A Letter From Richard Viguerie

[The Magistrate]

These things pop up in my mail-box from time to time, and some are rum fun, even downright encouraging....

Conservatives Feel Betrayed
“President Bush Blinks on Supreme Court Nominees”

“Congratulations are due to Ralph Neas, Nan Aron, and Chuck Schumer for going toe-to-toe with President Bush and forcing him to blink,” said conservative activist Richard A. Viguerie. “Liberals have successfully cowed President Bush by scaring him off from nominating a known conservative, strict constructionist to the Court, leaving conservatives fearful of which direction the Court will go.”

“President Bush desperately needed to have an ideological fight with the Left to redefine himself and re-energize his political base, which is in shock and dismay over his big government policies,” Viguerie added.

“With their lack of strong, identifiable records, President Bush’s choices for Supreme Court nominees seem designed more to avoid a fight with the extreme Left than to appeal to his conservative base,” lamented Viguerie.

Many conservatives worry that without verifiable records, President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees will be more like the liberal Justice Souter than the conservative, strict constructionists Scalia and Thomas.

Remembering and still dismayed about how his father, President George H. W. Bush (the 41st), lied to conservatives and American voters by saying he was a conservative and expressly stating he would not raise taxes, conservatives fear President George W. Bush (the 43rd) has done the same by failing to nominate well-known conservative, strict constructionists to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“President Bush has presided over the largest growth in government since Lyndon Johnson, and now he appears willing to lose all credibility with conservative voters by failing to fulfill his campaign vow to nominate an openly Scalia- or Thomas-like justice,” Viguerie concluded.

Conservatives are also exceedingly disappointed in the Republican Leadership in Congress as well. Conservatives will now begin to seriously consider why they should continue to give their support –money, labor, and votes – to Republican politicians who take their conservative base for granted by continually lying to them.

[swag]

1. Kicked and nominated.

Go, Ninja! Go Ninja! Go!

[kentuck]

2. Mind fuck games...?

And the more Democrats that pretend to really like her, the more insane they go. Yes, she really did donate to Al Gore. But Democrats are wise enough to know they only have one shot at Supreme Court justices. If they shoot down this nominee, it would be damn near impossible to shoot down the next, and that one would be as right-wing as could be imagined. Since we seem to be stuck with this incompetent-of-the-day, we may as well use it to drive them batty... :)

[AspenRose]

3. I know it's wrong, but

when Bill Moyers interviewed this lizard for his last "Now" episode, I wished Bill could have punched that smarmy *$!#@*! in the mouth.

What IS it about republican media apologists and being "smarmy"?

[CornField]

4. Viguerie? Is that the direct mail guy?

[swag]

6. You Got tha Flava!

[rpannier]

9. Yes

And he was the architect of the false news stories during Reagan's term.

[swag]

5. For those who don't remember Richard Viguerie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_viguerie

Richard Viguerie has been called the "founding funder" of modern conservative strategy, having pioneered important tactics in computerized direct mail strategy in the 1970s and 1980s. He is the author of America's Right Turn.

In the 1980s he was saved from debt by a generous grant from Sun Myung Moon.

[rpannier]

7. I went to University with his Viguerie's nephew

You gotta watch Richard very closely he's sneaky and exceedingly disreputable. This could easily be a hoax on his part.

[swag]

8. I appreciate the circumspection,

but at this point, he's just a pissed old man barking at a bunch of hat-wearing literalists who'll take him at his word.

[rpannier]

10. Never forget

He was the architect of the false news stories during Reagan's term.

[Cell Whitman]

11. Viguerie is another bailed out by the conservatives' savior, Moon.

He's another who has helped Moon drive our nation right and theocratic.

More proof that Moon has more to do with our nation's political climate than ANYONE.

quoting:
http://www.politicalamazon.com/viguerie.html

"Richard Viguerie says he did some 'pro bono' organizing work for the World Anti-Communist League during the 1970s, and his ties to WACL may have had something to do with his winning the lucrative fundraising contract for the "Children's Relief Fund," sponsored by the Moonies' Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation. That was in 1977--precisely the period when Viguerie was starting to organize the New Right resentment against the Carter administration. New York State charity auditors found that less than 6.3 percent of the $1,508,256 Viguerie raised actually went to needy Korean children. The "charity" went to Richard Viguerie, who netted a fee of more than $920,000."....

"In 1986, Viguerie was on the bring of bankruptcy when the Unification Church again came to his aid financially. In late 1985, Viguerie had been forced to sell "Conservative Digest." In January 1986, eight of his creditors filed suit for a total of $2.3 million owed to them. At the same time, Viguerie had to put his $9 million office building in Fairfax, Virginia up for sale.

"Just as he was about to go under in early 1986, Viguerie won a lucrative account, the distribution of the Unification Church-owned "Insight "magazine. Then in October 1987, U.S. Property Development Corporation controlled by Rev. Moon's right-hand man, Col. Bo Hi Pak, paid $10.06 million for Viguerie's office building. Also in 1987, Viguerie took on the direct mail account of Moonie-dominated American Freedom Coalition (discussed below). Just as U.S. intelligence agencies have financed and organized right-wing political groups throughout the world, it was to the advantage of well-heeled international interests to help build a reactionary political movement within the United States."

Diamond, Sara: Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right. South End Press, Boston, 1989 (Pp. 59-60).
______



No doubt about it.

[Kolesar]

12. his political base is in shock and dismay over his big government policies

As if losing a war to the Arabs and Moslems don't have them in enough "shock and dismay". Viguerie's use of "shock and dismay" sounded like "shock and awe" in my mind.