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Middle America Longs for Conservatives to Stand Up to Liberal Bullying
· Friday, January 20, 2012
I wish Republican politicians would have faith in the largely conservative electorate and not behave as though they'll make themselves unelectable unless they pander to Generic Moderate. Who is that guy, anyway? Have you ever met him?
Recently, we've seen a few examples of the liberal narrative's rearing its oppressive head and starkly different reactions to it. The first was Mitt Romney's reportedly telling The Wall Street Journal that as a wealthy person, he thinks he lacks the credibility to aggressively push tax cuts. Mitt is also looking timid about releasing his tax returns. He needs to fight back -- consistently -- instead of surrendering to the liberal narrative that success is evil. Mitt should take a lesson from Newt Gingrich on counterpunching against false liberal charges and innuendo.
Newt put on a clinic in his defiant response to moderator Juan Williams' racially charged questions during the Fox News GOP debate in South Carolina.
I honestly like Juan Williams and believe, based on observing him over the years, that he's a decent human being with a good heart. But for whatever reason, regrettably, he was wearing race on his sleeve that evening, and his race-baiting line of questions, in my opinion, was indefensible.
Juan first tried to lay a race trap for Rick Santorum when asking him whether the time "has come to take special steps to deal with the extraordinary level of poverty afflicting one race of Americans."
Santorum hit it out of the park, unapologetically answering, "If Americans do three things, they can avoid poverty ... work, graduate from high school and get married before you have children."
Perhaps Santorum was not Juan's intended prey, for he chose not to follow up by suggesting that Santorum's answer contained racist code. But if Juan believes that politicians should specifically tailor remedial policies to certain races, why doesn't he condemn President Obama for reversing welfare reform when the evidence proves that it reduced black poverty, black childhood poverty and black illegitimacy?
Juan showed no similar restraint with Newt, suggesting that his recent statements that black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps, and that poor kids could work as janitors in their schools were insulting, particularly to black Americans. Juan said his email and Twitter accounts have "been inundated with people of all races who are asking if your comments are not intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities." Juan said Newt sounded as if he were trying to belittle people (read: blacks) when calling Obama "the food stamp president."
Newt refused to yield an inch, which was exhilaratingly refreshing, not just to me but to a great number of people in the audience who are sick and tired of being accused, in so many words, of being racist purely by virtue of the race-neutral policies they support.
Not only did Newt reject the loaded premise of the question; he even responded in race-neutral terms, offering a powerful defense of the old-fashioned work ethic and infusing it with an example from his own personal experience. Then he looked Juan right in the eye and said, "The fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history." Newt then capped it off with an encore affirmation of his belief that every American, irrespective of his background, is endowed by God with the right to pursue happiness and that he is going to continue to help poor people get jobs, even if that makes liberals unhappy.
This, in my words, is what Newt was also telling Juan: "Juan, along with other Americans, I am sick and tired -- do you hear me, Juan? -- sick and tired of not being able to give voice to America's founding principles without being accused by sanctimonious liberals of bigotry or lacking compassion. Read my lips, Juan: Conservatism is not racism; conservatism is more compassionate than liberalism; conservatism brings real results rather than peaking, like liberalism, at the point of allegedly good intentions. Look at this audience, Juan. Like me, they're fed up with the finger-pointing. If you want to point fingers, look no further than President Obama, who, in the name of helping Americans, is bankrupting this nation and whose policies are destroying the economy, with minorities being hardest hit. So please spare me the lectures, Juan."
Newt demonstrated how conservatives should communicate truths and respond to slanderous attacks in the public arena. It's time all conservatives learned to overcome this morbid fear of their own shadows when it comes to articulating conservative principles. It's past time that they stand up to the liberal and PC bullying. There is a strong, aching hunger in Middle America for our side, our leaders, to fight back. Newt's subsequent surge in no small part is a resounding reflection of that. Let's take back the narrative.
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mmccrindle
Obama-Soetoro believes the majority of voters are stupid, and with good reason.
He got away with 'hope and change' last time, now it's class warfare and the 'change' BS message again.
Even with the billion stimulis bucks and MSM hiding his true agenda I have to believe the majority are on to his evil filth.
Posted January 20, 2012 at 7:37:03 AM
J Henry Jr
Newt could go all the way if 50% of voters watched him debate more than once. Unfortunately for him that's not going to happen. I used to be a much bigger fan of Newt. Since couching it with San Fran Nan and endorsing that demoRINO Scozzafava in the NY 19 special election as well as several other faux pas, I have lost a lot of respect for Newt.
Like most other conservatives, I would love to see Newt debate Øbomba over and over again, every night all the way up to the election. I wouldn't even care if the moderators were MSNBC's Mr. Ed the Talking Donkey, that insane Maddow woman and that foaming at the mouth whacko, O'Donnell. They can even throw in (insert lowest liberal epithet possible here) Chris Matthews, I have no doubt Newt could handle them all simultaneously.
I'm an ABR guy, anybody but Romney, but I have known for years that Romney would be the guy we would be stuck with in 2012. He's almost as milquetoast as McCain and maybe one of the few republicans this side of Olympia Snowe that the demorats could live with.
