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Title: Could the Constitution Party pick up the pieces of the GOP? (Howard Phillips' World - Mother Jones)
Source:
Third Party Watch
URL Source: http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/11/ ... pick-up-the-pieces-of-the-gop/
Published: Nov 4, 2008
Author: David Franke
Post Date: 2008-11-06 02:12:21 by Rotara
Ping List: *Constitution Party* Subscribe to *Constitution Party*
Keywords: None
Views: 500
Comments: 20
Could the Constitution Party pick up the pieces of the GOP? Mother Jones doesn’t pretend to be an “objective” magazine, so don’t expect anything but sneers in this article focusing on Howard Phillips, the power-broker of the Constitution Party. But don’t let that scare you away from reading this article, because there’s a lot of interesting speculation mixed up with the leftist conspiracy-mongering. For example: Poster Comment: Howard Phillips' World News: Could the Constitution Party pick up the pieces of the GOP? November 3, 2008 On a mid-September evening in northern Virginia, a group of true believers gathered in a spare meeting room at the Hyatt Arlington to celebrate the 221st anniversary of the signing of the US Constitution. This special event, sponsored by the political advocacy group the Conservative Caucus, drew some 40 or so people to gather at the feet of Caucus Chairman Howard Phillips, one of the grand architects of the religious right. Among the presenters were Thomas DiLorenzo, who offered a repudiation of Alexander Hamilton, and M. Stanton Evans, who delivered a paean to the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The evening's highlight was the presentation of the Conservative Caucus' Andrew Jackson Champion of Liberty Award to Cliff Kincaid, the longtime purveyor of a theme that would be picked up by the McCain camp in the final weeks of the campaign—that of Obama as spawn of a socialist, even communist, milieu. Far from the ad makers and messaging experts, the personal shoppers, makeup artists, and campaign planes, here was the ill-funded alternate universe of the earnestly paranoid, led by a man who, through sheer force of personality, helped inspire a viral effort to plant doubts about the Democratic presidential nominee. As the 2008 presidential campaign draws to a close, much of the swirl of insinuations about Obama traces back to Phillips and the ideology he represents, an admixture of ferocious anti-communism, vehement anti-feminism, and politicized Christian chauvinism. As a key player in a string of right-wing organizations, Phillips sits at the nexus of an alliance of activists who, beginning in primary season, advanced a fear-based case against Democratic candidate Barack Obama that would be disseminated throughout right-wing media, and eventually make its way, in a softened form, into the rhetoric of John McCain and Sarah Palin. And that rhetoric, about whether Obama shares America's values, or has plans for the redistribution of wealth, has embarrassed the party's moderates, some to the point of repudiating McCain. She may not know it, but Palin herself owes a career debt to the Phillips worldview. Her first campaign for mayor of Wasilla was reportedly pushed by Mark Chryson, then chairman of the Alaska affiliate of Phillips' Constitution Party, and his associate Steve Stoll, an activist for the anti-communist John Birch Society with whose president, John F. McManus, Phillips often collaborates. Another of Phillips' close associates is Jerome Corsi, author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, which portrays Obama as a closet socialist, and of course Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, cowritten with John E. O'Neill, which became a New York Times best-seller. Phillips is in frequent contact with Corsi, who, late last year, abandoned a bid for the Constitution Party's presidential nomination in order to devote himself to promoting another of his books, this one about immigration, The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada. Cliff Kincaid, whom Phillips called "a good friend," told the Conservative Caucus gathering that he supplied much of the research for Corsi's Obama book, as well as for David Freddoso's The Case Against Barack Obama. Kincaid leads America's Survival, Inc., and is a longtime writer and editor for Accuracy in Media, both right-wing media outfits funded by foundations controlled by right-wing financier Richard Mellon Scaife. The story told by Phillips' followers is familiar by now: that Obama, who may not have been born in America, was mentored by socialists and communists, and pals around with domestic terrorists. As backlash to the Palin pick grew and McCain flubbed his handling of the financial crisis at that critical moment in September, the desperate candidate seemed only too happy to run with parts of the poison package handed him by Corsi and Kincaid. Palin and McCain have built on the right's theme, calling