Conservative Caucus

The Right's Reagan Worship a Relatively Recent Development, Plotted Primary Challenge in 1984

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Tuesday, 12/7/2010 3:31 pm

Steve Kornacki has an article at Salon about liberal disappointment with President Obama and calls to support a challenger to him in 2012 in which he uncovered an article from 1983 that I just want to highlight because I think it is interesting:

Hard-line conservatives will meet this weekend in Dallas to discuss complaints against the administration and perhaps lay some groundwork for challenging President Reagan if he seeks re-election in 1984.

"We've either got to fish or cut bait," said Howard Phillips, chairman of the Conservative Caucus. "Either we get some changes out of the administration or we have to go in a different direction."

Phillips said the purpose of the Dallas meeting of about 20 conservatives would be to "see if there is a consensus among conservatives about where we go from here."

Phillips and conservative publisher and fund-raiser Richard Viguerie are openly urging Reagan not to run again in 1984.

"I would think the conservative cause and the Republican Party would be better served if the president doesn't run for re-election," said Viguerie.

"If the president is not off the dime to turn this thing around in the next several weeks, I think there will be an all-out effort to persuade him not to run in 1984," said Phillips.

To hear the Religious Right tell it now, Ronald Reagan was the greatest president this nation has ever known ... but at the time he was in office, he was such a disappointingly feckless compromiser that conservatives weren't even sure they could support him if he ran for re-election:

Not all conservatives happy with Reagan
16 August 1984
The Dallas Morning News

...

 

[Cal] Thomas said that Reagan has surrounded himself with too many pragmatists "who believe in government by negotiation rather than by leadership.'

 

"To get any lasting changes, the president must be more forceful in asserting his views and his policies,' Thomas said. "I would like to see it change, but the whirlpool of pragmatism is very strong.'

[Paul] Weyrich said that Reagan has "started down the right road, but we haven't gotten very far.'

He said that although the GOP has great expectations for a second term, it won't continue to enjoy widespread support from conservatives unless the party takes action on anti-abortion legislation and school prayer, and does more things for families.

"The allegiance they (Republicans) have is more in contrast to whom the opposition is,' he said. "Reagan has been a disappointment, but we have to re-elect him because Mondale would be a disaster.'

Weyrich said conservatives are hopeful that if Reagan wins the election in November, the cast of characters in the White House will change. That would help, he said, because Reagan is very much a product of the people who surround him.

"It is not unreasonable to suggest that he will change,' Weyrich said. "It is not beyond the realm of possibilities.'

Richard Viguerie, a New Right fund-raiser and publisher of Conservative Digest, said the New Right was much quieter this year than four years ago, before Reagan was in the White House, but said the relative quiet should not be interpreted as a sign of reduced effectiveness.

"I think my organization has been significantly enlarged and strengthened,' he said. "We will mail out twice as many letters as we did four years ago and I'm working to increase the assets and resources of the movement.'

Viguerie said the major complaint with Reagan and the Republicans is that on many issues, their policy isn't that much different from the Democrats'.

"The only real difference is in rhetoric,' he said. "On issue after issue, they (Republicans) are arguing about the last 5 to 10 percent of the budget instead of fighting against the program itself.'

Right Wing Leftovers

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 2/18/2009 7:22 pm
  • Focus on the Family Action has launched a petition drive calling on Congress and President Barack Obama to prevent taxpayer money from funding the abortion industry.

  • Speaking of Focus, the organization is also upset about the marriage of two women on the soap opera "All My Children."

  • Liberty University School of Law hosted Howard Phillips, founder and chairman of The Conservative Caucus (TCC) as well as the Constitution Party, who was praised by Jerry Falwell, Jr. for being "instrumental in encouraging Liberty students to become involved in politics."

  • Personhood USA reports that seven states have introduced bills affirming the personhood rights of pre-born humans from the moment of fertilization.

  • "Atheists Attack in Texas!" So says the Free Market Foundation.

