Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review cheer a new poll showing the New Hampshire Senate race essentially a dead heat. They also groan as State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf refuses to admit that ISIS is at war with the U.S. And they recoil as Politico reports that the White House is getting most of its information on the unrest in Ferguson from Al Sharpton.
Black Americans are right to be angry about their economic condition, but the leader of a prominent black conservative group contends the blame belongs with misguided government policies and agitators who distract people from the real problems.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson shooting and killing 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9. The protests focus not only on the specific case and the larger debate over relations between law enforcement and the black community but also over the perceived economic inequality between races. Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a piece for time magazine suggesting that any sort of major racial conflict in America would have less to do with race and more about economic disparity and class resentment.
Black conservatives agree that economic conditions are definitely a factor in the frustration we’re seeing.
“There is some resentment that exists but I think we’re seeing resentment that is being stoked and encouraged. It’s mostly based on the economic standing that people find themselves in,” said Horace Cooper, co-chairman of the Project 21 National Advisory Board. Project 21 describes itself as the “National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives.”
Cooper believes black Americans have suffered great economic hardship in recent years and the people they turn to for leadership do not provide anything but excuses.
“There is no doubt that under the present administration’s stewardship it has been harmful for Americans, and black Americans have felt it particularly painfully,” said Cooper.
“Unfortunately, rather than have a conversation about the good intentions behind the policies that have hurt so many, there’s been an ongoing effort on the part of agitators like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to engage in a distraction effort and to say to people who are genuinely unhappy about their situation that it is somehow a broader indictment on America that’s important,” he said.
Is there concrete data showing black Americans are being dealt a worse economic hand during the Obama years? Cooper says it’s really not even debatable.
“Black home ownership is sharply down. Black unemployment is sharply elevated. Black Americans’ savings accounts are dramatically lower. There’s almost been a 40 percent loss in total equity value among the typical black family compared to what they had during the eight years of the Bush administration,” said Cooper, who says Obama has been promoting the wrong solutions to the economic challenges of black Americans and everyone else.
“Black Americans need jobs, opportunity, investment, education far more than they need free health care, unemployment extensions or the other network of social services that this administration is putting forward,” he said.
Cooper says the best way to create jobs is to create inviting conditions to start a business. He says the administration is not doing that and is instead content to misdirect the frustrations of black Americans.
“When people are setting up their shops in places like Ferguson, they are trying to offer services to black, white and brown. They find themselves doing that on an uphill push because of the policies of this administration,” said Cooper.
“Rather than acknowledge that, we’re hearing talk that the real problem in America today is that black Americans, black men in particular, face the threat of being gunned down by the law enforcement community. That’s untrue. The data doesn’t show that,” said Cooper.
In addition, Cooper rips Obama for removing the most significant work requirements from the landmark welfare reform laws. Cooper says that simply rewards “indolence” and punishes work by telling people you can get what you need without working for it.
He also says the Obama administration is aiming its civil rights agenda in the wrong direction. Rather than put its energy into advancing gay marriage, Cooper says a far greater need is raising well-educated young people of all races.
“If you were to say, ‘Where are the real problems facing America today?’ there are fare more people who recognize that the educational attainment issue is a greater need than any of the other so-called civil rights that progressives want to talk about,” said Cooper.
In addition to making substantial policy changes, Cooper urges black Americans to make some changes on their own. He recommends embracing core principles that led to thriving black communities prior to the late 1960s, starting with respect for the law.
“In 1950, 1955 and 1960, when you look at the data points, here’s what you see: black Americans are far less likely to be convicted and incarcerated as felons than the broader community. Today, that number is exactly the opposite,” said Cooper, adding that another priority needs to be intact families.
“We also see that in 1950, 1955 and 1960, that the out-of-wedlock birthrate was lower in the black community than it was in the rest of the community. Today, that number is entirely going in the wrong direction. Some two-thirds to 70 percent of all black children are born out of wedlock. You can’t continue down that pathway,” said Cooper.
