« Richard Vigeurie
January 16, 2008
The Non-Endorsement Endorsement
Richard Viguerie has launched a new Ron Paul website - UltimateRonPaul.com - but insists that it is in no way an endorsement: "I remain uncommitted to any of the Republican candidates, but it is clear that Ron Paul is truly a principled conservative in the grand tradition of Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan."
Posted by Kyle at 3:05 PM | Permalink
October 18, 2007
Viguerie Says No to Huckabee
Richard Viguerie puts the kibosh on Huckabee, saying that while he "stands strong on some issues like abortion that are important to social conservatives, a careful examination of his record as governor reveals that he is just another wishy-washy Republican who enthusiastically promotes big government."
Posted by Kyle at 4:21 PM | Permalink
October 3, 2007
The Right Can’t Even Agree on How to Abandon the GOP
Amid the reports and speculation about the potential for the Religious Right to abandon the Republican Party should Rudy Giuliani be its presidential nominee in 2008, it looks as if even those who participated in the ultra-secretive deliberations don’t even agree about what the purpose of such a move might be.
While Gary Bauer was primarily concerned about what sort of dangerous and counter-productive implications such talk might have for the Republican Party and the right-wing movement, Tony Perkins was stating that while they have no desire to abandon the GOP, they would do so if necessary:
[T]he intent here is not to create a third party. What -- what we`re saying is -- like myself, you know, I came to the political process. I ran for office, held office, because of the issue of life. And -- and the vast majority of social conservatives came to the Republican Party because of the life issue and the other social issues. If the party leaves those issues, I think it`s unreasonable for them to demand that they stay in the party. And I don`t think they will.
And then you have Richard Viguerie, who was also at the meeting, telling Matt Lewis of Townhall.com something else entirely:
Viguerie believes the conservative movement has been lied to by the establishment Republicans for 45 years, and that it may be time to launch a true conservative party. He resents the idea espoused by some Republicans that conservatives "have no other place to go."
He tells me that the 3rd party rumor isn't an ad hoc one-time effort to stop Rudy Giuliani, as was reported (I wonder how the rumors that this was about Rudy got started???). Instead, it is a long-term paradigm shift in which conservatives will forever leave the GOP, it's natural home since Ronald Reagan:
"If we do this, we're going to do a very well thought-out, well-planned effort ... this is not something that will be effective just for the '08 presidential election."Unlike other years when conservatives have fielded candidates merely to make a point, Viguerie tells me this new idea "goes far beyond the '08 elections".
While Bauer’s main goal is to maintain the Right’s standing and influence within the Republican Party and Perkins says there is no desire to create a third party alternative to the GOP, Viguerie appears intent on destroying once and for all the bond between the Right and the political party he feels has done nothing but lie to them.
If these right-wing activists and leaders had hoped that by threatening to abandon the GOP they would in some way help unify the movement heading into 2008, it looks as, so far, they’ve only managed to accomplish the exact opposite.
Posted by Kyle at 10:13 AM | Permalink
September 21, 2007
Viguerie Pleased With Romney Ad
Richard Viguerie, who hasn't had anything nice to say about anybody lately, commends Mitt Romeny's latest campaign ad: "Governor Romney's ad shows that he understands that the Republican Party can't reach the political promised land without new leaders who cherish and practice proven conservative ideals and principles. Grassroots conservatives can be heartened by Gov. Romney's nod to our values, and we should encourage the other top-tier candidates to follow and expand on his lead."
Posted by Kyle at 1:24 PM | Permalink
September 17, 2007
Viguerie Not Happy
After urging President Bush to pick a fight over the next Attorney General, Richard Viguerie blasts Bush for nominating Mukasey: "President Bush has blown another chance to energize the discouraged, disheartened, and disillusioned base of the Republican Party by picking an ideological fight ... Bush is now the lamest of lame ducks."
Posted by Kyle at 2:50 PM | Permalink
September 12, 2007
Viguerie Tries to Start a Fight
It is not very often that right-wing leaders offer up op-eds setting out their blatantly partisan agenda for all the world to see. But today, right-wing direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie did just that in the Los Angeles Times, urging President Bush to nominate someone to replace disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - someone whose primary qualification appears to be the ability to start a fight with Democrats:
If the Democrats block the confirmation, expose them for their partisanship, for their refusal to be tough on law enforcement out of fear that they will upset their own base, and for their efforts to use the unelected judiciary to create policies that would never be enacted through a democratic process.
