-Land of the Free |
4 More Christians Found Guilty Over Prayer Gathering At Nashville Abortion Clinic |
2024-04-04 |
A bench trial at the Fred Thompson Federal Courthouse in Nashville this past week lasted just one day. By the end of it on April 2, four Christians were convicted of a misdemeanor FACE Law violation. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) law prohibits anyone from obstructing, intimidating, or interfering with a woman seeking an abortion. They had been charged after singing hymns, praying, and persuading women not to abort their babies on March 5, 2021, at the now-defunct Carafem Health Center in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The DOJ characterized the action as an illegal "blockade." The abortion business closed after a change in Tennessee law, prohibiting abortion in most cases. It means the defendants are guilty of trying to stop what is now effectively outlawed in that state. The four found guilty are Eva Zastrow, 25, of Michigan; James Zastrow, 27, of Missouri; Paul Place, 26, of Tennessee, and Eva Edl, 89, of South Carolina, who was in a wheelchair on the day of the incident. |
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Government Corruption |
Nixon Threatened to Reveal the Deep State Involvement in the Kennedy Assassination |
2023-01-14 |
This shocking new tape depicts Nixon increasingly besieged by Watergate but unaware that at least four of the Watergate burglars were still on the CIA payroll at the time of the break-in, and that the CIA had thus infiltrated the burglary team. Recently declassified documents reveal that Watergate Special Prosecutor Nick Akerman was aware of both the CIA’s advance knowledge and involvement in the break-in — but said and did nothing. Senator Howard Baker, the Republican Leader on the Senate Watergate Committee and his counsel Fred Thompson himself, a future U.S. Senator from Tennessee, like Baker, stumbled on the CIA's deep advanced knowledge and direct involvement in the Watergate break-in. Baker and Thompson both knew that at least four of the Watergate burglars were on the CIA payroll at the time of the break-in and that through CREEP Security Director James McCord, had infiltrated the burglary team. Senate Watergate Committee Chairman Sam Ervin stoutly refused to allow Baker and the Committee Republicans including Edward J. Gurney of Florida the right to publish a Minority Report which noted this stunning information regarding the CIA. Nixon deeply distrusted the CIA because he knew that President Eisenhower had ordered the agency to give top secret briefings to both Nixon and Kennedy after both were the certain nominees of their parties. Nixon was sore that Kennedy utilized the information in their debates, attacking Nixon for being "soft" on communist Cuba, knowing full well that Nixon had chaired a working group as Vice President overseeing preparations for the "Bay of Pigs" invasion. Nixon, of course, could not reveal this upcoming attempt to topple Castro in the details. |
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Home Front: Politix |
How do you solve a problem like Rod Rosenstein? |
2018-06-30 |
Rosenstein was all smiles and smirks, his disdain for the entire proceeding abundantly clear: he abhors the Congressmen on this committee, and feels no compunction to cooperate any more than Peter Strzok did the previous day. They both lied, dissembled, blathered and snickered at what they see as an inconvenient annoyance. Rosenstein is a caricature of a bloviating, pompous little pajama boy that SNL might satirize if he were a Republican. He claims to be a Republican but no one on the planet believes that, any more than they believe Comey or Wray are Republicans. This bunch has a plan, and to paraphrase from a great Fred Thompson line from The Hunt For Red October, the DC establishment does not do anything without a plan. The pretend political affiliations of the cabal that tried to frame Trump are irrelevant. They are all part of the same gang of swamp thugs. Rosenstein however is an entity unto himself. Is he a sociopath? Hard to tell. His false front is one of preternatural calm but watching him yesterday, no one could miss his barely controlled fury at being questioned by those lesser beings for whom he has obvious contempt. He bragged about being the boss of 132,000 employees! It is a safe bet that many loathe him. He was wrongly appointed by Trump to be Deputy AG and is a fake Republican, the man who wrote the memo to Sessions advising him to fire Comey and is now investigating him for obstruction of justice for taking his advice. All this feels like part of a master plan in which many DC swells are complicit. Rosentstein appoints Mueller, this part of the plan orchestrated by Comey; Comey leaks "memos" to his Columbia pal so that Mueller’s pre-planned appointment as Special Counsel would come to fruition. It all worked perfectly, so they probably thought. They were on the road to taking Trump down. What they had begun in the spring of 2016 was going to run its course and the President would be down and out. This was a bi-partisan operation. McCain and his ilk hated Trump presuming to set foot into their realm! Rosenstein's resume may be impressive, as is everyone's in his circle of friends. Who cares? We have come to learn that most of these privileged wonks, our self-appointed nobility, are rather mind-numbed jerks without an original thought. Rosenstein, like the rest of them, is a perfect representative of the "expert class," except that they are historically wrong on all counts. They have all been raised and educated to believe they are the cream of the crop, superior to the rest of us who are deserving of contempt. They have been born and bred to tell the rest of us how to