North Suburban Republican Forum

December, 2012
www.NorthSuburbanRepublicanForum.com www.NorthSuburbanRepublicanForum.org

Our next meeting is from 9:00-10:30 am on Saturday, December 8th with the doors open at 8:30am. We meet at the Legacy Ridge Clubhouse (10515 Stuart Street) in Westminster. Former CD-7 Representative Bob Beauprez hosts our local Colorado Senate and House members talking about the upcoming 2013 legislative session. We'll also have the election of 3 members to the NSRF Board along with Christmas breakfast burritos to eat. Admission is two non-perishable items that we will donate to a local food bank. You can also pay your 2013 dues of $20. Come join us for a good time with like-minded people!

NSRF upcoming calendar in 2012: January 12, 2013 Jon Caldara, radio talk show host and president of the Independence Institute, pontificates about 2012, talks politics, and answers your questions. February 16, 2013 Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler talks about voter fraud, election results, and whatever is on his mind before he answers your questions. Note this meeting is moved to the 3rd Saturday due to the Adams County Republicans Central Committee meeting on February 9th. March 9 -- ???

If you have a smart phone, use a bar code app for the QR code on the left, it will take you to our web site, www.NorthSuburbanRepublicanForum.com

Table of Contents:
December calendar If you havent checked out our web site, these are the latest articles that have been posted How to beat the Democrats and other subversive ideas How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of our country, from the Pilgrims to the present The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care) An email I received addressed to the Republicans in Adams County and Statewide The Reagan Club of Colorado 2012 Family Christmas Party flyer Colorado House Minority Leader Announces Committee Assignments Senate Republicans Re-elect Leadership Team Conservatives Must Learn the Dark Arts of Image Manipulation Adams County Voter Information comparing October vs. Novembers total registered voters Elected officials NSRF Board of Directors NSRF $20 yearly membership application

This newsletter has a conservative Republican viewpoint. It may or may not reflect the views of the NSRF Board of Directors. It is intended for the thoughtful consideration of our members to inform and educate, and as potential discussion starters.

If you havent checked out our web site (www.NorthSuburbanRepublicanForum.org), these are the latest articles that have been posted:
Adams County to decide on open-space plan Colorado Secretary of State announces election integrity listening tour Adams County watchdog group eyes contributions Front Range Airport lands matching grant for spaceport study Adams County, sheriff look to ease inmate restrictions at jail Adams Co. Assessor Gil Reyes pleads not guilty; trial set for April Schaffer, Beauprez, Brophy keeping 2014 options open Thornton Ward 2 City Council Candidates needed Election Wisdom Independent Teachers Obamanation (One Painting That Says It All) Thornton to seek new council member Henry, Tedesco elected to Adams County Board of Commissioners Left goes bonkers as ObamaCare actually starts destroying jobs Who pays what in taxes? What citizen journalists can do with a smart phone Where should you shop and spend your money? Advice from a Lonely College Republican Peacefully grant the State of Colorado to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government Election proves nation has strayed from No. 1 concern Opinion: Penry and Witwer: Republicans must improve or die If I were the Devil: Paul Harvey (Warning for a Nation) Adams County Election Results Abraham Lincolns Wisdom The Lack of Shame Obamas Layoff Bomb Explodes Just Hours After He Wins Re-Election The Mayan Calendar Obamas Divided Nation You Picked A Fine Time To Lead Us Barack The Way Forward Forward! To Mass Layoffs Adams County 2012 Election Results Obamas big Hispanic win worries Republicans The Day After Editorial Cartoons Colorado Republicans examine what went wrong, what needs to change Adams County purchasing protocols deeply flawed, review says WSJ: What County-by-County Results Tell Us About the Election Red vs Blue parts of the U.S.A. A Quote from Alexis Last Night There Was an Election Between Free Stuff and Freedom. Free Stuff Won. Post Election Wisdom Adams County Unofficial Election Results Caught on tape: Adams County union workers steal Romney campaign signs 3

13-Year Old Jenny Gives Report Cards to Obama and Romney Clear Eyes, Full Hearts Colorado Obama & the Middle Class: Stunning Historical Discovery

Here are three books we recommend you find under the Christmas tree:

