The Big RightOnline Blow-Off Post

by John Hawkins | July 21, 2008 1:23 pm

As regular readers of RWN know, I spent this week-end in Austin, Texas at the Defending The American Dream Summit AKA the RightOnline Summit. I’ve already done a few posts about what was happening at the Summit (which I’ll link at the end of this post), but I wanted to do one more big blow-off post rather than dribbling the rest of them out.

* First off, hats off to the Sam Adams Alliance[1] and Americans for Prosperity[2] for putting on a fantastic event.

The panels were great, the event had some excellent speakers including Michelle Malkin, Robert Novak, John Fund, Michael Steele and Stephen Moore, and the company was good.

Also, happily, the big theme of the conference was building up the Right online. That’s something that desperately needs to be done, but is being almost totally ignored by the Republican Party, the think tanks, the big conservative magazines, and talk radio. So, it’s nice to see some people who are committed to actually helping the Right catch up — and, yes, we are way behind online.

* The trip back from Austin to home was, let us say, “eh.” I left the hotel at Austin at 10:00 AM, had connecting flights to Houston and Atlanta, and then finally arrived at Myrtle Beach Airport and walked in the door about 10 PM.

* One thing John Fund spoke about during his speech is something conservatives need to closely consider. He said that the people — who believe that if Obama gets in, the Right will rally, and it will ultimately prove beneficial — are missing something very important: if Obama gets in and the Left has a large majority in the Senate, the Left will change the game by pushing through bills designed to keep conservatives from being able to get back into power.

For example, they’ll push the un-American proposal by the unions that takes away the secret ballot. If the unions are allowed to see who’s voting for and against them, they can cajole and threaten people into supporting the union. This would allow a big surge in union membership, which would mean billions of dollars in dues that can be funneled into the Democratic Party.

Moreover, the Democrats will try to push through the Fairness Doctrine to kill talk radio, amnesty for illegals to get new voters, and they’ll try to make sure felons can vote, because as we all know, criminals love Democrats.

If the Democrats have a big enough margin in the Senate, the GOP simply may not have the numbers to filibuster their fascistic agenda, which will be designed to permanently muzzle conservatives.

* On one of my flights, I was sitting next to a soldier who had just gotten back from — I think it was either his third and fourth tour of duty in Iraq. We chatted for a few minutes about Iraq and since I never told him what I did, I’m sure he didn’t feel an urge to tilt what he was saying. Here are some of the more intriguing things he said, both good and bad. It’s just one soldier’s opinion, so take it with a grain of salt…

— Other than the Kurds, the people in Iraq generally are not friendly to Americans. His exact words were, “They throw rocks at us.”

— After we leave, he thought some parts of Iraq would hold together and some parts wouldn’t. Baghdad, for instance — he thought would fall apart the moment Americans left, no matter how long we stay there training them. He said the problem was epic corruption. A lot of people, even on the government payrolls, will simply work for whoever gives them the most money. If that’s the Iraqi government, they’re happy to do their job as a policeman, but if it’s Al-Qaeda or Iran, they’re just as happy to try to kill an American soldier.

— He said that when they drove around town, they throw Beanie Babies to the Iraqi kids and for that reason, there are always children following them. He said that they could tell they were in danger if the children didn’t come up to them.

— He told me that the military had created a really successful program for security that consisted of hiring people at $150 a month to stand on street corners with AK-47s and an extra clip. Then, if they saw trouble, they could call for back-up and/or take action. That almost sounds like it’s too simple to work, but he said it made a huge difference and that these guys were actually arresting and killing people trying to plant IEDs.

— Here are a few pics from the Summit.

First off, that’s me on the left, Sean Hackbarth from The American Mind[3], and Emily Zanotti from The American Princess[4]

Next, here’s Bob Novak, who was gracious enough to take a pic, even though I’m pretty sure he was ready to get the hell out of there =D

Here’s Kathleen McKinnley from Right Wing Sparkle[5] and me,

Also see,

Getting To The American Dream Summit OR Alternately, The Airport Experience[6]
Meeting Bob Novak[7]
Novak’s Speech At The Defending The American Dream Summit[8]