live. The American people finally had their fill of these "betters" and elected Trump, the establishment's nightmare -- an outsider. His victory was a win for the American people who love their country. Rosenstein, like Obama, sees the US as needing to be transformed or at the very least, the people must be better ruled. The Constitution, in their view, allows far too much liberty for individuals. How do we solve a problem like Rosenstein and tamp down the controlling sensibilities of the American left? They have to be defeated, completely. Such people have no business telling our elected officials what they can and cannot have access to. This is not the Soviet Union or East Germany before the fall of the wall. Their hollow claims of "confidentiality" are bogus. They are covering up their own grievous crimes against the nation. It was our own FBI, DOJ, and CIA who colluded with one another and a host of nefarious, underworld informants in an attempt to bring down a legitimate Presidential candidate, and then a President-elect. Rosenstein lied through throughout that hearing. Wray was incidental; he is no leader equipped to reform the FBI. It is as though they all are aware of how corrupt each agency is and they are all afraid for themselves and their cushy jobs. Not one of them cares about the country, the Constitution or what is right and honorable. |
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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
CPAC Ends without Unity |
2014-03-09 |
![]() But over the course of its three days, the event put on display how factions within the Republican Party are still struggling to find a path out of the wilderness, illuminating the gap between the GOP's resolutely conservative grass-roots and a party leadership eager for a more moderate approach. I bet they agree that Champ and his ilk need to go. What more unity do we need right now? Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson, a Republican and actor who appeared on a panel, said the gathering was especially indicative of growing tensions on immigration reform and foreign policy, and one of many meetings in the past year where the GOP's base has met to toast their favorites while remaining unsettled on an agenda. Start with what most folks do agree on. Set some priorities. Immigration is more crucial than defending marriage, isn't it? "CPAC doesn't make any pretension of speaking for the party, but we're seeing these fluid debates and there is no clear consensus," he said. "The attitude here is: Let a thousand flowers bloom." On immigration, CPAC organizers, led by pro-immigration-reform attorney Al Cardenas, held sessions encouraging continued reform efforts on Capitol Hill. But they also quarreled with critics of reform, irking grass-roots leaders who attended but were not invited to speak. "You don't have to read the tea leaves," grumbled Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group opposed to the Senate's bill. "Immigration skeptics have been pushed out." Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was greeted with roaring approval Saturday when she warned conservatives not to engage with Democrats seeking a bipartisan immigration plan. "The last thing conservatives should do is help the president pass his number-one goal, and that's amnesty," she said. Immigration reform = Amnesty = permanent dem control ![]() "The way the left tells it, the Republican Party is in this big, massive civil war," he said. "Look, I'm Irish. That's my idea of a family reunion." |
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Home Front: Politix |
Lou Dobbs mulls White House bid |
2009-11-26 |
![]() He's thinking, "thank Gawd I dumped this screwball at last." Former CNN host Lou Dobbs fueled already rampant speculation about his political future Monday, sending the clearest signals yet that he's mulling a bid for president -- and leaving third-party political operatives salivating over the possibility of a celebrity recruit for the 2012 campaign. Less than two weeks after announcing his departure from the cable network -- and after a series of interviews in which Dobbs encouraged speculation about his political plans -- the anchorman known to fans as "Mr. Independent" finally made his presidential ambitions explicit on former Sen. Fred Thompson's radio show Monday. Asked if he might make a run at the White House in 2012, Dobbs answered flatly: "Yes is the answer." "I'm going to be talking some more with some folks who want me to listen in the next few weeks," Dobbs told Thompson. "Right now I'm fortunate to have a number of wonderful options." Dobbs's political future, however, remains shrouded in question marks. He has left open a variety of paths to public office -- in addition to toying with a presidential campaign, Dobbs hasn't ruled out a bid for the Senate in 2012 in New Jersey -- and also left his party affiliation a mystery. A representative for Dobbs said his schedule did not permit him to comment for this story by deadline. Though Dobbs's criticism of the Obama administration and his famously conservative views on illegal immigration have raised the prospect he could run for office as a Republican, he has staked out a rhetorical position that places him outside both parties. In 2007, he penned a book titled, "Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit," and in his final CNN broadcast, Dobbs took broad aim at a political culture "defined in the public arena by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous, empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion." Dobbs is smart enough to know that he would be a spoiler as an Independent, and would not win anyway. He'd run as a Trunk. If he runs. And in an appearance on CNBC last week, Dobbs told Larry