Conservative Conversation + Podcasts

Clifford A. Brown

Retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Colonel after 30 years of active and reserve assignments. M.A. Political Science, M.S. Strategic Studies, Army War College, JD. Served in 1st Armored Division in West Germany when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea during the regime of Kim Il Sung, and commanded a logistics battalion in Iraq 2003-2004. Wide-ranging public policy interests. Occasional home brewer and infuser of alcohol spirits.

| January 22, 2019

45 COMMENTS

On Monday, Arizona Republicans showed casual contempt and a dismissive attitude towards racial equality, and the public in Mesa, AZ saw it. The East Valley Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Festival is a public-private partnership, with the City of Mesa officially involved in organizing and sponsoring the event. I will post photographs later, illustrating the parade as I did for Veterans’ Day, but what I saw, and did not see, prompts me to write before the day is gone.

What follows is a first-hand report of the parade: organization, the crowd, parade entrants, and the festival following the parade.

Three Martini Lunch

Enforcing the Border, Obama’s Tiresome Act, Sasse’s GOP Dilemma

September 10, 2018

Hosted by Greg Corombos, Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America commend Attorney General Jeff Sessions for beefing up the number of immigration judges in an effort to expedite hearings for cases of illegal immigration and improve enforcement of existing immigration laws. They’re also weary of former President Barack Obama lecturing us about the need for civility in our politics when he trashed his opponents and accused them of sinister motives consistently over his eight years in office. And they understand why Ben Sasse is frustrated with certain aspects of the Republican Party but also see his public agonizing over whether to stay on the GOP as a bit of grandstanding.

By Paul A. Rahe

Paul A. Rahe

Paul A. Rahe is Professor of History at Hillsdale College, where he holds an endowed chair, and last year he was a National Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is author of Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution (1992) and of Against Throne and Altar: Machiavelli and Political Theory under the English Republic (2008), Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the … [more]

| June 26, 2018

77 COMMENTS

As you may have noticed, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) is at it again. This time, she has picked up on the fact that some of the leftist thugs in our midst have taken to harassing members of the Trump administration, refusing to serve them when they sit down at an eatery, driving them from restaurants, and making a racket outside their homes.

Here is what she said: “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”

By DrewCline

DrewCline

On Twitter: @Drewhampshire. President, Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, Concord, N.H. Former editorial page editor, NH Union Leader. Independent writer. Alternative music radio host & podcaster (Suburban Underground, on iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, etc.). Free market guy. Tar Heel. Camera enthusiast. Would rather be in the mountains right now.

| April 22, 2018

3 COMMENTS

I wrote this column about Paul Ryan’s retirement for USA Today, and C-SPAN was nice enough to have me on this morning to talk about it. An excerpt: More

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Three Martini Lunch

Moore Winds up with Less, GOP’s Bleak 2018 Outlook, Moore Refuses to Concede

December 13, 2017

Hosted by Greg Corombos, Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to liberal Democrat Doug Jones winning a Senate seat over Republican Roy Moore in Alabama but see a silver lining in that it will be tougher for Democrats to link Moore to every GOP candidate in 2018. They also see some troubling parallels between 2017 election results and the ones in 2009 and 2010, suggesting Republicans may be on the brink of a Democratic tide similar to the Tea Party wave of 2010. They roll their eyes as Roy Moore refuses to concede the Senate race despite trailing by more than 20,000 votes, but Greg and Jim also get an idea from the Alabama Senate race that could boost the Senate GOP and solve Jim’s NFL woes at the same time.

Bill Bennett Show

The GOP’s Historic Tax Reform Opportunity

November 23, 2017

Hosted by Bill Bennett

With guest Stephen Moore

Bill interviews RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel about the GOP’s once-in-a-lifetime chance to get major tax reform passed. Next, Steve Moore breaks down the nitty-gritty details of the House and Senate tax reform plans and how they can come to an agreement. Afterward, Bill shares his thoughts on tax reform and the latest developments regarding Roy Moore. Then, Bill welcomes Brian Kennedy of the American Strategy Group back to the show to dissect and analyze Pres. Trump’s visit to Asia and explain how the U.S. should approach its relationship with China and its handling of North Korea.

By Rachel Lu

Rachel Lu

| November 13, 2017

371 COMMENTS

I just finished listening to the most recent Ricochet podcast, which was enjoyable as always, though I was cringing through the part where Peter Robinson explained how advocates for truth and integrity are not “useful,” while political power is. (That’s been a popular position throughout history, Peter, but there are some drawbacks.) That section was not what moved me to post, however.

I was moved by the final segment, where James Lileks meditates on how people with serious objections to Donald Trump should comport ourselves in this new era of politics. Republican politics continues descending into the realm of the crude and vicious. I was joking with a friend yesterday that the GOP could nominate a serial killer for office, and the first thing we’d hear would be, “Hey, he’s only killed 11 people. Do you know how many die at Planned Parenthood every day?”

By Paul A. Rahe

Paul A. Rahe

| October 22, 2017

110 COMMENTS

There are days when I think that the mainstream Republicans have a death wish. First, after years of promising to repeal and replace Obamacare, when they get a majority in both Houses and a cooperative President, they do nothing. Nothing in that regard, next to nothing in any other regard. A Supreme Court Justice, yes. A handful of Appeals Court judges. Otherwise, niente. It is as if they are happier in the minority than in the majority.

And when they come to tax reform, what is their big idea? To cut corporate taxes, which would be a boon, and to make up for the revenue losses that this would entail not by cutting expenditures but by gutting the 401k . The fact that their proposal that tax-free contributions to this retirement-savings vehicle be cut to $2400 a year has Wall Street up in arms bothers me not one whit. It is not the task of the US government to feed the greed of a particular industry.