How to Beat the Democrats and Other Subversive Ideas

Book Description
Publication Date: October 6, 2002

Politics is war conducted by other means. If you didnt understand this before the Democrats tried to overturn the election result in Florida, you probably do now. It doesnt matter whether you think such behavior is proper. It doesnt matter whether you like it or not. If you dont come to the arena ready to fight a political war, the Democrats will. And they will win. To win in war you need to know your enemy. You need to answer these questions: Who is he? What motivates him? What are his strengths and weaknesses? What is he capable of? Good intelligence is essential to answer these questions. In can provide the winning edge. The time to start thinking about the next election is now. It doesnt matter whether the vote is next month or next year. It doesnt matter whether its a year away or four. Start preparing now. Because the Democrats already are. For Democrats, politics is permanent war. Every conflict is a contest for power, every battle is about burying their enemies--Republicans. With racial shakedown artists and intolerant "progressives" rearing their ugly heads at home and terrorists striking at us from abroad, Horowitz's uncompromising and principled commitment to freedom is needed more than ever. If the Democrats thought we'd forget who demoralized our military, eviscerated the CIA, and let America become a playground for terrorists, they're in for a rude awakening. How to Beat the Democrats is a sure antidote for politics as usual.

http://amzn.to/VdJSoE

How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present
Book Description
Release Date: August 23, 2005

Heres the real history of our country. How Capitalism Saved America explodes the myths spun by Michael Moore, the liberal media, Hollywood, academia, and the rest of the anticapitalist establishment. Whether its Michael Moore or the New York Times, Hollywood or academia, a growing segment in America is waging a war on capitalism. We hear that greedy plutocrats exploit the American public; that capitalism harms consumers, the working class, and the environment; that the government needs to rein in capitalism; and on and on. Anticapitalist critiques have only grown more fevered in the wake of corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom. Indeed, the 2004 presidential campaign has brought frequent calls to re-regulate the American economy. But the anticapitalist arguments are pure bunk, as Thomas J. DiLorenzo reveals in How Capitalism Saved America. DiLorenzo, a professor of economics, shows how capitalism has made America the most prosperous nation on earthand how the sort of government regulation that politicians and pundits endorse has hindered economic growth, caused higher unemployment, raised prices, and created many other problems. He propels the reader along with a fresh and compelling look at critical events in American historycovering everything from the Pilgrims to Bill Gates. And just as he did in his last book, The Real Lincoln, DiLorenzo explodes numerous myths that have become conventional wisdom. How Capitalism Saved America reveals: How the introduction of a capitalist system saved the Pilgrims from starvation How the American Revolution was in large part a revolt against Britains stifling economic controls How the so-called robber barons actually improved the lives of millions of Americans by providing newer and better products at lower prices How the New Deal made the Great Depression worse How deregulation got this country out of the energy crisis of the 1970sand was not the cause of recent blackouts in California and the Northeast And much more

http://amzn.to/WCrt6m 5

The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care)
This is the inside story of one of the most stunning reversals of political fortune in American history. Four years ago, the GOP dominated politics at every level in Colorado. Republicans held both Senate seats, five of seven congressional seats, the governors mansion, the offices of secretary of state and treasurer, and both houses of the state legislature. After the 2008 election, the exact opposite was true: replace the word Republicans with Democrats in the previous sentence, and you have of one the most stunning reversals of political fortune in American history. This is also the story of how it will happenindeed, is happeningin other states across the country. In Colorado, progressives believe they have found a blueprint for creating permanent Democratic majorities across the nation. With discipline and focus, they have pioneered a legal architecture designed to take advantage of new campaign finance laws and an emerging breed of progressive donors who are willing to commit unprecedented resources to local races. Its simple, brilliant, and very effective. Rob Witwer is a former member of the Colorado House of Representatives and practices law in Denver. Emmy awardwinning journalist Adam Schrager covers politics for KUSA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Denver. Schrager and his family live in the Denver area. He is the author of The Principled Politician: Governor Ralph Carr and the Fight against Japanese Internment

http://amzn.to/WCrQ0P

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all . . . First, let me say that I am not a registered Republican. So, take this for what its worth. Since the election Ive listened to the various voices of criticism, analysis, and recommendation on what happened and/or what needs to change in the future. While I dont look at the issues the same as many of you, I do think that, in general, the Republicans are being too hard on themselves. 6