Kudlow that he "absolutely" planned to remain independent of a political party. After two consecutive presidential cycles in which independent contenders had virtually no impact at the polls, independent political strategists are delighted at the prospect of a third-party campaign for the White House headlined by a high-profile, TV-friendly candidate with the potential to scramble the national political map. "I would assume he's going independent, since he's made a very strong case that that's where he is," said Bay Buchanan, who ran Pat Buchanan's 2000 campaign for president as the Reform Party's candidate. "There's enormous movement out there, I think more so than when Pat ran. I think they've really given up on Republicans, they've given up on Democrats; so he would be stepping into something where a path had been laid." Buchanan added: "I think he can win." And you can take Bay Buchanan's opinion on winning to the bank ... Even independent political operatives less ideologically aligned with Dobbs -- Buchanan, like Dobbs, is an immigration hawk -- say he represents an enormous opportunity for foes of the two-party system. "Lou Dobbs, I think, would be a perfect candidate for us," said former Sen. Dean Barkley, the founder of the Minnesota Reform Party (later known as the Minnesota Independence Party) who managed former Gov. Jesse Ventura's successful third-party campaign in 1998. "We were hoping he would have run last time." The notion of a cable news personality running for high office seems less far-fetched one year after former comedian and liberal talk-radio host Al Franken upset expectations by defeating an incumbent Republican senator in Minnesota, and after television stars such as MSNBC's Chris Matthews explored running for office and Fox's Glenn Beck leaped directly into political activism. Indeed, operatives say, Dobbs's talent for communicating with a national audience could serve him well as an outsider candidate. "You know he's got a pretty good sensibility with an audience," said media consultant Bill Hillsman, who worked on third-party campaigns for Ventura and gubernatorial candidates Kinky Friedman in Texas and Chris Daggett in New Jersey. "There aren't too many people who you can say have that particular skill on a national basis, if you're looking at independents," said Hillsman, who said he urged Dobbs in a letter to run as an independent candidate in New Jersey's 2009 gubernatorial election. Still, even with his star power, there could be serious limits to the appeal of a candidate best known for his opposition to immigration reform and his indulgence of conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama's birth certificate. While Dobbs's views on immigration might get him a toehold with some constituencies, there's little modern evidence that opposition to immigration can power a national campaign. In order to have a shot at gaining traction nationally, Dobbs would have to tap into populist anger on a broader range of issues, according to Clay Mulford, who managed Ross Perot's presidential campaign in 1992. "There's a populist streak in the voting public that spans both left and right, and so you've got the combination of this protectionist element and immigration on one hand, on the right. And on the left you've got this anti-bailout, Wall Street, focus-on-Main Street kind of sentiment," Mulford said. "That streak in American politics is something that's often ignored." But Mulford, whom New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg consulted in 2008 about a possible independent presidential bid of his own, also poured some cold water on the Dobbs-for-President talk, noting that even a charismatic television personality would face a tough adjustment to the campaign trail. Dobbs would encounter daunting structural obstacles to fundraising and a patchwork of ballot-access laws that tilt the playing field against any third-party contender. On top of that, Mulford said, Dobbs's hard-line views on immigration might restrict his national appeal in "a country of immigrants." "The Electoral College makes it, unless you're going to really be at the 30 percent level and go from there, it's a hard slog, nationwide," Mulford warned. "Without some really substantive positions, given his lack of experience, a national effort would be difficult." And for all the talk of a presidential campaign, Dobbs has yet to contact leading third-party operatives such as Buchanan, Hillsman, Mulford or Ed Rollins, the Perot campaign veteran who shared Dobbs's affiliation with CNN until the anchor quit this month, the operatives said. Given the hurdles Dobbs would have to clear in order to run nationally, Democrats in his home state of New Jersey are responding seriously to Dobbs's hints about a Senate campaign. "I assume he'd be a formidable candidate in terms of his skills and his ability to raise funds or self-fund," said a Democratic consultant based in New Jersey. "None of us are sitting around going, 'Oh, that's a joke.'" At the same time, the Democrat said, Dobbs would be hampered from the first day of a Senate campaign by the optics of running as a border security hard-liner against the Senate's lone Hispanic. "He's probably out of the mainstream on a bulk of issues. He's going to have a particularly delicate time running against the Senate's only Latino member. He certainly has no infrastructure on which to build in New Jersey," the consultant said. "I don't sense that anyone is sitting around going, 'Lou Dobbs is the next big thing.'" Even as independents look eagerly forward to a possible Dobbs campaign -- for president or another office -- Republicans have responded much more warily to suggestions that Dobbs, a resident of Sussex County, could run for Senate on the GOP ticket in 2012. "I don't think people know whether he'd run as a Republican and also don't know where he stands on anything but immigration," said a Republican strategist from New Jersey. Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told POLITICO: "It's not even on our radar screen. Neither New Jersey senator is up in 2010, and 2010 is where our sole focus is right now." |
