at 12:50 PM
WastelandMan on July 19, 2008 at 12:50 PM
I AGREE 100%!!! :)
becki51758 on July 19, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Term limits would be a disaster. You get amateur politicians and professional bureaucrats, and professional lobbyists, and a very Byzantine government incapable of addressing the needs of the people. Term limits is a fantasy– a cheap promise that an automatic control can relieve the people of their responsibilities. The appropriate limit on elected incompetence is an educated and moral people. We cannot be relieved of this burden.
DocKen on July 19, 2008 at 1:03 PM
And to add to this, they may be able, to persuade Anthony Kennedy to push their agenda in the Supreme Court. Once set as precedent, some of this would be very hard to undo for decades, if at all: outlawing capital punishment, striking down DOMA under Full Faith and Credit, shifts of power to the federal government from the states, etc.
The Dems are looking for permanent control of the government and a fundamental re-making of the relationships between citizens and their government (can you say nanny-state?) and between the states and t the federal government. It would not be undone in our lifetimes.
Look at Europe, especially England. Coming to you, courtesy of the Democratic Party if you stay home on election day.
Wethal on July 19, 2008 at 1:04 PM
And those voter ID laws that a few states have managed to pass and hold up under court challenge? Dems would ban by federal legislation, at least for all federal office elections.
Wethal on July 19, 2008 at 1:11 PM
Term limits would mean nothing when you have a gang like the Kennedys. They would just rotate the seat, but still have the control.
bloggless on July 19, 2008 at 1:12 PM
That’s what George Wallace did in Alabama-ran his wife Lurleen for governor.
Wethal on July 19, 2008 at 1:18 PM
Liberals don’t just try to win discrete elections, they feather their nest by installing permanent infrastructure designed to keep competition out. LBJ’s Great Society programs helped lock up the black vote for decades, just as he predicted they would.
whitetop on July 19, 2008 at 1:25 PM
Leftist hacks like Ginsburg and Kennedy would readily overturn Term Limits as unconstitutional to protect their handlers. An Obambi presidency would only maintain or add more judicial votes towards ruling any law in opposition to Socialist doctrine as unconstitutional. The Kelo eminent domain decision should make it perfectly clear that Socialists on the Supreme Court care nothing for the Constitution or for individual rights. Their obsession is centralizing control incrementally.
Something Hastert and Frist may have realized by now (one can hope) is that because they did not define themselves in their leadership roles and stood for something tangible they were defined by the opposition. Plain and simple. If the GOP candidates seek success they will have to stand for something other than merely being against their opponents.
Jindal succeeded in the Louisiana election not merely because Blank-O was such a disaster. He ran on a platform of actually cleaning up Louisiana politics.
Compare that to fossil Orrin Hatch who you hardly hear from for years until he pens some love lines to Ted Kennedy. Compare that to Charles Grassley who couldn’t control his glee at the prospect of ethanol subsidies loot during the State of the Union address. Same for Lugar though I can’t recall what Lugar says because I fall asleep every time Lugar bloviates. A bunch of old fossils who spent most of their careers being in the minority, enjoying the senatorial perks and cashing their checks. The solution isn’t term limits. It’s throwing out the fossils who’ve been there for thirty years and continue the same charade as the lazy professor who merely reads a “lecture” from his college notes.
viking01 on July 19, 2008 at 1:49 PM
Unfortunately, Slavery is alive and well because of those policies. Millions are enslaved waiting for their Government handout with no way out.
WoosterOh on July 19, 2008 at 1:50 PM
The exception appears to be “privacy” matters (abortion, homosexual marriage). (And possibly physician assisted suicide in time. The vote in Glucksberg upholding the laws prohibiting assisting suicide was 9-0, but who knows what “evolving standard of decency” Anthony Kennedy could find in his tea leaves.)
Wethal on July 19, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Unbelievable. A liberal Presidential candidate goes left in the primaries and shifts back to center for the generals?
That’s “the most effective” demonstration of anything? What were examples of less effective arguments? He simply farted?
freevillage on July 19, 2008 at 1:56 PM
Liberals have also installed their numbers in the federal government bureaucracy here in the US, which is why so little change came in Justice, EPA, State, etc. Condi Rice is pretty much a ventriloquist’s dummy for Christopher Hill and WIlliam Burns, liberal leftovers.
Wethal on July 19, 2008 at 1:58 PM
I’ve got to agree with this. We’ve had term limits here in California for quite a while now. It hasn’t helped. The state assembly and senate seats have been gerrymandered ’safe’. Not one seat has changed party in the last few elections. The permanent republican minority barely has enough votes to stop the democrat majority from beginning a never-ending cycle of tax and spending increases. If even one republican were to break ranks or lose his seat, the true nuttiness of this state would be unleashed, maybe forever. You think it’s bad now? Really, you have no idea.
The left intends to take this country over. We on the right think we know this. We really don’t. These folks have a plan. They have a farm system of non-profits for incubating upcoming elected officials. They have control of the school system from kindergarten to the universities to raise, identify and supply the non-profits. They have control of the unions which control the people who work for the government. The government sees that the workers are well-paid, and, by extension, that the unions have lots of money which can be used to support the political candidates which come from the non-profits and the schools. Control the media and you can slap a happy face on it all.
If it weren’t so un-american and evil you could almost admire it.
trigon on July 19, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Add in the “Fairness Doctrine” and “net neutality,” and they would control the remaining outlets for non-liberal news and thought.
Wethal on July 19, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Agreement with the Great Society (whitetop 1:25 PM) being a major factor in creating government dependence especially for the non-productive. FDR gets the credit for enslaving the productive for life through Social Security.
Another way I’ve noticed how the Left subsidizes its politicians is through the libraries’ control of information reaching the general public. Next time you’re browsing the new books shelves be sure to notice the five or so copies of Chappy Kennedy’s virtually unknown latest book and five copies of Richard Clarke’s leftist jeremiad versus perhaps one copy of Jonah Goldberg’s latest book. I remember when “Bias” by Bernard Goldberg and “Unfit for Command” were runaway best sellers and you could hardly find a copy in my local library system which has about 38 branch locations. The shelves were well stocked with pro-Kerry screeds however.
viking01 on July 19, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Then how come I see too many white flags on our side?!?
newton on July 19, 2008 at 3:06 PM
While Wethal, viking01, and other above have explained the “white flags”, thirty years of a spoiled society that didn’t even let the reality of 9/11 even sink in while a deranged left consumes themselves with BDS. Two cars in the drive-way and never knowing what actual hunger means, with the knowledge that the government is a half-step away to supply every whim or downfall. WW2 such a distant memory that the meaning of the word sacrifice is described by whether we go to bed with or without dessert. $4.00 a gallon gas is the best thing to happen to this nation as a whole society feels the “pain” collectively, and yet we still have a democratically controlled house and senate that refuses to tap into our own resources to prevent alienating the longtime honored relationships with the environmental lobby that has padded their pockets while keeping these parsites in office. So much for Camelot—and the “white flags”.
Rovin on July 19, 2008 at 4:20 PM
GOP grew fat and lazy on pork and taking the majority for granted, and forgot how to fight. Don’t like being in the minority? Retire and take that nice pension. Maybe the thought of being the permanent minority for generations will wake up enough in the GOP.
As Fund noted, the Dem’s goal is to created so many new Dem-obligated voters that the GOP could never win elections.
Wethal on July 19, 2008 at 4:50 PM
We have term limits now! They are called elections!
sabbott on July 20, 2008 at 8:36 AM
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