I voted for Romney based on the issues of the economy, government regulation and the over-reach of ObamaCare which I see as problematic on many fronts. The results of the election were surprising and disappointing. But I see the cause differently than most. It isnt the candidate per se, or the issues per se, or even the strategies used by the Republicans. To me, the reason for the loss lies in the way Republicans manage the key opportunities they have to inform and connect with the voters. What I mean is that no matter what the message or motive there seems to be a set of systemic factors that disguise or deflect the powerful and winning Republican positions. In addition, these same factors, effectively twist or ignore your true positions. Even worse though, there seems to be an intentional effort to generate, insert, and repeatedly convey false and misleading messages about the facts, motives and the goals of the partys positions, programs and recommendations. I would suggest that a lack of comfort, confidence and strategy in responding and correcting the misrepresentations by these factors are a primary reason that Republicans tend to hesitate, steerclear, or minimize their efforts in dealing with controversial comments, concerns of many people and the accusations of the isms and phobias so easily tied to a Republican candidate. I would suggest that until the Party can learn to effectively respond to these factors that there will be surprises and disappointments which will be nothing more than a result of uninformed voters. Do you agree? Signed In Love with America

2012 REAGAN CLUB FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

Saturday December 8th 4 to 7pm
Join us and welcome in the Christmas season Come and enjoy the evening with friends and candidates Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus of course will be there Lots of Christmas music And dont miss the exciting Blind Bid present auction Great Christmas Appetizers

Master of Ceremonies
RANDY CORPORON LOCATION LEGACY RIDGE CLUB HOUSE (Not the Grill) 10515 Stuart Street, Westminster Co. 80031
104th West past Federal, right/North on Legacy Ridge Blvd, first bldg on right

$20.00 Per Person (Children under 12 Free) $10.00 With a wrapped present.
Please RSVP to: RSVP@ReaganClubCo.com PLEASE REMEMBER TO RENEW YOUR REAGAN CLUB MEMBERSHIP $25.00. Make checks payable to Reagan Club of Colorado Mail to P.O. Box 350811 Westminster, Co. 80035-0811 Or pay on line at WWW.ReaganClubCo.com donations page

Colorado House Minority Leader Announces Committee Assignments

DENVER There were few surprises on the list of Republican House committee assignments released Friday afternoon by Colorado House Minority Leader Mark Waller of Colorado Springs. Despite losing their one-seat majority in the state House, Waller promised that Republicans would work in a bipartisan fashion in the upcoming legislative session. Colorado families expect and deserve Republicans and Democrats to work together to solve the critical problems facing our state. That is what House Republicans intend to do, said Waller in a media statement. Most of the ranking member positions will be filled by Republican legislators who have previously served on the committees, and several replace former chairs who were either term limited or chose not to seek reelection. The whole idea was to put people on committees where they will be successful, Waller told The Colorado Observer. Outgoing Majority Leader Amy Stephens (R-Colorado Springs) who cosponsored the Senate bill that set up the states health care exchange in 2011 will serve as the ranking member on the Health, Insurance & Environment Committee and the Public Health Care & Human Services Committee. The former Health & Environment Committee was recently divided and renamed by House Speaker-elect Mark Ferrandino (D-Denver). Shell do very well there, said Waller. And outgoing House Speaker Frank McNulty will serve on the Agriculture Committee which also covers agriculture and natural resources. Waller said it was a natural fit for McNulty, who had worked for the Department of Wildlife. I am excited to have so many talented new and returning members in our caucus, Waller said. Utilizing our caucuss breadth of knowledge and experience is crucial in developing the best solutions to the issues we face. The House Republican committee assignments are as follows: House Agriculture Committee Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, Ranking Member Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch Rep.-elect Perry Buck, R-Windsor Rep.-elect Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale Rep.-elect Lori Saine, R-Dacono

House Appropriations Committee Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, Ranking Member Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland

Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling Rep.-elect Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth

House Business, Labor & Economic & Workforce Development Committee Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, Ranking Member Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker Rep. Libby Szabo, R-Arvada Rep.-elect Clarice Navarro-Ratzlaff, R-Pueblo Rep.-elect Dan Nordberg, R-Colorado Springs

House Education Committee Rep. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock, Ranking Member Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker Rep. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson Rep.-elect Justin Everett, R-Littleton Rep.-elect Lois Landgraf, R-Fountain Rep.-elect Jim Wilson, R-Salida

House Finance Committee Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial, Ranking Member Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs Rep. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson Rep.-elect Lori Saine, R-Dacono Rep.-elect Jim Wilson, R-Salida