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Home Front: Politix |
Gingrich Comes Up Short |
2009-11-04 |
![]() Mitt Romney -- formerly a man who seemed willing to show up and plug for any Republican anywhere to pick up a few chits -- was nowhere to be seen in the district. Mike Huckabee, a favorite for religious conservatives who demonstrated a gift for gab in last year's Republican presidential primaries, materialized at an event near the district last week but didn't venture into it or speak up for Mr. Hoffman. Newt Gingrich, though, may have taken the biggest hit to his relevance. He threw his weight behind Dede Scozzafava, the liberal Republican assemblywoman picked to run by local party bosses, just days before a GOP revolt pushed her out of the race. "I felt very deeply that when you have all 11 county chairman voting for someone, that it wasn't appropriate for me to come in and render my judgment," he now says. He may not have noticed, but the anti-Scozzafava reaction actually has its roots in the district itself. New York's 23rd was a hotbed of town-hall activity all summer. Mark Barie, chairman of the Upstate Tea Party organization, emerged as leader of an upstate New York rebellion against federal deficits and Obama health-care reform. He turns the idea of outside conservative meddling in the district on its head, telling reporters flat-out his movement is aimed just as much at remaking the Republican Party in Washington: "The people who run the Republican Party are going to have to learn that moving to the left is not going to win them election." In contrast, pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, the Club for Growth, Fred Thompson and Dick Armey all endorsed Mr. Hoffman. Then there's Sarah Palin, whose endorsement of Mr. Hoffman focused national media attention on the race and seemed to set in motion the collapse of support for Ms. Scozzafava. Lucky or otherwise, Ms. Palin comes out looking like a leader and Mr. Gingrich doesn't. |
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Home Front: Politix |
Candidates spend last day on the stump |
2009-11-03 |
![]() Democratic candidate William L. Owens will begin the day in Watertown, joined by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The two will speak at a get-out-the-vote rally at 10 a.m. at the North Side Improvement League, 633 Mill St. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. He will follow that up with a visit from 2:30 to 3 p.m. to John's Family Restaurant, 44 Finney Blvd., Malone, and a get-out-the-vote event from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Plattsburgh Democratic field office, 373 Route 3. His campaign said that will wrap up his "11 County Jobs Tour." Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., will join John Rich, half of the county music group Big & Rich, in an event supporting Conservative candidate Douglas L. Hoffman in Watertown. The concert and rally will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds, off Coffeen Street. "I'm coming up to Watertown on Monday to show my support for Doug Hoffman, and we need everyone who is concerned with the direction of our country to join me there," Mr. Thompson said Sunday evening in a statement. As of Sunday night, Mr. Hoffman likely will have private meetings with supporters in the morning, followed by campaign events in the afternoon, spokesman Robert H. Ryan said. |
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Home Front: Politix |
Fred Thompson Stars in Ad for Conservative House Candidate |
2009-10-28 |
Fred Thompson, the former senator and candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, is upping the ante in the inner Republican party battle over the special election in New York's 23rd congressional district by starring in an ad for Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate. Here you go, Bill Quick, those dirty Pubs are rising up to support the true conservative, just as I said they should. No need for you Libertarians to soil your hands, we're taking care of this ourselves. As I said, special and primary elections are when you fight to get the right people in place, and general elections are when you hold off the Visigoths on the other side. Thompson, who first endorsed Hoffman last month, has recently been joined by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in endorsing him over the Republican Party nominee, Republican State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava. The election, which happens a week from today, is being held up as a case study of the current conflict within the Republican party. "Big government, high taxes, deficits, broken promises -- America is in trouble," Thompson says in the ad. "So when your grandchildren ask you why you didn't do something, be able to tell them that you voted for Doug Hoffman." Local Republican representatives chose to back Scozzafava for her political experience and commitment to family values, even though she goes against the party on |
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Home Front: Politix | |
Top Republicans jump ship in NY-23 | |
2009-10-25 | |