I have always like Rick Santorum because he's always been up front about what he believes in and I believe he is a solid conservative. I like Ron Paul too, but he is just a little too out there with his foreign policy. If we could magically combine the best of Gingrich, Paul, Romney and Santorum into a single person we'd have a pretty good candidate.
I hope the other three don't utterly destroy Romney before we're stuck with him in November, because we *will* be stuck with him.
Posted January 20, 2012 at 7:53:03 AM
PDK
When we were young children, we were all told stories and fairy tales. Many times in those stories and fairy tales there was the motif of a magical spell, or an evil spell that presided over all the land. In our current grownup world the liberal weltangschuung is that evil magical spell pervadeing all the land.
The liberal "evil magical spell" is like the box our thinking processes sometimes gets stuck inside without us even being aware of this phenomenon.
Try as we may we just cannot think our way through to a problems resolution. With time, one may finally realize the solution to said problem can only be achieved by "out of the box' thinking.
Liberals have failed to properly mature. In order to deal with reality they create an illusion they pretend they think is reality. Because it is not reality, they must continue to try to force the illusion upon reality or they must realize and admit to themselves their own failings.
It is this liberal illusion that is the evil magical spell, which in turn causes the limited, inside the box, thinking. All liberals commit themselves to it rather than stand up to their fear of the maturation process.
Unbelievably, liberals first cause our problems, then foster said problems and ultimately blame the conservatives for the problems.
I believe genuine American culture, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is more importent than our Union. However I stand alone.
I do not like Juan, I`m glad Newt put him in his place. I may not have Newt as my first choice but since the Union is more importent to Americans than our culture, I am glad that Newt stood up to the liberal illusion, and stood up for American culture.
Nobama 2012, vote republican. Thank you.
Posted January 20, 2012 at 9:38:10 AM
Holly
Thanks David for your excellent analysis. I totally agree. Newt would be a refreshing leader for America right now because he can articulate the truth so well. My SC see it as we do. By the way,would you ever consider hosting a debate? Think of the great sensible questions that would finally bet asked!
Posted January 20, 2012 at 9:50:23 AM
Sherry
I would like to see Newt become the Sarah Palin of the Republican party. He doesn't have the character necessary to become President. He has proven he talks the talk and then walks like a socialist. But, we do need someone who can talk the talk in order to get the true conservatives elected. Perhaps Ron Paul could hire Newt to talk in his behalf. Then we could get a man of integrity into the White House who would actually uphold the Constitution, restore a free market economy, get rid of 4 intrusive federal bureacracies, protect our borders, provide a safe and sane foreign policy, uphold the Constitutional requirement not to go to war without congressional authorization and balance the budget within a year.
Yes, it would be good to have a sweet talker available to talk the people ignoring the truth that integrity is the first requirement of a person elected to a position of public trust. He could be an example of what we don't need while pointing to the one we do need. I like that plan.
Posted January 20, 2012 at 12:50:26 PM
Holmes Simons
Juan Williams, unfortunately for him, would require innumerous treatments of massive electroshock therapy to rid himself of his innate racial bias. Unfortunately for us, we have to expose ourselves to his prejudices as often as Fox News needs a black liberal instead of the emaciated, super lib Alan Colmes or Bob Bighead.
What seems apparent to me obviously escapes our race baiting President, Attorney General, Black Congressional Caucus members, and the vast majority of black political commentators: Rational people, regardless of race, do not generalize.
There are some black people that I cannot stand, but they are far outnumbered by Caucasians who make me want to vomit. There are plenty of reasons to dislike Marc Lamont Hill, PhD., Whoopi Goldberg, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, King Samir Shabazz, and their ilk, not the least of which are their blatant, acrimonious expressions of racism against white people, while they try ineffectually to convince the white world that by virtue of their education, talent, or ordainment that they are somehow enlightened, chosen to advocate for the poor and down trodden community of black people.
Undoubtedly, there are those who hate entire races of people. Hate based solely on race is deplorable and should not be tolerated in American society. Judging from my experiences, most members of modern American society are not generalizing racists.
Individuals comprise our society, not blocks of racial voters, and individuals are responsible for their own lot in life. One would think that black people who have achieved success and wealth, often against the odds, would support and promote individual freedom and achievement and be those most thankful to live in America, rather than consistently trying to lay blame and guilt for racial inequalities upon those with a different skin pigment. Then the Spirit of America could shine.
Posted January 20, 2012 at 3:38:28 PM
JAC
While this a great column, no one who needs to see it, will see it. Most of the left wing electorate have made up their minds, and wouldn't read anything with the name Limbaugh on it, even if it was a 100% successful method of becoming an overnight millionaire. I venture to say that not even our Republican candidates have an inkling of what a statement like Limbaugh's next to last paragraph could do, or they are afraid to say something like it for fear of upsetting the "moderates" whom they think will get them elected. For the United States, I'm afraid the light at the end of the 2012 election tunnel is a freight train, and the Chicago Cockroach is the engineer.
Posted January 20, 2012 at 4:05:34 PM