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House Health, Insurance & Environment Committee Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument, Ranking Member Rep. Kathleen Conti, R-Littleton Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs Rep.-elect Steve Humphrey, R-Severence Rep.-elect Lois Landgraf, R-Fountain

House Judiciary Committee Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, Ranking Member Rep. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock Rep.-elect Polly Lawrence, R-Littleton Rep.-elect Jared Wright, R-Fruita

House Local Government Committee Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker, Ranking Member Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs Rep.-elect Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth Rep.-elect Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale Rep.-elect Clarice Navarro-Ratzlaff, R-Pueblo Rep.-elect Jared Wright, R-Fruita

House Public Health Care & Human Services Committee Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument, Ranking Member Rep. Kathleen Conti, R-Littleton Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial Rep.-elect Justin Everett, R-Littleton

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Rep.-elect Jim Wilson, R-Salida

HouseState, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee Rep.-elect Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, Ranking Member Rep. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction Rep.-elect Steve Humphrey, R-Severence Rep.-elect Dan Nordberg, R-Colorado Springs

House Transportation & Energy Committee Rep. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction, Ranking Member Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose Rep.-elect Perry Buck, R-Windsor Rep.-elect Justin Everett, R-Littleton Rep.-elect Polly Lawrence, R-Littleton http://thecoloradoobserver.com/2012/11/coloradohouse-minority-leader-announces-committee-assignments/

Senate Republicans Re-elect Leadership Team

Today the Senate Republicans met to select their leadership for the 2013 legislative session. The Republican caucus unanimously re-elected Senator Bill Cadman, RColorado Springs, to the office of Senate Minority Leader, Senator Mark Scheffel, RParker, as the Assistant Senate Minority Leader, Senator Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley as the Republican Caucus Chairman and Senator Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, to the position of Senate Minority Whip. It is an honor to be chosen to lead the Republican caucus in 2013, said Cadman. I look forward to working with our current and newly elected members to make Colorado a better place to live, work and raise a family.

http://www.coloradosenatenews.com/?q=content%2Fsenate-republicans-re-elect-leadership-team

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Conservatives Must Learn the Dark Arts of Image Manipulation