He says instead of championing government services as the answer to problems in the black community, the president should be holding up his marriage and family for other black Americans to emulate and proclaim as the ideal way to steer their kids toward a promising future.
“That’s not the message that we hear. What we hear is that America itself is unfair to people of color. That’s harmful and that’s destructive,” he said.
The performance of the media in the Ferguson story is also a major irritant for Cooper, who says Americans are missing out on key aspects of the story because of a political agenda.
“We’re not actually seeing the real story, the shop owners, black, white and brown, who are being terrorized and who are having their property looted,” said Cooper.
“The media has not been helpful in all of this. The media has had a rush to judgment to create the impression that the whole story is all about how America is unfair, how police officers will go out of their way to harm innocent people. Whatever the story ends up being, this is a far more ambiguous case, a far more mixed case then what the media would have us believe,” said Cooper.
He suggests an additional casualty of the approach to this story by the media and other players is to obscure just how much racial progress we’ve seen in the U.S.
“Lots of progress has been made in my lifetime and most Americans, black and white, would agree with that. Yet, that is being pushed aside to stoke the resentment where people see that they’re unhappy and it’s not clear why they’re unhappy, but these agitators help give them a reason to do that,” said Cooper
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Andrew Johnson of National Review are thrilled to see Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor desperate enough to run ads touting his support of Obamacare. They also shake their heads as President Obama heads straight from his statement condemning ISIS to the golf course and admits a special operations mission to rescue Foley and other prisoners this summer was a failure. And we have fun with the ridiculous statements of Democratic Senate hopefuls Alison Lundergan Grimes and Rick Weigand.
Retired Navy Captain Chuck Nash says President Obama is wrong to distance the terrorists responsible for the beheading of American James Foley from the Islamic faith they claim is driving their rampage across Iraq and Syria.
He also says the lack of a cohesive strategy against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, will hinder progress against the enemy. Nash also believes our porous borders and the troubling number of westerners affiliated with ISIS make our own people very vulnerable.
On Tuesday, ISIS released a video showing a masked terrorist with a British accent beheading American photojournalist James Foley. Another American reporter, Steven Joel Sotloff, was also shown on the video. ISIS vows to kill him next unless the U.S. changes course.
In a statement condemning the horrific murder, President Obama claimed the ideology of ISIS is separate from any religion.
“ISIL speaks for no religion. Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, and for what they do every single day,” said Obama.
Nash says while the vast majority of ISIS victims are Muslims, the president is blurring some very important lines.
“They are radical Islamists and you cannot separate Islam from what’s being done here. There are no Christians, Buddhists, Shintos anywhere in the ISIS organization. Let’s call it for what it is. These are radical Islamists. They have formed together to go step up from terrorism to a full-blown army to achieve what they have wanted to do since Osama bin Laden started this third jihad, and that was (t0) establish a caliphate,” said Nash.
While the actions of ISIS shock the conscience of observers, Nash says they also provide an important wake-up call.
“We’re too comfortable in this country. We’ve got large two oceans that have protected us. We’ve got a sieve on our southern border. There is a lot going on in the world and we were just faced with the brutality of it. We have to realize there are just some bad people on this earth,” said Nash, noting that a lack of border security and reports that at least 1,000 westerners are part of ISIS put our security at great risk.
“I think we’re in big trouble,” said Nash. “Now you’re going to have people coming back who have experience who are not afraid to fight, are not afraid to die. They think they’re the true believers. Those people are traveling on American, British and other European passports, where they can very easily slip in under the radar,” said Nash.
“We’re going to see the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Muslim terrorist. We’re going to see that person. Hopefully, we see that person before they complete their mission,” he said.
Nash does not believe the beheading of an American will result in much change in the U.S. policy toward ISIS. Nash says the existing approach needs a massive overhaul, beginning with a comprehensive strategy.
“The strategy has three major components. You have a diplomatic, you have a military and you have an economic (strategy). Horizontally through all that you have an intelligence component, which informs the decision-makers in the three main pillars,” said Nash.