  • What does it mean that Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger both performed during the Inauguration ceremonies? Nothing, except that they are both communists and Seeger is a Unitarian Universalist, which is "a false religion that emphasizes tolerance and respect."

  • Finally, Tobin Grant, an associate professor of political science at Southern Illinois University — Carbondale, asks if the stimulus bill is "anti-religious." No, it is not, he says:
    • However, the language in the stimulus bill is neither new nor unusual, since restrictions have been part of federal higher education policy for over 40 years. Rather than inhibit religion, these restrictions make possible federal funding to religious colleges and universities ... The only facilities that would not qualify are chapels, church buildings, and others that are most often used for explicitly religious purposes. The key is to define the primary purpose of a facility. If its purpose is religious teaching or worship, then the building is ineligible. If the facility is used for classes, housing, or study, however, then it can be renovated using funds from the stimulus bill.

Buchanan: Immigration Bill Part of New World Order Plot

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 6/12/2007 5:31 pm

Echoing other anti-immigrant politicians and activists, Pat Buchanan claims the most recent delay to Senate passage of comprehensive immigration reform is “one of the great uprisings of modern politics” in which “Middle America rose up and body-slammed the national establishment.” But he warns, in true Buchanan style, that the bill’s “authors and backers will never quit” because their real motive is the establishment of a U.S.-Mexico-Canada sovereign entity controlled by “global corporation[s] and the transnational elite” and leading, ultimately, “the death of the American republic.”

For this legislation is part of a larger agenda of a large slice of America's economic and political elite.

What is that agenda?

They have a vision of a world where not only capital and goods but people move freely across borders. Indeed, borders disappear. It is a vision of a "deep integration" of the United States, Canada and Mexico in a North American Union, modeled on the European Union and tied together by superhighways and railroads, where crossing from Mexico into the United States would be as easy as crossing from Virginia into Maryland. It is about the merger of nations into larger transnational entitles and, ultimately, global governance.

Previously, Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Virginia) made the connection between the current immigration bill and the mythical “North American Union” plot. Howard Phillips –  chairman of the Conservative Caucus and at one time an influential activist on the Right – also declared the bill part of such a “dastardly scheme.” Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly has similarly tried to tie the bill to the "North American Union."

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Conservative Caucus Posts Archive

The Right's Reagan Worship a Relatively Recent Development, Plotted Primary Challenge in 1984
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Tuesday 12/07/2010, 3:31pm
Steve Kornacki has an article at Salon about liberal disappointment with President Obama and calls to support a challenger to him in 2012 in which he uncovered an article from 1983 that I just want to highlight because I think it is interesting: Hard-line conservatives will meet this weekend in Dallas to discuss complaints against the administration and perhaps lay some groundwork for challenging President Reagan if he seeks re-election in 1984. "We've either got to fish or cut bait," said Howard Phillips, chairman of the Conservative Caucus. "Either we get some changes out of... MORE >
Right Wing Leftovers
SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Wednesday 02/18/2009, 7:22pm
Focus on the Family Action has launched a petition drive calling on Congress and President Barack Obama to prevent taxpayer money from funding the abortion industry.Speaking of Focus, the organization is also upset about the marriage of two women on the soap opera "All My Children."Liberty University School of Law hosted Howard Phillips, founder and chairman of The Conservative Caucus (TCC) as well as the Constitution Party, who was praised by Jerry Falwell, Jr. for being "instrumental in encouraging Liberty students to become involved in politics."Personhood USA reports... MORE >
Buchanan: Immigration Bill Part of New World Order Plot
, Tuesday 06/12/2007, 5:31pm
Echoing other anti-immigrant politicians and activists, Pat Buchanan claims the most recent delay to Senate passage of comprehensive immigration reform is “one of the great uprisings of modern politics” in which “Middle America rose up and body-slammed the national establishment.” But he warns, in true Buchanan style, that the bill’s “authors and backers will never quit” because their real motive is the establishment of a U.S.-Mexico-Canada sovereign entity controlled by “global corporation[s] and the transnational elite”... MORE >