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In endorsing Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in the Nov. 3 contest, Santorum joined former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, all of whom announced their backing for the conservative third-party candidate this week. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty suggested Friday that he might be the next well-known Republican to break with the party establishment and support Hoffman. When asked about the race Friday during an interview with ABC, he expressed frustration with GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava and said he will "probably" endorse in the race. Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and has a close relationship with leading labor officials in her region, has been the target of sustained criticism from conservatives who claim that she is so liberal that they cannot in good conscience support her candidacy. As evidence, they point to her unofficial endorsement from the leading liberal blog Daily Kos. While Scozzafava can point to many other prominent conservatives who support her bid--including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill--this week's surge of leading conservatives to Hoffman's camp is a troubling sign for her campaign and the national GOP establishment since several of the recent Hoffman endorsers have significant followings and represent the most energetic part of the Republican base. "I would prefer to not have to go up to New York to endorse and campaign for the conservative candidate. But Republicans lost the race when they nominated Dede," Armey told POLITICO. | |
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Home Front: Politix |
Palin Speech Garners 37 Million Viewers |
2008-09-04 |
![]() According to Nielsen ratings, Palins number was just 1.1 million viewers shy of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obamas record-breaking speech at the Democratic meeting Aug. 28, according to the most recent Nielsen Media Research ratings. Day three of the convention, which featured not only Palin, but former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, received the highest viewership so far. Tuesday the first official day of the convention since Mondays events were canceled due to Hurricane Gustav drew 21.5 million viewers. Women viewers outnumbered men on Wednesday night, 19.5 million to 16.4 million, consistent with the pattern since last week. On day three of the Democratic convention, when Joe Biden accepted the nomination for vice president and Bill Clinton stirred the audience at Pepsi Center, 12 million adult women watched compared to 9.7 million adult men. During day one of the Democratic convention, Michelle Obama garnered 22 million total viewers, while Sen. Hillary Clinton got 26 million viewers the next night, and on day three, Biden had 24 million viewers. Meanwhile, FOX News coverage of Tuesdays speeches surpassed all others, broadcast or cable, according to Nielsen, with 6.2 million viewers in the 10 p.m. ET hour. That was more than NBC, which averaged 4.5 million viewers; CNN, which averaged 3.2 million viewers; ABC with 3.1 million viewers; CBS with 2.9 million and MSNBC with 1.6 million viewers for its 10 p.m. coverage on Tuesday. Overall RNC viewership Tuesday night 21.5 million was about 4 million fewer than watched last Tuesdays Democratic National Convention, which featured Hillary Clinton. Tuesdays RNC lineup included remarks by President George Bush via satellite, former Sen. Fred Thompson and Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman. |
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Home Front: Politix |
Hey FredHeads (and other conservatives) - Lookie here! |
2008-08-28 |
![]() By: Sen. Fred Thompson Well, here we are again, my friends. We stand together at a time of great challenge and opportunity. As conservatives, I think its fair to say that not everything has gone our way this election, and as many of us prepare to gather up in Minneapolis, we are faced with some tough choices. I truly believe that given those choices, if you care about judges who will make decision based on the Constitution, not their political leanings, if you care about shrinking a bureaucracy that will take more of your money and do less for you, if you care about the security of our homeland and the defense of freedom abroad, the choice is pretty clear. I continue to look ahead with optimism and high expectations for the future of our country, the Republican Party, and our conservative movement. Thats because by any measure, we live in the greatest country in the history of the world, and like generations of Americans before us, like conservative leaders before us, we have both the opportunity and the obligation to keep it that way and I know we can and we will. We know what it will take. It means we stick to the fundamental, conservative principles that have unified us for over two centuries. It also means supporting leaders and causes who adhere to the principles that are the foundation of America and which we hold dear. They are: * The role of the federal government is limited to the powers given to it in our Constitution, and the bigger the government gets, the less competent it is to run our lives, and we must have leaders who understand that the market works best when it regulated and legislated least. * A dollar belongs in the pocket of the person who earns it unless the government has a compelling reason why it can use it better. * We dont spend money we dont have or borrow money that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back, and we must have leaders who understand this and will listen to the will of the people. * The best way to avoid war is to be stronger than our enemies. But if we are in a fight, we win it because not doing so makes us more likely to be attacked in the future, and we must have leaders who understand this. * The federal judiciary is supposed to decide cases, not legislate from the bench or dictate