Obama a socialist for advocating a more progressive tax system. Meanwhile, the idea that Obama is foreign born is advanced on blogs like The Corner at the National Review's website and Atlas Shrugs, as well as on Internet news sites such as WorldNetDaily and Newsmax. The foremost purveyor of the alleged Obama birth-certificate mystery is Corsi, who, Phillips said when he spoke to me on Monday, "is in Hawaii right now, doing his best to check out the natural-born-citizenship status of Barack Obama." (The nonpartisan group FactCheck.org has vouched for the validity of Obama's Hawaii birth certificate, which its researchers said they have seen and touched.) But Phillips has his sights set on more than defeating Obama; he'd like to blow up the Republican Party as well. For more than a decade, Phillips has been hard at work building the infrastructure of the Constitution Party, which he believes could pick up the most socially right-leaning fragments of the GOP in the event of an intraparty split. If Barack Obama wins the presidency, Phillips believes, this could be that moment. More than a decade ago, Phillips explained to me that he well understood that the US electoral system favors the two-party setup; the question, he said, is which two parties. He also predicted a financial crisis—which he then saw as imminent—that would "terminally undermine confidence in whomever controls the presidency when it hits and, to a lesser extent, in the other party, as well," he said. "The whole purpose" of his party's presidential bid, he said, "is to position for that crisis and to be able to pick up the pieces when it's over." And indeed, speculation today is rife over a potential crack-up of the Republican Party, especially after the rifts exposed over the Wall Street bailout. Adding to the strife is the selection of Palin as McCain's running mate. Even as the pick elated the party's right wing, it has served to alienate the likes of Colin Powell, former Reagan administration official Ken Adelman, and Charles Fried, the former Reagan administration solicitor general, all of whom have endorsed Barack Obama, along with a string of elite conservative columnists. For Phillips' purposes, that makes Palin this year's perfect pick. In the constellation of organizations Phillips either founded or cofounded, the most powerful by far is the Council for National Policy, an umbrella group of right-wing activists currently led, according to Phillips, by Becky Norton Dunlop, vice president for external relations for the Heritage Foundation. The CNP meets in secret closed-door sessions, most recently in St. Paul the weekend prior to the Republican National Convention. He told me that when news of the Palin pick came, the room erupted. "They were hugging each other, they were screaming, they were so happy," Phillips said of the CNP members, who hail from the leadership of nearly every right-wing organization, religious and secular. "And I can understand why," he said, citing her comments upon the birth of her youngest child, Trig, who has Down syndrome. According to the Anchorage Daily News, "Palin said she was sad at first but they now feel blessed that God chose them." Phillips does carry a bit of a torch for Palin, hoping she herself might someday abandon the GOP: "She is a person who has won the hearts of grassroots conservatives, and she might be the kind of person who would consider another course of action." That other course of action, in his view, would be to leave the Republican Party and run on the ticket of his Constitution Party, of which the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party is the state affiliate. Though Palin never belonged to the AIP, her husband, Todd, did register as a member for seven years, dropping the affiliation during his wife's unsuccessful 2002 run for lieutenant governor. Then, just a few months ago, the governor herself delivered a video greeting to the party's statewide convention, telling the assembled to "keep up the good work." "If conservatives were smart, they would ditch [the Republican Party] and start over," Phillips told me in a phone interview this week from his Virginia office. "But it would take some visible leadership to do that, and you have a lot of people who see themselves as the Republican nominee four years hence who feel they've got an investment in the GOP." As for himself, Phillips says, he'll stick with the outside game—even though it's left him, at 67, with little money, while his former White House colleagues (Phillips famously led a "defund the left" campaign from the Office of Economic Opportunity, which he headed during the Nixon administration) went on to successful corporate careers. Just two weeks ago, Phillips gathered with other former OEO colleagues at Vice President Dick Cheney's official residence, several multimillionaires—including Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld—among them. Yet Phillips holds out hope he