Revolt!

by Dick Morris

  And, at about the same time, AFP organized eighty-two events in “cost of hot air” tours aimed at defeating the cap and trade legislation.

  In a movement of amateurs, Tim was the rare political veteran. For twenty-four years, he has been a strategist working at all levels of politics. In 1998, Campaigns & Elections magazine named him a “rising star in politics.” In 2010, he rose!

  For more information, go to www.americansforprosperity.org.

  Or watch this clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/AforP#p/u/22/mqD1nAdNl-0

  FoxNews

  But all the organization and funding in the world would not have worked its magic if the liberal, left-wing media continued its domination of news in this country. The fact that it has not been able to do so is attributable to the genius of two men: Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes. Their courage and confidence led them to craft a truly independent voice, a dissonant note from the harmonized liberal chorus that is the mainstream media.

  It was not an easy journey. Murdoch and Ailes had to force their way onto cable systems throughout the nation until the attractiveness of their product made their exclusion unthinkable.

  Some have accused them of conservative bias. If that appears to be the case to some people, it is only because of the backdrop of liberalism that dominates the three networks and the two other cable news stations. Impartial rating services have consistently found that FoxNews offers more balance in its news coverage than any of the other outlets.

  FoxNews is really like Radio Free Europe, beaming its signal to those who seek the truth and who are not hypnotized by the uni-think coverage of the mainstream media.

  Newsmax.com, another new voice empowering conservatism, has also broken the monopoly of the establishment media. Its online coverage, e-mailings, magazine, and access to conservative activists did a lot to catalyze the 2010 victories. If there is, indeed, a “vast right-wing conspiracy” as Hillary charged, then Newsmax.com is its spinal cord.

  Bill O’Reilly

  Fox would not have succeeded without its star: Bill O’Reilly.

  In a media world dominated by softball interviews (see Larry King on CNN), O’Reilly carved out his own niche by a zero tolerance for baloney (or any of its synonyms). When he says “the spin stops here,” he means it and does not hesitate to cut guests down to size or to debate their opinions.

  In his shows, he creates a kind of tension as he challenges his guests and his audience to think along with him and to defend their views in the face of his often harsh cross-examination.

  But O’Reilly is, at heart, a journalist. He is an equal opportunity opponent of hypocrisy whether from the left or the right. He is a populist, not a conservative. A vigorous proponent of American values, he styles himself more as a “culture warrior” than as a partisan political figure.

  Bill’s uniqueness is his ability to stay outside the political process and think like an outsider. When you are making big bucks, lionized in society, fêted as a celebrity, the hardest thing to do is to keep looking at things as if you had none of these advantages, and think like a regular person. O’Reilly’s head is never turned by fame. He keeps squarely focused on the original values that shaped his life. That is his strength.

  But Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity have stepped out to provide the on-air voice of political conservatism.

  Glenn Beck

  Too often political movements exist only in the present, preoccupied by the daily struggles they face in their battle to prevail. But the genius of Glenn Beck is to put our efforts in their historical context, analyzing their constitutional roots and their political antecedents. While some dwell in the two-dimensional world of today, Beck adds the third dimension of history, providing depth and perspective to our debates.

  Indeed, Beck explains how to marry the social conservatives with the free market economic libertarians. He examines the moral dimension of what some treat as purely financial questions. For example, while some oppose America’s headlong rush into colossal debt on economic grounds, Beck objects to the “unhealthy relationships” debt causes. Examine America’s inability to leverage its economic relationship with China to promote human rights or to curb North Korea as examples. We are so much in the People’s Republic’s debt that we are helpless to affect their behavior.

  Using his pulpit on FoxNews and the vast audience he has built through his six New York Times bestselling books, he has given conservatism a new voice and added vigor. He doesn’t just state his opinions and fight for them, he explains them, teaching us as a professor would, replete with chalk-board, readings, and even homework.

  His time slot on FoxNews—from 5 to 6 P.M. ET—is not prime time in television land. But Beck has become so popular that he attracts an audience that parallels the prime-time viewers in size and intensity.

  But, in 2010, he played a very special role as a political leader, attracting, organizing, and then addressing a throng of more than one hundred thousand activists in Washington, D.C., on September 12, right as the fall elections were heating up. The ripples from the splash he made on that day only gained in strength as they helped to wash away the Democratic establishment eight weeks later.

  We will need Beck’s continuing leadership as we face the budget struggles of 2011 and the elections of 2012. He is a potent new force on the political scene.

  Already there when Beck arrived was Sean Hannity, whose constant battles for conservative causes have animated FoxNews for its entire history.

  Sean Hannity

  Sean is like a compass that always points north. Sean always points right toward true conservatism whether it be in the battles for economic freedom, national security, justice, or values. He reliably tells us where right is. Even if we don’t always want to go there, it is important to know where conservatism is on each political question.

  Unlike a lot of on-air commentators, Sean doesn’t need to examine talking points or feeds from the national party to know where true conservatism points. He just looks within himself. His own values system is so attuned to the political compass of our time that he doesn’t need to reason out his position. It springs from within him.

