I am an Andrew Breitbart Conservative!

A while back on Facebook I had read somewhere that a couple of people call themselves Frederick Douglass Republicans. Well I would like to toss another term into the mix: Andrew Breitbart Conservative.

Over the past 13 weeks I had been going through the Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Revolutionaries during these editorials, and in my research on the topics, I realize that I am an Andrew Breitbart Conservative. When I began introducing the Pragmatic Primer, I mentioned that this battle is not Left v. Right, Liberal v. Conservative, or even Democrat v. Republican. This battle is one step DEEPER than that: Alinsky v. Breitbart. The seeds for the major part of this battle were laid when Andrew gave his wonderful speech at the 2012 CPAC just a few weeks before his death.

During that speech he said that many are on to the “Saul Alinsky Bullshit ways” of the Progressive Left and that the 2012 election would be forever known as the “dogwhistle” election. We were right on the cusp of victory with Mitt Romney only to have it grabbed away from us at the last minute. It also showed down the ticket as we barely kept the House and failed to grab the Senate.

In order for us to win the Senate and increase our lead in the House in the 2014 midterms, we have to learn where we went wrong in the 2012 House and Senate elections. Then when we find out where we went wrong we have to learn to not repeat the same things if AND ONLY IF we are serious about winning in 2014 and carry that momentum into 2016. One of the main things that Andrew said, and I use it as my own motto ever since, is “Anyone that’s willing to stand next to me and fight the progressive left, I will be in that bunker, and if you’re not in that bunker, more than shame on you. You’re on the other side!” In fact, let me just play that entire clip for you right now:

 

After hearing that speech, I knew I was an Andrew Breitbart Conservative, but did not fully embrace it until after I got his book Righteous Indignation for Christmas and then went through the Pragmatic Primer. Now, after reading it many times and going over the Pragmatic Primer on my radio show, I fully embrace it because just like Andrew said at the end of the book on page 232 in the hardback edition:

“These are the years that we will look back on and question whether we did enough for our country and for out children. That’s why I’m so determined, so pissed, so righteously indignant. Excuse me while I save the world.”

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Breitbart Rule 11: Don’t let them get away with ignoring their own rules

Not only did Andrew Breitbart say Alinsky was right about ridicule being man’s most potent weapon, he also agreed with Alinsky on another rule. Hence, Rule 11 in the Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Revolutionaries.

11.) Don't let them get away with ignoring their own rules: Alinsky is right again. They set up this PC Complex, and they have to be held accountable to it, if only for honesty's sake, and we're the only ones who will do it. Joe Biden is still vice president of the United States even though he called the first black president "clean" and "articulate." Harry Reid is still Senate majority leader even though he said Obama was "light-skinned" and could drop his "Negro dialect" on cue. Until his death in 2010, Robert Byrd was "a lion of the Senate" even though he was a former Kleagle of the KKK. If these had been Republicans, they would have been hounded from office. They're Democrats, so they're not.

But that doesn't mean we can't hold them responsible for breaching their own standards. Every time they say things like this, we need to force them to back down and apologize, and we can't allow their allies to let them off the hook with excuses about how they stood for the right policies. Frankfurt School tactics can't work here - standing for liberalism doesn't mean you're allowed to violate the conventions of PC. At the very least, we need to force these hypocrites to stand up against their own PC regime in order to defend themselves.

Over the past 10 years or so, there had been a vast difference in the way Republicans and Democrats are handled. Among the ones I can think of:

• Trent Lott (Republican from Mississippi) was forced out of the Senate Republican Leadership because of his words at the celebration of Strom Thurmond’s (Republican from South Carolina) 100^th birthdate.
• Mark Foley (Republican from Florida’s 16^th District) resigned from the House because he was caught in bed with a minor.
• John Ensign (Republican from Nevada) resigned from the Senate because of ethics violations.

These were forced out of office while the Democrats only get a slap on the wrist. What makes these three different from the Democrats Andrew mentioned in his rule? The fact that the Democrats can do anything, even get away with murder (a la Hillary Clinton with Vince Foster and Whitewater, or Obama with the Ambassador and company in Benghazi as well as Navy SEAL Team 6 which killed Osama Bin Laden) at every turn.