may yet have the last laugh. In the event of a schism, he reasons, the faction of the GOP likely to fall to the Constitution Party is the faction with the ground operation—the evangelical churches and faith-based organizations that run the get-out-the-vote operation created through the organizing infrastructure created by Phillips and Richard Viguerie more than 30 years ago. But the establishment faction has its own assets. "They don't have the ground game, but they do control the party's money. The concentrated power in the party establishment. The question is, will people who have grassroots support consider a different strategy? Will the James Dobsons of the world consider starting fresh outside the GOP?" Phillips said he's not optimistic that they will, though he does note that "the natives are restless" on the right. This presidential election, his Constitution Party will appear on the ballot in 38 states. The ticket has been endorsed by Ron Paul, the libertarian whose candidacy set online fundraising records but ultimately failed to draw votes in the Republican primary. Paul—and Obama, for that matter—also points the way to a new organizing paradigm for Phillips, who like Obama is well schooled in grassroots activism. (In the early days of the Conservative Caucus, which he launched in the 1970s, Phillips drove to each of the 435 congressional districts to recruit candidates and volunteers.) He's an astute student of the left; he's always quick to remind me that he subscribes to Mother Jones, and just about every other major progressive publication. The strategies he employed to build his movement were borrowed, he told Sidney Blumenthal in 1980, from Saul Alinsky, the community organizer whom Sarah Palin decries as the source of Barack Obama's socialist ideology. If Phillips can set the wedge firmly enough in Republican constituencies, and help to damage a victorious Obama with the Corsi-Kincaid narrative, he's convinced that the Constitution Party could cause the GOP some headaches in 2012. "We have a lot of work to do," Phillips told me. "In many ways, the very likely Obama landslide is going to make it easy for us. And we're going to do our best to take advantage." Adele M. Stan is executive editor of The Media Consortium syndicated reporting project and authors the blog AddieStan.
More than a decade ago, Phillips explained to me that he well understood that the US electoral system favors the two-party setup; the question, he said, is which two parties. He also predicted a financial crisis—which he then saw as imminent—that would “terminally undermine confidence in whomever controls the presidency when it hits and, to a lesser extent, in the other party, as well,” he said. “The whole purpose” of his party’s presidential bid, he said, “is to position for that crisis and to be able to pick up the pieces when it’s over.” And indeed, speculation today is rife over a potential crack-up of the Republican Party, especially after the rifts exposed over the Wall Street bailout.
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#1. To: Rotara (#0)
Bookmarked./
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition "Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." © IndieTx Definitely interesting enough to read. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
LOL! That's easily answered: No. Sorry. Dream on. Ain't gonna happen. The GOP and the Dems are both owned by the corporate elites. Deal with it. The puppets come and go, the puppeteers go on for ever and ever and ever.
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of its very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
#2. To: IndieTX (#1)
good call
#3. To: Rotara (#0)
Could the Constitution Party pick up the pieces of the GOP?
 | Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise. |
#4. To: All (#0)
That pretty much nails it. Add in his CFR/Trilat/Bilderberg Society clout and you got it.
Obama, who may not have been born in America, was mentored by socialists and communists, and pals around with domestic terrorists.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#5. To: Elliott Jackalope (#3)
Dream Stealer ! lol I do believe the GOP will now become forever irrelevant, another party will strengthen and we'll forever have Marxists running the ship. Whatever is left.
LOL! That's easily answered: No. Sorry. Dream on. Ain't gonna happen. The GOP and the Dems are both owned by the corporate elites. Deal with it. The puppets come and go, the puppeteers go on for ever and ever and ever.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#6. To: All (#0)
Hahahaha! Factcheck.org isn't partisan at all. _eyes rolling_
(The nonpartisan group FactCheck.org has vouched for the validity of Obama's Hawaii birth certificate, which its researchers said they have seen and touched.)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#7. To: All (#0)
Blow baby blow ! More like just wimper along with a bunch of RINOs.