social policy and we must have leaders and judges who understand this. These are principles that made our country free, prosperous and strong. These principles are the foundation of a conservative movement that I have been faithful to. They are principles that we share, and they are principles that represent the future of our nation. They are also principles we must support and defend, because these principles are under assault from the extremist, big-government, high- taxing, weak-on-defense radical left and the Democrat Party. That is why it is important that we accept the mantle of leadership. Im going to do my part. Im proud that Ive been able to help good, honorable and conservative men like Rep. Tom McClintock in California, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder of Missouri, and Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell during this election cycle. Im pleased to have helped state parties around the country raise money to put good conservatives in statehouses, and to put forward innovative, federalist-based policies. And Im happy to carry our conservative message wherever Ive been given the opportunity. All of these endeavors are going to continue, and I want you to be a part of it. Thats why Im pleased to announce the formation of FRED PAC. FRED PAC will help identify and support candidates on every level who support a platform of conservative, principles-based leadership and policies. I want to make clear that FRED PAC is nothing like what has been set by others with an eye toward their own political futures four or eight years from now. Im doing this with an eye toward OUR political future right now. We need conservatives on every level of politics winning, taking seats from Democrats and holding seats to rebuild our majorities. We need to develop and promote the kind of innovative, free market and principles-based policies that led to our great political victories in 1980 and 1994. FRED PAC and its supporters will do all that. And perhaps most important, the support of FRED PAC will send a clear message to our fellow conservatives and supporters nationally that our causes and candidates who believe in our principles and who will defend them are in need of our help, leveraging the kind of support and activism that has served our movement well for two generations. Now its our turn to make it work. The American people are waiting for us to step up, protect our values, defend our principles and our country. Together we can do something great for America. I welcome that challenge, and I hope you will join me in this effort. |
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Home Front: Politix |
TV One to cover Democratic convention -- but not Republican |
2008-07-09 |
TCA -- Given Barack Obama's historic run for the Oval Office, African American-themed cable network TV One plans to break from its usual entertainment programming to provide extensive coverage of the Democratic National Convention in August. "Sen. Barack Obama running for president is a huge deal for TV One as it is for the African American community," said Johnathan Rodgers, president and CEO of TV One, a channel in about 40 million homes. "African Americans have fallen in love with his candidacy, his family we will be covering the democratic convention all the time." But John McCain shouldnt expect the same treatment. The network doesnt plan any coverage of the Republican Convention. "We are not a news organization," said Rodgers, speaking at the opening session of the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills. "We are a television network designed to celebrate African American achievement. If Hillary was the nominee, we would not be covering this year's Democratic Convention." If you aren't a news organization then leave the news reporting to them. "My audience is 93% black," Rodgers added. "I serve my audience." TV One does have a Republican pundit as part of its convention coverage, comedian Sheryl Underwood. But shes also voting for Obama. When critics pressed a panel of TV Ones convention pundits about whether African American republicans will feel slighted, Underwood said, I speak for all eight of us -- we are not slighted ... McCain is not going to win it, that's why I'm over here, because I want to be with the winners -- and I'm a Bush Republican." When TV One's coverage panel was asked if their coverage will raise criticisms of Obama, contributor Hill Harper, who said he's been a friend of Obama's for 20 years and serves on his National Finance Comittee, said "the whole purpose of the event is celebration. We're not covering a debate." Then don't broadcast the audio channel. Play some Gangsta Rap instead. But Rodgers added, "It's primarily a celebration but, yes, we'll also be critical when necessary." As a cable network, TV One is likely exempt from any equal time access rules. Federal Communications Commission rules state that broadcast networks are required to give equal time to presidential candidates. In 2007, when Law & Order actor Fred Thompson entered the race for the Republican nomination, NBC pulled episodes that featured him, but cable network TNT did not pull L&O repeats. Still, the matter is also considered a regulation gray area, with the FCC largely untested on the issue. TV One will probably find itself on the losing end of this one. I'll bet stepping into the partisan news arena has something to do with it, too. The fact that O is black has nothing to do with it. It's just an excuse. But then again, I don't know how BET or TV One even exist. If I started WET or TV Two to cover whites only stuff and used it as an excuse to cover McCain while ignoring O, I'm fairly sure I'd get skewered in short order. |
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