Conservative Action Project

Since the establishment conservative movement never stops trying to co-opt the Tea Party mantle for itself, I guess that means I have to keep covering their efforts as well.

I've written about the Conservative Action Project before, noting that it is one of the many right-wing coalitions that exist to establish the party line of the issue of the day, often though "Memo for the Movement" statements that it releases. These memos tend to be mostly meaningless collections of bullet points and links, but apparently members of the coalition feel they serve some purpose, which is why they keep issuing them.

The latest memo carries the names of a wide variety of right-wing leaders - including Ed Meese, Wendy Wright, Grover Norquist, Gary Bauer, Mat Staver, Curt Levey, Andrea Lafferty, and Louis Sheldon - who have joined together to commend the Tea Party Movement for its "fidelity to the Constitution."

And after the memo's standard pointless bullet points, this paragraph appears:

Earlier this year, many Tea Party Movement leaders and conservative leaders found common ground at a meeting and ceremony at the Collingwood Library & Museum in Alexandria, VA-- part of the original Mount Vernon Estate owned by President George Washington. The Mount Vernon Statement, issued on February 17, 2010, restates the ideas of the American founding as articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was signed by over 100 leaders-including Tea Party Movement leaders--representing tens of millions of conservative activists nationwide and re-enforced the principles of Constitutional Conservatism for the 21st Century.

Do you remember the Mount Vernon Statement?  It was the attempt earlier this year by these very same activists to co-opt the Tea Party movement by merging it with the establishment conservative movement.

But it was all for naught, as a short time later the Tea Party movement released its own "Contract From America" manifesto which explicitly excluded any and all social issues.

The Tea Party movement's consistent refusal to adopt the Religious Right's agenda as part of the Tea Party agenda has infuriated establishment conservatives to no end, which is why they have continuously worked to co-opt the movement for their own ends ... leading to situations like this where the conservative establishment drafts and signs a document proclaiming its own agenda while unilaterally claiming that it represents the Tea Party movement - and then later, using that same document as an excuse to commend itself for its "fidelity to the Constitution."

Last week it was reported that, on Wednesday, a large group of conservative leaders were going to unveil what they call "definitive statement" regarding the central principles of the conservative movement, to be known as "The Mount Vernon Statement."

And apparently it is a pretty big deal, as it is already getting all sorts of media coverage ... most of which makes it pretty clear that, despite all the hype, this new manifesto is really going to say anything at all: 

The "Mount Vernon Statement,'' to be signed on an Alexandria estate once owned by George Washington, is billed as a declaration of conservative values and beliefs. Organizers say it is modeled after the 1960 Sharon Statement, signed at the Connecticut home of William F. Buckley Jr., which helped usher in the modern conservative movement.

"We don't talk about specific issues or parties or the current political situation,'' said Alfred S. Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator magazine. He helped draft the statement as part of the Conservative Action Project, a new group seeking to coordinate the chorus of voices. "It's a philosophical foundation, based on the concept of constitutional conservatism. It's written so most conservatives can say, 'Yeah, this is just what I think.' "

Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, organizers released only an excerpt of the two-page document. It says in part, "The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant. . . . The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles.''

The gathering of more than 80 leaders, to be led by Reagan-era attorney general Edwin Meese III, comes as the conservative movement's many strands are joining together in opposition to Obama's policies -- and to moderate Republicans they see as insufficiently conservative. The network of loosely affiliated conservative blogs, radio hosts, "tea party" organizers and D.C. institutions is spreading through new media and increasingly coordinating its message.

The manifesto is scheduled to appear here tomorrow at 3 pm, but already excerpts are being floated:

"In recent decades, America's principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The self-evident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.

"Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead -- forward or backward, up or down? Isn't this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?

"The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

"The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature's God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man's self-interest but also his capacity for virtue."

Wow.  Groundbreaking.

While I generally don't agree with right-wing direct mail guru Richard Viguerie on anything, I have to say that I think he's on to something when he calls this manifesto little more than embarrassing pablum.

I have been keeping track of how long it takes Mat Staver or anyone at Liberty Counsel to make any comment about their star-client Lisa Miller's disappearance with her daughter (it has been ten days, now).  

While Miller and Liberty Counsel continually insist that Staver is "unavailable to comment" on the case, the fact is that he appears readily available for all sorts of other things, like appearing on Janet Porter's radio program last week or joining Lou Engle and other Religious Right leaders in Houston next week to protest a new Planned Parenthood facility:

Mat Staver is joining with other national leaders on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to protest Planned Parenthood's creation of the largest abortion clinic in America and the racist roots of the nation's largest abortion provider.

The event will begin January 18, 9:30 a.m., at 1949 Cullen Boulevard in Houston. The abortion clinic is a six-story high, 78,000-square-foot monstrosity set in the midst of four communities, of which 80% are minorities. Formerly a bank, the abortion clinic will be dedicated for late-term abortions and is scheduled to open in April.

The history of Planned Parenthood is repulsive. The genocide agenda of Margaret Sanger continues today through Planned Parenthood. On the memorial day of Martin Luther King Jr., we will gather to stand for life. African-American and Hispanic communities have been particularly hit hard by Planned Parenthood's genocide. The time has come for all who respect human dignity to stop the killing. Please pray that the this event will bring light to expose the dark agenda of Planned Parenthood.

...

Lou Engle of The Call to Conscience is the organizer of the event. Other nationwide leaders who will be present include Ken Blackwell of Conservative Action Project, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Bishop Harry Jackson of High Impact Leadership Coalition, Star Parker of the Coalition for Urban Renewal & Education, Pastor Stephen Broden of Fair Park Bible Fellowship, Dr. Richard Land of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director.

Over the last several months, we've been chronicling the seemingly endless emergence of new Religious Right groups and coalitions. 

In recent months we've witnessed the arrival of the American Principles Project and the Faith and Freedom Institute, which was followed by Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition, while Newt Gingrich was unveiling his Renewing American Leadership effort, and Lou Engle was announcing his Call to Action.  And then a bunch of Religious Right leaders came together under the banner of the Freedom Federation, but apparently the Freedom Federation wasn't enough because now there is something Conservative Action Project which has been sending out "memos for the [conservative] movement" on a regular basis [PDF]:

The Conservative Action Project, chaired by former Attorney General Edwin Meese, is designed to facilitate conservative leaders working together on behalf of common goals. Participation is extended to leaders of groups representing all major elements of the conservative movement—economic, social and national security.

The Conservative Action Project doesn't seem to have a fixed membership, though the memos usually carry the names of people like Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Gary Bauer of American Values, among others.

To date, the coalition has issued memos demanding that heathcare legislation contain lawsuit reform and doesn't include coverage for abortion, one blasting President Obama for supposedly carrying out an "apology and appeasement tour," one decrying the "culture of corruption," and a new memo "requiring that legislation be available on the Internet for 72 hours before consideration by the House."

This new group seems to have some sort of link to the Center for National Policy, considering that the contact info listed on this memo uses the email address: @cfnpaction.org. The Council for National Policy's URL is cfnp.org, and it has an affiliated c4 known as CNP Action.