Posted on 07/18/2009 12:14:55 AM PDT by iowamark
Washington conservatives who dissent from the party line are often accused of selling out our principles in hope of snagging an invitation to a Georgetown cocktail party.
It costs much, much more than that to buy Washington's pillars of conservative orthodoxy. Thanks to the brave people at FedEx, the whole world now knows exactly how much more...
When you hear a member of Congress described as more or less conservative than another, it's the ACU's voting index that is being cited. ACU sponsors the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, the biggest event on conservatism's annual calendar...
The leaders of ACU know the value of their support. On June 30, they wrote a letter proposing a national campaign on FedEx's behalf. For a price: US$3.4 million.
FedEx declined to pay. Two weeks later, on July 15, ACU chairman David Keene and ACU board member Grover Norquist signed an open letter endorsing UPS' position. Payback? If so, it prompted a remarkable counter-payback: On July 17, somebody leaked the June 30 demand letter to Mike Allen at Politico.com.Around the conservative world, the reaction to this naked attempt to sell political influence has been outrage and surprise.
But really: The only surprise is that anybody is surprised....
It had better be mentioned. The activities of the ACU have damaged the good name of every American conservative organization. The next time conservatives take a stand on an issue that helps or hurts an industry or firm, everybody will have reason to ask: Who's paying you this time? Or are you exacting revenge from somebody who opted not to pay you?
What was once a cause has degenerated into a racket. FedEx exposed the racketeering. Now conservatives must make the fateful choice whether to cleanse themselves of the racketeers.
David Frum dfrum@aei.org
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
What was once a cause has degenerated into a racket. FedEx exposed the racketeering. Now conservatives must make the fateful choice whether to cleanse themselves of the racketeers.
I still think Frum is an ass. When will he write a similar story about liberals?
I think he just did. David Keene has today shown himself to be a liberal.
The liberals will rule for decades if conservatives don’t shape up. Grover Norquist should be tossed out on his shariah loving behind for one thing.
Would it be unkind to say, “Touche’”?
Did he make sure to get his Palin-bashing in?
So the ACU got caught doing something stupid. Liberal organizations do worse all the time, but Frum never writes anything bad about them. To single out the ACU alone for criticism is hypocrisy. It would be like visiting Death Row and saying, “Registered Republicans, your executions will proceed on schedule. Registered Democrats, you’re free to go.”
P.S. “Republicans should be held to a higher standard” (a line I guarantee someone on this thread will use before it’s over) is a line invented by liberals and comes straight out of the Alinsky book of political dirty tricks. We are all equal before the law, and we should all be held to the same standard. In the case of politicians, they all take the same oath to defend the Constitution. Republicans don’t take any kind of special extra oath. I hold all politicians to the same standard. The Democrat who votes for gun control or tax hikes or shamnesty isn’t getting a pass from me just because “aww, he’s a D. That’s what we should expect from them. Boys will be boys!” I will criticize a D who votes for those things just as harshly as I’d criticize an R who votes for those things.
Mitt Romney is hated by most FReepers, but all he’d have to do is put a D by his name and FReepers would love him. “What a great conservative Democrat he is! It’s cool that he pimps socialist health care, ‘cause that’s what D’s do! Boys will be boys!” Hell, look at Joe Lieberman. He’s as liberal as Romney, but many FReepers love him.
Liberals would never be STOOPID enough to do something like putting a shakedown in writing. Keene’s time has long since passed and he’s shown that he’s not a conservative at all.
All institutions/movements reach this point of getting old, tired, corrupt. It’s up to the movement to re-orient itself.
That’s not such a great point. Because ONE conservative organization was caught doing something wrong, all of conservatism is now a racket?
Oh, and for the “Republicans should be held to a higher standard” crowd:
SAUL ALINSKY’S RULES FOR RADICALS
RULE #4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
“If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.”
I love these Dems and their scandal mongering.
This is transparent cover for the Wapo’s fling with Obama officials. You notice the Wapo got in a little trouble for that but not Obama’s people. Frumscum is nothing if not predictable.
So they find some Rino group headed by a lifetime supporter of Bob Dole to blame us for Washington corruption. And he sells supposed influence to a delivery service. Swell. At least he could have tried Taco Bell and got his delegates a free burrito.
Next thing you know Dick Cheney will be caught eating onion rings in a Red Robin and all hell will break loose.
I have been in a rage for months over the idiot lib Michael Steele being allowed to run the RNC. Obama’s best friend running the RNC!
And now the ACU head/NRA VP David Keene selling out to the Democrats!
To repeat: We need to clean house before we will ever be able to fight socialism successfully.