Right now, says Nash, the U.S. is simply “plinking” individual targets are not working on a long-term plan. In addition to choking off as much money as possible, he says there should be diplomatic pressure to get Turkey into the fight in northern Iraq to assist the Kurds in the east. He says those forces plus a regrouped Iraqi army in the south should have a great impact without involving U.S. ground forces.
“We could totally envelop them and put pressure on all three fronts. They would splinter and at that point you roll them up,” said Nash. “Without that full picture, we’re just flying sorties and dropping bombs. Motion should not be confused with progress.”
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review discuss the depth of evil demonstrated by ISIS as radical jihadists behead an American journalist. They’re stunned as President Obama continues with his Martha’s Vineyard vacation in the wake of this news and didn’t have a response to the Foley murder until Wednesday afternoon. And they’re almost speechless as it appears President Obama may have come back to Washington at taxpayers’ expense just to attend a party on Monday night.
Former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer says conservatives are tired of being marginalized and taken for granted within the GOP and the party needs to prepare for more Election Day disappointments if they don’t produce candidates the base can enthusiastically support.
Bauer sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. He previously served as chief domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and is now president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families PAC.
In a Sunday Washington Post story highlighting the agitation of social conservatives toward GOP leaders, Bauer described the difference between the two groups as a “chasm”. He says that divide is felt by far more than the values voters.
“The chasm is not only between the Republican Party establishment and social conservatives but the party establishment and conservatives generally,” said Bauer.
“I’m talking almost daily with economic conservatives, conservatives that believe in a strong national defense, those that are pro-life and pro-family. There’s a general feeling that the party just isn’t fighting hard enough against liberalism here in Washington and seems too uncertain with the message and with the themes that the party says it care about,” said Bauer.
According to Bauer, conservatives are not only looking for proud defenders of the unborn and traditional marriage but Republicans committed to smaller government, less regulation and other kitchen table issues. He says far too many in the GOP are far more interested in racing to the middle than standing firmly on conservative principles.
“On all these issues, all too often, party officials who have been around for awhile tend to muddle the differences between them and the Democratic Party,” he said.
Three of the past four presidential elections show the nation to be very divided politically. Bauer says Republicans cannot afford to take any votes for granted. He says the party needs conservatives to win.
“Whichever side can turn out its core supporters is likely to win not only the elections this November for control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, but they’re likely to go on and win the presidency in 2016. If the Republican Party cannot get it’s most loyal, committed voters, the voters that take most seriously the planks in the Republican platform, they’re going to underperform this November and underperform in 2016,” said Bauer.
In his comments to the Washington Post, Bauer made it clear that conservatives have no intention of being ignored long-term.
“Values voters have been treated as the stepchildren of the family, while the party has wanted to get on with so-called more electorally popular ideas,” he told the Post. “The Republican base will not tolerate another candidate foisted upon us as a guy who can win.”
In his interview with us, Bauer said conservatives were told they had to support John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 because they were the only candidates who could win. He says the results of those elections demonstrate conservatives have little interest of holding their nose to vote for who they see as the lesser of two evils.
“Several million self-identified conservatives just didn’t go vote. If the nominee is not somebody that makes the base of the party’s heart beat faster, they just won’t show up and that will result again in another election that swings the country further to the left,” he said.
Republican strategists accuse conservatives who stay home of biting of their noses to spite their faces. They argue that while conservatives might not have been enamored with Romney, he would be a far better alternative to President Obama on virtually every issue. Bauer says that’s not the way it works for many conservatives.
“They are moved by analyses about what they should and shouldn’t do. They simply look at the candidates and say, ‘OK, who’s the candidate that represents what I believe?’ If they don’t see a candidate that represents what they believe, particularly on the things they care they most about, they’re just not moved by the argument that this guy will be a little less worse than that guy,” said Bauer.
Bauer also challenges the notion that elections are won by catering to the middle of the electorate and keeping as quiet as possible on hut-button social issues. He says history tells a much different story.