We need to turn the tables on the Democrats and make them live by the EXACT SAME set of rules that they expect us to live by. If we do not, then they will run roughshod. In sports, both teams play by the same set of rules. It is time those in politics do the same thing.

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Breitbart Rule 8: Don't pretend to know more than you do

After giving us a few tips on owning the narrative, Andrew Breitbart also gave us a few tips on how to keep the narrative. Here is Rule 8 in his Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Revolutionaries.

8.) Don't pretend to know more than you do: This one trips up conservatives all the time. We want to argue policy because when we know policy, there's no way they can beat us, because all they have is their lexicon of name-calling and societal expulsion. We have reason on our side.

But just because we have reason on our side doesn't mean that everyone is quipped to be Charles Krauthammer or Michael Barone, policy wonks who can pull facts from the Office of Management and Budget out of every orifice. Most of us aren't experts on the latest budget package or stem-cell line regulation, but that doesn't mean we're powerless - it means we get to play Socrates, asking pointed questions rather than citing facts we may not be sure of.

One of the low points of my media life was getting a call after the nomination of John Roberts for the United States Supreme Court. A producer from CNN's now-cancelled Aaron Brown Show asked me to go on TV and discuss the wisdom of President Bush's choice. I remember taking a Civil Liberties course at Tulane in summer school. As I recall there was a case called Mapp v. Ohio. That was the extent of my then-qualifications to pontificate on such legal matters. I am not sure what demoralized me more: that I was asked to do so by a leading cable news network, or that I readily accepted. Had Wikipedia not been invented, I would have had nothing to say. But I did, and I survived. My takeaway from the revealing moment about the low standards for TV punditry was that if I valued my career, I would only accept media invites where I could dictate the terms of engagement (i.e., bring my own stories, my own perspectives, etc.) or where I could change the subject to war footing.

By avoiding talking about that which I do not know, perhaps I limit my ability to appear on more shows. But I definitely limit my ability to screw up.

Put another way: don't be the guy with a knife at a gunfight. It rarely ends well.

Now this is VERY important in the arena of social media as we look at Facebook, Twitter, and the various message boards and sites that we visit. There are many people out there who claim that they know it all and that their way is the best, but is it really? Now I will get more into that in next week’s editorial but one thing I will say about it is that we might not know everything, but we need to not pretend or give others the false impression that we do.

This is where research comes in. Many out there do not take the time to go into the research and actually back up what they talk about with facts or they do but get it all jumbled up. We need to do our research every time we find an idea or a narrative that people are putting out as false and then disprove it with what we had researched. Then and only then can we beat the progressives and the Alinskyites at their own game.

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Breitbart Rule 6: Ubiquity is key

It is one thing to own the narrative. It is another to KEEP the narrative going. And for that you might need a little help. Hence, Rule 6 in Andrew Breitbart’s Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Revolutionaries.

6.) Ubiquity is key: As a capitalist and as a web publisher, pageviews are a desired commodity. But when playing for political or cultural keeps, impact matters most. And, when ABCNBCCBSCNNMSNBC and the dailies are working against you and ignoring you, ubiquity is a key weapon That means developing relationships with like-minded allies or even enemies and news junkies and allowing them to share in the good fortune of a good scoop.

While the crux of a story can be weaponized and launched on one of my websites, there are often peripheral angles that can be developed elsewhere with a separate but related media life of their own. For instance, the acorn story was unbelievably complex. A key component of exposing the scandal was a detailed analysis of ACORN's structure and its past scandals. I knew legal minds were needed to weigh in on these aspects. Patrick Frey, who runs the indispensable Patterico website, created a parallel line of attack, not just against ACORN, but against its myriad defenders, who lied and misdirected to try to kill the story. The ACORN story couldn't have been the success it was without others - talk radio and alternative news outlets that were invested in the story and could deliver scoops of their own. So I planted scoops with what business school types would call my "competitors," and I watched the story explode, my pageviews would go through the roof, and my brand flourish. Sometimes the best ideas are counterintuitive.