By J.R. Dunn

Okay, we've had the End of the Republic, the degenerate electorate thesis, and the ritual beating of Mitt Romney. I hope everybody has had their catharsis, because it's time to get serious. It's typical in an election lost by the right for every last factor is poked at, examined, and raked over the coals except for the single most important element, always and forever overlooked: conservatism itself. I contend that much of the problem with current right-of-center electoral efforts involves conservatism as currently practiced. This has nothing to do with conservative principles, or any public preference for moderation in politics. It has to do with how conservatism is expressed, and can be summed up as conservatism's failure to sell itself. Romney ran a fine campaign. No one in the current GOP lineup -- certainly not those who opposed him in the primaries -- could have done better. He deserved to win. That he did not win is something that historians in years to come will be scratching their heads over, particularly in light of the inevitable disasters that will follow the reelection of the Chicago Moses. Romney was also unable, as anyone else would have been unable, to overcome the drag created by conservatism's failure to examine and correct its longstanding flaws. Even as tunnel-visioned a group as the left has been able to figure out these shortcomings in detail and utilize them in its electoral strategy. We have seen the results in the last two presidential elections. It can only get worse if conservative unwillingness to confront its failings continues. Electoral possibilities will close further until we once again achieve the status of the Republicans at the height of the New Deal -- a vestige of a once powerful political force, active only as a distant chorus to the main action. One of the major failings of millennial conservatism -- possibly its major failing -- involves image. There's certainly nothing new about this. Conservatism has always had problems dealing with questions of image, ranging from the days when they had no idea there was such a thing, to the days when image was viewed as a novelty and thus suspect (in much the same way as shirts with attached collars and cars that started without the help of a crank), to today, when... well, to today, because things have not changed in any substantive respect. Several common stereotypes of conservatism exist and are utilized to define and destroy conservative candidates and movements. These include the twittering, ambiguous urban right-wing intellectual, (Steven Colbert has made quite a tidy fortune caricaturing this group), the backwoods wild man wearing camo and a white hood, a Kalashnikov in one hand and a Bible in the other, the greedy, cold-blooded businessman, and a variant on the backwoods theme distinct enough to form its own category, the crazed evangelical (the left uses the term "fundamentalist", not knowing the difference between evangelicals, Pentecostals, or, for that matter any other type of Christian.)
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What all these have in common is that they are clown images -- laughable, easily caricatured, and, like all clowns, sinister and menacing at base. They are neither rigid nor fixed, and possess enough variety so that virtually any GOP or conservative spokesman or candidate can be slotted into a particular stereotype, and often more than one. None have any positive aspect. All are intended to degrade, dehumanize, and remove the individual in question from serious consideration. Leftists and their captive media utilize these stereotypes to construct a narrative in which the GOP -- and conservatism beyond it -- produces such types as a matter of course, decade after decade and generation after generation, and that little else can be expected of either. Image manipulation has been a useful tool for the left ever since liberalism turned transcendental as long ago as the New Deal. FDR put a lot of effort into attacking business interests as "malefactors of great wealth," slimy manipulators exploiting a helpless public, secure behind their green dollarsign vests while the Depression raged outside their well-carpeted offices. In fact, businessmen and bankers of the early 30s were as overwhelmed and terrified as any everyday wage earner. The suicides of ruined financiers and company owners are far from mere legend. (One of the iconic photos of the Depression depicted a former stockbroker, middle-aged, well-dressed, and with a slight shameful smile on his face, selling apples on a New York street corner. He had gotten tired of fleecing the public, I guess.) Since that time left-wing image manipulation has continued unabated through the Cold War (when conservatives were pilloried as McCarthyists), the Civil Rights Era (racists, naturally enough), the Reagan era, (the "decade of greed"), and the Bush era, which introduced "neocons", a distortion of a very real faction which no leftist could have accurately defined if hung out a window by his heels. Under this onslaught, conservatives simply sat there stupefied, like pinstriped versions of those clown dolls that pop back up when hit. The left worked every possible theme from every possible angle through every possible medium, from the printed press through entertainment, though academia and finally though the Net and social media. These efforts have been highly effective, and are one of the primary explanations as to why left-wing progressivism remains a serious force in a society so inhospitable to it. (Note that the typical left-wing image -- various shades of congenital rebel -- carries little of the ignominy attached to those pinned on the right, and in fact, has considerable innate appeal to the inexperienced, uneducated, and plain foolish.) These images have become received wisdom among the public at large, beyond debate or necessity of proof. They are fully integrated into public consciousness and have virtually become matters of instinct -- people hear "conservative", "Republican", or "neocon" and immediately picture one stereotype or the other. They govern all discussions of conservatism in this country -- anyone who doubts this has never spoken to a liberal. You can look long and hard to find any sign of effort by the conservative movement to combat or correct these stereotypes, from the day of their first appearance to the moment that you logged onto this site, and you will find nothing.