“There are strong and influential voices in the Republican Party promoting the idea that Republicans haven’t done well in elections because of issues like the sanctity of life , religious liberty and traditional marriage. I believe the polling evidence is the exact opposite of that,” said Bauer, who contends the GOP cannot point to any recent major electoral win by shying away from conservative principles.
“They have no track record. They have no record of success. In fact, the most popular presidential candidate the Republicans have nominated in modern history was Ronald Reagan, who was roundly condemned by the party establishment as being too right wing and too conservative. But he won landslide elections,” said Bauer.
Another frequent argument from Republican officials is that public attitudes are changing on key issues like marriage, where the traditional marriage position once held a wide edge. Now polls are largely even over whether same-sex marriage ought to be legalized and millennial voters are overwhelmingly in favor of changing the definition. Bauer believes rather than shrinking from the debate, Republicans need to marshal a passionate defense of traditional marriage.
“Instead of sticking your finger up in the air, trying to figure out which way the wind’s blowing and suggesting that you have to abandon an issue because the polling has changed, how about instead making the public policy argument about why marriage should be between a man and a woman and why children need mothers and fathers ?” said Bauer.
He says if Republicans simply went by polls, then they should be in favor of tax increases on the wealthiest Americans and be opposed to any sort of reduction in Social Security payments to help save the system.
With the midterm elections less than 80 days away and jockeying for 2016 already underway, Bauer says recent history can already tell the the outcome depending upon how the Republicans approach the campaign.
“The party needs to nominate in key races, including the presidential race in 2016, solid conservatives that are not ashamed or embarrassed about their views, people that are willing to make the entire case for economic conservatism, values conservatism and a strong national defense. If they don’t do that, then I think once again they’ll be frustrated by results on Election Day,” said Bauer.
Despite his frustrations, Bauer says he maintains Reagan’s sunny optimism that the party will come together and move the country in a more conservative direction. And he believes highlighting the divides between various liberal factions will help to depress the Democratic turnout.
“Many of the constituencies in the Democratic Party have conflicting interests. If we’re united and we start pointing out the differences on the left, then I think we have a good chance to be successful on Election Day,” said Bauer.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review get a kick out of growing Democratic frustration over Hillary Clinton not campaigning for Dems this year and Obama not caring about much of anything these days. They also shake their heads as no security strategy seems to be working in Ferguson. And they scold conservatives for making light of protesters throwing rocks at MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
A former Justice Department official says politicizing of the justice system is at an all-time high and he expects federal charges to be filed in the shooting death of Michael Brown regardless of what local prosecutors do.
Hans von Spakovsky served in the civil rights division of the Justice Department during the George W. Bush administration. He is now a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and co-author of the new book,”Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department.”
He says the Obama administration’s track record on deciding which cases to prosecute and Friday’s Texas indictment of Gov. Rick Perry are just the latest evidence that ideology is driving the justice system at multiple levels of government.
“Eric Holder has completely politicized the Justice Department. As we can see, unfortunately, this is happening in other places like the Travis County (Texas) D.A.’s office. That should concern every American. I don’t care what their political background is because that is a threat to everyone’s liberty and everyone’s freedom when that kind of power is used for political purposes,” said von Spakovsky, who expects federal charges to come in the Brown case.
“I am fearful that they will try to pursue a federal case even if there’s no evidence to justify it, because of the fact that they really see everything, including Eric Holder, through the prism of race even when race is not a factor in a case or an incident,” said von Spakovsky.
Von Spakovsky says the Justice Department is right to monitor the case but should only intervene if the local authorities fail to conduct a proper investigation or if there is evidence that the the shooting was part of a direct attempt to deprive Brown of his civil rights. For the most part, he says, DOJ seems to be treading lightly.
“If they go into this and interfere with the local investigation, that’s when it becomes a problem. It doesn’t look like they’re doing that yet as of now,” he said.
Holder has already dispatched a Justice Department team to investigate the case and over the weekend ordered a a private federal autopsy of Brown’s body on top of the two already done. The latter directive is puzzling to von Spakovsky.