If they don't confirm the first nominee, send up another, making sure that he or she is "worse" (from the Democrats' perspective) than the first one. If they block that one, do it again.
…
If the Republican Party is to fight its way back, the president must fight his way out of the low 30s in his approval ratings and back into the 50s. Much depends on the course of the war in Iraq, but the beginning of political recovery will come with a take-no-prisoners nominee for attorney general.
…
The time to change course is now, or never. If the president picks a fight over this nomination by appointing a qualified conservative, the GOP base will stand with him. If he tries conciliation again, expecting a different result, he will become the lamest of lame ducks.
“If he tries conciliation again”? When exactly was the last time Bush tried that? Has he ever tried it?
You also have to love Viguerie’s logic that Bush should nominate someone explicitly for the purpose of angering Democrats and thus gaining partisan advantage while claiming that, if Democrats oppose the nominee, Republicans will be able to “expose them for their partisanship.”
But given that Bush has recently signaled that he is, like always, more than willing to pick a fight purely for political gain, it will not come as much of a surprise if he takes Viguerie’s advice when it comes to naming his next Attorney General.
Posted by Kyle at 4:00 PM | Permalink
August 28, 2007
Richard Viguerie Has Some Suggestions
Viguerie offers President Bush some suggestions on replacing Alberto Gonzales: Miguel Estrada, Priscilla Owen, Charles Pickering, William Pryor, or Rick Santorum.
Posted by Kyle at 11:59 AM | Permalink
August 27, 2007
Gonzales Resignation an Opportunity to "Confront" Democrats
"Confront the Democrats, don't 'reach out' to them," says Richard Viguerie. "Confronting the Democrats and rallying the conservative base is also a way for Bush to raise his approval ratings from the 30s, perhaps even into the 50s. And that would help him and Congressional Republicans on their entire agenda."
Posted by Kyle at 2:59 PM | Permalink
August 14, 2007
Stuck in the Mud, Right Wing Forgets Its Happy Days with Rove
For many frustrated right-wing activists, news of Karl Rove’s departure from the White House may have felt like good riddance to bad rubbish. Richard Viguerie called it “good news for conservatives.” Paul Weyrich, another old hand of the conservative movement, said, “You have to say that if (Rove) can claim credit for what happened in 2004, it is reasonable that he is somewhat responsible for where we are in 2007.”
But if these right-wing activists can pin the blame for the administration’s woes on the president’s erstwhile “architect,” they will have a hard time glossing over Rove’s role in giving them an important berth of political power in the Bush White House.
As Rove helped make the Republican Party dominant in Texas in the 1990s, he increasingly forged an alliance with the Religious Right, one that went so far as to find “Christian nation” pseudo-historian David Barton the state party’s vice chairman. As early as 1997, when he apparently helped departing Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed get a cushy consulting gig at Enron and kept Reed from attaching to another campaign, Rove saw the far Right as a ticket to the White House.
After Bush’s win in 2000, Rove saw locking in Evangelical and fundamentalist voters – by inflaming them over wedge issues – as key to creating a “permanent majority” out of a victory so narrow that his candidate lost the popular vote, and he developed working relationships with religious-right leaders. In 2004, the Arlington Group – a powerful coalition right-wing groups and leaders – put pressure on Rove directly and was able to secure the president’s endorsement of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
Although the Right complained that Bush dropped the amendment after using it for his re-election, Rove retained enough trust on the Right to personally convince James Dobson to support the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court—support which was withdrawn later, to Dobson’s embarrassment, after a right-wing campaign against her coalesced and drove her to step aside. “Dobson didn’t call here asking for any advice,” an official at the Family Research Council told reporter Dan Gilgoff. “He just relied on the word of Karl Rove.”
In spite of a few apparent missteps like that, Rove will be remembered fondly for his efforts to organize Bush’s campaigns around abortion, gays, and judicial nominees, and to give the Religious Right enormous access. For while Rove helped create a politics structured around far-right values, he also helped solidify a Religious Right, addicted to this influence, that remains structured around the Republican Party.
Posted by Ezra at 4:15 PM | Permalink
July 31, 2007
Viguerie Not Fooled By Fred Thompson
Richard Viguerie sees warning signs "that Thompson may be a lot like Bush. Remember when Bush was running, a lot of good people thought he was a conservative. Boy, were they taken in!" Viguerie says Thompson is "no different from a lot of other candidates who'd like conservative support without firmly committing to conservative positions. I'm going to do my best to see that doesn't happen."
Posted by Kyle at 4:08 PM | Permalink
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