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The typical leftist method is to create and maintain the stereotype and then slot individuals into the one that they share superficial characteristics with. The individual is then saddled with all kinds of baggage usually having no relevance or connection to his actual status or character. He has to battle his way through all of it simply to reach the starting line. Ten years after Senator Joe McCarthy nearly wrecked the anti-communist movement though a display of pure opportunism (I have long thought that somewhere in the KGB archives, there exists a large file on the successful penetration agent, Iosif Makartov), presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was hit from all sides with the label of anti-communist extremist. Goldwater was plainspoken and made a number of remarks that, taken out of context, seemed to validate the charge. (It's seldom pointed out that most of these comments -- on Soviet aggression, the Vietnam war, the welfare state, social decadence, and crime, were borne out in detail by the end of the decade.) Goldwater was beaten by Lyndon B. Johnson in one of the most lopsided landslides in American political history. Within two years Landslide Lyndon couldn't have won a vote to be run over by a bus. A little over twenty years later in 1986, Ronald Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Bork was -- and remains -- one of the most perspicacious legal minds in the country. His record was impeccable, his credentials beyond criticism. So the left, in a campaign that came out of nowhere, simply made their case up. Bork was characterized as what might be called the legal variant of the Northeastern conservative template: a cold , cruel intellect enslaved by dusty legal tomes, quite satisfied to let people suffer so long as all the i's were dotted. Aided by a substantial wave of media hysteria, it worked quite well. In a shameful display of senatorial pusillanimity, Bork went down to defeat. No figure of similar stature has been nominated to the Court in the years since. With almost clockwork timing, 22 years later Governor Sarah Palin, a reform politician of high reputation, was selected as GOP vice-presidential candidate. This presented some problems to the left, Palin being a woman, a reformer, a maverick politician, and having an attractive family including a recently born child afflicted with Down syndrome. It didn't stop them. Using every possible means, and attacking every conceivable target -- including her family (and not forgetting her disabled son), the left poisoned Palin's image to extent not seen since the Goldwater era. Palin's life in Alaska, which remains a frontier state, enabled the left to utilize the dangerous backwoods hick motif. The governor's status as a convinced evangelical Christian gave them further ammunition (e.g., an incident in which Palin had welcomed an African pastor by taking part in ritual utilized to protect African believers against witchcraft. What would have been commendable multiculturalism from a leftist was transformed into lurid primitivism by a willing media.) This campaign reached its climax long after the election ended when a known lunatic, Jared Laughner, shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and several other victims (all of them forgotten today, including a federal judge). Attempts were made to depict Laughner as a right-wing maniac in the classic mold, though it turned out that his sole interest in politics had to do with proper use of grammar, a subject on which he had previously engaged in a public shouting match with Rep. Giffords.
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Gov. Palin was dragged into this mess on the grounds that her call to "target" Giffords for electoral defeat had somehow led to the shooting. (It should be recalled that only a short time previously numerous artists and entertainers had been calling for the assassination of George W. Bush with no public outcry whatsoever.) Palin's case marked the nadir of character assassination by the left and in a saner epoch will be looked back on as a milestone in the deterioration of American progressive politics. With Mitt Romney, the choice of stereotype was obvious: that of the rapacious cold-blooded businessman derived from Gordon Gekko, J.R. Ewing, and the little man on the Monopoly cards. Romney, a man who tithed, who had once shut down his multimillion-dollar firm to free his entire staff to search for the missing daughter of a company employee, a man who had spent a year overseas as a missionary, was the farthest thing in the world from any such figure. But the caricature, in the absence of any conservative pushback whatsoever, was extremely effective. Most of Romney's vote deficit involved middle-income voters in the $30,000 to $50,000 range, apparently fully convinced by the portrayal of Romney as a corporate looter. (The sad irony here is that it is precisely these voters who have suffered most -- and will suffer further -- under the Obama regime. There are few other cases where the American public has so clearly voted against its own interests.) So effective was it that the left's fallback, Romney as religious crazy -- Mormonism having its doctrinal oddities -- remained unused. In all these cases the victims went on to disprove the left's contentions in detail. Barry Goldwater served in the Senate for nearly another thirty years, being praised on his retirement by the very media outlets that had attacked him so brutally in 1964. Robert Bork stands as one of the most incisive and penetrating (if often too gloomy) of contemporary social critics. Governor Palin effectively rallies the conservative rank and file and shakes up the left with an occasional tweet or two while (wisely, I think) biding her time. No doubt exists that Mitt Romney will find a means of serving his country as he has done so ably in the past. A detailed analysis of leftist tactics and techniques in this regard can wait. What is important is the conservative response. Disheartening as it may seem, this has been almost exclusively