But Phillips has his sights set on more than defeating Obama; he'd like to blow up the Republican Party as well. For more than a decade, Phillips has been hard at work building the infrastructure of the Constitution Party, which he believes could pick up the most socially right-leaning fragments of the GOP in the event of an intraparty split. If Barack Obama wins the presidency, Phillips believes, this could be that moment.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#8. To: All (#0)
Worthless Traitors to America, certainly not 'right wing' in any way shape or form. Neocons, Neocommies - National Party
Adding to the strife is the selection of Palin as McCain's running mate. Even as the pick elated the party's right wing, it has served to alienate the likes of Colin Powell, former Reagan administration official Ken Adelman, and Charles Fried, the former Reagan administration solicitor general, all of whom have endorsed Barack Obama, along with a string of elite conservative columnists.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#9. To: Rotara (#0) (Edited)
The CNP is the rapture nutters CFR ... and they're "Right" gate-keepers. Paul Craig Roberts, Phyllis Schlafly, Tim LaHaye, etc., are members and there are many others but their membership is secret too.
For Phillips' purposes, that makes Palin this year's perfect pick. In the constellation of organizations Phillips either founded or cofounded, the most powerful by far is the Council for National Policy, an umbrella group of right-wing activists currently led, according to Phillips, by Becky Norton Dunlop, vice president for external relations for the Heritage Foundation. The CNP meets in secret closed-door sessions, most recently in St. Paul the weekend prior to the Republican National Convention. He told me that when news of the Palin pick came, the room erupted.
Where's your birth certificate Barack ? Where's your Granny ??? Are Americans expected to subject themselves to an unapologetic communist ??? Ya just gotta be shittin me !!!
#10. To: noone222 (#9)
I loathe the CNP. This is not good. BTW, I don't consider those that see a pre-tribulation viewpoint as 'nutters'. I don't know that anyone can really for sure make the case for pre/mid/post from the inspired Word. God said He won't pour out His tribulation wrath on believers, and I believe Him. Keep the hope and keep looking up !
The CNP is the rapture nutters CFR ... and they're "Right" gate-keepers. Paul Craig Roberts, Phyllis Schlafly, Tim LaHaye, etc., are members and there are many others but their membership is secret too.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#11. To: Rotara (#10)
1st Century Christians were eaten by Lions, killed by gladiators and slaughtered by the millions. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, no respector of persons, and has foretold that if the time wasn't "cut short" not even a remnant would survive whatever's coming. I'm of the opinion that the only way to explain the trauma and hardship that some suffer for no apparent reason can only be justified through God's perspective, seeing our lives as a "vapor" in an infinite universe. What I'm trying to say in response to your post is that the scenario playing out as predicted isn't going to be a whisking away of Biblical illiterates that listen to preachers rather than study themselves. God (whatever that Grand Authority is) has witnessed (allowed) the brutality on this planet for thousands of years. God has to be perfectly consistent to remain God, so whether we understand the workings of God or not we should be able to determine that the end times cataclysms described will be felt by those occupying until the end. In other words, God couldn't relieve modern (milque toast) Christianity from the sufferings allowed to be experienced by the first century Christians. That being said, many minds far better than mine have had divergent opinions on this and other scriptural topics. I believe that we have become so enamored with this life that we tend to allow violations of our liberties for fear of deprivations, pain or even death. Once this fear is overcome and the perps made aware that an opposition force without fear will destroy them for their deeds ... things will greatly improve.
God said He won't pour out His tribulation wrath on believers, and I believe Him.
Where's your birth certificate Barack ? Where's your Granny ??? Are Americans expected to subject themselves to an unapologetic communist ??? Ya just gotta be shittin me !!!
#12. To: Rotara (#0)
Santa Claus will marry the Easter Bunny first, the Log Cabin Republicans will discover their bodies were designed best to plug into women best instead of each other first. No, the Constitution party is a right wing fringe on a Republican surrey. It is pretty, but has no functional purpose worth noting.
"Title: Could the Constitution Party pick up the pieces of the GOP? (Howard Phillips' World - Mother Jones)"
"You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power -- he's free again. Alexander Solzhenitsyn
#13. To: Elliott Jackalope (#3)
Ha!!! Neither party are interested but their own parties power. I listen to all types of radio in the Chicago area and now the right wing Reps are claiming they need to get back to their "roots." Their roots were Ron Paul. He was kicked to the curb, like an old can.