I love living in Los Angeles and not DC, because in DC there are too many fighting over too little ground for their own fifteen minutes. The scarcity mentality is strangling the growth of the conservative movement. From outside DC, I can see that ubiquity is about growing the pie for everyone, spreading the stories, the channels of distribution, the resources around so that the entire movement can benefit, because our chunk of the public square gets bigger and bigger each time we break something huge.

While we all have different viewpoints or perspectives as to what conservatism is, one thing to remember is that we are all in the same fight. That is what the Left does, and they succeed by coming together for a common purpose. The problem is that conservatives are so divided that it gives the Left a chance to gain the edge on the narrative. Note what Andrew had said: “developing relationships with like-minded allies or even enemies and news junkies and allowing them to share in the good fortune of a good scoop.” That means spread it around. If you find something newsworthy, it does not help to keep it to yourself. Rather, post it on your social media tools and get the word out there. In next week’s editorial I will go more into how to engage in social media as Andrew has it as his Rule 7, but developing relationships with like-minded people who are also news junkies can allow them to share in the fortune of a good scoop is key.

One of my good friends who likes to share in the fortune of a good story is Patricia Baber, who used to be my co-host on this very show. She is one who hunts down stories on relatively unknown sites and put them out on Twitter, then it gets picked up by her followers and spreads to others. I even do the same thing when I do my news aggregates on my rant blog. But on that I do not take all the credit for it but rather give credit to Robert Stacy McCain of The Other McCain who has a blog entry entitled "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog.” In fact, Stacy has Rule 2 which he calls the “Full Metal Jacket Reach-Around" where he says:

Reciprocal linkage is the essential lubricant that makes the blogosphere purr with contentment. If somebody's throwing you traffic, you should either (a) give them a link-back update, or at a minimum (b) keep them in mind for future linkage. Because you don't want to end up on the wrong end of a kharmic unbalance in the 'sphere, where you're always taking and never giving.

The Other McCain has a whole plethora of articles and the like to link to on your own blogs and also on Social Media outlets. I know I usually do it, but the past couple weeks I had slacked off because of certain things away from the computer. However, I am making a concerted effort to go back to doing it. The key is, will you be ubiquitous or will you be a loner in this war?

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Breitbart Rule 3: Be open about your secrets

One of the things that Andrew had mentioned in his Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Revolutionaries is to put everything out in the open. In fact, that is his third rule

3.) Be open about your secrets: If you're going to go out in public, be absolutely open about what you've done in the past. Take a page from Barack Obama, who revealed in his probably Ayers-ghostwritten autobiography that he had done a lot of blow, and hung out with commies and assorted lowlifes. Once it was out there, there wasn't much that the right could do with it - he'd already admitted it.

By way of contrast, take a look at Mark Foley. If he'd admitted he was gay right off the bat, the left wouldn't have had much to pillory him with. The left never gets cited for hypocrisy (see Clinton, Bill), but the right is cited with it all the time because we actually have standards. That means we have to out ourselves before the left does it for us. In this book, I've already admitted to libertine sensibilities that were taken to absurd heights during my collegiate stint in New Orleans. I am not a puritan. Frankly, John Waters's movies and Johnny Knoxville's Jackass series are more up my alley than Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. The days of the left forcing us into a small, monolithic, and monochromatic box are over, and we have to fight their caricature of us.

Actually, George W. Bush did the same thing during the 2000 election. "When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid," he said. Once he had come clean, the Left was stuck - they couldn't do anything.

Hypocrisy is such a powerful argument for the left because it appeals directly to the emotional heart of politics: one standard for you, another for me. It's no wonder Alinsky relied heavily on his rule 4: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. We have more rules than they do with regard for morality, which means we have to live up to them more often. But mistakes in the past don't need to be skeletons waiting to come out of the closet. If you've made mistakes, reveal them at the first available opportunity. Embrace those mistakes. Don't talk about how you regret them - talk about how you lived through them and how they made you who you are today. Embracing your mistakes makes you invulnerable to their slings.

Just don't screw up badly now.