  For those who have known him since he started at FoxNews, the amazing thing is how little fame and success have changed him. He is neither self-centered nor narcissistic. His values not only determine his politics, but his personal conduct as well.

  He did not compromise or equivocate in the face of the national lurch to the left in 2008. From the moment the ballots were counted, he called himself the leader of the “conservative opposition in exile” and, like the fallen monarch of a nation the Nazis had overrun, waited patiently until the moment for his return arrived.

  And when it came, Sean Hannity continued his conservatism. Sean’s strength lies in the fact that he is a conservative, not a Republican. His priority is ideological, not partisan. Like any compass, it is his consistency that makes him so valuable.

  Some of the leaders of the 2010 surge have been working in the vineyards for some time, but now their moment has come. One such is David N. Bossie, the head of Citizens United.

  David N. Bossie

  Not all the blows for liberty were struck on Election Day of 2010. Earlier in that historic year, Citizens United, headed by conservative movement leader David N. Bossie, won its landmark case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The case freed much political speech from the shackles imposed on us by the McCain-Feingold legislation. It allowed small businesses, corporations, and unions to spend on political messaging, paving the way for much of the independent expenditures on both sides that shaped the 2010 election.

  The case began with a film, Hillary the Movie, produced by David, directed by Alan Peterson, that featured Dick. Under the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation, Citizens United was prohibited from broadcasting Hillary the Movie on Video on Demand, because then-Senator Hillary Clinton was gearing up for a presidential run.

  Consequently, Bossie and Citizens United sue
d the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and began their long trek through the federal courts in search of their freedom of speech. After adverse rulings at the District Court, they persevered—and the private, small, individual donations on which they rely made their perseverance possible. The Supreme Court accepted their case.

  Initially, Citizens United was just seeking the right to broadcast its films and advertisements without being subjected to fines from the FEC. But the Court, after hearing the case in the spring of 2009, withheld a verdict and called for reargument in the fall term on the broader question of the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold law’s restrictions on political speech. The decision, early in 2010, struck down most of its prohibitions on corporate political speech by a 5–4 decision. Their empowerment of groups of Americans to fight for their freedoms so outraged President Obama that he used his State of the Union address in January 2010 to criticize the decision—with the Justices sitting right in front of him unable to comment.

  Bossie’s victory for free speech was heard around the nation and catalyzed much of the dynamic that swept the Democrats from control of the House later last year.

  Citizens United was founded in 1988 and Bossie became its president in 2001. With more than 500,000 members and supporters, it is a key force for conservatism. Its films, television ads, web ads, op-eds, policy papers, newsletters, grassroots organizing, and PAC donations have made it a tremendous power for good.

  Particularly its films. Alive to the new opportunities for political advocacy films afford, Bossie has produced seventeen full-length movies since 2004. These include:

  Battle for America, which attacks Obama’s programs and policies and calls for a grassroots effort to reverse the damage he has inflicted. It is inspired by our most recent book, 2010: Take Back America—A Battle Plan.

  Generation Zero, a probing look at how the deterioration of our values sparked the financial and economic crisis.

  Nine Days That Changed the World, narrated by Newt and Callista Gingrich, about Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to Poland in 1979 and the fall of communism.

  America at Risk, also narrated by the Gingrichs, critiques the failures of the Obama administration in the battle against terrorism.

  Fire from the Heartland focuses on women in the conservative movement.

  Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny is an award-winning celebration of his life and achievements.

  To order any of these films, go to www.citizensunited.org.

  David Bossie, the man behind the movies, has led an extraordinary life. Born in Boston, David has served for over twenty years as a volunteer fire-fighter in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he lives. Often sleeping on a bunk bed in the firehouse, he has saved many lives and risked his own frequently. Facing out-of-control blazes proved to be good training for the Washington, D.C., political wars.

  He and his wife, Susan, have shown strength, courage, love, and commitment in raising their four children, Isabella, Griffin, Lily Campbell, and Margaret Reagan—particularly Griffin, who was born with a narrowed aorta and holes in his heart and at six months suffered a brain aneurysm. After six costly, life-endangering surgeries, he is now living a healthy, happy life. He may have had a hole in his heart, but the Bossies have none in theirs.

  Obama thought he had it all figured out when he proposed his health care changes. He got the drug companies on board, the American Medical Association’s endorsement, and backing from the insurance industry. The elderly? He figured that when he bought the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)—by cutting subsidies to the Medicare Advantage Program, which gave AARP’s Medigap policies strong competition—he would bring along the elderly. He figured wrong. He didn’t figure on Jim Martin and the 60 Plus Association.

  Jim Martin

  The head of 60 Plus, the organization of the elderly that really fights for their interests, Jim has only one defect. He looks just like Ted Turner. Not even Jane Fonda could tell them apart! But their politics are as different as their looks are similar. Jim is an articulate, able leader who galvanized America’s seniors into the battering ram that crashed in the door of the Democratic fortress in Washington.