Mark
If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers - normally good Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free - Americans who have been lulled into a false security (April 1968).---Ezra Taft Benson, US Secretary of Agriculture 1953-1961 under Eisenhower
#14. To: Rotara (#0) (Edited)
The problem with any of the second stringers is that they set their sights on winning the war (presidency) far and above the individual battles (legislative Fed/state/local positions). The presidency is hamstrung if the opposition doesn't have a tight lock on the legislative branch. The sub parties could wield inordinantly high influence on the nation if they'd merely concentrate on securing roughly 30+ House seats and 3-6 Senate seats. Under this situation should either of the 2 locked in parties secure the presidency the Constitution/Independant/Libertarian parties, alone or in coalition, can be "king makers" in any legislation. Both entrenched parties would be forced to concede points on issues to the minor parties far in excess of the actual numbers they would hold at the time. THAT would be a major start, and easily do-able. Subsequent to that occuring more effort could be devoted to expanding numbers and making runs at the executive branch. The simple beauty of this is that it also prevents the minor parties from expending a lot of time and money fighting each other for support. In particular, the Constitution and Libertarian parties appear to me to waste a significant amount of effort competing for each others supporters. Both of those sides should have a lot more in common than differences and they need to approach potential seat capture zones with a strategy that sets aside ideological differences for shared effort at securing seats in each others respective areas of strength. Once the seats are won the winner is going to be in a position to work with other minor party winners against or to modify Democrat and Republican statism regardless of the winners individual stand on ideological subjects. The one fly I see in this ointment is the need for selection of near bullet proof candidates with respect to their ability to resist being plyed with earmarks and payoffs. Under this scenario the entrenched two parties are going to try to cave 3rd party candidates with enormous temptations of pork and other quasi or outright illegal incentives. Candidates will definitely have to be carefully chosen from a pool of the highest level of selflessness and honor to the founding principles...
Bring on the Depression. Bring it the F*** ON! If digging ditches and eating beans for a few years is what it takes for me to see some worthless sacks of crap bankers and politicians living in sack cloth and being spat upon by my fellow Americans well... where's my shovel?!?!
#15. To: noone222 (#11)
That was persecution, not God's tribulation wrath poured out. Admittedly, your average AmeriKan Christian has no clue what persecution is and simply can't look at what God's tribulation wrath will be like.
1st Century Christians were eaten by Lions, killed by gladiators and slaughtered by the millions.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#16. To: noone222 (#11)
Amen.
That being said, many minds far better than mine have had divergent opinions on this and other scriptural topics. I believe that we have become so enamored with this life that we tend to allow violations of our liberties for fear of deprivations, pain or even death. Once this fear is overcome and the perps made aware that an opposition force without fear will destroy them for their deeds ... things will greatly improve.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#17. To: noone222 (#11)
They can't take our birthday away. ;-)
God is the same yesterday, today and forever, no respector of persons, and has foretold that if the time wasn't "cut short" not even a remnant would survive whatever's coming.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#18. To: Ferret Mike (#12)
First of all, coming from a tree hugging, L-Y-I-N-G Communist supporter of the most extreme Marxist ever to run for POTUS (and win) - your input into a Principled Party is beyond laughable. Second of all, L-I-A-R, your false support of Ron Paul and subsequent blind attachment by the lips to obamalamadingdong renders you inconsequential on Constitutional matters.
No, the Constitution party is a right wing fringe on a Republican surrey. It is pretty, but has no functional purpose worth noting.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#19. To: Axenolith (#14) (Edited)
I understand and agree, and also understand that Howard ain't all wet in his thinking. My State had an almost complete slate of Constitutionalists on the ballot running for National offices. That was nice.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#20. To: Axenolith (#14)
I wish Ron Paul had taken the CP mantle and fixed the Party, personally, followed by his C4L and grooming of the next generation.
The one fly I see in this ointment is the need for selection of near bullet proof candidates with respect to their ability to resist being plyed with earmarks and payoffs. Under this scenario the entrenched two parties are going to try to cave 3rd party candidates with enormous temptations of pork and other quasi or outright illegal incentives. Candidates will definitely have to be carefully chosen from a pool of the highest level of selflessness and honor to the founding principles...
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
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