One thing to remember is that we are all human and we all make mistakes. What we do not do is embrace and move on from them. The liberals have concealed their mistakes and moved on from them, though if it were a conservative or a Republican that committed those same mistakes, they would be strung up by their shorthairs over it. THAT is the main difference between them and us. What they do is lie about it and cover it up then when they do come up a year or a decade later they always deny it OR they pull a Hillary and say “What difference does it make NOW?” What we should do is embrace the mistakes and put them out there in the open and say “yes I did this. However, I learned from it and grew into a better person because of it.” Liberals are kind of like the bully who picks on others in school because they are insecure in themselves OR they feel that if they cannot be happy then none else can be happy. Conservatives are kind of like that child who got straight A’s but if there is one blemish on their record they admit it and then move on from it. The slings and the barbs from the bully liberals will be rendered useless once we embrace our blemishes and move on to better ourselves.

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Remembering Andrew Breitbart

On March 7, 2012, I had written this blog entry paying tribute to Andrew Breitbart.

I know we are only 65 days into the year, and we lost a great Conservative Patriot 6 days ago, but this has to be said. If there is anything we will take away from this year, it is the tag of #IAmBreitbart, just like 2011 was the year of #IAmJohnGalt in memory of the movie “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1” which opened on April 15, 2011.

I might not have met Andrew Breitbart, but had seen him on Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld and also in a few YouTube videos where he confronted the Occupy Wall street people as well as some who opposed the Tea Party. Through those incidents I feel as if I had known Andrew Breitbart, and will uphold his legacy of citizen journalism and blow the whistle on those who seek to cause harm to the country.

Andrew Breitbart at CPAC 2012

Andrew Breitbart doing what he does best in exposing Occupy Wall Street for the troublemakers they are.

And this wonderful pic (h/t Sarah Rumpf of Sunshine State Sarah) of Dana Loesch and Company. (pic taken by Chris Loesch) with the tweet posted here.

#war instagr.am/p/H2w-c8r5KM/

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) March 7, 2012

It has been a year ago today that he had died, and those words ring true today as they did back then. Andrew Breitbart was a happy warrior, one who knew that in order to win the political war you first have to conquer and win the cultural war.

Last month, I had written the blog entry Alinsky vs. Breitbart and based on what I had seen over the past year from those on the Left and even from those on the Right, it just goes to show that I was right. This battle is not conservative v. liberal or even Republican v. Democrat. Rather, it is Saul Alinsky v. Andrew Breitbart. Barack Obama has been so successful in using Alinsky tactics to further divide and tear this country apart that at times it seems like nobody will be able to stand up to him. Well Andrew Breitbart had provided the tools to stand up to Obama and push back against the false narratives in his book Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World for us to use. We just have to actually go out there and DO it and not be afraid of whatever the consequences might be. The question is: Will you be willing to stand with me in using those tactics to fight the Alinsky tactics, or are you against me? Like Andrew said at CPAC last year, “If you’re not in that bunker because you’re not satisfied with a certain candidate, more than shame on you! You’re on the other side!” While there is no nominee to stand behind now, the fight still wages on. Andrew said this is a #WAR; I say #ThisMeansWAR. The internet is our battleground; our keyboards, cell phones, webcams, digital cameras, and iPods are the weapons we use. Andrew paved the way for us, now let’s go out there and make him proud of his work.

Rundown for March 2, 2013

Join Rick Bulow and Billie Cotter (host of Ballistic every Wednesday at 11 PM Eastern on Own The Narrative) as they give the week in news. This week will be a very special show as they will be paying tribute to Andrew Breitbart, who had died a year ago yesterday. His death left a hole in the conservative movement, but there are many who have stepped up and took up his cause. Own The Narrative is one of them because Andrew was all about the media dictating the terms of the narrative and how tired he was of it. Own The Narrative is about empowering the individual to speak up with their thoughts and their own citizen journalism work to take on the narrative put forth by the mainstream media, and Andrew Breitbart is that inspiration. They will be discussing and playing a couple of videos, including the video from Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld where the entire show was a wake and a tribute to Andrew Breitbart. Your calls are welcome as Red, Right, and Blue pays a tribute to a great American Patriot who was taken away from us at a bad time.

