The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the GOP’s Soul

The withdrawal of Dede Scozzafava from the special election for Congress in upstate New York has predictably set off another wave of media-led hand-wringing about the health of the GOP. (See here and here, for example.) These stories are like crack for reporters, especially those with a hard-left slant. It is always framed as a battle between ‘conservatives’ and ‘moderates,’ but the focus is actually much narrower.

To Big Media, conservatism comes in only one flavor, social conservatism, namely anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage and a smattering of other issues that would fall flat over canapés and seltzer (liberals don’t seem to drink anymore). That Dede was pro-choice and pro-gay marriage fits the narrative perfectly for the media. End of story.

But, the media, and political leaders would be wise to dig a bit deeper into the story. Yes, Dede was pro-choice and pro-gay marriage, but she was also pro-government spending, pro-taxes and pro-Big Labor, to name just a few other issues. When a Republican candidate regularly seeks out the endorsement of ACORN and wins the endorsement of DailyKos, it isn’t much of a stretch to imagine that large segments of the party might have some misgivings about supporting the candidate. (And they would be right, since she has now endorsed the Democrat in the race.)

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Tags: Big Media, Bill Owens, conservatism, CPAC, CPAC straw poll
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 5:59 am in Congress, Culture, Featured Story, Politics | 23870157 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2009/11/02/the-long-dark-tea-time-of-the-gops-soul/The+Long%2C+Dark+Tea-Time+of+the+GOP%27s+Soul2009-11-02+12%3A59%3A57Mike+Flynn

ACORN’s GOP Supporters

Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava is not your typical Republican candidate. Running in a special election in upstate New York for the seat of departing Congressman John McHugh, she has, naturally, picked up the support of state and national Republican party officials. She has secured the full support of the National Republican Congressional Committee and that of its chairman, Texas Rep. Pete Sessions.

But, she has also picked up the support of the DailyKos, not a traditionally deep well of support for Republicans. Oh, and ACORN’s Working Families Party. Below is a memo Big Government obtained circulating among leaders of the conservative movement. It is from New York State Conservative Party Chair, Mike Long:

Donors to the Republican National Congressional Committee have a right to expect their support will help candidates who are broadly in accord with the Republican Party’s fundamental principles. 

There is little doubt, in these lean times, Americans who make contributions to the NRCC would be shocked to learn their dollars are actually supporting the campaign of an unrepentant liberal who opposes the central achievements of today’s Republican Congressional delegation.

Yet that is exactly to sad a state of affairs we now confront.  The NRCC is using the contributions of loyal Republicans across the country to fund the Congressional bid of Liberal New York State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava. 

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Tags: ACORN, Conservative Party of New York, DailyKos, Dede Scozzafava, John McHugh
Posted Oct 9th 2009 at 2:14 pm in ACORN, Big Labor, Politics, State Politics | 1509860 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/10/09/acorns-gop-supporters/ACORN%27s+GOP+Supporters2009-10-09+21%3A14%3A11Capitol++Confidential

ACORN Saga: Founder Wade Rathke Wants YOU — To Go on Welfare

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) founder Wade Rathke wants to use the Internet to overthrow the capitalist system.

He said so in his new book, Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families, in which he serves up some community organizing war stories, and offers his thoughts on the future of organizing. Rathke’s currently on a cross-country book tour.

ACORN founder Wade Rathke (to the right of the microphone) at an ACORN-SEIU rally.

Rathke, a pioneer of the so-called welfare rights movement that aims to get Americans on welfare, devotes an entire chapter of his book to what he calls “The ‘Maximum Eligible Participation’ Solution.” It is a strategy for orchestrated crisis that savvy leftist groups across America are likely to embrace. He writes:

“[I]t is hard to believe that we cannot assemble the troops to mount a campaign for maximum eligible participation that harvests the opportunities and dollars already available if we could achieve full utilization of existing programs.”

Rathke acknowledges his support for the Cloward-Piven Strategy, an approach to radical social and political change articulated by Marxist university professors Richard A. Cloward and Frances Fox Piven in a 1966 Nation article, “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty.” The two academics called for “a massive drive to recruit the poor onto the welfare rolls” in an effort to overwhelm the system. [Italics in original.]

The strategy helped to bankrupt New York City in 1975. Years later, the Big Apple’s mayor, Rudy Giuliani, denounced the academic activists by name. “This wasn’t an accident,” Giuliani argued in a 1997 speech. “It wasn’t an atmospheric thing, it wasn’t supernatural. This is the result of policies and programs designed to have the maximum number of people get on welfare.”

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN International, American Spectator, Barbara Ehrenreich, Citizen Wealth
Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 7:45 am in ACORN | 9958106 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mvadum/2009/09/29/acorn-saga-founder-wade-rathke-wants-you-to-go-on-welfare/ACORN+Saga%3A+Founder+Wade+Rathke+Wants+YOU+--+To+Go+on+Welfare2009-09-29+14%3A45%3A29Matthew+Vadum