negative, when it has occurred at all. The typical conservative reaction to leftwing image manipulation consist of simple paralysis, a deer-in-the-headlights response composed of equal parts fear, confusion, and ineptness. One recent example involves Virginia politician George Allen. Running for the Senate in 2006, Allen drew attention to a Democratic stalker named S.R. Sidarth, at a rally, calling him "macaca", a word of West African origin, evidently derived from the macaque monkey and meaning a silly or trivial person (certainly apropos in this case, since Sidarth wore his hair in a Mohawk and dressed with similar flamboyance). Although the term has no discernible racial content, the Washington Post , followed by the media sphere as a whole, accused Allen of racism -- Sidarth was Hindu and thus, although as Caucasian as Willy McGilly, an honorary "person of color." Rather than challenge his attackers, respond with "so what?" or produce a Photoshopped picture of a macaque with a Mohawk (as I would have done), Allen panicked and froze like a spotlighted rat.
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He compounded the offense several weeks later when a reporter confronted him with evidence that he had Jewish ancestry. Rather than give a hearty "Mazel tov!" Allen turned and ran off without a word. Although the onetime favorite in the race, he was soundly beaten, as he deserved to be. (Despite this clear record of spinelessness, the Virginia GOP could apparently find nobody better and ran him once again in 2012. He was again whipped, and his political career should be considered over.) Such examples could be extended almost infinitely. Neither the GOP nor the conservative establishment lifted a finger to defend Robert Bork in 1986. The Heritage Foundation, long known for its concern with judicial matters, spent the summer promoting a trivial book extolling its "third generation" of activists, none of whom had any further impact. When an even more repellent campaign was executed against Clarence Thomas, he wisely (and against much conservative "advice") acted on his own, swiftly turning the tables against his tormentors. During the Bush administration, attacks against the president amounting to calls for his assassination (on the grounds that he was a "fascist dictator") were allowed to pass unchallenged. Rhetoric of this type would have horrified the country under previous administrations. Because conservatives chose to hide under rocks, threats of violence have become a standard means of harassment for figures ranging from Lawrence O'Donnell to the SEIU. The conservative reaction can only be viewed as an expression of cowardice. So the public views it, and they are quite correct. A politician or party that will not stand up for its own reputation is unlikely to stand up for anything at all -- principle, tradition, or the interests of the voters. But this is far from the lowest class of response. That belongs to the conservative turncoats, a large group among the upper conservative punditry, who are not only easily led into stereotyping their own but can often be found taking the lead. These include Kathleen Parker, David Brooks, David Frum, Peggy Noonan, and Andrew Sullivan. This group reacted with vigor to the appearance of Sarah Palin, not only jumping on the bandwagon of what, at base, was a public assault on a mother and her family, but taking the reins and clearing traffic for it. One of them, Andrew Sullivan, a gay man with the squeamishness concerning childbirth and child rearing often displayed by gay men, topped them all with a grotesque conspiracy theory in which the governor's son Trig had actually been borne by her daughter Bristol, thus adding a gamey whiff of backwoods sexuality to the saga. In 2012, Peggy Noonan, whose stint as a junior speechwriter for Ronald Reagan gave her a vastly inflated reputation for political wisdom, joined in attacks on Mitt Romney after the exposure of his 47% speech. Noonan's comments were, as always, shallow and forgettable. But what mattered was her presence -- the simple fact that a noted "conservative" was chiming in served to validate leftist accusations, in this case of the "heartless businessman" variety. It has become commonplace for the left to haul one of these media right-wingers out when they want to tear down an opposition politician. They never seem to have a problem finding one. And yet, at the same time, these people are still esteemed by conservatives, still honored, their advice and presence still sought after. This is clear evidence of a serious strain of decadence within the conservative movement.
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Which could also be said of the third major class of response, that of embracing the stereotype, of taking it on as a kind of costume, and even pushing it farther than the left themselves. I knew a noted spokesman for one of the major conservative media organizations who used to appear at public lectures with two heavy-set young men standing at either side of the lectern wearing camo fatigues and sunglasses, thus turning himself from conservative spokesman into Benito Mussolini. This same kind of behavior can be found at all levels of the movement from comment threads all the way to the top. Rush indulges in it all too often. Ann Coulter has made a career of it. While definitely a crowd-pleaser, it is, in the end, self-defeating. These stereotypes were constructed by the left for a reason -- to manipulate the public at large, ignorant of political subtleties and unfamiliar with doctrine, into certain visceral reactions to conservatives and their ideas. They were created to destroy conservatives. Why play along with them? It's not at all clear why no effort has been put into combating leftist image manipulation and stereotyping. I suspect it has to do with the faux elitist roots of old guard -- the aping of an imaginary WASP ruling class that one still finds among Northeastern conservatives. Answering, or even giving attention to such insults is considered to be in bad taste and evidence of poor breeding, something beneath the notice of true gentlefolk. We simply don't do that kind of thing, you see. Well, we'd better resign ourselves to getting our seersucker rumpled and start doing that kind of