Hennessy's View

Request:  If you read a blog post on Hennessy’s View that seems to be rooting for America to fail or suffer in order that Obama take the blame, please e-mail me (bill-at–hennessysview–dot–com) and comment.  I’m a hot-head, and I might not catch myself.

The United States and every country on earth is in a perilous position right now.  The world economy is on the brink of depression.  Bad business practices driven by even worse government policies and regulations have destroyed $ trillions in wealth and left us on a narrow, swampy peninsula between deflation and hyperinflation.

We have, for good or ill, elected a young and inexperienced president.  That man’s past rhetoric was clearly Marxist.  But his post-election appointments and words seem closer to those of George Bush than of Gus Hall.  We can work to win back Congress and the White House without destroying the country in the process.

Here’s a few recommendations:

• Praise Obama’s rightward tacks more than you attack his leftist moves
• Look for people or businesses in your area who need help and help them if you can
• State the positive results of conservative governance more often than you assail the consequences of liberal error
• Wave to drivers of cars with Obama stickers, even as you pass them to expose your McCain-Palin tags
• Write letters to the editor, blog comments, and blog posts complimenting Obama’s good judgment, but always identify yourself as a conservative Republican who work for his defeat in 2012

All of us are saying goodbye to co-workers let go because of the economy.  The way out of this mess is lower taxes, less government, and graceful ends for companies that can’t make it.  Each of these right actions carries with it painful consequences for some of us.  We can and must make these changes to our national direction.  But we can and should make them without being asses.

We all know how painful and maddening it was to hear Democrats and liberals cheer American casualties in Iraq and fantasize about the assassination of a Republican president.  While we might not go so far, why take the chance?  Let’s sell our superior system of economics and limited government.  The deficincies of their alternative will be undeniably obvious soon enough.

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Technorati Tags: barack_obama, conservatism, stay classy

The first time I met George W. Bush in person, I was campaigning for Jack Kemp for President.  Kemp was running against Vice President George H. W. Bush (and 47 others) for the Republican nomination.  This was 1987.

A wonderful, tough, and tireless local Republican organizer named Thelma Stuart recruited me and served as my mentor in Dixiecrat-style politics of South Carolina.  My first gig was manning the Kemp booth at the Low Country Stump Days in Charleston.  Being the Reagan 80s, we were decked out in straw hats with red, white, and blue bands, blue blazers, khakis, no socks, and Sperry topsiders.  I wore a red, white, and blue Repp tie (which not coincidentially matched the one Kemp wore that day) on a blue Brooks Brother’s button-down oxford.

The booth workers were excited:  Mr. Kemp had stopped by the booth several times, and we thought we were about to meet the vice president.  When the motorcade with “Bush 88″ regalia stopped at the gates of fairgrounds, I tried to act nonchalante as I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the man who coined the term “voodoo economics.”

Instead, a younger man clearly led the delegation–a man who looked shockingly like his mother Barbara.  George W. Bush knew that Kemp was his father’s primary adversary.  He made a confident and quick beel-line to our little hut of aluminum polls and white canvass.

“I’m George Bush, and I’d like for you to vote for my dad,” Bush informed me as if he knew . . . KNEW . . . that I would.  His glare was powerful and intimidating, his handshake painfully firm, his voice powerful and certain.  He held my gaze a good 10 seconds after issuing his command.

All I could muster was, “Pleased to meet, sir.  And I’d like for you to vote for Jack Kemp.”

The future liberator of Iraq and Afghanistan smiled slyly.  He didn’t find my remark funny but ballsy.  He moved onto the Pat Robertson booth next door.

A minute later, Mr. Kemp was standing next to me.

“You handled that like a pro,” he said.

I had to fight the smile.  I was 24 and a submarine sailor violating the UCMJ by campaigning for a candidate for office.  I’d be damned if I’d act like I hadn’t heard better from better.  But I hadn’t.

I left the Navy for a year to campaign for Jack Kemp for President (1988), returning in 1989, long after Kemp’s candidacy foundered.

Former Congressman Jack Kemp Has Cancer – FOXNews.com Transition Tracker

Jack Kemp’s office says the former housing secretary, congressman and Buffalo Bills quarterback has been diagnosed with cancer.

A brief statement says Kemp is undergoing tests to determine the origin of the disease and how to go about treating it. The type of cancer was not disclosed.

I know many people (including me) slung arrows at Kemp and Bill Bennett over immigration a few years ago. Aside from that, Kemp is right on almost everything.  A gentleman and kind soul, even the DUers (at least as of this writing) cannot muster a hateful, gleeful shot at the ailing Kemp.  Remarkably–and sadly–most of the blogs on the right are silent.  Perhaps the bloggers are too young to remember Kemp’s contribution?  I hope that’s it.

Some highlights that I remember (without Googling):

• AFL and NFL quarterback with San Diego and Buffalo
• Champion of returning to the gold standard
• Champion of the flat tax
• Champion of Supply Side economics
• One of Reagan’s strongest allies and evangelists in Congress
• Loved by his mostly Democrat constituents in Buffalo, NY
• Compassion human being without falling for “compassionate conservatism”

Kemp switched from QB to the offensive line when Reagan took office.  As the Gipper called the plays, Kemp pulled, sweeping right behind the Congressional tackles, to wipe out the Democrats’ defensive ends and shooting line backers.  Reagan took it to the house without a hand laid on him.

All  who considered themselves better off in 1984 than they were four years earlier owe a big thanks to Jack Kemp, no matter how they voted.

I’ll say a prayer for Mr. Kemp, and I hope you will, too.

Technorati Tags: Jack Kemp

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Technorati Tags: 1988 election, George Bush, Jack Kemp