  With support from 5.5 million seniors, 60 Plus made a vast difference in the health care debate and, with their grassroots organizing and independent expenditures, in the outcome of the 2010 elections.

  It wasn’t Martin’s first contribution to freedom. It was Jim who coined the phrase “death tax” to describe the inheritance tax championed by liberals. It was his persistent battling that led to its repeal in 2001 and held it down when Obama brought it back again last year.

  Born in 1936, he and his wife, Mary Lou, have seven children and fifteen grandchildren. They live in Arlington, Virginia. Jim served two tours in the U.S. Marines (1953–58) and still has the fitness and swagger of a member of the Corps. He swims a mile a day, pitches for a nationally ranked over-65 Maryland softball team, and plays basketball in two leagues—the over-60 and 65 Saints and Sinners teams.

  For guidance on how to age—and fight those who would oppress the elderly—go to www.60plus.org!

  CONCLUSION

  But it is not the leaders who will prevail in the next two years—it is their followers! The overthrow of the Obama-dominated House of Representatives in 2010 would never have happened without the involvement of millions of ordinary Americans, united, not by hope of personal gain, but by a patriotic abhorrence of what the president is doing to our country.

  We are determined not to leave a legacy of debt to our children!

  We are determined to keep the best health care system in the world alive, available, and free of government control and rationing.

  We are determined to end the policy of punishing success and to reward those who create jobs and build America.

  We are determined to let our manufacturing industry continue to lead the world without imposing ideological shackles upon it.

  We are determined to let workers make their own decisions, by secret ballot, on whether or not to form unions.

  We are determined to end earmarking and the corruption it spawns in Washington.

  We are determined to use our majority in the House to reform it, change it, open it up, and restore it to the spirit of our Constitution.

  We are determined to free state and local government from the control of public employee unions and to return the power of local self-government to the people.

  We are determined to wage and win the war on terror and will not be hobbled by the shibboleths and myths pushed by our liberal president.

  We do what our founders did. We pledge our “lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” to this task!

  NOTES

  INTRODUCTION

  1 Tony Blair, A Journey: My Political Life (New York: Knopf, 2010), p. 7.

  PART ONE

  1 Presidential Approval Index: “Daily Presidential Tracking Poll,” RasmussenReports.com, December 24, 1010, http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll.

  2 The Zogby Poll: “Trends Over Time,” Zogby.com, http://www.zogby.com/features/featuredtables.cfm?ID=171.

  3 “shellacking”: “After ‘Shellacking,’ Obama Laments Disconnect with Voters,” MSNBC.com, November 3, 2010, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39987154/ns/politics-decision_2010/.

  4 Comparison of Favorable Personal Ratings: Jeffrey M. Jones, “Historical Favorability Ratings of Presidents,” Gallup.com, July 29, 2003, http://www.gallup.com/poll/8938/historical-favorability-ratings-presidents.aspx.

  5 Pollster John Zogby: E-mail to author from John Zogby, November 19, 2010.

  6 “I neglected some things”: Michael D. Shear, “Obama Blames Himself for Tone in Washington,” New York Times, November 15, 2010, http://thecaucus.blogs.nyimes.com/2010/11/15/obama-blames-himself-for-tone-in-washington/.

  7 A McLaughlin & Associates: Jim McLaughlin and John McLaughlin, “The 2010 Midterm Election—What Really Hap
pened and Why,” National Post-Election Survey, McLaughlin online.com, November 17, 2010.

  8 The recession ended: “National Income and Product Accounts Table,” BEA.gov, November 23, 2010, http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=1&View Series=NO&Java=no&Request3Place=N&3Place=N&FromView=YES&Freq=Qtr&FirstYear=1990&LastYear=1992&3Place=N&Update=Update&JavaBox=no#.

  9 and the fourth quarter: Ibid.

  10 11.5 million new jobs: “The Unemployment Situation January 1994,” bls.gov, February 4, 1994, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/history/empsit_020494.txt.

  11 According to the Rasmussen: “57% Favor Repeal of Health Care Law,” RasmussenReports.com, November 22, 2010, http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/november_2010/57_favor_repeal_of_health_care_law.

  12 Ideology of American Voters: Lydia Saad, “‘Conservatives’ Are Single-Largest Ideological Group,” Gallup.com, June 15, 2009, http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/conservatives-single-largest-ideological-group.aspx. Jim McLaughlin and John McLaughlin, “National Post-Election Survey—A Conservative Landslide,” McLaughlinOnline.com, November 5, 2010.

  13 16,500 new agents: Paul Collins, “Griffith Targets Issues, 10 Percent Pay Cut,” Martinsville Bulletin, November 21, 2010, http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=26283.

  14 According to the Rasmussen: Michael Barone, “Card Check: Good for Unions, Bad for America,” RasmussenReports.com, March 21, 2009, http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_michael_barone/card_check_good_for_unions_bad_for_america.