Look, I’m on your side. I agree with you about Steele, he’s a wimp and a fool. But come on. The Democrats aren’t exactly a shining beacon of incorruptibility. Are you just going to repeat Pelosi’s “Culture of Corruption! Culture of Corruption!” shrieks?
http://gawker.com/5317067/think-tank-thoughts-for-sale
“”Scandal: Think Tank Thoughts For Sale
Here is a story that reports something you sort of suspect but never expect to see spelled out so explicitly: the opinions of think tanks are for sale to the highest bidder.
There is some legislation being drawn up that will hurt FedEx, but not affect UPS, and so FedEx has launched a little campaign against this legislation. One might think that the American Conservative Union, one of the most powerful voices in the conservative movement since the group’s founding in the 1960s, would be opposed to this legislation on principle, because the legislation is pro-union and might hurt the ability of a successful corporation to make a profit by any means necessary.
Well, they were opposed to it. At least, they were when they sent FedEx a letter asking for $3 million in exchange for a targeted lobbying campaign on behalf of a position they theoretically already believed in. But when FedEx declined to mail them a check, suddenly the ACU was signing off on a pro-UPS letter decrying the lies and manipulations of FedEx! Funny, right?
Here’s what a $3 million donation to a conservative advocacy group gets you:
“For the activist contact portion of the plan, we will contact over 150,000 people per state multiple times at a cost of $1.39 per name or $2,147,550 to implement the entire program,” the letter says. “If we incorporate the targeted, senator-personalized radio effort into the plan, you can figure an additional $125,000 on average, per state” for an estimated 10 states. The total would be $3,397,550.”
[...]
Under the grass-roots program ACU proposed, “Each person will be contacted a total of seven times totaling nearly 11 million contacts total in the 10 targeted states.” “Within 72 hours of an agreement on the whole plan, we can have the data sets delivered and the first round of e-mail ready for delivery,” the offer states. “Within seven days, the mail can be in the USPS system and the phone call delivered.”
But, you know, if you don’t pay up, the ACU will lobby against you, free market capitalism be damned.
The ACU puts on the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, the most important gathering of conservative leaders of the year and a necessary stop for all would-be Republican presidential candidates. Their Directors list is a who’s who of conservative thought leaders past and present. And this is all pretty embarrassing!
(And Paul Krugman notes that this sort of behavior by right-wing think tanks has been suggested before, though, as we said, it has never been revealed so explicitly.)
Update: UPS responds: “UPS has not paid or contracted with any signers of the letter, including the American Conservative Union, to obtain their support on this issue. Any suggestion that UPS has done so is false.” And, you know, the ACU could’ve just signed on to the anti-FedEx letter out of spite, and not for cash!””
I don’t care what Pelosi/Olbermann/Maddow think or say. We cannot overlook or excuse corruption on the right. It is killing us. It is allowing the socialists to run wild.
Sounds like a typical shakedown scam that Jesse Jackson is involved in. If what this article says is true, it’s a good time for spring cleaning. Just in time to invite Sarah over for dinner.
If you guys don’t think this goes on, every day, in both parties, from the courthouse to the Whitehouse, I got beach front property in Arizona for ya to look at.
That is exactly why selective outrage over this incident is so laughable.
Frum versus Norquist.
Who cares.
#13. You are correct. The argument by some here that it’s ok because the libs do the same thing and get away with it is weak.
look at Joe Lieberman. He’s as liberal as Romney, but many FReepers love him.I've been here since late 2001 and I've never once seen a FReeper express love for Lieberman. Respect for some of his foreign-policy and anti-terrorism and pro-Israel positions, yes. But overall, a solid and healthy skepticism of and disdain for his life-time liberal voting record.
It's a shame when people write a post that makes some good points and then ends up going over the top and closing with a line, and a conclusion, that's nonsense.
You end up convincing nobody of anything when you do that.
David who?
Power is corrupting and Washington is about power. Conservatives have let money get bigger and bigger in deals (bills)- so of course the idea of making money off the lobbyist got to be part of the Republican K St project. They saw it in the RATS in the 80s and wanted their share. We will see what comes of stories like this one.
I have known David for quite a while. This is nothing but a smear campaign against his ethics and morals of which he does have and strongly. This is a liberal hit job. He is a true conservative, not a RINO, he likes Palin and Romney both, and these letters have been forged. The truth will come out soon. This is an attempt by liberal orgs like ACORN and MoveOn to shut down CPAC.
Interesting. The ACU response makes no claim of forgery. Rather, it says that Keene used the ACU letterhead on the second letter without authorization.
If he put a 'D' by his name, he wouldn't be running for the GOP presidential nomination. Duh.
THis article is a lie. The letter didn’t endorse the UPS position.
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