“That one I frankly didn’t really understand. That may be an overstep on the part of the feds. There’s no evidence of any kind that the local coroner’s office cannot do a proper autopsy. I’m not really sure what excuse Holder has for ordering a second one, because the only reason to do that is if you’re questioning the validity and the competence of the local. There’s no evidence to show that they don’t know what they’re doing,” said von Spakovsky.
Tensions in Ferguson remain at a high level more than a week after the Brown shooting. Gov. Jay Nixon (D-Missouri) has ordered the National Guard to Ferguson to maintain order renewed clashes between protesters and police. Given the atmosphere and the fierce opinions on both sides of this case, is it even possible for officials to reach a conclusion that’s acceptable to all sides?
“There is if everyone will calm down and slow down. What needs to happen is a very thorough, very detailed investigation of the facts, which would include looking at all of the audio and video tapes of any kind that are available. Before anyone comes to any conclusions about what happened and whether or not the police officer was acting properly,” said von Spakovsky, who says President Obama and Holder have largely been measured and proper in their comments.
“The president and others, like Eric Holder, [have] said there’s no excuse for the kind of looting and violence that has occurred. That is absolutely right. That is something the leadership of the country, like Barack Obama, need to be telling to people in Ferguson,” he said.
Von Spakovsky says the politicizing of the judicial system is seen on all levels, most recently by the Travis County, Texas, indictment of Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas). On Friday, a grand jury charged Perry with abuse of power for threatening to veto funding for the Travis County district attorney’s office and then making good on the threat.
Perry raised the veto threat after Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was convicted of drunk driving and registering a blood-alcohol content approximately three times the legal limit. He threatened to withhold $7.5 million in state funding for the district attorney’s office unless Lehmberg resigned. He vetoed the funding bill after she refused.
Ste Democratic Party officials are demanding Perry’s resignation, but many Republicans and even prominent liberals such as David Axelrod and Alan Dershowitz say the case is very thin. Von Spakovsky is even more blunt.
“To call this indictment frivolous would be giving it too much credibility. It comes from an office that has a very unfortunate past history of using and abusing its power for political purposes,” he said.
The same office brought campaign fundraising charges against then-U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The case resulted in one conviction for DeLay, but that verdict was thrown out on appeal. Travis County prosecutors also brought charges against then-U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison shortly after her election.
“That case was thrown out 30 minutes after the trial started. So this is an office with a very bad reputation,” said von Spakovsky, who added there is no way for a Texas governor to abuse their power when it comes to vetoes.
“It is not a legitimate charge. The governor of Texas has unlimited, unbridled power under Section 14 of the Texas constitution to veto a bill for any reason or no reason. What this office is trying to do is take a political conflict and turn it into a legal case and they have no basis for doing so,” he said.
According to von Spakovsky, the Holder Justice Department and the Travis County District Attorney’s office are just the tip of the iceberg on politicizing justice.
“From everything I’ve seen, it looks like it’s getting worse. These are not the only examples of this. There are others going on around the country,” he said.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleased to see Kurdish forces gaining some momentum against ISIS, with critical help from U.S. airstrikes. They also discuss the very suspect indictment lodged against Texas Gov. Rick Perry for threatening to veto funding for a local district attorney’s office before he actually vetoed it. And they assess Amanda Curtis, the bizarre new nominee for U.S. Senate in Montana.
Both sides deserve blame in Ferguson, Missouri, and President Obama could do a lot more to calm tense situations like this, according to prominent Vanderbilt professor and conservative activist Carol M. Swain.
A lifelong Democrat who left party after becoming a Christian, Swain says Republicans have also lost their way and the American people need to take back their country.
This week, the shooting death of Michael Brown and the resulting rioting and protests have dominated media coverage. Swain says the situation got out of hand because of mistakes made on both sides.