Area 45

A House Divided – Can the Conservatives Come Together?

September 19, 2017

Hosted by Bill Whalen

An irony of Donald Trump: in the process of besting Hillary Clinton, he also divided conservatives into three camps. So contends Tevi Troy, a best-selling author and political analyst who worries about the lack of an intellectual presence in the current White House.

Harvard Lunch Club

You Gotta Be Blind

September 14, 2017

1 COMMENTS

Hosted by Michael Stopa, Todd Feinburg

Welcome the the Harvard Lunch Club Political Podcast for September 13, 2017, it’s the You Gotta Be Blind edition of the podcast with your hosts Todd Feinburg, Boston/Hartford radio guy and Mike Stopa, a.k.a. Mr. All-Things-Nano. This week we analyze the transmogrification of the Republican Party. Obviously there’s a big food fight going on. How did the once radical, Ayn Randist acolyte and Eddie Munster look-alike (I just threw that in) find himself all of a sudden as the face of the GOP establishment? Mitch McConnell we understand. He was made for the role. But Ryan’s self-image (surely) is as the rowdy, uncontrollable disrupter plugging Tooheys and moochers faster than you can say where is John Galt? Who exactly is the establishment? Why are they at war with Trump (aside for personality factors)? We will discuss.

And then, Stevie Wonder takes about thirty seconds to transform a charity fundraiser for victims of the two recent hurricanes into a political platform. Stevie! Not you!?!? We thought he had more gravitas than that. Beyonce, on the other hand, thinks that earthquakes are caused by climate change. What one thing does Hollywood – whose denizens have everything man or woman could want – lust for that they just can’t seem to find? We will reveal.

By Lash LaRoche

Lash LaRoche

Lash LaRoche is a member of Ricochet.

| August 13, 2017

34 COMMENTS

Last night a friend of mine (a former Ricochet member) e-mailed me the following video clip. This clip is of a speech that Fox News host Tucker Carlson gave to the International Association of Fire Fighters back in March:

By Lash LaRoche

Lash LaRoche

Lash LaRoche is a member of Ricochet.

| July 26, 2017

45 COMMENTS

Amidst news of moderate Senate Republicans reneging on their long-made promises to repeal ObamaCare and President Trump publicly chastising his Attorney General, speculation has swirled about the 2018 race for the United States Senate in the state of Michigan. Debbie Stabenow, who has held the seat since defeating Spencer Abraham in 2000, is likely to seek re-election to a fourth term. Among her possible Republican opponents may be one Robert James Ritchie, better known to the world as rap, rock, and country recording artist Kid Rock.

*record scratch*

AEI Events Podcast

The working-class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the return of blue-collar conservatism

June 29, 2017

What does Ronald Reagan’s brand of conservatism mean for the GOP today? In this AEI Events Podcast, Henry Olsen, author of “The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism,” joins AEI’s Karlyn Bowman and Jonah Goldberg to discuss his understanding of Reagan’s political odyssey.

Henry Olsen’s presentation is followed by two panel discussions, in which experts discuss the “true Reagan” and the future of the Republican Party. The first discussion features Mr. Olsen and Craig Shirley (author of “Regan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980). The second panel includes Mr. Olsen, Mr. Shirley, Jonah Goldberg (AEI), and Ruy Teixeira (Center for American Progress), and is moderated by William Galston (Brookings Institution).

By Barbara H

The Classicist with Victor Davis Hanson

Barbara H

| November 20, 2016

25 COMMENTS

So, the American electorate actually went ahead and voted to make Donald J. Trump the next president of the United States. Ever since Trump announced his candidacy and was (shockingly, to me) taken seriously by influential “conservative” media figures, I’d been hoping against hope that this result would not actually come to pass. Of course, […]

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The 2016 Presidential Election And The Possibilities For the United States

November 15, 2016

6 COMMENTS

Hosted by Charles C.W. Cooke, Victor D. Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson talks about the just concluded 2016 presidential election and its implications for the future.

By Paul A. Rahe

Paul A. Rahe

| November 3, 2016

259 COMMENTS

I am not here to condemn the NeverTrumpers. I share their instincts. Donald Trump is — I will not put a fine point on it — a swine. I followed him in the tabloids haphazardly in the mid-1990s when I was a visiting professor at Yale and took coffee each morning at a Lesbian-operated place in New Haven where the tabloids were always lying around. He was then and is now a man who revels in adultery. I was not surprised about his conversation with Billy Bush. I would even bet that he had similar conversations on the links with Hillary Clinton’s husband. He is seventy years old, and he is still engaged in the kind of banter typical of eighth-grade male hot dogs. Put simply, like Charming Billy, he never really grew up. But, unlike the Big Dawg, he has almost no impulse control. If you attack him for anything, you will set him off, and you will get schoolboy taunts in return. The man is desperately insecure.

He is also no conservative. He has no understanding of the road that we are on fiscally. As a businessman, he borrowed and borrowed and borrowed, and his lawyers arranged things so that, when his enterprises went bankrupt, someone else was left holding the bag. If he becomes President, that someone else is apt to be you and I.

By Brian Wolf

Coolidge

Brian Wolf

| November 1, 2016

13 COMMENTS

The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution. Hannah Arendt 10/1/1984 A trip to Gulfport Mississippi at a Reagan Bush 1984 Rally More

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Can the GOP Survive a Trump Win?

By Kevin Creighton