Join us for the fun and frivolity that is Red, Right, and Blue today at 1:30 PM Eastern. I will be in the chatroom, which can be accessed at http://www.ownthenarrative.com/live, 30 minutes early for last minute show prep and also a meet and greet. There are many ways you can engage the conversation during the show:

• Call 832-699-0449
• Skype in to OTNNetwork
• If you are on Twitter, use the hashtags #RedRightBlue and #OTNN

Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Hell, tell a liberal. You do not want to miss a single second of the show today as we pay tribute to a true patriot.

Apologize for WHAT?

Yesterday would have been Andrew Breitbart’s 44th birthdate. I admit I had not followed him all that much before watching his speech at CPAC last year, and I am kicking myself for that. However, in the 11 months since his unexpected death, I had been looking at all the videos and articles I could find on him, and even requested (and gotten) his book “Righteous Indignation” for Christmas.

In “Righteous Indignation”, he had written a “Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Revolutionaries” where he lays out the rules which ever conservative activist needs to do in order to fight the left and also even those on our own side now. I mention those on our own side because of what happened during the last election cycle where many did not vote for Romney because of one reason or another. As Andrew said at CPAC last year (which had been my motto throughout the 2012 election season), “If you’re not for this candidate, more than shame on you; you’re on the other side” In fact, take a listen to his words for yourself:

Andrew Breitbart at CPAC 2011

Over the next 14 shows or so I am going to go through Andrew’s Pragmatic Primer and say just what we could do in order to take back the Senate in 2014 and also possibly the White House in 2016. We had lost those two battles in 2012 but with enough inspiration and know-how we will win the #WAR in the future. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. I say to the left and even to those on our side who cost us the 2012 election, “#ThisMeansWAR!” After all, I think this is what that Andrew Breitbart, that happy warrior, that fearless warrior, would have wanted. This is how I will celebrate his 44th birthdate.

End of the Year Retrospective

Well, 2012 is fast coming to an end believe it or not. So much had happened that it is hard to fit into a blog, both event-wise as well as the friends I had made online. I would like to say to everyone first, thank you for being an inspiration to me this year. Each of you had brought much joy and passion into my life in 2012. Some of you more than others and I will get into that later. One main thing is though we had not met face to face (and for 80% of you I would like to just because you mean a lot to me) you had treated me not as one with a handicap like many I had met in my real life have done. Rather, you welcomed me into your online world as a “normal” person.
Now granted there might be some things we disagree on, and for a few we even came down to verbal blows to the point I wished I would have climbed through the computer monitor and throttle you, but at least for the most part we have been civil to each other and handled our disagreements like gentlemen and not like animals. There are still a couple of issues we disagree on and in 2013 I will get into why I believe the way I do a little more. However, I also realize we are all on the same page and have the same goal in mind – the betterment of America.
There are certain people I would like to thank personally. I had done so in my blog entry on Christmas Day, but will say it here once more.
To Michael B. Smith - we have been through thick and thin from our days on the Herman Cain Dashboard back in the Summer of 2011. While we might have parted ways back in late December 2011 to early January 2012 due to you supporting Santorum when I supported Mr. Newt, I am ever thankful to you for allowing me 2 hours every Saturday to vent and let my crazed mind roam on Conservative Nation Radio.
To Harriet Baldwin and Patricia Baber - Thank you both for being former co-hosts with me on Red, Right, and Blue. No matter what, I still consider you a part of the Red, Right, and Blue family as well as a part of the Conservative Nation Radio family.
To Billie Cotter - Thank you for stepping up and being my co-host on Red, Right, and Blue. We might disagree on a couple of things, but no matter what we always make the show as interesting and intriguing as can be.
To Becca Lower - You have come a long way in the year or so since we had met. I am thankful you had stepped in for Patricia that one time on Red, Right, and Blue and that catapulted you into making your own blog and now your own website at Lowering the Boom. Keep up the good work.
I know there are others I might be forgetting, but as I said at the outset you all have been an inspiration to me over the past year. I would like to wish you all a very happy New Year. Here’s to good friends and good times now and in the year to come!