“The vandalism and a lot of the looting we’ve seen before. We’ve also seen Al Sharpton come to the scene and then the media descend upon the city. I think it’s a serious problem with black youth and the police. I think the fault lies on both sides because it’s important for parents to teach their children how to react to police. At the same time we want to monitor police behavior to make sure that there isn’t brutality and racism taking place,” said Swain, who is concerned about the increased militarization of police departments.
“I am concerned about the military artillery and equipment in the city. But I’m more concerned about it because I think there’s some other cities around the country where we’ve seen tanks and a lot of military activity. For all we know, this is something that the government is behind. It could be used against other citizens, not just in that particular riot situation. I’m glad the issues are coming to the forefront. I think they’re much larger than Ferguson, Missouri,” said Swain, who is also author of “Black Faces, Black Interests.”
Swain is not overly impressed with President Obama’s public comments on the unrest in Missouri, but she does think he’s striking a better tone than he did in the wake of the Henry Louis Gates arrest in 2009 or the Trayvon Martin debate in 2012.
“He’s been more cautious than in the past. In the past, he’s been quick to jump to the conclusion that it’s all racism when he didn’t know the facts,” said Swain.
However, she says the president could be taking a stronger stand against lawlessness, regardless of the reason.
“I think he could help the situation a lot by appealing to the black community and maybe even the journalists as well. I think with the black community, they need to know that rioting, looting, violence, is never an appropriate response. It’s not an effective method of protest. I think it hurts the entire black community,” said Swain.
Swain was born into poverty as one of 12 children. She was a married, teenage mother with two children who did not finish high school. However, she later received her GED and received degrees from five different colleges and universities. Swain received her law degree from Yale and her Ph.D from the University of North Carolina. As a black woman raised in dire financial straits, she would seem likely to be a solid Democrat. And she was, until life took her in a different direction.
“Like most blacks, I was born a Democrat and I was a Democrat most of my life. In 2000, I had a Christian conversion experience that sort of shifted me (politically) a little bit. I did not align with the Republican Party until 2009 and it was bit by bit. At some point, I decided I could no longer be a Democrat because of all the policy stances that are contrary to Judeo-Christian values as I understand them,” said Swain.
As she evolved politically, Swain had no intention of becoming a public activist. She says it came about naturally.
“I never sought to be involved in politics, but I see issues like immigration, the national surveillance, the national security problems. Often, I don’t hear people speaking out, and I believe that part of my responsibility is to speak,” she said.
“I speak out about issues because I believe our nation is at a critical point. I think we the people need to stand up, take responsibility for the condition of the nation and we can’t point fingers at other people. It’s our responsibility. It’s our country. We have to fight for it,” said Swain.
Swain may have switched party allegiances in 2009, but she is far from satisfied with the performance of the GOP. The author of “”Be the People” sees Republicans too often holding a finger in the wind to determine how regain power.
“The Republican Party has lost its way. I think it has an identity problem. It doesn’t know what it wants to be. It believes it has to become the Democrat Party to stay in power. I believe that’s a serious mistake,” said Swain.
“The Republican Party has not stood up for the Constitution in Washington as far as I’m concerned. All this noise now about impeaching the president. They should have been screaming when the president first started abusing executive privilege. I think the Republicans have not stood up because they want to do it too. When they’re in power, we’re not going to get that much change,” said Swain.
If Republicans do control all of Congress next year, Swain says she will not be encouraged by rhetoric before or after Election Day but by actions taken by those in office. She says the first step to better leadership is holding current officeholders to account at the polls.
“Because the system is set up the way it is in Tennessee and other parts of the country, there’s almost nothing the voters can do. I think that’s unfortunate.We have to have a system that’s responsive and in which we can hold incumbents accountable,” said Swain.
For Swain, accountability does not stop once the primary votes are counted.
“In some of those cases, I think we have to do the ultimate. Punish them in the November elections, even if means that our own political party fails to win in that particular state. The only way to hold politicians accountable is to hold them accountable all the way through the cycle,” she said, noting the only voters can set the nation in a new direction.
“They need to wake up,” said Swain.