thing. Inaction may have been excusable fifty years ago, when the major papers, the two newswires, and all three networks were owned and operated by convinced liberals. In the age of the internet and social media, it is excusable no longer. There are vast resources that remain unused in the image wars. We need to learn how to use them. The value of deterrence cannot be overlooked. Conservatives should select one or more representative leftist icons and Palinize them. Susan Rice, with her decades-long record of incompetence, mendacity, dishonesty, and sleaze (this woman tried to cover up the Rwanda massacres, long before the Benghazi attack), would make an excellent target. Many old-school conservatives would stand aghast at such a campaign on grounds of brutality and incivility, and they would be as correct as they are irrelevant. There comes a certain point where you must take up the weapons of your opponent if you wish to survive. That point came and went when some clever network exec in the spring of 1964 said, "Let's make Goldwater into a Nazi." During both world wars, Germany was rightfully condemned by the Western allies for ordering Uboats to sink ships without warning. Then the Allies themselves, out of sheer necessity, adapted the same strategy, utterly destroying the Axis navies and merchant marines with tremendous loss of life. With their action, the Germans opened a door, and had to accept whatever came through. The same is true of the left today. Punishment is also useful. Every time a leftist media figure employs a degrading stereotype, or insults an innocent party, or suggests that a political figure be assaulted or killed, they need to be punished. The social networks, Twitter and Facebook being the leading examples, comprise perfect weapons for such an effort. Thousands of tweets or emails will send the heads of the network execs spinning, with calls sent out for Larry or Ed or Rachel to drop by the office before they go the
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studio. Make them pay a price -- now they pay no price whatsoever. All it would take is a little organization. Another method would be to turn around the stereotypes and begin ridiculing the left on the same level -- not as individuals, but as clowns. This has become known in recent years as Alinskyite ridicule, though it goes back eons before Hammurabi. Calling Sandra Fluke a "slut" merely generated sympathy for her. Turning her into a clown uncertain what to do with a condom if one was handed to her would have shut the whole campaign down in short order. (How about the Facebook "Sandra Fluke Condom Support Group"?) This kind of thing works, doesn't take much in the way of effort, and we can be sure the left will provide plenty of ammunition. The same tools can be used to create more friendly stereotypes, to project the image we want to project. In this election Mitt Romney's essential decency and humanity were totally lost. Next to no effort was made to put them across. (Romney himself was forbidden to toot his own horn by his religious convictions.) A few years ago, the National Rifle Association, after decades of fumblefigured PR ("We're only hunters! Honest!"), hit on the "I am the NRA" campaign, featuring attractive NRA members of all sexes, races, and ethnic backgrounds. The campaign worked well, humanizing gun owners and turning back concerted left-wing attempts to characterize the organization as something along the lines of a Jared Laughner fan club. Similar campaigns featuring conservatives or Republicans is not difficult to envisage. Such efforts are long overdue. The tools are at hand. We need to learn all there is to know about image generation, narrative strategies, propaganda, and the tricks of the media. The first difficulty will involve members of our own team. A change of attitude is necessary. We shouldn't expect much from the Northeastern cons -- they're too eager to surrender, and many of them are only nominally conservative at this date. (They probably feel rather flattered by Colbert's portrayal in any case.) But the new conservative activists, often dismissed as the Tea Parties, are another story. They are the ones who can remake the conservative image into something that will attract rather than repel. The 2012 election has clearly revealed how high the stakes are. This is a knock-down, drag-out battle, a battle that the movement has so far declined to accept. We must stop refusing to play the game as it has to be played -- refusing to learn, refusing to move into a new era, refusing to step beyond the stereotypes. Above all, we need to stop walking into sucker punches, playing the game the way the left wants us to play it. The world will never respect anyone who allows that to be done to him. The image of the simpering twit is the first one we need to shed. Leftist control of the conservative image is no longer acceptable. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Russian socialists split into two warring factions. The smaller one -- nearly miniscule, as a matter of sheer numbers -- adapted the name "Bolsheviks" (the "majority" party) and forced the name "Mensheviks" (Guess?) on the much larger opposing faction. Twenty years later the Bolsheviks controlled Russia, and the Mensheviks were on their way to the Gulag.
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Conservatives must seize control of their own image, or risk becoming the Mensheviks of the 21st century.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/conservatives_must_learn_the_dark_arts_of_image_manipulation.ht ml#ixzz2DxW4C6oN

***Notice the difference in one month of party affiliation. October is the chart above and November is below. Democrats added 5,022 voters, Republicans added 1,484 voters, and Unaffiliated 4,562 voters.

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NSRF Board of Directors & Term expires John Lefebvre-2012 President Dana West-2014 Vice President Jan Hurtt-2012 Treasurer Phil Mocon-2012 Secretary Brian Vande Krol-2013 Membership Gary Mikes-2013 Membership Leonard Coppes-2013 Membership Wanda Barnes-2014 Membership Kevin Allen-2014 Membership

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The North Suburban Republican Forum

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